The Infamous Ink

As a future policymaker I can tell you what I’ve learned from the Gulf War II and that is: Do not enter a war without a comprehensive strategy that is agreed upon by one’s staffers/cabinet, colleagues and has, at the very least, received a candid nod from other states within the international system.  The fact remains that the U.S. moved in an almost unilateral direction when it invaded Iraq and, since the invasion, has done very little to ensure the safety of Iraqis (regardless of their ethnicity) and has done even less to ensure that social capital and infrastructure systems continue to function.  What must be noted is that Iraq is not West Germany, one of our greatest state building success stories nor is it Nicaragua, one of our worst; Iraq is a beast of an entirely different nature and the need for it to be different than the state building attempts of the 20^th century is imperative to American national security and both global and regional stability.

     It was a bad move to enter Iraq, period; and, now we are stuck there.  The Bush administration got us, the people, into this tangle without a plan (I believe that is called being a “Hawk’) and has bungled the operation every step of the way.  Future policymakers need to remember Iraq (much like Vietnam or WW I) as war that was started over the private interests of only a handful of elites and that that is no reason to provoke a shooting war.  I also think future policymakers need to acknowledge the roll of pure arrogance in this conflict; that is, America thought it was invincible and that it had a moral claim to spreading democracy to the region.  I don’t believe that the Pentagon or the Bush administration thought for one second that the war would last this long or be this bloody; I believe they honestly thought American military technologies and training would allow for a swift and rather bloodless victory.

     Future policymakers also need to remember that the American people are hard to mobilize for international conflict and that they don’t tolerate long drawn out wars in which no end is ever in sight.  War weariness is a very real thing and it is demoralizing to our troops who, in most cases, already do not want to be in a foreign country fighting.  Future policymakers need to learn how to, in addition to constantly reevaluating strategy and ground conditions, act with prudence to ensure that we are at war for the “right” reasons because, as much as we are told by the White House that the current Gulf War is over democratization and stability most Americans and service people are too jaded to believe it, that is, most everyone knows the war is about Western control of Arab oil fields and not liberating the oppressed Iraqi citizenry.

     As much as it is a domestic and policy issue it is also a resource and logistics issue.  American troops, prior to entering the war, were not properly equipped or trained militarily for urban, desert warfare or the ensuing cultural clash.  To prove that it isn’t just rhetoric, the first American troops to Iraq in 2003 were there without body armor, armored vehicles, translators, night vision, real time intelligence, adequate ammunition, munitions protections (i.e. devices to keep sand out of their M-16s), etc… etc… etc… These are facts that the State Department and the DoD admit and our veterans share with a rather “well shucks!” attitude.  Future policymakers should learn from Iraq that wars are not won with through planes and Halliburton-KBR but through control and security on the ground.  You cannot send farm boys from Kansas or inner city youth from Pittsburgh to a foreign country without all of the war-making resources our nation has at its disposal, it is setting them up for failure and the American public for a long, heartbreaking conflict that divides the nation.

     As an aside, I objected to war in the beginning and continue to disagree with the way it is being managed right now.  Five years after the fact America’s service people on the ground in Basra or the devastated south of the country are fighting with a sporadic supply munitions, Kevlar jackets, clean water and food, and good medical care.  In addition to their needs going un-met they are forced to work alongside private contractors who do not answer to anyone and have totally different ROEs.  My friends who are Marines have told me it is the contractors like BlackWater and Aegis that are making their jobs tough because they kill without discretion and do not have to answer to Lieutenants or Sergeants on the ground.  This war has been mismanaged and, I hope, future policymakers realize this and not repeat the mistakes of the previous generation; and that is what blows my mind, Bush and his generation are the Vietnam generation and they have made almost all of the same mistakes the Johnson administration made in Vietnam sans a draft…

Greetings Fellow Students, Members of the Community and Infamous Ink Readers:
This Thursday, May 1^st, people will turn out across the country to demonstrate and march in celebration of International Workers’ Day, to march for immigrant and labor rights, continuing the struggle of progressive movements through out the history of liberal-capitalism to effect economic and social change. Thursday’s marches are the occasion to recognize and enumerate the intolerable social and political situations enabled by that system today and to demand:

universal amnesty, equal rights in the workplace, the right to unionize, the Employee Free Choice Act, fair wages and full employment, the end of the occupation in Iraq, equal access to education, universal healthcare

CALLING ALL STUDENTS:

Leave campus to join fellow progressive labor and community organizations to

WITHHOLD LABOR and MARCH AND RALLY DOWNTOWN

Take part in a movement to change our society!

Join major events in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, San Antonio, Dallas Texas, Atlanta Ga, Phoenix, other cities in the United States and Latin America.

Meet at 11:00 am at Ashland and Ogden, and march together to Union Park for a public rally!

Here are five reasons why students of conscience should take part in Thursday’s mobilizations:

1. Student movements have played a major role in social struggles for democracy and civil rights. Students have a unique place in public discourse, as the young people in national institutions of learning, we have the task and privilege to envision and shape the future of our society.

2. Students come from communities that are effected by today’s political problems; we have friends and family who are serving in Iraq, who are threatened by deportation because they do not have legal documentation to work in this country, who do not have access to healthcare, and who labor without just compensation.

3. Students have a unique role in international political discourse. We inhabit the international institutions of higher education, and we benefit from access to funds to study and travel abroad. We study with fellow students and professors from around the world, and are thus empowered to develop a critical international perspective on political issues in this country.

4. Our ‘workplace,’ the university, is an ideal place of political discourse, we have logistical and practical tools to share information and organize ourselves that people working in other parts of society do not have access to.

5. We need to create an international community of citizens of conscience, willing to stand up and send a message to our political leaders, and the rest of society. We need to show that the American public is demanding comprehensive immigration policy reform that protects the civil and human rights of all workers, both native and foreign, who work in this country and contribute to this nation’s wealth.

The Chicago Students for a Democratic Society stand with other progressive community and labor organizations to march on May 1^st.

Take a stand! Join more than 100 students across Chicago that are already planning to come out.

Please look at the following links for more information:

• [RIGHT HERE] Visit the site of one of the major coalition groups planning the May 1^st march.
• [RIGHT HERE] - Read an article on the state of progressive politics of immigration and labor rights.
• [RIGHT HERE] -Listen to an audio file of a panel discussion with organizers of the May 1^st marches for student organizers.

In solidarity,

Ben Blumburg, Ashleigh Campi, Ian Morrison

Chicago Students for a Democratic Society

The Platypus Affiliated Society

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE COLUMBIA COLLEGE COMMUNITY

Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Administrators of Columbia College Chicago:

It has been brought to my attention, via the awful rumor mill that persists in the basement of the 1104 building, that a student has been banned from participating in Student Government or SOC activities for the remainder of this year and all of next.  I assure you (if this is true) I have my own opinions on this issue but, for fear of retaliation by Columbia College I will refrain from sharing them in detail and simply say this: The fact that a paying student with a sterling academic record is being prevented from being the author of this generation’s culture, based on what amounts to hearsay, is a travesty.   Columbia, to my knowledge and according to the rumors, never conducted a proper investigation into those incidents that led to this student being banned nor was any sort of due process granted; private “business” or not, a human being in the United States is entitled to due process, representation in any meetings or interrogations and an opportunity to appeal.

In addition to the violation of those traditions that make America a place of free people, Columbia has also ignored its own recent statements that it is to be the most student centered media arts college in the world.  Being the most student centered anything means that, ideally, a strong emphasis is placed on hearing, working with, and supporting student endeavors to advance their own cause and interests.  That said, the “code of conduct” is not what the students want.  Students are asking for a comprehensive document that has been written by students for students, not by administrators for their lawyers and insurance companies.  What the college has been doing concerning the Student Bill of Rights amounts to censorship and a clear disregard for grass-roots democratic process.  If the Bill of Rights can no longer be a Student Government issue the only clear assumption I am able to make is that it now becomes a college wide issue.

I am tired of Columbia College and its blatant disregard for Constitutional Rights, American traditions and its own students’ efforts to make Columbia a shining beacon of freedom, political discourse, and art.  Allow students to hear to Student Bill or Rights, if not for anything else but because it is the right thing to do.

Wondering why Columbia Hates Freedom,

Infamous Ink

www.theinfamousink.com