President Bush has communicated a clear purpose in his leadership of the international force attempting to expel Hussein from Kuwait.

This is to establish a cooperative effort to enforce the rule of law between countries under the United Nations using a concept known as collective security.

This idea isn’t new. It goes back to Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt, to name but a few.

In any community, the security of its members is related to the willingess of those members to cooperate in preventing and punishing lawlessness.

When I was younger, I was an avid Star Trek fan, and embraced the show’s hope that the earth would become a peaceful planet, in which law ruled among nations.

And that the rule of this law would expand to include a federation of planets, war on earth would be a thing of the past, viewed by the crew of the Starship Enterprise as a relic of our barbaric history.

I’m willing to assist those with this vision when I can, because this is the kind of universe I’d like to live in.

In relation to Star Trek, the United Nations is similar to the federation of planets, attempting to establish the rule of law between nations.

Saddam Hussein is a Klingon commander who has conquered a federation planet (Kuwait), and President Bush is captain of the United Nations Starship Enterprise, liberating the planet using negotiation where possible, his phasers and photon torpedoes when necessary.

I support President Bush’s effort to establish world peace through collective security.

A world community of nations working together to police itself from lawless invasion may soon be cooperating to preserve the environment and stimulate economic growth.

This may seem only a dream, but it is worthy of pursuit. Any president willing to sacrifice for its realization deserves our support.

Michael J. Murvihill

Graduate

Public Administration