This report deals
with the different attitudes to war students have. Our results are based on the
reactions of 92 people in four classes.
We were asked to answer 3 questions about the
possible military intervention against Iraq. The idea of the questionnaire was
proposed by the delegate students
during the Comenius Planning Conference between October 5 and 9 in Montargis.
The answers will be shared by each school
participating in the Comenius project. As a consequence we will be able to
compare and discuss the reactions to this current topic in the partner
countries.
First of all we were asked to give out our
opinions about the danger represented by Iraq. A sizeable proportion ( 1/3)
of the group did not know or was not sure this country was a threat to
the world's peace. As a matter of fact, very few people agreed strongly that
Iraq was a danger, because we know very little about the political regime, the
population's needs, the situation...We only see pictures on TV. This shows that
in our classes,; most students don't judge on what TV show. Moreover, even
America experts don't know the answer to this question.
47 people in the group ( 51 %) thought that war
against Iraq was not a necessity because war is never a good solution.
Only 7 people ( 7.6%) definitely said that war was a
necessity.
To finish with, we had to say what could be the
following consequences of such a war. Nearly everybody believed that there could
be terrorist attacks of reprisal and an extension of the conflicts to other
parts of the Middle Est. Then, most of us fear the use of nuclear chemical or
biological weapons.
25 people suggested a possible oil shortage and
increased economic difficulties.
A very small amount of people , apparently a little
bit naive claimed that possible war could bring about a more humane regime in
Iraq. And as an evidence, nobody thought that
the a war could bring about an increase respect for the UN. Someone told
us of another possible consequence : that the gap between developed and
developing countries could get wider and wider, and that hatred against "
northern " countries could reach an alarming level.
In general, we can observe that few students in our
groups are sure that Iraq is dangerous. The people who simply agree to this
affirmation are as numerous as the ones who disagree: even so, they
only represent a minority.
Nobody wants a war between Iraq and the UN because
the consequences would be terrible. There are so many terrorist acts daily that
we don't want anymore. For the USA, victory is a necessity and the entire world is sure that they won't
hesitate to use biological or chemical weapons, maybe even the nuclear bomb,
which is undoubtedly unacceptable.