Full Disclosure
On Tuesday, the United States special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalizad, said that further bombing of Afghanistan was necessary to ensure a lasting defeat of the Taliban and al-Qaida.
We support the air strikes. At this stage in the rebuilding process, America's military presence is no less important to the embattled nation than political and economic support. The use of force should continue until we are confident that terrorist regimes have no future in Afghanistan.
With sustained aggression comes the unavoidable loss of innocent lives. That inevitability is always difficult to confront. However far from home, though, the loss of human life is still tragic and cannot be ignored in the broader mission of rooting terrorism from Afghanistan.
The Pentagon has asked U.S. citizens and allies to be ready for civilian casualties. But in apparent self-contradiction, the typical response of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other military leaders to allegations of civilian deaths has been curt disavowal. Rhetoric has prepared America for the unsightly consequences of war, yet the nation isn't being allowed to face them.
It is time to stop accepting the Pentagon's word at face value and push harder for evidence that will substantiate the denials. It's only fair that the military be held to the same standards as the journalists alleging its mistakes.
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Residents of Norwich and Hanover are currently considering two plans for the renovation or replacement of the middle and high schools that the towns' joint school district uses.
One option would involve Dartmouth giving land on Lyme Road for the construction of two new schools while purchasing their current site in downtown Hanover for $18.7 million.
The other option, which would cost taxpayers an extra $13 million and would directly involve Dartmouth, calls for the on-site renovation of Hanover High and the creation of a new middle school away from the downtown.
Of the two alternatives, the one involving a generous contribution by Dartmouth is the most beneficial not only for the residents of the Dresden School District, but also for the College. The district's students will get the best possible facility -- the point of the whole exercise, after all -- and the College stands to gain much-needed land close to the main campus for faculty housing, offices and athletic fields.
Arguments in favor of the other plan largely amount to territorialism, concern that the College would breach the "integrity of the town," as one Hanover man put it. Residents of Hanover and Norwich must recognize what Dartmouth apparently already has: that the interests of the Upper Valley and the interests of the College are closely intertwined.
