IS THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN WORTH FIGHTING?

By Eleonor Picciotto

BOSTON- The 27^th Great Debate promptly started at 6:36 p.m. where most of the large majority of the 280 people present at the Tsai Performance center at Boston University, Wednesday night, decided that the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting.

After explaining how theatrically the debate will go, the Great Debate Chairman Professor Robert Zelnick warned the audience to listen closely then decide, while he says, “ I’ll go back there and listen to the World Series Game.”

At 6:47 p.m., the lead affirmative speaker, in favor of the remaining in the war,  Thomas H. Johnson, a member of the Afghanistan Editorial Board of the National Archive, explained how the central policies to secure the country needed revolutionary changes. He said categorically, that if Afghanistan had a nuclear weapon that would be the world’s worst nightmare.

“Elections don’t make democracy. Democracy makes elections,” said Johnson. But Afghanistan is so corrupted and incompetent that it is unstable. Johnson said the ability to change an entire democracy is beyond the American power declaring that the U.S. was failing in Afghanistan for the same reasons it failed in Vietnam.

Reacting on the Commander in Chief in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal’s plan whether the U.S. government should add more troops, Johnson said the issue is not the force size but the distribution of the troops.

Chairman Zelnick rang the twice bell, to have the lead negative speaker, Andrew J. Bacevich started. “War is a great evil, a blight on human existence,” stated B.U. professor and former U.S. armny colonel who fought in Kuwait and Vietnam.

Bacevich said he envisions a counterterrorism and outsourcing approaches as two complementary approaches to keep the U.S. safe at lower costs.

According to Bacevich, there should not be other issues to fight a war. The war must be purposeful and have a chance to effectively settle the issue and the cost of what the war will entail should be proportionate. “It is an unnecessary war,” concluded Bacevich.

Kenice Mobley, a B.U. grad student in film said that increasing troops will not solve the problem in the long term, but will increase violence in the short term.

“We pursue futility at our own peril,” said Mobley.

Marin J. Strmecki, former President Nixon’s foreign policy assistant , said the American Security is in danger. He claims that “the enemy” who conducted the 9/11 attacks is still present. “Al Qaeda is certainly the enemy,” states Strmecki. He believes success is doable. It only depends on how the U.S. mobilizes the troops to win. Strmecki mentions a moral reason why fighting in Afghanistan. He explains how the U.S. has collaborated with Afghanistan to defeat the Soviet Union in 1990, and then made a mistake abandoning them.

All speakers differentiated Afghans from Talibans or Al Qaeda. However, all view a different enemy.

The long time career broadcast journalist, Nick B. Mills, stated that, “We, Americans, never thought it was worth fighting in Afghanistan” and later a member of the audience pointed his finger by challenging that “ the ‘we’ is not us (Americans), but the CIA, FBI and the government.”

Mills maintained the way the U.S. responded to the 9/11 attacks to get the Talibans out was where the mistake began. The first priority of the U.S. was to capture Ossama Bin Laden, dead or alive. “Bin Laden has us right where he wants us,” said Mills.

The associate journalism professor at Boston University described Afghans as “remarkable people” seeking for the help of the U.S. to get rid of the Talibans. But, “ The more we fight for the Afghans, the more we seem to fight Afghanistan,” said Mills.

He concluded at 7:45 p.m. that no matter how many troops the U.S. sends to Afghanistan, insurgents would not give up.

Bacevich stated that the Bush administration never really tried a counterterrorism strategy when the 9/11 attacks took place, he said, “Bush was reading books about goats.”

Bacevich reiterated that the enemy was Al Qaeda and not the Taliban, and stated that entering the ninth year of combat in Afghanistan, invading the country endlessly was not an answer.

The McChrystal plan would exceed the homeland security budget, “Spend the money where it can actually do some good,” concluded Bacevich. The 27^th Great Debate listened to its first “Hear-Hear” from the audience.

Johnson intended to convince his audience arguing that the U.S. needed to fight this war smart, otherwise it was time to get out.

Evelyn Stachel, an elderly woman stopped Johnson in his closing remarks:

“Enough already, you made your point!”

THE UNEFFICIENT UNITED STATES BAILOUT

By Eleonor Picciotto

BOSTON- The U.S. government’s measures to fight the economic crisis have not worked yet, a national syndicated columnist said.

Deroy Murdock spoke about the failure of the United States bailout on Monday at the Law Barristers Hall at Boston University to an audience of 30.

“Living in America is like living in Argentina,” the conservative columnist said.

To demonstrate the recent bailout, Murdock showed a map of Manhattan, Los Angeles and Boston, full of differently sized red dots representing the recent bailouts firms got.

Murdock said Barney Frank, member of the Democratic Party and chairman of the House Financial service committee wants to “roll the dice a little more.”

“Roll the dice and look where we are now,” Murdock said.

Murdock said the $168 billion stimulus package approved by former President George Bush in Feb. 2008 was inefficient.

“Well, we are still in recession,” he said. “It accomplished absolutely nothing.”

Murdock said cutting, eliminating or suspending corporate taxes would be a solution.

“Unemployment is higher today than a year ago,” he said. “Oops!”

Murdock said the $300 billion Hope for Homeowners Program, enacted by congressional Democrats under Bush and continued by Obama, was supposed to give 400,000 loans to Americans. The Wall Street Journal published on Sept. 23 that 95 loans were given.

“There are still 399,905 more to go,” Murdock said.

In addition, Murdock said, $280 million of the bailout were given as bonuses. Washington knew about those bonuses but no one complained.

“It is the perfect symbol of Washington inefficiency,” Murdock said.

Murdock said federal budgets have gone from billions to trillions of dollars.

“What is a trillion dollar?” he asked.

Murdock said the Marshall Plan cost $115 billion, the Iraq invasion cost $597 billion and only World War II reached $3.6 trillion. This bailout cost $13 trillion, he said, “and we are not even defeating countries.”

People who are running a business are getting bailouts for risks they should not take, Murdock said. Instead, companies should be left to go bankrupt if no one is buying their products.

“If no one buys the products, there is no Santa Claus coming and fixing it up,” Murdock said.

Murdock said he is also disappointed by conservative politicians. He said Bush’s $190 billion farm industry bailout in 2002 ended up costing $307 billion instead. Farmers received the benefit no matter what their incomes where, raising costs, he said.

Alan Feld, a BU law professor, spoke after Murdock’s lecture.

“I hardly know where to begin,” he said “There is lot of truth and a lot of entertainment,”

Feld said Goldman Sachs and other hedge funds have control over the public’s money.

“If we win, we keep the money, if we lose, the government will bail us out,” he said of their attitude on risky behavior.

In addition, he said, leaving trillions of dollars “slashing around” the economy leaves the potential for inflation.

Murdock and Feld agreed that nobody knows for sure if the bailout was worth it.

Why Boston University ?

Kristen Heinzinger is a 20-year-old brunette raised in Westchester, N.Y., who decided to go to Boston University two years ago. She “randomly” selected Boston after talking with a friend about where a “fun town” would be to study.

When Kristen looked closer into B.U, she learned that the COM program was one of the best in the nation.

“Boston University COM program sparked my interest,” she said. Her passion for writing was revealed.

Boston University is relatively close to her parents’s home, which she can visit in a four-hour drive.

She is now a Junior in the College of Communication doing a double major. Heinzinger majored in magazine track because of her passion for writing and chose to major in English because it is a broad field that can lead her to many other jobs if journalism does not work.

She also chose Boston University for its campus. After appplying to NYU, Kristen realized how overwhelming this new New York City campus was, all spread out.

She lives in the Student Village, close to the enormous gym facilities but does not go there very often, however she cannot miss it going home.

Kristen seems a happy and fullfilled student, enjoying her college life even if her friend ended up not applying to Boston University.