LETTER: Applause for JCOM dept.

Editor,

There is a healthy debate (if not a quiet one) on war with Iraq.

I am happy to see that instead of taking the easy way out and falling in lock step with their professors, the members of The Utah Statesman did something that all good universities want their students to do. They thought for themselves.

They took a look at the evidence, weighed it and took a stand. Seeing as how the stand differed from that of the head of the journalism department made it a brave one. In too many universities (like Cal Berkeley) there is only ONE approved way to think, and students who do not go along with the approved thinking are punished.

Even though Dr. Ted Pease has a hard time understanding the views of some of his students, I am glad that he has created an environment in which his students feel they can have their own opinions and express them without fear of reprisal.

As a veteran of the Gulf War, I have to say Dr. Pease’s knowledge of combat is 30 years out of date. We have learned from Vietnam (although those who watched “Blackhawk Down” know that we had a relapse of Vietnam style stupidity) if and when we invade Iraq and do it RIGHT, there will be few people killed and it will be over in hours, if not days.

If we do it totally wrong, then Dr. Pease will be right, but for the past twenty years when we have had a Republican in the White House, we have always done it right. Before we go to war we have to ask why. There are several reasons to topple the Iraqi government, but there is one that outdoes them all – and that is smallpox.

Iraq either has it and can use it as a weapon, or they are working on it. Smallpox has the potential of killing over two billion people. Almost all of them are in the developing nations. Unfortunately, they lack the money to fight such an epidemic.

Kraig Thorne