a SIS SL I ST a it SS ear SO TOT 1 ' 5 April 9, 2003 Features the other press http://otherpress.douglas.bc.ca ar In Iraq: Final Wor rom This eatures ditor Sven Bellamy Features Editor There’s not enough words in all of the combined languages the world over to describe the feelings surrounding war. It doesn't matter what side you take, and admittedly it can sometimes be very difficult to take any side at all. I believe that we do take sides, even if it means sitting on the fence and not taking a side. It’s very easy to say war is bad. It’s equally easy to say war is good. The problem that I find is actually articulating why war is good or bad, and why it even matters at all. I find it quite sickening that the Western media was pro- ducing never-ending reports on the war in Iraq while the attitude was that the war would be over in a week. As soon as the war bogged down and American and British soldiers started being shipped home in body bags, the media coverage of the war tapered off to a trickle. Now, once again, the media coverage is picking up: “American's Attack Baghdad at Will” reads one headline. In the Iraqi news, claims are being made of heavy casualties being inflicted against the American forces. It’s difficult to know what to believe, but enraptured, millions of people around the world are listening. And what's scarier is that they’re believing. What I’ve tried to do, is pick up a few quotes, anecdotes, some websites, and even a little history, to try and leave you with the impression that there are many perspectives to this war. I would also like to offer a very warm thank you to our cartoonist J.J. McCullough who sits on the opposite side of the fence as me regarding this war on Iraq, but was very willing to bring to life a cartoon image for this article on very short notice. So, this is my swansong for the Other Press. My last hur- rah. It’s my last issue as Features Editor, and I am very happy to say that I have grown a great deal over this past year, and attribute that growth directly to our humble college paper. I wish for everyone, faithful reader or otherwise, the very best that life has to offer. May you all live long and prosper, and go in peace. A diary from Baghdad A British take on their American allies: “Let me now warn you in the most solemn manner. Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. The Nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.”—President George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796. “Death squads have been created and used by the CIA around the world—particularly the Third World - since the late 1940s, a fact ignored by the elite-owned media.”— Ralph McGehee [Former CIA analyst and Author] CIA- BASE; The Crisis of Democracy Deadly Deceits: My 25 years in the CIA. “The target suffered a terminal illness before a firing squad in Baghdad.”—CIA officer testifying to US Senate hearing, after bloody CIA aided Ba’ath Party coup overthrew Iraqi Prime Minister Abdel Kassem, 1963. “The US must carry out some act somewhere in the world which shows its determination to continue to be a world power.”—Henry Kissinger, post-Vietnam blues, as quoted in The Washington Post, April 1975. “We do not have any defense treaties with Kuwait, and there are no special defense or security commitments to