The Current Online

by MEGAN LOGAN

Heightened security. How tight is security at a federal courthouse September 11, 2002 one year later.

On a normal day at the courthouse, visitors can only enter through the front doors and walk to the security desk. There, you have to produce your photo ID, state why you are there, put all of your belongings on the x-ray belt, turn off and turn in cellular phones and pagers and finally walk through the metal detector. From there you are free to go to your floor and continue your business as usual.

On September 11, 2002, security was a little tighter. More guards both outside and inside the lobby. The biggest change was not the security but the attitudes and the tempers of those at the courthouse. Visitors were told to remain in the lobby for a remembrance service that was going to be held. All were given a red white and blue ribbon and a small American flag. The flags were raised for the moment of silence. The quite ahh of the crowd was almost unnerving as the pictures of the rubble and destruction that were displayed. The devastation in the faces of the people in the pictures was also felt by the people that stood in the lobby.

As the ceremony ended and people dried their eyes and returned to the courthouse, were all reminded of why we were there and how important our job is to the amazing country that we live in.

Wake up, America!

by DAVID L. PENNER

America, come out, come out, where ever you are.

Hey, look, imagine that. We’re safe and nothing happened to us on September 11.

You can come out of your bunkers and underground homes now because oh, yeah, nothing was going to happen anyway.

Now that you’ve realized that you aren’t going to die, feel free to join the rest of the world and get on with your life.

America is still in a state of mass hysteria and it’s a year after the fact.

I’m not by any means trying to disrespect or make a mockery out of a tragedy. I’m just sick of being bombarded with useless stories and information about the exact same thing, kind of like the O.J. Simpson trial but with more drama.

Has anyone noticed that our supposed “war on terror” is another Vietnam waiting to happen? It’s just on a more global scale.

Now, does anybody remember what happened during Vietnam? We didn’t so much as win that one.

While watching the news a couple of weeks ago, CNN broke a story on how the Taliban was allegedly testing a new chemical weapon on dogs. Honestly all I could think about was how far behind their technology really is, at least the United States can afford to use monkeys when they test new chemicals.

Hey I know we are all going to die sometime but I can guarantee it won’t be from anthrax or any other biological weapon unless you are a refugee living in Northern Iraq.

People can call me cold hearted because they might think I have no sympathy regarding such a disaster but I really do care.

September 11 was one of the worst things to ever happen on American soil and I do think it needs to be remembered, in everyone’s own little way. It does not need to be remembered though with stale stories and media barrages about how bin Laden is going to unleash holy hell on America

Osama should be the least of our worries right now. Instead of looking for a man we can’t catch let’s focus on problems that we can actually take steps to eliminate in our own country like crime, poverty and over crowding in jails.

Effort to improve America’s image with disinformation proves detrimental

by ZAHID AWAN

The Pentagon is planning to launch a new media war targeted at both allied and hostile countries. To change the opinion of the war on terrorism around the world, Pentagon officials have proposed a plan to place both true and false news stories in the world media.
The Office of Strategic Influence (OSI), created after the September 11 terrorist attacks, was proposing to expand the information warfare mission against antagonistic and friendly nations in the Middle East, Asia and Western Europe.
The Pentagon had hired the Rendon Group for $100,000 per month to assist OSI in the propaganda war and covert operations. Head of this firm is John W. Redon, Jr., who was a campaign aid to former President Jimmy Carter and worked closely with the CIA, the Kuwaiti royal family and the opposition groups that were trying to eject President Saddam Hussain.
Donald H. Rumsfeld, secretary of defense, strongly supported OSI and referred its proposals to the Pentagon’s lawyer, William J. Haynes for review.
The New York Times broke this story and led the worldwide media bombardment of editorials full of criticism of OSI’s proposals. As a result, the Pentagon announced that the OSI is shutting down. Rumsfeld blamed media for making agency’s functions impracticable.
“While much of the thrust of the criticism and the cartoons and comment has been off the mark, the office has been damaged so much that it could not operate effectively,” he said. He assured that the Pentagon has not engaged in spreading lies and would never do so. President Bush also reiterated, “We’ll tell the American people the truth.”
Rumsfeld contradicted his own statement when he said that the Pentagon would continue its efforts to deliver its word to abroad, without using OSI. The Pentagon closed the new office but not its operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Asia, Africa, Europe and Middle East. He also mentioned that the Pentagon might be continuing its strategic or tactical deception, which help to deceive enemy strategies during war as it has been done in past. Strategic or tactical deception means to divert enemy’s defensive schemes by planting false news reports in foreign media about U.S. troops’ maneuverings.
The United States of America is the primary leader of the world community. Helpless people around the world look to America for help and guidance in peace efforts. If America compromises its credibility by spreading clouds of doubts and disinformation, then where will the world community put its trust?

Nobody will be able to see the difference between truth and lies. In short, everything said by Washington would be looked at with doubt, making it almost impossible for governments and officials to formulate their responses.
Worldwide journalists are questioning the ethical and moral standards of a country that would deliberately promote skepticism rather then establishing trust and goodwill.
We are a nation that pledges to be “… one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” To intentionally mislead and lie to our own people and the world is sacrilege to that pledge.
We should not let the rest of the world question our credibility, morality, ethics and standards. I couldn’t understand President Bush’s pledge, “we’ll tell the American people the truth.” Will we tell the rest of the world lies? If we tell our own people the truth, then how is it possible to hide it from others, especially when the world is like a small town? Bush should extend his pledge by saying that the government will always tell the truth to Americans and every nation in the world. If our government will keep hiding the truth like the Enron administration did, the result will not be any different.
Planting false stories in local or world media should be considered a criminal act and those who commit such crimes should be taken to task under criminal law.

by ZAHID AWAN

This whole world is a peace-loving family but a few black sheep are preventing us from making peace.
They build walls of doubt, distrust and enmity, dividing humanity into racial, religious and political conflicts. The troublemakers seek power and recognition at the expense of innocent lives around the world. The atrocities they commit are crushing millions of human lives that relate in no way to the killers’ agendas.
Meanwhile, millions of apathetic people are just sitting in their living rooms, watching the news and doing nothing to stop it. They believe that it’s not their business to get involved.
How long will we keep on being the audience? It’s time to wake up and fulfill our responsibilities as citizens of this planet.
We, as students, can contribute to bringing change in this world. The majority of the students around the world have the same dreams. Our cultures are different but our hopes are the same. The taste of the food may be different but after eating, everyone desires peaceful sleep. No one enjoys seeing brothers, sisters, mothers or fathers killed or threatened. No one is born a killer.
We are all human beings, arranged as a giant, colorful bouquet in an enormous vase. We should spread our fragrance of freedom, happiness and joy everywhere. We have to stand up, break down walls and communicate with the rest of world directly. We should not make our judgements about others by only watching electronic media because sometimes media don’t show both sides of the picture.
We have the gift of high technology and via the Internet we can talk, see and communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world. We can share our pain and sorrows and exchange the beauty of our cultures. We have to stop listening to the hatemongers.
We should start a campaign at this college as a family today to make a new friend from a different culture without discrimination of race, religion or ethnicity. When we bond as a college family, we expand our message across the world and hold out hope to bring the lost ones back to the fold. With love and an open heart, we can remove the doubt, distrust and enmity created by the black sheep. If we plant the seeds of peace and love on this planet today, our coming generations will play with joy and happiness under the tree of our creation.