Bush speaks at press conference

Jeff Campbell

Is anyone else concerned with the military endeavor we, as the United States, are now undertaking? Quite frankly, we are fighting a war on terror -- not against one
or two countries, but an enemy that exists everywhere, even within our own beautiful boundaries.

President George W. Bush stated during his first press conference of the year Wednesday that he is not really that concerned with Osama bin Laden anymore.
Instead, he discussed new issues regarding the war on terror.

One of these issues was Iraq. He stated that Iraq must have something to hide because it will not allow international inspectors into its country to verify that the
country is not building weapons of mass destruction.

In somewhat related news, Bush also mentioned that the United States will be modernizing its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent.

Any talk of nuclear arsenal is frightening indeed. To know that the United States is modernizing its nuclear weapons while trying to rid every other country of theirs
is frightening. To know thousands of people can be killed in one instance is frightening as well.

"We are at a war to keep peace," President Bush said Wednesday, comparing the war on terror to World War II. But are we really trying to keep peace?

It's probably been said before, but this war on terror is comparable to the war on drugs. Some criminologists believe in what is called the "tissue box theory." The
tissue box theory states that if you take, for instance, a drug dealer out of the business by arresting him, another one will just pop up in his place.

Terrorism should be regarded in the same light. So, as President Bush has stated, we can't just destroy some terrorists; we must destroy all of them. And that seems
like quite a long, brutal mission.

The best way to handle a situation is to talk it through. If someone wrongs you in some way, is it right to wrong them in return? Absolutely not. Two wrongs do not
make a right. We learned this in the second grade, but do we actually understand this concept?

Would World War II have been fought if harsh punishments had not been placed on Germany for its horrible actions? I'd venture to say no. History <I>does<P>
repeat itself, so we hear time and time again. If a party is not content with the way a war ended, it will speak up. If no one answers its calls, it will become angry and
retaliate. 

The only way to solve these problems is through peaceful means. And despite what President Bush stated on Wednesday, war is not peace. Has it ever created a

lasting peace before?

Campbell, a freshman political 
science major, can be reached at emojeff@yahoo.com.