UNC professors discuss economics of war

American studies professor Rachel Willis said she thinks sending soldiers to Iraq wastes years of effort that the government has put into educating and nurturing people.

Those people have no choice but to enter the military because of economic reasons, she said.

“There might not be a draft, but there is an economic draft going on,” Willis said.

Willis was one of three professors who discussed the implications of the ongoing war in Iraq and the global impact the war has had in a panel discussion Monday.

The event, coordinated by the Office of Scholarship and Student Aid, included Willis, law professor Gene Nichol and history professor Sarah Shields.

While the panel was intended to be nonpartisan, the views presented were mostly anti-war.

Willis said her experiences while living in Japan, where her father was stationed during the Vietnam War, helped her understand the consequences of war.

Her mother spent three years in a military hospital in Japan that was used as a stop-station for severely wounded soldiers. At the hospital, Willis said she got to know the soldiers personally and truly understand the tragedies that war brings.

Nichol, who focused on the war’s effects on individual freedoms, said that the war has taken away civil liberties in the U.S. and abroad.

The Bush administration promoted a policy, known as the preemption doctrine, in which the U.S. can attack any country, even if that country presents no immediate threat, Nichol said.

“It is at odds with the best sense of Americanism and at odds with what we believe as an international community,” Nichol said. “It is my hope that the preemption doctrine does not survive past the Bush administration.”

Andrea Martin, a UNC alumna who attended the discussion, said that she came to the event to stay informed about the war because her boyfriend is in the U.S. Army.

“I try to stay as informed as I can for his sake and also so that I can look at the war objectively,” Martin said.

Kari Dahlgren, who helped organize the panel, said they are putting on a series of programs before the election that deal with different political issues.

“We try to focus on specific issues that are being overshadowed by the media,” Dahlgren said.

On Oct. 21, the program will sponsor a screening of the film “Body of War,” followed by a presentation by one of the film’s directors, Phil Donahue.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.