Prevailing View on Iraq at Pomona Ignores the Reality of Saddam's Threat
By Conor Friedersdorf
Contributing Writer

While Pomona has raised the issue of war with Iraq, it has not meaningfully engaged that issue. The community has concluded that the United States should not take action against Iraq. Admittedly, there are compelling arguments against war. But that conclusion was more informed by a knee-jerk reaction toward the liberal position than by careful analysis of the issue and successful challenges to contrary arguments.

In Ivory Coast Conflict, U.S. Recuse is for First-World Citizens Only
By Kevin Paulraj
Opinions Writer

On September 19 military officers led a coup against the national government from the central Ivory Coast city of Bouake. At least 270 people have been killed in the conflict. Consider a sample of recent headlines from CNN.com. September 23: "200 schoolchildren and staffers—including 160 American students—remained trapped Monday in a boarding school." What makes these 200 school children "worthy" of rescuing is their nationality. But what about other children in other schools, those who do not hold a U.S. or French passport?

TSL, WASC, CCLA, SYR in Massive Conspiracy to Replace Real Life with PACs, Hip-Hop
By David Lydon
Opinions Writer

Reading through this week’s TSL (which, by the time you read this, will have become last week’s TSL as part of the same natural process of renewal that has recently incinerated our mountains), I couldn’t help but notice firstly that the WASC (The Western Association of Schools and Colleges) seems to have come down pretty hard on Pomona recently and, secondly, that TSL’s Editorial Board seems to have come down pretty hard on snack at Frank.

Oil Interests, Not Defense, are Motives Behind Bush's Iraq Policy
By Cory Forsyth
Opinions Writer

The primary difference between the Gulf War and the younger Bush’s attempt to start another one is that, in the early nineties, Hussein provoked us by invading Kuwait (which in turn threatened our precious oil, which really provoked us). But these days, he’s done nothing wrong. Well, nothing new that’s wrong. Why hasn’t the Bush administration taken this opportunity to obviate a new war? Perhaps because there’s more to it than just the Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Pretext for War on Iraq is Questionable
By Anthony Barboza
Opinions Writer

According to Saul Landau, a recent speaker at Pomona’s International Relations Colloquium, the Bush administration is pursuing a war in Iraq on the grounds of two claims that have yet to be substantiated: one, that the country is developing chemical and biological weapons, and two, that the Iraqi government has direct ties to Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. The first claim is not very strong, especially given that it relies on only dubious evidence of Iraqi chemical-weapons capabilities. The second claim, that Iraq has ties to Al Qaeda, is no more substantial than the first.