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February 7, 2003
MHC
Faculty Meeting Cautions U.S. Leaders Against Attack on Iraq
Faculty members present
at the February 5 faculty meeting voted to endorse a statement
opposing a preemptive military attack on Iraq. In a "sense
of the meeting" vote, the statement was endorsed seventy-four
to six. Copies of the statement have been sent to President Bush;
Massachusetts Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry; and
U.S. Representative Richard E. Neal of Springfield. The letter
was drafted and proposed by Daniel Czitrom, professor of history.
"Obviously, for many of us, this is the most pressing issue
of the day, and there"s certainly a tradition at the College
for us to consider issues of great import in the world,"
Czitrom said. Rather than adopting a neutral stance, he said,
the faculty has an obligation to speak, given the College"s
focus on global initiatives, internationalization of the curriculum,
and leadership, and its connections to "centers of influence
and power in the world." The text of the letter follows:
As Mount Holyoke College
faculty who have devoted our professional lives to teaching, scholarship,
research, and the creative arts, we are deeply dismayed by the
imminent prospect of war with Iraq. While the rationale for invasion
seems to change weekly, our own intelligence services cannot reach
consensus on the dangers currently posed by Saddam Hussein, or
on his links to Al Qaeda and the September 11 attacks. We do not
dispute that Saddam is a tyrant, but we believe a strategy based
on containment, deterrence, and continued pressure via the United
Nations would be more effective in neutralizing him than a preemptive
attack. We ask you to consider a fundamental question that we,
along with many millions of Americans, are asking: will an invasion
of Iraq make the United States more secure or less secure? Removing
Saddam from power may be easy, but dealing with the inevitable
unintended consequences that follow will not. We dread the mass
casualties and enormous suffering that even a short war threatens
for Iraqis and for American armed forces. An American led invasion
will very likely boost the recruitment efforts of Al Qaeda and
other terrorist organizations around the world. War will increase
deficits and drain more resources from an already weak economy.
Locally, we have watched the University of Massachusetts, our
partner in the Five College consortium, suffer through years of
demoralizing budget cuts. Nationally, many of our states and cities
struggle to avoid bankruptcy amidst the worst fiscal crisis since
the Great Depression. War with Iraq means diverting away even
more funding from education, health care, and the other human
needs that also define our national security. As educators and
citizens we urge you to pursue vigorously every alternative to
war before it is too late.
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