Thursday, October 31, 2002

By BARBARA S. ROTHSCHILD
Courier-Post Staff
SOMERDALE

A group of Camden County teenagers on Wednesday exchanged views with their congressman and students in Ukraine about Iraq and America's war on terrorism.

During a videoconference, Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., and about 30 Sterling High School students in the school's media center trained their eyes on two television monitors at 9 a.m. They saw alternating views of students from several South Jersey schools and a gathering of high school and university students from five schools in Kiev, Ukraine, where it was 4 p.m.

What Andrews had to say wasn't all reassuring.

When Brittany Austin, a student at Somerdale Park School, expressed concerns about another terrorist attack on America, Andrews could not give her the answer she hoped to hear.

"I think it's probable there will be another terrorist attack. The best way to stop terrorism is to strike it at its source," he said.

Andrews gave a scenario of an Iraqi-backed terrorist arriving in America with enough smallpox virus to fill a sandwich bag.

"If that were poured into the heating and ventilation system of Sterling High School, 400 of us would die in the next two weeks," Andrews said. "Thirty percent of those we came in contact with would die in the next two weeks, and

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so it would multiply."

That's one reason why Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein must be taken down, peacefully or otherwise, he insisted.

Andrews recently voted in favor of a congressional resolution to use military force against Iraq if it does not destroy its arsenal of biological and nuclear weapons.

The 90-minute session was arranged by Sterling Vice Principal Reno Domenico with a portion of a $125,000 Pairing and Sharing state grant awarded to Sterling, Lindenwold High School and St. Lawrence Regional School in Lindenwold. It was earmarked for projects involving the sharing of resources among districts, distance learning and teleconferencing.

Sterling has a long relationship with schools in Ukraine, including three-week student exchanges from 1990 to 1999, and New Jersey has the largest concentration of Ukrainian Americans in the nation, Domenico said.

The technical bridging between the sites was coordinated by Camden County Technical Schools' Educational Technology Training Center in Sicklerville.

"I view the effort to disarm the Iraqis as part of the war against terrorism," Andrews said during the event, prompting a question from 16-year-old Sterling student, Dave Price of Stratford, about whether it might be better to continue playing a waiting game against Saddam.

"The answer is no. An attack on Iraq, if necessary, will diminish the ability for Iraq to attack. The evidence that I see (of biological weapons in Iraq) is far more than presumptions," Andrews said.

After moderator Domenico gave the floor to the Ukrainians, a young woman named Marina asked Andrews if the bombardment of Yugoslavia by the United States a few years ago was an act of terrorism.

"It was the opposite of terrorism," Andrews said. "It was designed to stop terrorism. As a result, ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and Muslims in Bosnia are not living with the same amount of fear that they used to."

A student named Jessica at St. Lawrence Regional School, the only Catholic school participating, wanted to know why the United Nations wasn't supporting the U.S. resolution.

"I'm hoping the United Nations will be supporting us as early as today," said Andrews, who noted that Secretary of State Colin Powell was trying to persuade powers critical of the resolution, such as Russia, France and the People's Republic of China, to understand America's stance.

But, he added, "the responsibility to defend our country can never be given to the United Nations or any other group."

Andrews said Russia's reluctance to join with the United States is in large part financially motivated.

"Iraq owes Russia $50 billion. That's an enormous debt to be paid," said Andrews, adding that Russia must be assured it will be paid no matter what government is in place in Iraq.

Stratford residents Nicole Migliore, 17, and Brittany McCall, 16, both members of Sterling's advanced U.S. history class, wanted to know if a coalition of sympathetic nations should be formed before the United States goes to war.

"I think a coalition is sufficiently built, but we should try to get more countries on board," Andrews said.

Among those in America's camp are Great Britain, Israel, Spain and Estonia, he said.

He added that Iraq's Arab neighbors may publicly support Saddam, but secretly want America to get rid of him in order to bring stability to the region.

To a question about whether the U.S. draft would be reinstituted in case of war, Andrews gave an emphatic "no," saying any war in Iraq would be fought by relatively small but powerful special forces.

A Yellin student named Matt asked, "It used to be that people admired America. What happened to change that?"

Andrews admitted he didn't know. He said America is partially to blame, but so are misunderstandings about America's role in the world.

"The No. 1 source of economic aid to the Palestinian people has been the United States. We are not opposed to Islam, we are opposed to terrorism. I'm sure the United States could do more to respect other people in the world, but the United States has already done much to help others," he said.

As the teleconference came to an end, Andrews and the students were clearly pumped up over the videoconferencing experience.

"This should be the future of education, where we are listening to each other and able to do it in real time," Andrews said.

Said Dave Price, a 16-year-old Sterling student from Stratford: "The Ukrainians had really good questions. It was a very good learning experience and I hope to do it again."

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Reach Barbara S. Rothschild at (856) 486-2416 or brothschild@courierpostonline.com