In Print & On the Air

SCOTTY McLENNAN, dean for religious life, argued against the United States waging war on Iraq in a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed piece Feb. 10. McLennan noted that President George W. Bush, in his State of the Union address, appeared to be making reference to the "just war" criteria articulated for almost 2,000 years by the Christian church. Point by point, McLennan argued that there can be no "just war" against Iraq. To prosecute a war without UN support and without the backing of the American public "would be folly at best and a disaster at worst," he wrote. "The world becomes more dangerous if the United States is seen as an aggressor nation engaged in a pre-emptive war. ... Abraham Lincoln warned us that right makes might, not the other way around." McLennan concluded, "Basic moral and spiritual values are the lifeblood of this country, and without them the American way of life itself is in grave peril. We must not go to war with Iraq."

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ON FEB. 7 AND 10 reported that NASA is investigating whether electricity in the upper atmosphere may have doomed the shuttle Columbia, which was traveling at an altitude of 39 miles when it disintegrated Feb. 1. A time-exposure image taken by an amateur astronomer showed a snake of purplish light corkscrewing through the shuttle's hot glowing trail as it crossed over California during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. UMRAN INAN, professor of electrical engineering, said the ionosphere has been difficult to study because it's too high for balloons and aircraft, but too low for satellites. "You can't make local measurements with any regularity," he said. "You can have a single rocket shot through the region, but the phenomena are dynamic and change from place to place and time to time."

ON FEB. 9, BRIAN CANTWELL, the Edward C. Wells Professor in the School of Engineering, told the New York Times, "Despite the dangers, human space flight is here to stay." Some analysts argue, however, that it will take the far-sighted commitment of sending people to Mars to reinvigorate the public's excitement about space exploration that existed during the Apollo missions 30 years ago. Such a goal could galvanize development of new technology to reduce the risks and long-term costs of human space flight, the article noted. "Perhaps then, the debate over whether humans should fly in space will fade just as it did in an earlier era when air travel seemed silly and dangerous," Cantwell said.

	Stanford Report, February 12, 2002
	In Print & On the Air SCOTTY McLENNAN, dean for religious life, argued against the United States waging war on Iraq in a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed piece Feb. 10. McLennan noted that President George W. Bush, in his State of the Union address, appeared to be making reference to the "just war" criteria articulated for almost 2,000 years by the Christian church. Point by point, McLennan argued that there can be no "just war" against Iraq. To prosecute a war without UN support and without the backing of the American public "would be folly at best and a disaster at worst," he wrote. "The world becomes more dangerous if the United States is seen as an aggressor nation engaged in a pre-emptive war. ... Abraham Lincoln warned us that right makes might, not the other way around." McLennan concluded, "Basic moral and spiritual values are the lifeblood of this country, and without them the American way of life itself is in grave peril. We must not go to war with Iraq." THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ON FEB. 7 AND 10 reported that NASA is investigating whether electricity in the upper atmosphere may have doomed the shuttle Columbia, which was traveling at an altitude of 39 miles when it disintegrated Feb. 1. A time-exposure image taken by an amateur astronomer showed a snake of purplish light corkscrewing through the shuttle's hot glowing trail as it crossed over California during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. UMRAN INAN, professor of electrical engineering, said the ionosphere has been difficult to study because it's too high for balloons and aircraft, but too low for satellites. "You can't make local measurements with any regularity," he said. "You can have a single rocket shot through the region, but the phenomena are dynamic and change from place to place and time to time." ON FEB. 9, BRIAN CANTWELL, the Edward C. Wells Professor in the School of Engineering, told the New York Times, "Despite the dangers, human space flight is here to stay." Some analysts argue, however, that it will take the far-sighted commitment of sending people to Mars to reinvigorate the public's excitement about space exploration that existed during the Apollo missions 30 years ago. Such a goal could galvanize development of new technology to reduce the risks and long-term costs of human space flight, the article noted. "Perhaps then, the debate over whether humans should fly in space will fade just as it did in an earlier era when air travel seemed silly and dangerous," Cantwell said.