Baxter Bulletin from Mountain Home, Arkansas • 4

I I Page 4A Mountain Home, Ark. Friday, November 9, 2001 Uhc Baxter fiSullctin IpnimndDim Baxter bulletin ebitortai Poor Betty Barker Smith Publisher Sheila fC Boggess Managing Editor Thomas "Sonny" Garrett Associate Editor EDITORIAL Tell a veteran thanks Who is a veteran? A veteran is anyone who ever put their lives on hold to serve their country. When they were needed to defend freedom, liberate the oppressed, defeat tyranny, they answered the call. Not all wanted to go, to leave home and hearth behind, but they went anyway because they were needed for a higher calling. A veteran is anyone who ever chose to devote their lives to serving their country, for whom military service itself was the calling.

For these professionals, "Duty, Honor, Country" are more than just words; they're the foundation on which they dedicate their lives and careers. A veteran is someone who experiences things most people would never want to imagine. A veteran is someone who has seen things people should never have to see. Veterans have seen the worst that man can do to each other, the pain and horrors of living nightmares, the untold ways to inflict death and destruction. Yet veterans also have seen the best that man can do for each other, selfless sacrifices and endless camaraderie.

As Veterans Day approaches, it's time for us to think about how much we owe the men and women who are veterans. They are the ones who have kept freedom's light shining through war and peace. Without them and their sacrifices, where would we be today? Where would the world be? As we prepare to mark Veterans Day this Sunday, the world is different than it was two months ago. We find ourselves at war, with many of our young men and women again putting their lives on the line in a faraway land. But, unlike earlier conflicts, we have young men and women right here at home ready to put their lives on the line for our security and freedom after war touched our shores.

Veterans Day is meant to be a time for us to reflect on our veterans' sacrifices, but, more importantly, it's a time for us to express our gratitude to them, to those who have served in war and those who have served in peace. A few years ago, there was a bumper sticker that said, in effect, if you enjoyed your last meal, thank a farmer. If you enjoy your freedom, thank a veteran. tag energy independence, not war more oil still. Every additional nes77 We need WASHINGTON So you thought that Sept.

11 changed everything, that the era of game-show frivolity, "Survivor" silliness and general self-indulgence had given way to an era of seriousness. Well, not quite. Here we are, for the second time in a decade, risking American lives in a war against an enemy fueled and fed by oil money. Here we are again decrying our dependence on oil from a particularly unstable, unfriendly part of the world. Here we are in desperate need of both energy conservation and new energy production.

And here we see (Washington Post Tuesday, Oct. 30) that we may be prevented from drilling in the single most promising area on this continent because of a polar bear treaty: "New Species Enters Debate On Arctic Oil; Polar Bear Agreement Cited By Drilling Foes." Now, I like polar bears as much as the next guy. I like pandas and caribou and all the furry cuddlies on God's good earth. But I also like people, particularly Americans, and particularly American soldiers. And I do not like seeing them shot and killed in wars that would be both more avoidable and more winnable were we not so disastrously dependent on energy supplies from a nasty part of the world with nasty people who use our oil Americans are fighting.

In Washington and New York, nearly 5,000 have already been killed. Fifteen of the 19 murderers were Saudi. Their leader is Saudi. Most of their money is Saudi. And that same Saudi money funds the madrassas, the fundamentalist religious schools where poor Pakistani, Afghan and Arab children are inducted into the world of radical Islam and war against the American infidel.

And yet we bow and scrape to the Saudis. We beg and borrow. We tolerate their deflecting onto America the popular hatred that would otherwise be directed at their own corruption. Why? Because we need their oil. The war on terrorism will be fought in many places.

Alaska is one. We have known since 1973 that we need to reduce our dependence on Persian Gulf oil. But we have never been serious. It was assumed that Sept. 11 would make us serious.

Instead, we are engaged in exegeses on polar bear mating habits and a ridiculous debate that pits conservation vs. drilling. Why one and not the other is beyond me. Of course we need conservation. I have been an advocate of a dollar-a-gallon gasoline tax for 20 years.

Whatever it takes: auto efficiency standards, higher taxes, incentives for new fuels. But why stop there? We need Thanks for library support From Margie Wire and Judy Greene, Bull Shoals Library Friends fund-raiser chairmen Bull Shoals: We wish to thank all who helped make our library fund-raiser crock pot-salad luncheon on Oct. 20 a success. To Jackey Demeyer, owner of B.J.'s Place in Hardenville, Bruce Ford; Carl Straight; and Regina Granza, we say thank you for a great program of "Know Your Antiques." We thank the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hoevel-Barnett Post 1341, who opened its doors to us; and other businesses who helped us. To all who gave their time and talent, we say thank you.

Jr. ROTC auction a success From Lt Cmdr. Byron Toole, Navy Junior ROTC Senior Naval Science instructor Mountain Home: On behalf of the cadets and staff of the Mountain Home High School Navy Junior ROTC, I give a hearty thanks and "Bravo Zulu" (Well Done) to Walker Auctions and all of the contributors, auction guests, parents and cadets who made our auction a success. Thank you for your support barrel that substitutes domestic oil for foreign oil is a victory. Drilling in the Arctic will involve less than 1 percent of the Arctic Refuge.

It might produce an additional million barrels a day. The sea of natural gas beneath could be the largest in North America. And yet the Luddites stand firm as if Sept. 11 never happened. Sen.

John Kerry vows a filibuster if anyone dares legislate Arctic drilling. Imagine where we would be if those railing against Arctic drilling today had prevailed 30 years ago and stopped Prudhoe Bay. The million barrels a day we now get from Alaska would be coming from Saudi Arabia. We would be even more in their debt and under their thumb. A concerned citizenry is yearning to do something significant for the war effort on the home front.

But this is not World War II. We do not need rubber. We do not need war bonds. We do not need Rosie riveting. We desperately do need energy independence.

And that is a homefront battle: conservation and a willingness to disturb a few acres of snow in a vast wilderness as remote as Afghanistan. There's a war on, senators. Let's get serious. 2001 The Washington Post Writers Group hijab may be proof that Muslim Americans are still seen as "others," as "different." But the intense feelings that surround what the women wear reflect and echo the enormous symbolic importance that most cultures place on women's bodies and the way they are clothed. In the secular world, we've seen passionate arguments throughout history over hoop skirts and bloomers, miniskirts and pants suits.

In the religious world, we often judge what's inside a woman's head by what's on her head, whether it's a nun's wimple or an Orthodox Jew's wig or a Muslim's scarf. Women carry enormous symbolic weight on their backs. "In many societies, if there is a form of traditional dress, it's worn by women," says Brenner. "Women's bodies and women's dress are marked in a way that men's are not." In some places, indeed, they are marked by men. The reality is that most women around the world wear cultural and sexual messages from head to toe.

What then is the difference between oppressed, repressed, depressed women and free women? It's not having a head scarf; it's having a choice. Ellen Goodman's e-mail address is ellengoodman globe.com. 2001 The Boston Globe Newspaper Co. Women carry symbolic weight on their backs Charles Krauthammer money for nasty purposes. At a time when Washington should be working on a crash program of conservation and new drilling, a six year-old report from the Fish and Wildlife Service is leaked in the hope that a 28-year-old polar bear treaty might derail drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The outrage! "This is a classic Bush administration strategy of running roughshod over international agreements," charged Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity and leaker of the report. The Interior Department stoutly maintains that the polar bear agreement does not prohibit oil exploration! Alaska's Sen. Frank Murkowski points out that the 25,000 or so Arctic polar bears that he represents seem to be quite happily lolling around the existing oil drilling in Alaska. too, have little doubt that the polar bears will do fine, just as the caribou have thrived around the Prudhoe Bay field. But the whole debate is surreal.

We are at war, are we not? Ellen Goodman a journey from pre-med to sociology to religious studies. A second woman, Melinda Mott Krokus, Massachusetts-born and raised, began wearing the hijab when she was studying in Turkey, where some women praised her scarf and others said, "take that thing off." Back home, Melinda no longer covers her head because, she now believes, "in my culture modesty is not connected to my hair." The third, Pali Kakar, wore a hijab in her Islamic school in Seattle but not in Pakistan, where she went with her parents U.N. doctors. Today she is wearing a brown scarf, embossed with the designer name Versace, tied at the back of her neck. These three graduate students in religion are by no means "typical" Muslim women, but that is the point They insist there is no typical, although there certainly is stereo typicaL In Islam, it turns out there is no uniform cover and no single reason for covering.

The Koran has no rule that women wear a blue burqa or a black chador, a veil or hijab. There is an THANK-YOU LETTERS POLICY The "Thank-You Notes" column is limited to brief (less than 150 words) letters from or about non-profit, charitable or community service events or organizations or about people helping people. Letters of a commercial nature and personal messages such as "In Memoriums" and "Cards of Thanks" are referred to the advertising department. Long lists of sponsors may be edited down for space considerations and to maintain the non-commercial nature of this column. Letters to the editor, opinion and editorial columns, and articles submitted to The Baxter Bulletin may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.

Send thank-you letters to Letters to the Editor, The Baxter Bulletin, P.O. Box 1750, Mountain Home, AR 72654, faxed (870-508-8020) or e-mailed (lettersbaxterbulletin.com) injunction to dress "modestly," but modest dress is defined in that murky interface between culture and religion. So in today's Afghanistan, women forced under the blue burqa are punished for exposing an immodest ankle. Meanwhile in Tunisia, women are forbidden to wear a head scarf in school. In one society, the chador is worn by the upper class and in another, by the backward class.

A covered head may be a symbol of rebellion in Indonesia and conservatism in Saudi Arabia. In our own country, where some wear the hijab out of tradition or identity or as a daily connection to religion, there are endless internal and external debates among educated Muslim women. Is a covered head proof of piety or even modesty? As Pali says, speaking for all three students, "A woman can be immodest and wear a hijab or be modest and not wear one." Is the scarf then a clue to women's second-class citizenship? As Melinda says, "It can put you down or raise you up." Indeed in America, there is even a modified feminist argument. Anthropologist Suzanne Brenner at the University of California at San Diego says to her students, "It's not clear to me that wearing a head scarf is more oppressive to women than high heels and miniskirts." All these reactions to the BOSTON "I've been called oppressed and depressed and repressed and every other kind of pressed you can imagine," says Milia Islam, as she counts off the adjectives with an amused smile. The subject of such "pressing" concern is the head scarf that the young Missouri woman wears over her hair.

The scarf, better known as the hijab, the Arabic word meaning "to cover or screen," identifies Milia publicly as a Muslim. So, it has become more than a curiosity in the weeks since Americans began an intensive course in Islam 101. After Sept 11, many American Muslim women experienced their own kind of "profiling." Some put aside the hijab out of fear. Some had it pulled off their hair by angry strangers. Others were merely labeled "oppressed, depressed, repressed." Milia is one of three American Muslim women, all graduate students at the Harvard Divinity School, whom I have talked with about the head cover that has taken on such heightened meaning.

A 22-year-old whose head is covered this day in an olive print scarf pinned under the chin, she was born in Bangladesh and raised in the only Muslim family in her small Missouri town. She started wearing a hijab in college, where the reactions of others sent her on Established 1901 The Baxter Bulletin www.baxterbulletin.com Mountain Home, Baxter County, Arkansas 72653 Betty Barker Smith Publisher Sheila K. Boggess Kellv freudenspnmg Managing Editor Advertising Director Mary Koenemann Thomas Garrett City Editor Associate Editor The Baxter Bulletin (USPS 045-520 ISSN 0745-7707) is published each morning. Monday through Saturday, by Baxter County Newspapers, Inc. 16 West 6th Street Mountain Home, AR 72653.

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