Avoiding war the topic at OCC

Deirdre Newman

Derrill Bodley has every reason to hate -- to hate Islamic

terrorists, to hate the injustice of the world, to hate that his

daughter was aboard Flight 93 when it crashed in a Pennsylvania field

during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

But instead, Bodley professes peace.

On Thursday, the music professor from Sacramento City College

joined Chapman University political science professor Donald Will in

an Orange Coast College forum to discuss ways to deal with Iraq

besides going to war. OCC’s Academic Senate sponsored the discussion.

“I think it’s a very bad policy for us to act unilaterally, and

even though the U.N. did come up with a resolution, it appears to me

it’s because they were bullied into it,” Bodley said. “They were

shamed and embarrassed into it, and these are not good feelings for

people to have toward us.

“The rest of the world will be resentful if we continue to act

this way, and that will be very dangerous in the future,” he said.

Will railed against the United States acting alone. Standing in

front of a map of the Middle East, Will characterized Bush’s foreign

policy as “downright dangerous” to globalization and to Americans.

“The United States’ policy of unilateralism undercuts global norms

of behavior and threatens the long-term safety of the citizens of the

U.S.,” Will said. “The [United Nations] has somewhat tempered this

policy only through the dogged involvement of Colin Powell, who knows

from experience in the Gulf War about the need for global

cooperation.”

Significant questions need to be addressed before the U.S. leaps

gung-ho into a war with Iraq, Will said, such as what type of warfare

will be involved, how does the U.S. expect to eliminate Saddam

Hussein when it can’t catch Osama bin Laden and what are the moral

implications of a potential war.

“War is almost invariably posed as strategic and pragmatic, but

any war is a moral dilemma,” Will said. “The power [to wage war] must

be informed by wisdom and ethics and tempered by humility, not

arrogance.”

Bodley, who held a picture of his daughter as he talked about the

terrorist attacks, said instead of wanting to exact retribution on

the terrorists, he is more concerned with looking for the root causes

of Sept. 11. The government should do the same, he advised.

“I think the country is terribly preoccupied in terms of its

history and the way it spends its resources and time and creates more

history of making war,” Bodley said.

Bodley, who belongs to a group called Sept. 11 Families For

Peaceful Tomorrows, said he doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking

about what could have been but instead focuses on trying to affect

change in the government for the future. He exhorted students to

contact their representatives with their opinions and vote.

“I don’t know why [people] don’t vote, but there are very scary

examples even today of places where people have given up, and it’s

the last thing that anyone should want to do,” Bodley said.

Student reaction to the presentation was mixed.

Lenah Hilal, 21, said she was moved by Bodley’s speech.

“For me, it was very touching,” Hilal said. “When you see someone

who’s holding their daughter’s picture, you can feel part of their

sadness. He really touched my heart.”

Bryan Tierney, 21, however, said he found the forum more one-sided

than he expected.

“The information I received from the school paper presented it

more as a debate on the pros and cons than pontificating,” Tierney

said. “I was not noticeably swayed to their position. Ultimately, war

probably will be a necessity. We should have finished the job in

1991.”

Art history professor Irini Rickerson brought her class to the

forum so they could get another perspective to form their own

decision.

“I think this is an important time in our history and believe it’s

the responsibility of educators to educate students in current issues

and have them decide for themselves, because art history is an

expression of history.”