Conservative Christian/ True FeministNatalie Watson
I am going to begin this with a complaint about the assigned topics being a little too broad, which I think was just accomplished in the first half of this opening statement, so now, Weapons of Mass Destruction– Some people are clinging desperately to this issue. Mainly because they feel the need to keep shoving this one thing into the face of the American people about how Bush “lied.” This makes no sense. Do you honestly think that after the 9-11 attacks, Bush just made them up so we could go to Iraq to have some sort of retribution? What if you had reason to believe I had access to anthrax and planned to send a few letters around? Wouldn’t you alert the authorities? And gosh, they’d have to search my house, wouldn’t they? If there are no WMDs, that does not mean that we should blush apologetically, stammer out our regrets, and tiptoe backwards out of Iraq. On the contrary. the fact that we didn’t find them doesn’t mean a whole lot. Saddam wasn’t stupid. He knew we were coming and he knew what we were looking for. I imagine him scrambling around like college freshmen at a party, stashing the booze behind the couch as Mom pulls in the driveway. And obviously if Mom had reason to believe there was a party, she would probably go looking for evidence–disposable cups in the trash, vomit on the toilet seat, etc. We had a very good reason to think that there were WMDs and to sit back and not do anything would have been like a mother who didn’t care if their child drank excessively and failed all their classes. Bush knew something had to be done. To say that none exist and therefore we should leave Iraq is not reasonable. The fact that many terrorists have come from the Middle East should not be overlooked. Iraq and the way it was run was the perfect place for them. And not all terrorists out there belong(ed) to al Qaeda, so even if al Qaeda is taken out there are still many running around free. You don’t just kill the few wasps that stung you and your children, you remove the entire nest and any other nests around your house so the kids don’t get stung again. Terrorism happens. Holding hands and singing Kum-Ba-Yah will not make it go away.
IndependentAlex Martin Weapons of mass destruction (WMD). People have now gotten so good at killing other people that we have a class of weapons called Weapons of Mass Destruction. WMD’s are the ultimate double-edged swords. A simple shift in the winds can blow a chemical or biological weapon back towards those who launched it in the first place, possibly causing casualties on their own side. Nuclear war is governed by the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) principle- if you kill me, I’ll kill you. Have we really come as far as we think we have, when we talk about such things as MAD, which is really just an extension of Hammurabi’s code? Are these weapons really necessary? A look back through history shows us that biological weapons have been around since the middle ages, and chemical weapons are simply extensions of biological ones. Both rely upon making people sick or causing reactions within the human body to disable or kill. Nuclear weapons are simply super-high explosives. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that there has never been a need for these weapons, but that perhaps their time is passed. We have made peace with communism. North Korea, Pakistan, and India cannot threaten our mainland with their nukes, and any Middle Eastern country with nukes could only threaten our oil supply, from which we are taking steps away from, reducing this threat. So here we are, one of several countries that posses at least one type of WMD in a fairly exclusive club of countries able to kill people thousands or even millions at a time. The USA possesses only nuclear weapons. I truly believe that without the Manhattan Project World War II would have turned out much differently. For example we would have had to invade Japan, resulting in record setting casualties for both sides, and the continued enmity between the American and Japanese people. Most countries that posses WMD’s either have them because their enemies have them or because their governments use them to bully either their own people or their neighbors. It is time to eliminate these horrible weapons, for there is no good way to justify having them, and certainly no reason to be the one to use them first. The United States is a world leader, so we must take the first step in the elimination of these weapons by reducing our own arsenals.
Transcendence Through CognitionEric AgostaI think I speak for many “free” human beings when I say that I feel oppressed. We, the many, sheltered from third world problems like slavery, starvation and extreme forms of discrimination, are still oppressed, but in a different way. We are oppressed within our own mechanical, destructive desires. We see some and, realizing that there is so much, we want more; more toys, more food, more sex, more drugs. We want more so badly that we never learn to be content with what we have and will walk on others just to, once again, stumble and fall off the edge. Our walking on others, whether it be violence of any kind, lying, cheating, or other egotistical acts, is an expression of our innermost insecurities: our inability to learn and accept that we already have all we could ever want.Weapons of mass destruction have been and still are being created and used by countries led by deluded and insecure individuals all over the world. Individuals, who before the fire wanted more fuel for their chaotic emotions and who, even after the fire when all that remained was ashes, still want more.This is a problem that many have a hard time understanding since they have become accustomed to living with such excess and could prove futile, even more so in the future then now, if it is not taken seriously and handled with care.Realization is always the first step in building a better foundation. Acknowledging our destructive actions allows us the motivation needed to repair the emotional and physical damage of the past. By putting this reconstruction into effect and following through with our genuine self, the individual naturally sees and experiences more contentment and releases themselves from the burden of their mechanical, destructive desires. This is the peaceful way-the only way to attain infinite, rejuvenating happiness. So, to those of the past, present, and future who have the power to influence and make decisions, I urge you-for your own well being as well as that of your fellow human beings-to detach from your artificial arms intended for violence. Instead, hold out your beautiful, natural arms given to you at birth and use them to embrace humanity and nature alike because it is a most loving course of action and it is necessary for the achievement of everlasting freedom.