Unsubstantiated

While it is always a tragedy for any girl – regardless of nationality – to be killed asserting her right to protest (which incidentally is not recognized in the Palestinian-controlled parts of the West Bank), Bernard Pollack’s column “Remembering Rachel Corrie’s plight” (March 27, p. 4) irresponsibly concluded that an Israeli bulldozer ran over her twice in an effort to kill her.

When the Associated Press first reported the story, it posted a picture showing Corrie holding a megaphone and dressed in orange in clear view of a bulldozer. But by the photographer’s own account, this picture was taken more than a couple of hours before her death. The accident did not happen until after 5 p.m. By that time, Corrie gave up her megaphone and sat on the ground in front of another bulldozer. I’m not an expert in heavy machinery, but I do know it is possible the driver did not see Corrie.

The source of this information is not a supporter of this incident, but Joseph Smith, an eyewitness and member of the Pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, who took the Associated Press picture and posted his observations at http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1284.shtml.

I was not there. But neither was Mr. Pollack. While I agree with the bulk of the column’s message, until we know for sure with whom the blame lies, Pollack should be more careful about putting unsubstantiated conjectures presented as facts in his opinions.

-Jason Steinhardt, class of 2002

Time to use rights

After viewing the news coverage of the U.S. offensive against Iraq continually for the past few days, I feel compelled to respond to many viewers who wrote in to voice their support of President Bush and his war. An overwhelming number of Americans seem to believe that now the war has finally begun, the protesting needs to end and the American public needs to yield their full support to the president and the U.S. troops. One college student on MTV expressed dismay that, “The protesters are making the U.S. look so divided. How will the world perceive us if the American public isn’t even supporting the president?”

To this young woman, it is hypocritical and undemocratic to think that we can impose certain rights and liberties in a country through the use of force, yet stifle them within our own nation just so we can convey a false sense of American unity to the world. The biggest threat to democracy is when our own president discounts the efforts of millions of American protestors by brushing them off as a “focus group,” stressing that “the role of a leader is to decide policy based upon the security of the people,” rather than the will of the people. Rather than yielding, this is a time when our voices need to be heard louder than ever and when we should be practicing our democratic right to protest the war with the most determination.

-Amna Arshad, junior, president, Muslim Students Association

Elevator scare

At about 1 a.m. on Tuesday, I was thirsty so I took a break to get a drink. I walked the five flights of stairs down to the basement of International House, bought a Diet Coke and decided to take the elevator back upstairs. I swiped my card and pressed up, watching the little mechanical floor indicators twitch and spin to random numbers, like some sort of schizophrenic slot machine. The door opened and I stepped in, barely noticing the elevator bouncing under my relatively small 160 pounds of weight. I pressed “4,” and the door closed. I waited for it to move, and a few seconds later, as if sensing my mounting impatience, it lurched up, bucking and creaking. Horrible gnashing and crunching noises, peaking with a nearly painful metallic grinding whine in the vicinity of the second floor, accompanied the jerking to form what, to the uninitiated, must be quite the terrifying and nauseating experience.

For International House residents, it is routine, and I did not even blink. I watched as the elevator passed the fourth floor and seemed to settle on the fifth, only to drop alarmingly in what felt like a free fall, and then catch itself moments later. This maneuver did take me by surprise – generally when the elevator is planning to drop alarmingly it carries residents to the ninth floor, regardless of what they have pressed, and then drops before going to the correct floor and opening. It has become somewhat of an early warning system. Could someone please fix this? If I am to fall to a lonely death in an elevator shaft, I should like to be warned at least three floors in advance, rather than be surprised. I am paying nearly $1,000 a month to live here, after all.

-Ben Williams, sophomore