WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 1999

Destroying a village in attempt to save it

Imagine this: You are watching the news one morning before going to work. Right there in front of you, on your television, are images of one human being with a machete hacking to death another human being.

There is no huge outcry coming from the American public, no international peace keepers are rushing to stop the carnage. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children are massacred as a direct result of ethnic cleansing.

Does the leader of the free world step in to bring an end to this horrible display of the evils of mankind? Sad to say, the answer is no.

Nothing was done to stop the ethnic cleansing that took place in Rwanda just a few years ago. Perhaps because it took place in a country whose inhabitants do not share the same skin color as the ones who run this country. Or perhaps it could have been due to the political instability of that region.

Now the media have convinced many of us that what is taking place in Yugoslavia is a holocaust in the making and must be stopped.

By no means do I condone the atrocities that are allegedly being committed by the Milosevic regime.

There are always two perspectives of a story, depending on where you are standing.

Yugoslavia is a sovereign nation with internal problems. NATO is a defensive organization that is only supposed to act when one of its allies has been attacked.

This sounds like two plus two equals seven: it does not add up.

Part of the ultimatum that Milosevic rejected called for NATO to be an occupying force. Would you allow police from another country to kick it in your pad and cruise around with no restrictions?

To make matters worse, high-tech bombs and missiles are killing civilians and purposely wiping out the infrastructure of a sovereign nation that has done nothing to any of NATO's allies, let alone America.

After the tragedy in Colorado, our president told the children of this nation that violence is not a solution for disputes. What is wrong with this picture?

There is never any justification for the infliction of harm upon another human being.

As we enter the 21st century, has this past century taught us anything at all, or have the international bankers and corporations done a fine job of keeping us blinded from reality?

Fighting for peace is like having sex for virginity: it does not make any sense.

Michael Colby is a history major.