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By KASIA KOPEC kkopec@leader.net
Friday, March 21, 2003 Page: 8A
A month ago, when military action in Iraq appeared likely but was still
uncertain, Molly Ramsey of Larksville insisted the events unfolding we’re not
war, or even a prelude to war.
“It’s a military conflict,” she said at the time. “War is ugly. It’s
down and dirty, bloody, hand-to-hand combat like you saw in World War II.
Today, it’s strategic and high-tech.”
Ramsey, whose husband, Bill, a 23-year Army man who served in the first
Persian Gulf War, talked about how computers, satellites and precision
weaponry have revolutionized the way battles are fought. She said modern
conflicts are about who is smartest, not who is strongest.
Martin Slann, director of academic affairs at Penn State Wilkes-Barre and
the author of several books and articles on the Middle East and terrorism,
said Ramsey is right regarding her assessment of modern conflict and in her
insistence that this is not a war.
“Conflict is cleaner now,” Slann said. “It’s pin-pointed and strategic.
Moreover, you can’t have a war unless Congress declares war and that hasn’t
happened since Dec. 10, 1941.”
Sister Barbara Craig, who works with the Peace Center in Wilkes-Barre, said
she adamantly disagrees with the use of the word “conflict” to describe
what’s going on in Iraq.
“We resolve conflicts with words,” she said. “Just because this war is
high-tech doesn’t mean for one minute all those innocent Iraqis won’t be
killed, and it doesn’t mean our own men and women in the armed forces won’t be
sacrificed.
“It just nauseates me to hear people talk about how clean war is. We just
don’t see the collateral damage.”
Moreover, Craig said, President Bush has repeatedly used the word “war.”
“Two minutes after the planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the
president was talking about how we’re fighting a war against terror,” she
said. “And he’s done a wonderful job convincing people Iraq had something to
do with Sept. 11, when the truth is there’s no connection whatsoever.
“The hijackers were Saudi, but the Saudis are our friends. They’re
cooperating in the war against terror.”
This week, as the moment of confrontation loomed close at hand, Ramsey
conceded war, which she called a vulgar word, isn’t out of the question.
“If you think of it in terms of an arrow flying through the air, I think
it’s getting closer to the point at which we’ll be at war,” she said. “This
may sound crass, but when your talking about bombing runs and pilots flying
Blackhawks, or whatever, in my mind that’s conflict.
“But when you’re talking about involving ground troops, tanks, aircraft,
the Navy, all of that, I think that’s war.”
Kasia Kopec, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7436.