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Page 2 THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1977
Opinion/Commentary/Letters
Carter’s draft evader pardon
Pro
By PHILLIP ROBINSON
When President Carter pardoned
the draft resisters the other day, he
took the last great step out of the
Vietnam fiasco. Peace has made
most of us forget the “gook-killing”
treachery that some of our most hon
ored military men took part in, and
made us all to unwilling to forgive
those who refused to participate.
After numerous cries to put the
Watergate mess behind us, it’s none
too soon that we do the same with
Vietnam. It has been close to three
years since America withdrew from
the last Vietnamese base and for
sook the nebulous cause “we” were
fighting for. That’s three years
thousands of men have had to wait,
while Nixon had to wait only one
day. If we are truly guaranteed
equal treatment under the law, then
the forgiveness given to one man
with many crimes against the nation
should and must be extended to
many men who had but one disa
greement with the nation. However,
this equalization is not the most im
portant justification of the new Pres
ident’s act.
The Vietnam conflict, in legality,
was not a war. And the only reason
we were over there was to prevent
the “domino theory’’ from turning
into reality—not for the Vietnamese
good, but for our own selfish and
egotistical interests.
We, as a nation, were never
threatened by the North Viet
namese, except in ideology, and to
even compare Vietnam to World
War II, as many veterans of the lat
ter have done, cheapens each life
lost in service to America. Those
who refused to fight following Pearl
Harbor were refusing to protect our
nation’s freedoms and ideals, but I
seriously doubt that those who re
fused to go and take part in such acts
as the My Lai massacre were refus
ing to fight for “liberty and justice for
all.”
The men who fought, not com
manded, in Vietnam knew the war
best. And most of them supported
the unconditional pardon. If I may
borrow a quote from one of these
men who fought, was wounded and
permanently crippled in Southeast
Asia, to close: “I was wrong...they
were right. It’s up to God to forgive
me for what I have done, and it’s up
to America to forgive them (the re
sisters) and bring them back home.”
Robinson is the president of Texas
A&M University Young Democrats
and is a junior majoring in zoology.
Con
mm
Battalion
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By MARK ELAM
“When those who chose
not to serve their country are
heaped with glory and cast as
the ‘new patriots’ let us all re
member that FREEDOM IS
NOT A GIFT.
On Jan. 5, 1977, 36-year-old Lt.
Cmdr. Michael D. Christian pur
posely ended his long naval career
in a tragic ceremony at Rosewood
Memorial Park in Virginia Beach.
This man who had spent more
than half of his life in service to his
country, including six years as a
POW in a Vietnamese torture
camp, placed two Purple Hearts, a
Good Conduct Medal, two Silver
Stars, the Legion of Merit, three
Bronze stars, four Air Medals and a
Navy Commendation Medal on the
grave of WWI Cpl. Marion L. Ble
vins.
Christian shed his medals out of
disgust and dismay at President
Carter’s promise to grant amnesty
to American draft evaders. “I really
don’t want them anymore,” said
Christian. “They’ve lost any value to
me. We are making heroes out of
deserters and condemning our
selves. The price of honor seems
pretty cheap this year.”
And so begins the effort to “heal
the wounds” of America. No, not
the wounds of those Americans who
were literally wounded in Vietnam.
That does not seem to be on the
agenda of the ceremonies being con
ducted to welcome back America’s
“new patriots,” the draft evaders.
Across the nation some flags flew
quietly at half mast in remembrance
of those who did serve. The excited
news media occasionally took time
from long interviews with returning
draft evaders to chat with a disgrun
tled veteran of WWI at the local
VFW post. But no one seemed to be
interested in the thoughts of men
such as Lt. Cmdr. Christian, the
true authorities on the war.
Aerobics Club
Shoe Sale Continued
The A&M Aerobics Club is selling New Ba
lance Running Shoes to A&M students and
faculty. This is not a money making project
for the club, we just want to break even, for
this reason we are able to sell the shoes for
$15.00 — they regularly run for $20.00-
$25.00. You can purchase these shoes at
G. R. White Col. Anne ' from 12:30 to 1:30 at
Room 255. Here are the sizes left: 5D, EE;
5-1/2B, D; 6D; 6-1/2B; 7-1/2E; 8-1/2B; 9A,
B,C,P, E; 9-1/2B, E; 10B, C; 10-1/2B, 11B.
I fast
@ EKTACHROME
@ PROCESSING
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irker
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ever reinstate the draft we are likely
to find a large number of people
who are unwilling to submit to a law
which they were earlier shown was
alright to break.
Many excuses were given as to
why draft evaders chose to leave
their country rather than fight in the
war. Taking into account the
numerous allowances made for con
scientious objectors, I would have
to conclude that the most likely ex
cuse, although the most rarely
claimed, hinges upon the fact that
many evaders were more concerned
with saving themselves than with
any moral objection to the war. The
same men who simply packed it in
and took off, now expect and even
demand to be delivered from the
consequences of their actions as
though they were the prodigal son
come home. In their case, however,
there is no concern for or even ad
mission of wrongdoing. Benjamin
Franklin once said that “Those who
would give up essential liberty to
purchase a little temporary safety,
deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
But how easily we forget such warn-
Shuttle system needs wor
mgs.
Unfortunately, the news media
has also been rather silent lately on
the subject of what I call New Viet
nam. How can the same news media
which daily cried out about Ameri
can atrocities during the war, re
main so silent when 300,000 Viet
namese are still being held in deten
tion camps or when a minimum
1,200,000 Cambodian people were
killed after the war in communist at
tempts to reorganize society? Some
thing is definitely lacking.
But what about the amnesty
granted to American draft evaders?
If it was wrong to do so, as I believe
it was, then what might the con
sequences of this mistake be? To
begin with, it is obvious that
whenever we condone or simply re
fuse to punish the law breaker, we
in effect are saying that it was alright
to break the law. If a need arises to
And where are the once cele
brated leaders of those people who
cried out about the injuctice of the
war? After having lived in Cuba,
Russia and China, former Black
Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver
now says we should have a military
capability second to none to
safeguard democracy from the
“communist” totalitarian regimes.
Joan Baez and Daniel Ellsberg,
feeling doublecrossed by the com
munist liberators, sent a letter to
Vietnam protesting the internment
of300,000 people. They received no
reply. And where is that darling
Jane Fonda who once said we would
be on our knees praying to be com
munists if we truly understood
communism? I do not know. But I
do know where to find the father of
a Texas POW who replied “I never
did crawl very well,” when asked
how he liked the idea of crawling to
Hanoi to obtain the release of
American POW’s.
Yes, it is time that we bind
America’s wounds. But let us begin
by binding the wounds of America’s
true patriots; the men and the
families of those men who did fight
in Vietnam. Men who ask nothing
more of their service than that it not
be forgotten or degraded.
Elam is vice-chairman of the
AixM chapter of Young Americans
for Freedom and is a sophomore
majoring in political science.
Editor:
On Jan. 23 I waited from 5:30
p.m. until 6:00 for the shuttle bus.
Eventually another student stopped
and gave me a ride, so I do not know
how much longer I would have had
to wait before the bus arrived. But
thirty minutes is too long. My
apartment complex is the last stop
the shuttle bus makes, and it is not
uncommon to reach the stop at 7:30
a.m., watch two packed buses pass,
finally catch the third and arrive at
your 8:00 class five minutes late.
According to one of the bus driv
ers who requested that I not give his
name, the entire route should not
take over 15 minutes. Since at least
in the morning two buses are
operating this route, I cannot un
derstand what the problem is. One
thing I do understand is that I paid
$15.00 for the shuttle bus service
and the service is not adequate. The
school is responsible for this trans
portation system and I appeal to the
school to amend the situation.
—Stephanie Jaye Evans,’80
To pardon is
to forgive
Editor:
I am writing in response to the
letter of David Boggan, ’79, in The
Battalion of Friday, January 28,
1977.
Please inform Mr. Boggan that
the complete meaning of the word
pardon is “To forgive (a person) for
an offense. ” The word does not, and
I am certain that President Carter
never intended to, imply moral
sanction for their crime. During a
time of war, these draft dodgers
Readers’ forum
Guest viewpoints, in addition to
Letters to the Editor, are welcome.
All pieces submitted to Readers’
forum should be:
• Typed triple space
• Limited to 60 characters per line
• Limited to 100 lines
Submit articles to Reed
McDonald 217, College Station,
Texas, 77843. Author’s name and
phone number must accompany all
submissions.
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February 5, 1977
Zachry Engineering Center
Eight p.m. - Midnight
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music by: foxriver
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SERVING LUNCHEON BUFFET
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“Quality First”
failed to show the courage to serve
in the armed forces of their country'
or the moral courage to risk expres
sing their views in court. They have
been pardoned, but their actions
will never be justified.
—Paul Finberg
Crowd behavior
upsets fan
Editor:
This letter is in reference to the
unsportsmanlike conduct that was
displayed at the A&M - Rice bas
ketball game last Saturday night.
One of the more heavyset Rice
players was unmercifully ridiculed
and laughed at by the Aggie fans.
Cat calls and derogatory remarks
were shouted whenever the Rice
player got the ball. Quite a few of us
in the stands were upset by
havior that was totally unol
To top it all off, the yel
that were present, with (lit
tion of Frank Shannon,
do nothing to discourage 6
havior of the crowd. The ye
ers are supposed to lead:
their best to control an
crowd. In my opinion,)
havior could have been discJ
to a large degree by the yellll
The yell leaders can stopil
from yelling at a bad cafla
could have done quite a loti
this disruptive behavior.
I love A&M and the spin!
the greatest anywhere, bi I
raid that if this typeofBM
tinues, A&M will no lofl
same - in my eyes and intk|
the public.
—Laural
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