Vanguard

Issue date: 10/1/07 Section: Opinion

As I sat in my dorm room earlier today at the University of South "Alabamastan" talking to my mother on what most assuredly is a tapped phone line in my room, checking my e-mail that has probably already been read by the CIA and/or FBI, playing with a cigarette lighter that I can now be arrested for if I dare take it on a plane, and thinking about checking out a book from the library and wondering if the federal agent who now spies on my library records will have reason to search my room over the title (to think they used to need a warrant for that kind of thing), and watching TV to make sure our color-coded Homeland Security warning is still at yellow to see how much attention I should be paying to that Arab guy working at the BP, I stumbled across an article in which General John Abazaid told reporters that I should not be scared of Iran having a nuclear weapon. I was utterly shocked at this statement.
It's not that I disagree with the General over this; after all , my parents lived the majority of their adult lives under the threat of the Soviets, who I can guarantee had a hell of a lot more nukes than Mr. Ahmadinejad will ever dream of possessing. I can't help but wonder if this could turn out to be like another guy America went after for allegedly building nuclear bombs back in 2003 (What was his name? Saddam something?). And to make matters worse, here is a former U.S. Central Command officer telling me not to worry about a man, who much of the Western world thinks is two French fries short of a Happy Meal, possessing a nuclear bomb.
My fellow students, the world is a scary place. These things should bother you, but unfortunately we have limited options. Sure, we can build up a bigger nuclear arsenal and possibly provoke an arms race, where instead of one nuclear bomb, Iran eventually has one million nuclear bombs. Or, we could surrender what last bit of liberty we have left to the Bush regime or his successor for false promises of security. But there is a third option, and that is to focus on building something better. We've got to stop being scared and start being a little braver. America has forgotten that we have a responsibility as the world's remaining super-power to set an example for the world, and that example is just as powerful as any army we could build up. We as the next generation in power need to start to look for ways to solve problems without killing each other and provoking countries to build bigger bombs than us. We need to remember that there are reasons why people hate us and these reasons must be addressed, for every terrorists that is killed in this new war there will be 10 who stand up to take his place. There won't be easy answers to these problems, but we have to find new solutions, because domestic spying and increased wars are not going to make things better; it will only make them worse with time.

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