Professors ponder Iraq crisis

Panel discussion gives varying views on crisis

By Emily Nash, On-line Forty-Niner

March 5,1998

Daily Forty-NinerFour Cal State Long Beach professors left students pondering many issues Thursday in the Universisty Student Union after a panel discussion on the shaky possibility of another war with Iraq.

"Conflicts are rarely straightforward. The good side seeks right, moral justice, mom and apple pie," professor of political science Alain Marsot said.

"I wouldn't shed a tear if Saddam was killed," Marsot said. "On the other hand, if Saddam is taken from power this means the life of innocent civilians."

According to Marsot, most of Iraq's enemies agree that massive air strikes won't take out Saddam.

Marsot believes allies of the United States would have to destroy Iraq and all its inhabitants to bring peace and democracy into Iraq. "It is like killing the village to save the village in Vietnam," Marsot explained.

International studies Professor Ben Wisner, who focuses on the impact war has on public health and the environment, offered a plea: "I want to speak for the people who can't be here today. The women and children and other civilians who are affected by the war.

"In Iraq 5,000 children die each month of preventable deaths. Children are dying of malnutrition and diarrhea from bad sewage systems," Wisner said. "They aren't able to get replacement parts and chemicals because of the sanctions placed on the country."

Wisner believes a war hurts the civilians with long-term, devastating effects from the destruction of social services such as hospitals and schools.

English Professor Robert Brophy asked people who support a war with Iraq to give peace some careful thought.

"I suggest you write yourself a philosophy or justification for killing someone," Brophy said. "Are we looking at justice or are we looking at oil?"

"The ROTC sells a truth to college students. 'Give us your body and we will get you through school.' That is prostitution," he said.

Brophy sees the human race as our family, and he asked students to pray for the Iraqis and the Iraqi soldiers especially.

"The United Nations doesn't think that Iraq refusing United Nations inspections is a reason to go to war." said Professor Barry Steiner of the political science department.

"There are international laws at stake. There are weapons of mass destruction. The United States is looking at more that just sanctions and inspections," Steiner said.

According to Steiner, the United States is constrained by its coalition associations - or membership to the United Nations. It is harder for the United States to get support from other coalitions.

"If the U.S. wants to be a part of a large coalition of states, the U.S. must pay attention to what those other states think," Steiner said.

Students may not have agreed with everything discussed, but at least some were glad they went.

"This presentation was provoking and intelligent. I'm not as well-informed on Iraq as I'd like to be, but it made me think," said senior Linda Levy, an English literature major.

Freshman Douglas Brassaw, a chemistry major, said, "My opinion on the situation in Iraq didn't change, but this presentation enlightened me."