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Classroom
on the Quad
Welcome and Introductions
Bruce Knauft, Faculty Council
Jim
Grimsley, Faculty Council
Purvi
Patel, College Council
Donna
Wong, Campus Life
Iraq:
The Challenge of Responsibility
Rick Doner, Political Science
Weapons
of Mass Destruction and U.S. Foreign Policy
Dan Reiter, Political Science
A
Call to Words
Asanka Pathiraja, Foreign Policy Exchange
Hearing
in Eqanimity: Deciding Your Path
Bobbi Patterson, Religion
The
Necessity of War with Iraq
Bob Bartlett, Political Science
The
Humanitarian Cost of War
Laurie Patton, Religion
A
Man of Honor: The President's Noble Vision
Daniel Hauck, College Republicans
Women:
War and Peace
Lili Baxter, Women's Studies
The
Morality of War
James Tarter, Students for War Against Terrorism
Speak
Up or Get Out
Erin Harte, Young Democrats
War
Does Not Resolve Conflict, War Is Conflict
Mark Goodale, Anthropology
A
War of Liberation
Frank Lechner, Sociology
A
Call to Consciousness, A Litany of Questions
Juana Clem McGhee, Institute for Comparative and International Studies
Student
Activism: Ways to Be Involved
Erik Fyfe and Rachael Spiewak, Emory Peace Coalition
Cross-Cultural
Communication: U.S. and Iraq
Devin Stewart, Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies
The
U.S. Has Never Been Alone in the World
William Chace, University President
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Thank you
all for coming; I'd like to welcome you to Emory's Classroom on
the Quad. Our gathering has been planned by a combined group of
students, faculty, and staff, with encouragement by President Chace,
Provost Hunter, the University Faculty Council and various deans—all
of whose support we gratefully acknowledge. I'd like to begin by
introducing the other memebers of our program committee:
• Jim Grimsley, Director of Emory's Creative writing program
and Co-Chair of the University Faculty Council's Sub-committee on
Academic Freedom and Student Affairs
• Purvi Patel, Outgoing President of the College Council
• Chris Richardson, Outgoing President of the Student Government
Association
• and Donna Wong from Campus Life; Donna is Associate Director
of Multicultural Programs and Services
I am Bruce Knauft, faculty in anthropology and co-chair of the Faculty
Council Sub-Committee on Academic Freedom and Student Affairs.
Our focus today is "U.S. and Iraq: Many Voices." Before
introductions, we want to review basic facts. Eleven years ago,
after the end of the first Gulf War, certain members of the past
and present Bush Administrations proposed that preemptive military
strikes were appropriate against recalcitrant countries such as
Iraq that may be harboring chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.
Today this is known as the Bush doctrine. Following the attacks
of September 11 and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan,
the U.S. government increased pressure for military intervention
in Iraq. The exact extent of Iraqi weapons programs is greatly disputed,
and the U.S. was unsuccessful in its attempt to receive endorsement
for military action from the United Nations Security Council.
Over 150,000 U.S. and British troops are now fighting a war with
Iraq. The goals of this war are to kill or capture Saddam Hussein
and his two sons, to change the political regime, to find and destroy
any weapons of mass destruction, and, it is said, to construct a
workable democracy. The U.S. has bombed many targets, especially
in Baghdad, and invaded the country with the most technologically
advanced air and ground attack in world history. After initial U.S.
successes, Iraqi defense and rearguard action have been stiffer
than many expected. U.S. and British troops have sustained about
one hundred and fifty casualties, including some forty soldiers
killed in combat. About a dozen Americans have been taken as POWs
and shown on Iraqi TV. Iraqi casualty rates are undoubtedly much
higher, including civilians, and over thirty-five hundred Iraqis
have been taken prisoner or surrendered. U.S. ground units have
now advanced to within sixty miles of Baghdad, and a major battle
for the city is expected after southern Iraq is secured. Baghdad
is a capital of slightly over four and a half million people, which
gives it roughly the same size and urban spread as metropolitan
Atlanta.
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