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Volume 98 | Issue 9
Sunny 87° / 57°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Defining a Decade of Defense
Gates gives 9/11 perspective ISAAC WRIGHT
Assigning Editor
Students’ lives changed by war A LEX M ACON
Senior Staff Writer Adam Edwards, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, was in 9th grade when the attacks were made on Sept. 11. Now, after serving in the reserve from 2005 to 2011 and completing an eight-month tour of duty in Iraq, Edwards studies history as a senior at UNT. “You know, I was 14, and I was madder than any 14-year-old had the right to be,” Edwards said. “I had never heard of al-Qaeda or Osama bin Laden, and I didn’t know the difference between normal Islam and radical Islam. At first I had some revenge issues.” Edwards watched the events of 9/11 and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on television and wanted justice for the victims of the 9/11 attacks, but he gradually became more motivated by a sense of service and a desire to do good in the world. Most of all, he said, 9/11 gave him a greater sense of pride in his country. “We were just Americans, not concerned with divisiveness,” Edwards said. “Like all adversity, it made us stronger as a nation.” Edwards graduated from high school in 2005 and shortly after enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve.
“We were just Americans, not concerned with divisiveness.” —Adam Edwards U.S. Marine Corps veteran “It wasn’t like the day after 9/11 it was implanted in my head,” Edwards said. “But it definitely had an effect on my decision to join.” Keenan Cobb, a theatre arts and radio, television and film senior, was enlisted in the Air Force and stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California on Sept. 11, 2001. Cobb was finishing up an overnight shift at the base when a news report interrupted a Ludacris song on the radio: two airplanes had been flown into the Twin Towers in New York City.
See VETERANS on Page 3
PHOTOS BY JAMES COREAS/SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Top: Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates lectures Wednesday night in the UNT Coliseum. Gates came to speak for the week of 9/11 in commemoration of its 10-year anniversary. He served as the 22nd defense secretary (2006-2011) and is the only one in U.S. history to be asked to remain in that office by a newly elected president. Above: Audience members listen to former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during his lecture Wednesday night in the UNT Coliseum. Left: The color guard, representing all branches of the United States military, stand at attention during a noontime ceremony at Mount Olivet Cemetery in PHOTOS BY PAUL MOSELEY/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM/MCT Fort Worth, Texas
Faculty, staff reflect on initial reactions NICOLE BALDERAS Senior Staff Writer
Ten years ago today, the world had not experienced the Sept. 11 attacks, and in the midst of shock when the attacks happened, UNT administration had to make quick decisions on how to serve the university’s community. “We were shell-shocked,” said Mark Packer, University Union assistant director for programs. “People didn’t know how to react, and we were scared because of the unknown.” Many students and faculty
arrived that day to empty classrooms because the majority of people were in the Union watching live coverage of the tragedy. “The Union staff had put up TVs everywhere,” Packer said. “You were scrambling to try to find a TV to watch so you could get information.” Another Union staff member recalls watching students and faculty pack together in tiny offices to witness the tragedy. “They were all huddled in total silence watching,” said Claire Medina, executive administra-
tive assistant for campus life. “Students and faculty crowded together in offices to watch any TV they could find.” There was no school lockdown because the university had never experienced a tragedy like it before, Packer said. Instead, students were released from school around noon. “The university did make a decision late that morning to close,” Packer said. “There was no Eagle Alerts yet, so the only means we had was email and news networks.”
Moving forward University officials came together soon after the tragedy to assess their options to help grieving students. “We tried to find out what kinds of programs we could do to help people process their fears and feelings,” Packer said. “We had a wall where people could write their thoughts, and it remained up for some time.” For the first few weeks it wasn’t quite clear what fueled the Sept. 11 attacks, Packer said.
See SEPTEMBER on Page 3
More than 2,000 people from the UNT and Denton community filled the Coliseum Wednesday night to hear former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates discuss how Sept. 11, 2001 changed America. A top intelligence official under eight different presidential administrations, Gates was able to shed light on the events in the decade before 9/11 that allowed the largest terrorist attack in U.S. history to happen. Though the World Trade Center’s bottom level was bombed by terrorists in 1993, it was one of a handful of small terrorist attacks that transpired during the decade. “9/11 made tragically evident the drift and neglect of the previous decade in respect to our government’s handling of intelligence and homeland security,” Gates said. “The United States had just never been hit hard enough on our own soil to take the threat truly seriously.” Gates was brought to UNT as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series. His speech was one in a week full of events to remember 9/11. Gates met with student media before taking the stage and also responded to prepared questions presented by Student Government Association President and Vice President Blake Windham and Edwin Chavez. Questions ranged from how the Bush and Obama administrations differed in their approach to counter-terrorism to what he thinks about the University of Texas leaving the Big XII conference. Gates addressed current military spending over the past decade and said the present amount of the federal budget set aside for military spending is at its lowest ever during wartime. Gates said about 19 percent of the budget is spent on military needs, and 4.5 percent of the GDP is spent by the military. In World War II, 32 percent of the GDP was allocated to the military. “Defending Americans is the one unambiguous role given to the federal government by the Constitution,” Gates said. “There are strategic consequences to [defense budget] cuts. If you’re not considering the strategic consequences, then all you’re doing is math.” In a previous story, the North Texas Daily revealed Gates was paid $108,000 for his lecture, $33,500 of which was used for travel expenses.
See GATES on Page 3
What’s Inside NEWS:
SGA passes bill to gain members
ARTS & LIFE:
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Students write letters Page 4 to service members
Green gets ready SPORTS: Mean for Islander Classic
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How to draw meaning VIEWS: Editorial: from a national tragedy
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