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WORLD AND LOCAL NEWS
Iraq Investigations Progressing Despite Some Discord
By Mikhia Hawkins
Staff Writer
Since the passing of the
United Nations Security
Council resolution on Iraq
after U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan's meeting with
Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein, there has been a
virtual frenzy of diplomatic
efforts to ensure a peaceful
resolution of the situation.
But the threat of war still
subsists.
The collective voice of
Congress has conveyed an
apprehension towards the
U.N. deal that is salient
throughout both congressional
houses.
Many congressmen have
expressed their concerns over
the effectiveness of the deal,
contending that it may not
allow sufficient efforts to
thoroughly inspect alleged
Iraqi weapons-sites. In the
eyes of many, the resolution
was a victory for Iraq.
On March 11, the
Washington Times reported that
a group of Republican
senators headed by Majority
Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.)
appended a $38 million
package for Iraqi opponents of
Hussein to the stalled
conference report ont h e
fiscal 1998-99
State
Department
authorization
bill.
On March
13, the U.S.
S e n a t
unanimously
passed a
trial.
Allegations of the use of
chemical and biological
weapons against Iranians and
Iraqis during the Iran-Iraq war
of the 1980's constitute the
subject of the Senate
resolutions.
Such weapons were the
focus of failed attempts by the
A J
U.N. to inspect Iraqi
weapons-testing sites. Iraq's
unwillingness to permit the
inspections prompted the
recent U.N.-Iraq negotiations.
The bill was first
introduced in
1991by Senator
resolution calling on the
United Nations War Crimes
Tribunal to bring Hussein to
Arlen Spector.
The United
Nations will
address the
Senate
resolution
and is
expected
to give
an initial
response
in a matter of days.
During a meeting with
Annan on Marchll, President
Clinton reasserted his stance
on the Iraqi situation, stating
that "the [U.N.) resolution
gives us the authority to take
whatever actions are
necessary" if Iraq does not
comply with it. But Clinton
added that the U.S. would
consult with the United
Nations before any further
action against Iraq is taken.
Nearly all fifteen Security
Council members have
insisted that the U.N. allow the
United States to engage in
military actions against Iraq if
it violates the resolution,
which stipulates the demand
for unhindered U.N.
inspections for suspected
weapons of mass destruction.
Following Annan's visit to
Iraq, several "normal"
inspections, led by U.N.
Weapons inpector Scott Ritter,
have been executed.
In accordance with the
U.N. Resolution, the U.N.
Special Commision
(UNSCOM) are in the process
of organizing a new team of
inspectors, led by Sri Lankan
U.N. Arms Commissioner
Jayantha Dhanapala. The
team will be responsible for
the inspections of
controversial "presidential
sites" where UNSCOM
believes material related to
prohibited arms are hidden.
Dhanapala was quoted as
saying that the United Nations
wanted to implement its
agreement with Iraq "as soon
as possible," to avoid the
possibility of another war.
In the latest news, U.N.
weapons inspectors
conducted their first-ever
search of one of Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein's palace
compounds Thursday,
accompanied by senior
diplomats whose presence
cleared their way into the
previously off-limits sites.
One diplomat, Horst
Holthoff of Germany,
described Iraqi cooperations
as "fantastic, absolutely
positive."
Still Separate and Unequal: 30 Years after Kemer Report, Some Say Racial Divide Wider
By Saeed Ahmed
Contributing Writer
Thirty years ago, a
presidential commission
warned America that it was
facing a racial crisis, becoming
"two societies: one black, one
white — separate and
unequal."
Thirty years later, that
dire prediction has come true.
So claims a new report to be
released April 1.
According to the report —
prepared by the Milton S.
Eisenhower Foundation to
coincide with the anniversary
of the Kerner Commission
findings - the economic and
racial divide in the country
today is greater than it ever
was.
"While leaders and
pundits talk of full
employment, inner city
unemployment is at crisis
levels. The rich are getting
richer, the poor are getting
poorer, and minorities are
suffering disproportionately,"
reads the document from the
foundation.
The report, entitled "The
Millenium Breach," cites a
mountain of statistics as
evidence to support its
findings:
The national unemploment
rate is below 5 percent, but
unemployment for young
African-American men in
places like south-central
Los Angles have topped
30 percent.
The national incarceration
rate of black men is four
times higher than the
same rate in South Africa
under apartheid.
• The country's poverty rate
is four times the average
of western European
countries.
• And of the 43 percent of
minority children
attending public schools,
more than half are poor
and more that two-thirds
fail to reach basic levels of
national tests
The report recommends
some $56 billion in societal
changes, including expanding
programs like Head Start. It
also recommends reducing
spending in ineffective
programs, cutting corporate
welfare and military spending.
The report urges
continuing commitment to
measures that work,
including: after-school youth
centers, school-to-work
programs, job training, inner
city economic development
and crime and drug
prevention.
Emphasis should be taken
off things that don't work, it
says, including: enterprise
zones, prison construction,
boot camps, and supply-side
economics, which gives tax
breaks for the rich and
corporations in the hope that
the money will trickle down to
poorer socioeconomic groups.
However, not every
minority leader agrees with
the foundation's findings.
Robert S. Woodson Sr., an
African-American
conservative who heads the
National Center for
Neighborhood Enterprise,
accused the report's authors of
being "stuck in the '60s" and
offering recommendations too
general to be useful.
Woodson says the number
of black families earning
between $35,000 and $70,000
annually doubled between
1970 and 1990, even though
the number of black families
earning less than $15,000 more
than doubled during the same
time frame.
"Racism and discrimination
still exist. But they aren't the
biggest problems facing blacks
in America today. The real
issue is the growing economic
rift within the black
community," he said.
The critic of the most
recent report on race divisions
in our society says Americans
need to change their mantra.
"If we keep banging the
drum of racism, we will never
find a way to close this
economic rift. After all, if
racism were the culprit, why
haven't all blacks been affected
in the same way?" Woodson
said.
ate’s lone remaining
building and 12.5 acres last month with plans to open a new
chapter of the school. Her mother, Vivian Ayers Allen, was
a member of the school’s final graduating class in 1939.
Rashad says she plans to work with graduates of the
school and community leaders to restore the buildings and
grounds of the now run-down and overgrown school
compound.
- Saeed Ahmed
“The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer,
and minorities are suffering disproportionately,” reads the
document
