In response to Mr. Paluch’s article, “Genocide in the Gulf” in last Wednesday’s Daily, I’d like to state several things. First of all, I’ll point out that for the last eight years, his buddy Bill “The Adulterer” Clinton has been the man in charge of the country and supporting the embargo against Iraq. Why hasn’t Mr. Paluch been moaning about Clinton’s handling of the matter? The answer to that question is Mr. Paluch is a single-minded bafoon who lashes out against those he doesn’t like, even when the people he does like are the same or worse. Secondly, I’d like to tell you about the Middle East. I’m 19 and lived in Saudi Arabia for six years, or one third of my life, so I do know a little bit about the region. While there, I heard of a village that had been completely wiped out by government troops. The people in the village were peacefully protesting against the government and the people of the village were all Shi’ites, a faction of Islam that is often at odds with the ruling Sunni faction. In many places in the Middle East, public executions, that children are encouraged to attend, are also commonplace. I only bring forth these facts to show that people in the Middle East have different values on life than many American citizens. My third point is aimed at Saddam Hussein as a dictator. I’d like to take a moment to compare him to another dictator with whom I am sure we are all familiar — Adolf Hitler. Let’s take into consideration that he killed about 12 million people, most of them between 1939 and 1945. If you figure that out, then the number killed is just short of 5,500 people killed per day! Mr. Paluch, you said that the “United States was starving” 5000 people to death in Iraq each month? What exactly would stop Saddam Hussein from killing that many people for no other reason than he didn’t like them if the United States Air Force did not enforce a no fly zone across Southern and Northern Iraq? Also, in enforcing the embargo on Iraq, the United States may not be starving Saddam himself, but the embargo is starving the Iraqi army! Without an army, Saddam has no power and cannot threaten his neighbors or kill innocent people mercilessly, as he has done in the past. My fourth and final point is about the recent fighting in Israel. I’d like to know what you would do, Mr. Paluch, if you were being relentlessly pelted with rocks and holding a sub-machine gun? Would you just stand there and take it? I’m sure you would. I know that I wouldn’t want to kill someone just for throwing a couple rocks at me. But what happens when someone throws a brick at your best friend’s face and crushes his skull? Would you still just stand there and do nothing? Would you still stand around and do nothing if someone who was throwing those rocks decided to drive a car full of explosives into a market full of your friends and family and then detonate it? The Israelis have been through a lot and so have the Palestinians. I agree that the violence and death is horrible, but the fact is,ÿthe Israelis have to defend themselves. And if the only way to do it is by shooting their attackers, then I support them. In conclusion, I’d like to apologize if I offend anyone with this letter. My intent was only to state my opinion and invite anyone who disagrees with me to respond.

Chad Hayward

Freshman

Chemistry