Norwich hosts panel discussions on terrorist attacks

By Edina Na-Songkhla
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

As the world watched on Sept 11, the United States of America came under attack for the first time in almost fifty years. As the day's events unfolded on television screens across the country, many people were left wondering why and how something like this could have happened.

For answers to questions of such scale and complexity, average Americans often turn to panels of experts who discuss the various aspects of situations from a standpoint of greater knowledge and experience.

In an effort to provide its community with some answers for the questions surrounding the events of Sept 11, Norwich University hosted two panel discussions on the topic of terrorism.

Professor Gary Lord is chairman of the history and political science department at Norwich, which hosted the two panel discussions.

"There seemed to be a widespread interest about the events and issues that surrounded that event," Lord said.

The first discussion, "The Anatomy of Terror," looked at the origins of terror and the implications of terror from the political science perspective.

The second was titled "Counterterrorism: Military and Intelligence Aspects" and dealt with military and intelligence aspects of America's new war against terrorism.

One panelist for the second discussion was Colonel Mark A. Costa, commanding officer of the Naval ROTC unit at Norwich.

"Information such as this is very important, especially for people at Norwich, either cadets or traditional students," Costa said. "The more you can be exposed to information and people's opinions, the better you'll be able to form your own decisions about what's going on."

Costa said he was invited to be a panelist because of his military background, foreign assignments in Latin America, and his recent assignment as a base commander where his responsibilities involved protection and planning for catastrophes.

"Panels such as these provide information and the expert opinions of people and are productive," Costa said. "They're a source of information and a source of people who are very experienced."

"I think that the community wants to hear these issues," Lord said. "The responses that I've heard from those who've attended the panel sessions have been positive, and seem to want more discussion."

Professor of Military History Reina Pennington was also a panelist for the second panel discussion.

"We started the panel because a lot of students were asking questions in individual classrooms," Pennington said. "We were trying to draw together a bigger variety of people who could have a broader range of background, and answer more questions."

Pennington said that the panelists were not necessarily out there to convey a message as much as just to provide information and a sounding board for the students.

"It was a place where they can ask their questions and talk a little about what we know about military operations and what the military in general could do about terrorism," Pennington said.

Professor George Shelley, a faculty member in the Humanities Division, said he believed the panelists should have been more careful about expressing their opinions.

"You have this opinion, I have another opinion, and I don't know which one is right," Shelly said. "The point I'm trying to make is that they don't know anymore than I do or you do."

Shelley's said that his opinion on the whole situation is that nobody, from people in Washington on down to the average citizen, knows what is going on.

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