Slouch
by Jim Earle
><» 5'
“I have difficulty getting started this semester. If I work
hard and get my grades in good shape, we have a national
emergency, and I get drafted, all my energy will have been
wasted!”
Opinion
Draft overreaction is common
There’s a lot of discussion going on about the reinstate
ment of the draft.
In larger cities and on larger college campuses, there have
already been protests against involuntary military induc
tion. A receptionist at a local travel agency said she has
already gotten several phone calls from people in the draft
age bracket concerning extended vacations in Canada.
America is in the grips of a panic it hasn’t seen since last
summer’s gas crisis.
The draft is a big issue for Aggies, too. A lot of people are
perturbed about recent letters to The Battalion against the
draft. Everyone is talking as though the draft is a certainty.
All of this hysteria is a bit premature.
Let’s set the record straight about this draft issue: Con
gress hasn’t even begun to discuss a law that, if passed,
would reinstate selective service registration. That’s not the
draft. The draft comes later. And from all indications, we’re
talking about six months at the earliest. Add a few more
months for government screw-ups, and the first date avail
able is about a year away. There’s one reason to avoid an
immediate panic.
Here’s another reason: Americans like to worry.
In a recent speech. Sen. Edward Kennedy accused the
President of creating a war scare. Well, Kennedy is almost
right; there is a war scare, but it’s not Carter’s fault. The call
for reinstatement of selective service registration is more of
show of force aimed towards the Soviets than anything else.
The war scare is the fault of the American people themselves
— the same people who created long lines at gas stations
trying to keep their gas tanks constantly full.
Remember, discussion is healthly, but worrying won’t
solve anything.
the small society
by Brickman
Woo-Vo^! r rooz.
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Washington Star Syndicate. Inc.
2-5
The Battalion
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Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Tuesday
February 5, 1980
Carter s disappearance
won’t shield him from mediaT
By DAVID S. BRODER
I am getting a queasy feeling. It is the same
feeling I had in 1972, when the incumbent
President of the United States treated his
re-election campaign as a matter too unim
portant for his notice.
Richard M. Nixon had time to go to Pek
ing and to Moscow that year, but he barely
had time to campaign and no time at all to
face his challenger in debate. In all of 1972,
President Nixon held exactly seven press
conferences.
When the 1972 campaign was over,
those of us in the business of reporting
politics were given unshirted hell — and
deservedly so — by the press critics and by
a good many concerned citizens, not all of
whom were supporters of George
McGovern by any means, about why we
had let Nixon “get away” without defend
ing his record or explaining his policies.
Our defense, such as it was, was that the
press has no real power to compel a Presi
dent to talk; that our work is to cover a
campaign, not to stage it; and that if there is
no real campaign because one of the partici
pants is missing, we cannot synthesize one.
All of which is true, but not a very satis
fying response to those who said we did not
do all that we could have done to make it
uncomfortable for a President to defect on
his duty to democracy.
Which brings us to the case of President
Carter. Since the American hostages were
seized on Nov. 4, Carter has disappeared
from the campaign stage and soared in the
polls. Once again, this week, he explained
to a group of out-of-town editors that “it
would be better for me” not to make parti
san appearances while the Iranian and
Afghanistan situations remain in flux.
Better for him, but not necessarily better
for the country. For there are real choices
of policy to be debated in the Persian Gulf
region — as at home — and the President’s
insulation increasingly impedes that de
bate. He says national unity must be pre
served. But increasingly it is clear that it is
Carter’s interests — not the hostages’ or
the country’s — that are being protected by
his sequestered status.
Even if there were a plausible case for
hiding from his challengers, what is Car
ter’s case for hiding from the press? As this
is written, he has not held a press confer
ence for the reporters assigned to the
White House since last Nov. 28. He did go
on Meet the Press on Jan. 20 — the day
before the Iowa caucuses.
That appearance provides an example of
what the country is being denied by Car
ter’s fadeout. I asked the President, on that
Sunday, whether the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan, posing an increased Russian
threat to Iran, would cause him to “accept a
delay or postponement of the imposition of
the economic sanctions against Iran” which
he had requested the United Nations to
vote a month earlier.
Carter did not hesitate or equivocate:
“No,” he said. “Those sanctions will be
pursued by ourselves unilaterally and
joined in by as many of our allies as will
agree.” Saying the support in the United
Nations was “overwhelming,’ he reiter
ated, “I will not postpone the imposition of
sanctions.”
That produced very useful caucus
morning headlines of a President commit
ted to the sternest action to free the hos
tages. But 11 days later, as this is written,
the sanctions are not in effect.
On Jan. 29, Secretary of State Cyrus
Vance said the delay was irrelevant, be
cause “in practical effect, the sanctions are
in place already.” The freeze on Iranian
assets in U.S. banks and other measures
taken after the hostages seizure had
brought U.S. trade with Iran to a halt, he
pointed out.
But those measures were all taken before
Carter on Dec. 21 said "the foundation of
civilized diplomacy. . . the integrity of
international law, the credibility of the Un
ited Nations and the maintenance of peace
in the region” all required that formal sanc
tions “must” be imposed. They were in
place on Jan. 20 when Carter said, “I will
not postpone the inositionj
When Jody Powell was askedi
promised sanctions on Jan. 29,kl
“There has been no change inf
that can be true only if one supp»|
when the President sayshewliii
thing, he means you to understand^
already did it.
There may be good case for pes®re co
sanctions or dropping them etl
view of the Russian army in h
and the new government in Telia
so, let the President say it—and
Let him explain, too, how he
on Jan. 26 that the UnitedStales
any effort by any outside force toj
trol of the Persian Gulf region
means necessary, includingmilitan
and on Jan. 29 that “obviouslyBy
intend, and never have claimedto
ability unilaterally to defeat any
that region with ease.”
Let him, in short, cast aside his
ing for a $40 billion tax to increase
in the face of an expected rece:
Let him, in short, castasidehis
tive clock and face his duties as a
seeking office in a democracy, jpen are
And, oh yes, let us be spared clout /
round of questions on how did ymlmbei
press let him get away with it? lopp s;
(c) 1980, The Washington Post C«^ns an
1 atte
Eas
h an
Letters Foreign student says draft needed
Editor:
I am writing to you concerning the letter
written by Robert Zahary.
I am a foreign student, and the reason
why I am in the United States studying is to
get a better education, and to learn the
principles of democracy and freedom. I
admire these two principles as the basis
that sustain America and the free world.
First of all I can not understand how
some Americans can say things like this;
“The draft is simply a form of involuntary
servitude not in keeping with the ideals of a
free people. The concept of slaving some of
our citizen in order to keep The United
States free is self-contradictory at best.”
These Americans do not realize that the
United States is not an island isolated from
the rest of the world. We have two powers
in the world — the Communist power bloc
and the Western power bloc. If we take a
look in a dictionary, we find out that power
is “a nation having influence over other
nations.” If we have two powers in the
world we can say that the world is divided
into two parts: the free world influenced
by the United States and the oppressed
world dominated by Russia.
When the United States is fighting in a
war it is not only for its own defense, but
the defense of democracy and of the free
world. If the United States does not fight,
Russia is going to take over the free world
and the whole concept of democracy and
freedom will be destroyed.
If some people do not want to fight for
the rest of the world it is understand;
but why not fight for the country whot'
everything to its people. When Incite 1
asks for help, some non-patriotic Al I
icans give only excuses like involuntary ?
vitude or slavery of its citizens. Tliel ft
thing to do is to go and register, andl^ |
good American; not only for thefreedol I
the world but for the freedom of ApitT
and its own people.
Oscar A.
THOTZ
By Doug Grab
i/atchT 7