FOCUS
War with Iraq should be last resort for U.S.

By Kalowena Komeiji

Kalowena Komeiji is executive assistant at Hawai'i Public Television.

War will be another devastating blow to Hawai'i's already fragile state economy. War, therefore, should be America's absolute, last resort — and here are admittedly selfish reasons.

Will a protracted military conflict mean reinstatement of the draft which, in many cases, forces our sons and daughters into involuntary combat? It's a wimpy argument when so many sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, are already serving to defend the freedoms of this great country.

Nonetheless, any military conflict does not begin to diminish the fear of parents when their children are enlisted, voluntarily or not.

Hawai'i residents, many of whom still struggle with the economic aftermath of Sept. 11, can't soon forget that war and the visitor industry aren't always compatible. The negative impact of the Persian Gulf War and, more recently, Sept. 11 demonstrates the significance of tourism dollars — still the state's economic engine — to Hawai'i's economy and quality of life for residents. When visitors stop coming, residents lose jobs, and that negatively impacts other Hawai'i businesses, including many nonprofit organizations.

While Hawai'i remains a "giving" state, according to a study by the Hawaii Community Foundation, most nonprofits are already struggling to maintain services with a shrinking pool of charitable dollars. With more organizations going to the same (money) trough over and over again, competition for charitable resources is fierce and decisions on which charity to support — social service vs. culture, arts or education — are difficult.

As Rodney King once said, "Can't we all just get along?" By far, that seems to be the solution with the least hardship on the greatest number of people.

In the end, isn't war really about people?