Respect, Learning and Reflection in This 'Moment of Truth'

Author: Jonathan White

Editorial: Respect, Learning and Reflection in This 'Moment of Truth'


President Bush announced Monday evening that diplomacy has ended in the effort to build international consensus for military action against Iraq. Short of the highly unlikely prospect of President Saddam Hussein leaving Baghdad, yet another war in the Middle East will soon commence. A series of challenges arises for the College community as the bombs prepare to fall.

Primarily, President Bush's abandonment of diplomacy and the lack of a clear U.N. mandate to disarm Iraq by force undermines the international community. The discussion of this war has created deep divisions among nations and fanned anti-American sentiment. Our generation will have to confront the persistence of this sentiment and the legacy of reckless foreign policy decisions. In addition, students abroad no doubt feel the intensity of foreign resentment of American policies. As an international university, we are particularly interested with our nation's perception abroad and we are in a unique position, perhaps, to confront insurgent anti-Americanism.

Current and future international agreements will bear the mark of the mistrust and arrogance with which America is now perceived. The critical problems of our age, including terrorism, ecological crisis and hunger and disease, must be solved through the international community working towards a common goal. It will be our generation that must recover from the wounds inflicted and work to solve, in a favorable international framework, these salient issues. The halls and classrooms of our institution is where this redress can begin through education. Through study abroad we can change perceptions. The goodwill, too, with which we regard our neighbors should set the tone as we address the problems created by our international posturing.

Moreover, although we are isolated in rural Vermont, we are not immune to the threat of terror reprisals provoked by U.S. action in Iraq. There is no more urgent time for President Bush, his advisors, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to be excessively vigilant, yet the next terror strike could come tomorrow, or in the case of Sept. 11, come years, if not decades, after the war in Iraq is settled. The reality of asymmetrical warfare also begs that we, as students, understand the nature of conflict in the 21st century.

Despite our deep skepticism and criticism of the course of events and troubling diplomacy that has brought us to this historic juncture, should hostilities breakout, we stand in support of our troops, our government and our commander-in-chief. We hope that they will see through this conflict with a minimum of bloodshed and with resolve to dislodge an evil man. We hope, too, that they aspire to build not merely a democratic Iraq, but also to revive the reputation of America as a nation committed to the international community and to the welfare of other peoples.

We urge the Middlebury community to reflect on the current international climate through discussion on all levels and in all spaces. The Student Government Association has devised an appropriate forum at weekly Tuesday lunch meetings. Moreover, in the event of war, we encourage administrators to spearhead a larger event which allows students to pause. Finally, we should take this, as all challenges, as an opportunity to learn and not to resign ourselves to living in a bubble or succumb to feelings of powerlessness and indifference.