Give peace a chance
The Hatchet editorial staff is absolutely correct in throwing aside the Bush administration’s claims of connections between Iraq and al Qaeda, and in simply stating, “Iraq is not the ‘immediate’ threat the administration makes it seem” (“Undermining a just cause,” Feb. 20, p.4). While cooperation from Saddam Hussein must be demanded, Hans Blix has said that “successful disarmament of Iraq is possible without Baghdad’s active cooperation.” The inspection process must truly be implemented and pushed forward, not just used to provide time to get troops into position.

Hussein is a brutal murderous dictator, but there is no humanitarian justification for this war. Smart bombs still aren’t smart enough to discriminate between Hussein and a child. The United Nations has estimated 500,000 civilian casualties, at least 50 percent children, with half the population put in risk of disease and famine in the event of an invasion of Iraq. That is the population of D.C.

In the Hatchet’s Thursday editorial it was stated that “the cost of demobilizing at this point would hurt the economy more than if the war were carried out – the Bush administration has no plans of shutting down the war machine.” That is the kind of reasoning that led to World War I. Germany had deployed troops before the diplomats had finished talking and didn’t know how to bring them back. I’m skeptical as to the veracity of the suggestion that halting the war would be more expensive than going through with it, but either way, the economic inconvenience of peace does not make an unjust war just. The Iraqi people, American servicemen and women and the world deserve a real effort at diplomacy and a real effort at peace.
-Joshua Steverman
sophomore, member of GW
Students Against War in Iraq

Fix the mail
We are past the halfway point of the academic year here at GW and Mail Services has yet to organize themselves into an well-organized, timely department. After half a year (and repeated phone calls that are simply not answered by human or voicemail), Mail Services still does not have the correct label on my mailbox, we still get mail from past residents or for people across the hall and it still takes an excessive amount of time to be notified that I have a package.

Mail Services uses a mail management system managed by Pitney Bowes. Pitney Bowes was most likely chosen because it was seen as an effective management tool. We all know that a tool is simply a tool and cannot perform its intended action by itself. Mail Services simply needs to take greater initiative and get their system together so we can finally have a speedy, reliable mail system here at GW. Maybe next year my girlfriend’s Valentine will not take 10 days to get to me.
-Greg Hearn
sophomore