Story of the Moment

The Black Widow & The Brown Recluse | home

Story of the Moment

The Story of the Moment comes from:

Mark Esté

Ingram, Texas

Mark A. Esté was born Sept 17, 1984 in Clarksville, Tennessee. After living in Tennessee for 5 years, Mark moved to Hunt Texas with his family. Growing up in the Hill Country, Mark gained a unique knowledge of the world. His strong passion for music has inspired him look outside the box and go further in life. Throughout high school, he was involved in many organizations such as Interact, PALS, and Speech and Debate. During this, Mark decided that for his future goal he would go into broadcasting to hopefully reach a broad media and help make a difference. He will be attending the University of Texas in the fall of 2003, and majoring in Communications-Radio/Television/Film.

I know Mark as a talented actor and writer from Ingram Tom Moore High School. It is especially fortuitous that we receive this work from him to help initiate our inclusion in the WordsWork Program and our association with Mark's Ingram Tom Moore High School.

-- tony gallucci, 14 March 2003

The media states that war is inevitable. But what exactly is the deciding reason for America to initiate war with Iraq? Is it because they have a refusal to comply with U.N. imposed sanctions, or the fact that Iraq is home a large number of the world’s oil reserves? If the United States declares war on Iraq, it will forever portray us as a greedy, overpowering, abusive nation.

Many people my age have grown up under the impression that Iraq and Saddam Hussein are evil due to the fact that we were only in kindergarten during the Persian Gulf War. This situation is completely different though. During that time, we sent forces over to the Middle East because Iraq was invading Kuwait. This was a war over the fact that people were being killed and the U.S. was able to keep casualties to a minimum. We had the backing from the United Nations and member countries. Operation Desert Storm was a struggle to stop the killing of separate innocent nations and U.N. was aware of this. Directly after, the U.N. imposed sanctions against Iraq to ban weapons of mass destruction in the region. Over the next ten years, the U.N. was in and out of Iraq trying to get Hussein to comply with weapons inspectors. No direct American military action was taken during this time except for a couple air strikes sent during President Clinton’s second term. Ironically these attacks took place very close to the time that Clinton went before the Grand Jury and during his impeachment process. The lack of cooperation with weapons inspectors is what brought Iraq to the forefront of the media in 2002. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Collin Powell started lobbying to the United Nations for support on an American led war on Iraq. The U.N. did not support this resolution and other American allies such as France also opposed this position. In late 2002 U.N. weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix once again went into Iraq to look for weapons violations. Although the Iraqi parliament unanimously voted against the return of the inspectors, Hussein vetoed this decision and allowed for the inspectors to return. This brings us up to today.

As of early March, the status has not changed very much. The weapons inspectors are still in Iraq searching. So far all they have been able to find is traces of former So far the U.N. has denied any support with the U.S. on a war with Iraq. Yet, President Bush is still setting deadlines for war.

So with America being the only country that wants to go ahead and attack, how does this make our country look? It looks as though we’re going behind the back of the UN and distancing our country from being an equal in the organization. The Bush administration claims that the war is over weapons and U.N. regulations. If our government is so concerned about the breaking of United Nations’ policies, then why don’t we wait until we have the backing of the U.N? The fact is that Iraq is home to a number of the world’s oil reserves. Whether they pose a threat or not, it is George Bush’s primary goal to take control or at least secure these reserves. The administration is merely riding the patriotic high of the post September 11th America and using it through the media to create other foreign enemies, although none of which have been recorded to attack or plan to attack American soil.

If the President’s main concern is homeland security then look at the facts. The Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine massacre, and Beltway Sniper killings were all three initiated by American citizens. Two of which were retired American soldiers, from the previous war with Iraq. The largest terrorist act was enforced by the al Queda terrorist party, from Afghanistan. That’s where our military focus should be. Many critics state that President George Bush didn’t get the job done during the Gulf War. If we don’t focus on disassembling al Queda, then they may be saying the same about his son. If the first Bush would have taken care of business then we wouldn’t be in the situation that we are now.

The administration claims that the war will be quick and casualties will be left to a minimum. But that seems almost impossible. If it were possible then why doesn’t the US just go ahead and do it? Why is the government so concerned about France’s and others support? The fact of the matter is that even if there is a quick war and Hussein is killed, it won’t end there. Another tyrant could easily fill his place and his first order of business would be to avenge America’s actions. Our focus should be the war on groups that have actually committed terrorist acts, not those who have the capabilities.

In conclusion, the best idea would be to wait until there is U.N. support for the attacks so we know this is a war over the general will and not America’s prospering economy. If the U.S. decides to take action, then we deny everything that the UN is based on. We must look at the future and realize the possible consequences for going at this alone. The ends do not always justify the means.