[Peace-discuss] Two Letters in today's DI

[David Green]

The Daily Illini - Opinions 
Issue: 8/29/05 

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Letters: Obama's town meeting
By Daily Illini 

Several things are wrong with an Aug. 26 column's
account of Sen. Barack Obama's recent "town meeting"
(in fact, a PR exercise). I'll mention two:

First, I don't see how the writer can find the actions
of the local group, Anti-War/Anti-Racism Effort
"disruptive and rude" unless he believes, with the
national commander of the American Legion, that all
"public protests" should end. For those who do believe
in the First Amendment, AWARE's experience at the
rally was unsettling. Serious efforts were made to
prevent their access to public space with anti-war
signs and flyers, until the senator, displaying public
magnanimity, invited them into his meeting. But the
authors of the Bill of Rights did not think First
Amendment rights should depend on the permission of
even a senator.

The second error is more serious - the column omits
any discussion of the war. But then, so did the
senator, for the most part: he took just one (gentle)
question on the matter, and never mentioned torture,
Iran, the Downing Street minutes, Israel, impeachment,
imprisonment without trial by the US government, etc.
Even more surprising was what he did say: he "hopes
U.S. troops could begin to leave "Iraq next year,
(but) ... Iraq" would simply collapse if we left now."
That's the administration's position, and it ignores
the fact that a majority of the Iraqis want us to
leave now, understandably enough. 

Sen. Obama revealed himself as a liberal enabler of
the death and destruction the United States has
brought to Iraq - like most of the Democratic Party.
His position contrasts sharply with that expressed by
Cindy Sheehan, who points out that one is either for
the ending of the war and the withdrawal of the United
States from Iraq, or for its continuance. 

C. G. Estabrook
Visiting Scholar, UIUC 


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The Daily Illini - Opinions 
Issue: 8/29/05 

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Letters: Peaceful relations
By Daily Illini 

Elie Dvorin (8/22) thinks it difficult to refute the
following statement: "Because of the mix of Islamic
theology that - rightly or wrongly --is interpreted to
promote violence, added to an organizational structure
that allows violent radicals to operate openly in
Islam's name with impunity, Islam has, sadly, become a
terrorist organization."

Given the diversity of a billion Muslims, this
statement is easy to refute - especially regarding the
Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a
mainstream organization with a record of promoting
peaceful relations between Muslim-Americans and other
Americans. 

But let's replace the word Islam with "Judaism,"
resulting in an arguable statement that describes an
organizational structure (including on this campus and
in this community) that promotes "violent radicals" in
Israel and Palestine: Jewish settlers and their state
and military sponsors. What would be the reaction of
the local Jewish establishment if such a statement
were published in the DI? 

The President of Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation,
Michael Shapiro, chose to break bread with the racist
settler-supporter Daniel Pipes in 2003. He retains his
leadership of the "Program for Jewish Culture and
Society." Peter Siegel, a well-paid U of I
administrator, supported a hateful personal attack on
a Muslim student by CUJF, with no repercussions
regarding professional ethics forthcoming. Campus
Hillel sponsors the student group Illinipac (which
sponsored Pipes), supported by AIPAC (the Israel
lobby), with two former employees indicted for
espionage. Local rabbi Norman Klein cited Jewish texts
to advocate the criminal invasion of Iraq.

Last academic year, Dvorin and former Illinpac head
David Johnson used the DI to foment a climate of
anti-Islamic racism on this campus. But Richard Herman
publicly criticized only what he deemed as
"anti-Semitism." I hope this year Herman, as
Chancellor and as a Jew, will take an honest look at
both of his houses.

David Green
Champaign resident 


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