Parallax

Week in Review Desk | Sept. 23, 2001

Identify Yourself

Terrorist attacks are making Americans more wary of outsiders than they have been in decades-- and are having profound implications for debate over what it means to be an American. Assimilation of immigrants was long viewed as a process of subtraction. Newcomers displayed their loyalty by discarding language and customs of their native lands. Not until the 1960's was it possible for immigrants to adhere to their cultural heritages; now, however, not only is the drive for unity bound to tilt the nation's ethnic balance back in favor of American side of the hyphen, it could permanently undermine multiculturalism. American national identity is not based on shared ancestry or common ethnic heritage. Though it has become a dirty word in the past few decades, assimilation has long been the basis of citizenship. Because America is a nation of immigrants, its history was a constant struggle by outsiders seeking to become insiders. Yet America's very diversity always made it particularly uncomfortable with the idea of the ''other."

Editorial Desk | Sept. 11, 2002

Securing Freedom's Triumph By George W. Bush

...America's people and its government are responding decisively to the challenges of our changed world. We are committed to defending our society against current and emerging threats. And we are determined to stand for the values that gave our nation its birth.... We seek a just peace where repression, resentment and poverty are replaced with the hope of democracy, development, free markets and free trade. Economic freedom is the only source of national wealth.... Social and political freedom is the only source of national greatness. Today, humanity holds in its hands the opportunity to further freedom's triumph over all its age-old foes. The United States welcomes its responsibility to lead in this great mission.

Editorial Desk | Sept.1, 2002

Dancing With Dictators

For a nation that honors democracy and freedom, the United States has a nasty habit of embracing foreign dictators when they seem to serve American interests. It is one of the least appealing traits of American foreign policy. Like his predecessors, President Bush is falling for the illusion that tyrants make great allies. If Mr. Bush is not careful, Washington will spend years mopping up after the inevitable foreign policy disasters that come of befriending autocrats who maintain a stranglehold on their own people.

National Desk | Sept.12, 2002

Military Stays Popular, for Travel and School

War is on their minds: the war on terrorism, the threat of war in Iraq, the possibility of combat.

But across the country, new military recruits and others considering enlisting say their more immediate concern is surviving in the civilian world. Despite a wave of interest immediately after last Sept.11, military officials say new recruits are influenced less by renewed patriotism than by traditional motivations: seeing the world, paying for college, earning a ticket out of a poor neighborhood. Mr. Brock said that he had done odd jobs since graduating from high school a couple of years ago, and that with his younger brother in college, their mother, a single parent, could not afford to help both pay for school. He hopes to attend college through the military and said he was not ''really worried'' about combat because he figured that servicemen with more experience would be the first to go.

National Desk | April 1, 1997

Women in the Marines Join the Firing Line

More than 100 female Marine privates for first time shoot live ammunition from heavy weapons in combat training at Camp Lejeune, NC, in fall of yet another barrier limiting role of women in military; many express pride and joy at playing role in pioneering moment. Pvt. Tabatha Allen, of Reno, took careful aim with her MK-19 grenade launcher, then fired off four rounds. Down range, the carcass of an old tank exploded in flash and fury: four direct hits.

''That was exhilarating,'' Private Allen said moments later.

National Desk | June 22, 2003

Balancing Their Duty To Family and Nation

Brian Schofield says he had to choose between serving his country and saving his family's dry-cleaning business. His country won. Mr. Schofield, a master sergeant in the Minnesota Air National Guard, was called up three days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He has been on active duty ever since. His job, helping guard an Air Force base in St. Paul, took him away from home for so long, he said, that he and his wife could no longer run the dry-cleaning store they owned.