.. • .. • New Peace Gives Way to War The world had been celebrating peace for almost a year. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the liberation of countries behind the Iron Curtain heralded the collapse of communism. A spirit of camaraderie developed between the United States and the Soviet Union. But while those in the West were celebrating this new peace, a dictator in the East threatened the world balance of power. For on August 2 while the West slept, Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded the tiny, oil-rich country of Kuwait. World reaction to the crisis was swift and severe. The United Nations Security Council condemned the invasion and called for the unconditional withdrawal of Iraq from Kuwait. The United States froze Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets and initiated an economic embargo. On August 7 President George Bush ordered reserve troops into Saudi Arabia to counter a growing Iraqi threat. Other countries, including Great Britain, France and Italy, along with an Arab coalition, supported the United States with troops and weapons in what was named "Operation Desert Shield." than 180 names were submitted. The bombing of Baghdad and America's official entry into a war called "Operation Desert Storm" began on January 16 following Hussein's refusal to leave Kuwait by the January 15 deadline decreed by the U.N. Security Council. Most students heard of the bombings after the Wednesday night church service in Benson Auditorium. The news, announced by Dr. David Burks, stunned students into an eerie silence, unlike the happy chatter usually following the service. But while there was fear for family overseas, most students felt relieved by the military action. "The week before the fifteenth, I was nervous about the uncertainty of the situation," said Alen Busby, a junior from West Memphis, AR whose brother-in-law was fighting in the war. "But the night of the sixteenth, I felt a sense of resolve that it had started. Now we can deal with it." With the war came new fears; fears not only for our soldiers in t he Gulf, but also for our citizens abroad and at home as terrorist activity from radical groups of being drafted in light of rules that allowed deferments only for high school students and college seniors. "All the guys are confronted with thoughts of the draft, and we joke about moving to Canada," Busby said. "But it makes you stop and think what's really worth dying for." Thinking, hoping and praying were all that families in the States could do while their loved ones fought in the war. Students crowded around the television in the student center each day to learn the latest details of the conflict. For Holly Holton , letters were her only contact with her father , a colonel who left for Saudi Arabia aft er Thanksgiving. " I got a letter today, it was dated December 31. He seemed in good spirits and said he wished he had been home for Christmas," said Hilton, a freshman from Camp Lejeune, N.C. "When I was little I used to worry about my dad going away all the time. But now I feel like he does: when your country calls you up for duty, you go. It 's part of your job," Hilton said. Hilton said she has her father 's address , and she writes him "When I was little I used to worry about my dad going away all the time. But now I feel like he does: when your country calls you up for duty, you go. It's part of your job." As the conflict in the Persian Gulf escalated, America began to feel its affects. Newspapers and television programs depicted the departure of thousands of reservists who left families and friends behind anxiously waiting and praying for their return. Students and faculty at Harding University did not escape the anxiety. Several students were sent to Saudi Arabia immediately, while other students and faculty remained here on-call. Students showed their support of the troops by wearing yellow ribbons and scrawling messages of peace on the windows of campus buildings. In a special prayer service in chapel, students went forward to write the names of friends and relatives involved in the conflict; more 36 First Impressions became a real possibility, and the threat of a prolonged war like Vietnam loomed ahead of us. Protest groups, some containing members of groups from the 1960's peace movement, sprang up all over the nation, though the general feelings toward the war, in its .early stages, were positive. "There is a degree of concern, but not hostility, because there is no draft," said Mark Elrod, assistant professor of political science. "People are not being sent over to do something they did not volunteer to do. The objectives this time are a little more clear." Though President Bush had pledged not to initiate the draft until the nearly one million reservists had been sent, young men on campus discussed their chances telling him she hopes the war ends soon. In the meantime Americans held on to hopes for a quick resolution. "My mom told me that my home congregation invited people from all denominations for a special service," Busby said. "The church was filled. Different preachers got up and spoke and at the end, everyone joined hands and sang 'Blest Be the Tie that Binds.' I think after the 80's we needed something to shake us up," he continued. "We took too much for granted. We need to remember what we have - and sometimes we have to fight for the right to keep it." by Kathleen Eyman
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