Slouch
By Jim Earle
‘Tm really looking forward to when I can wear senior
boots. ”
Opinion
Tired of the same old Bull?
Suddenly, Sen. Bill Moore is the media’s friend.
The challenge of Kent Caperton has forced Moore to
apologize to the press — “Sorry,” he says, “I’ve been busy. ”
For the past four years Moore has been very busy indeed.
Too busy to discuss the Texas Municipal Power Agency’s
virtual invasion of Grimes County. Too busy to discuss his
support of a tax on groceries. Too busy to discuss his attempt
to block the state charter of a bank that will challenge his
own Bryan-based bank for business. Too busy to return
phone calls, to make interview appointments, too busy even
mjjj toi answer a simple question.
This is Bill Moore as he has been throughout his term as
5t;h District State Senator. But soihe members of the local
media are cozying up to Moore’s new image. Somehow,
despite his apologies, it’s hard to imagine his approach to the
media, and thus to the public, will change.
Unfortunately, this election comes at a time when Texas
A&M has lost a great deal of political clout — Billy Clayton’s
speaker position is in question, and, because of that, so is
Bill Presnal’s chairmanship of the House Appropriations
Committee.
Moore, Clayton, and Presnal, all former students, have
helped Texas A&M grow from a small military school. To
lose this power in one year would prove disastrous to the
University. To replace Moore with former Texas A&M stu
dent body president Kent Caperton also seems folly.
So what to do? Do we return a megalomaniacal pawn of
the lobby to another four years of power? Or do we send in a
greenhorn?
Wish we had the answer. But we don’t.
small society
by Brickman
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The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
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MEMBER
Texas Press Association
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Editor Roy Bragg
Associate Editor . . . Keith Taylor
News Editor Rusty Cawley
Asst. News Editor Karen Cornelison
Copy Editor Dillard Stone
Sports Editor Mike Burrichter
Focus Editor Rhonda Watters
Viewpoint Page Editor Tim Sager
City Editor Louie Arthur
Campus Editor Diane Blake
Staff Writers Nancy Andersen,
Tricia Brunhart,Angelique Copeland,
Laura Cortez, Meril Edwards,
Carol Hancock, Kathleen McElroy,
Debbie Nelson, Richard Oliver,
Steve Sisney, Becky Swanson,
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Chief Photographer Lynn Blanco
Photographers Lee Roy Leschper,
Ed Cunnius, Steve Clark
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
those of the editor or of the writer of the
article and are not necessarily those of the
University Administration or the Board of
Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-
supporting enterprise operated by students
as a university and community newspaper.
Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Tuesday
April 22, 1980
The
The French Foreign Legion:
Board
tion pr<
nent '
for larg
plied t<
Still looking for a few good men
Fun<
By FRANCOIS DUPUIS
International Writers Service
PARIS — Despite its romantic aura, the
French Foreign Legion is a subject of con
troversy here. Yet it survives as one of
France’s most durable institutions because
it still fulfills a function.
A bill aimed at disbanding the Legion
was recently introduced to the legislature
by the Communist Party, which criticized
the force of 8,000 professional soldiers as
“an instrument for colonial conquest and
repression.” But the proposal went no
further than a legislative committee, which
defended the Legion as vital to France’s
security.
That portrayal may have been somewhat
exaggerated. However, the Legion does
serve President Valery Giscard d’Estaing,
who has been using military intervention to
strengthen French influence in Africa over
the past two years.
In May 1978, for example, a regiment of
legionnaires was flown from its base in Cor-
sica to rescue European families
threatened by a rebellion in Zaire. That
operation could not have been conducted
by France’s conscript troops, who are bar
red from going into combat except by spe
cial legislation.
But such daring forays abroad do not
sway the leftist parties. They persist in de
manding the dissolution of the Legion, con
tending that it has become “as anachronis
tic as the king’s mousquetaires.”
Created in 1831 by King Louis-Philippe,
the Foreign Legion was in fact designed for
colonial conquest. It was sent to save Max
imilian, enthroned by Napoleon III as
emperor in Indochina and North Africa.
And between wars, legionnaires were
assigned to build roads and other construc
tion jobs.
Novels like “Beau Geste” and movies
starring Gary Cooper or Jean Gab in gave
the Legion an adventurous lustre, glor
ifying its volunteers as heroic figures in
white kepis fighting against a backdrop of
burning sands.
That image attracted idealists as well as
delinquents. It also attracted numbers of
defeated German soldiers after both World
Wars. Germans now account for only 11
percent of the Legion’s men, but in times
past they represented half its strength.
Just retired after 30 years in uniforms,
Chief Warrant Officer Horst Schacht
joined the Legion after coming to France
from Germany as a coal miner following
World War II. A veteran of Indochina,
wounded three times, he has won the
Military Medal, the highest French award.
“The Legion,” he said the other day, “is my
family.”
Though the Legion’s training program is
merciless, applicants for enlistment out
strip places by a ration of three to one. The
Legion is no longer a haven for criminals,
since recruits are investigated before begin
signed up. They need not reveal their true
identities, however.
According to studies made at the Le
gion’s reception center near Marseilles, re
cruits generally join because of marital
troubles and other unhappiness at home.
Bernard Granier, a 22-year-old youth re
cently discharged for psychiatric reasons,
summed up his motives: “I enlisted out of
despair because my life was crumbling. I
could have jumped in front of a train in
stead.”
Grainer was lucky to have gotten a
medical discharge. The only other way for a
legionnaire to escape his five-year term is
through desertion, and he is to be severely
punished if caught.
Compared to the old days, the Legion is
ical ai
requii
27,(XX
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Mr.
Vocatic
be use<
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and an
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becoming increasingly lessforeign.fe.i'ill cos
ly 40 percent of is recruits are Frendj the agi
rest are Yugoslavs, Germans, S]
Swiss, Belgians, Italians, Portup)
Canadians. Only a handful are
American. Consistant with traditinl
officers or American. ,
The French recruits reportedly 111 theapp
the discipline worst, perhaps be«i estimat
Legion is too alien for them
spokesmen claim, however, that mi
percent of recruits fail to measure|i
standards.
The ideal legionnaire is su|
the model soldier, ready for any
obediant to his superiors andpn
die in silence. This may be
action, but it is less valid in peace!
In Corsica, where the Legion
main headquarters since it movedc
Algeria in 1962, off-duty legionm
often arrested for serious crimes,
tion is also frequent.
Thus, for all their martial skillsafii
swerving loyalty, legionnaires may hid
ing an enemy they cannot defeiB 1
boredom. ^
(Dupuis writers for the NouveKi ine
vateur, the French weekly.) I
Ian Fri<
fell in s
tunes o!
cipants
alumim
festiviti
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Memor
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James
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Benjami
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County
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Bramlet
lal, fan
tween t
financial
and so
account
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case in i
ship, ho’
Letters Carter and Democratic Party defended
Editor:
In reply to Richard Leonardan’s letter of
April 17th: I would just like to say that Mr.
Leonardan demonstrated by his statements
that he knew very little about what he was
talking about.
He lays the blame for inflation and the
energy crisis on President Carter and the
Congress. Actually these two problems are
one and the same since inflation is caused
primarily by increasing energy costs. If you
want to lay the blame for the energy crisis
and inflation where it belongs then you
should lay it on OPEC and the Republican
administrations of Nixon and Ford. You
should blame OPEC because they are the
cause of the oil price increases, and you
should blame Nixon and Ford because they
did nothing to decrease American depend
ence on foreign oil.
Mr. Leonardan also cites deficit spend
ing as a cause of inflation, and he blames
this on the Democrats. Yet, I hardly think
that the Republicans have an admirable
record on balancing the budget. During
the eight years of Nixon and Ford there was
not one balanced budget. In fact, Ford has
the dubious honor of signing the largest
deficit budget ever. The last balanced
budget was under a Democrat (Lyndon
Johnson).
Mr. Leonardan also wrote about how the
oil companies are picked on by Congress.
My heart truly bleeds for the oil companies;
last year they had their best year ever. Boy,
Congress must have really been tough on
the oil companies!
Finally, Mr. Leonardan says that Presi
dent Carter is “an incompetent, worthless
president” and he urges Aggies to “vote
Republican (especially Reagan).” Just be
cause Reagan is better than anyone else at
giving quaint oversimplified answers to
complex problems does not qualify him to
be president. Remember, Reagan is the
same man who once said, “The entire gra
duated income tax structure was created by
Karl Marx. It has no justification in getting
the government needed revenues.” Boy,
he really sounds bright. Also, remember
what President Ford said about Reagan in
1976: “Governor Reagan can’t get us into a
war. President Reagan could.”
President Carter has done an admirable
job under trying circumstances. He has
been patient with Iran while at the same
time applying tough economic sanctions
against them. The important thing is that
he has kept the hostages alive. If and when
the time for military action comes at least
the United States will have the comfort of
knowing that we did everything we could to
avoid bloodshed. There is little doubt in my
mind that if Reagan had been president
during the Embassy takeover that we
would now have fifty American corpses in
stead of hostages.
I would like to urge all my fellow Ags not
to vote for a party, but to vote for the best
man. And I think that if you look at all the
men in both parties that are running for
President, you will come to the same con
clusion that I have, and that is that Presi
dent Carter is far and away the best choice.
John Cherry III, ’83
pages of an economics book you will find a
great deal of very interesting facts.
Reagan’s platform does not provide an
absolute answer to our current problems;
however, neither does any other presiden
tial candidate’s platform. Simply to attack
with unsupported words is to be unrealistic
and unfair to the readers of this newspaper.
A little less unsupported and irrelevant
journalism and a few more factual com
ments would serve each of the readers of
the Battalion a great deal more benefit.
Have a nice day.
Aubrey Smith
(Editor’s note: The Opinion column con
tains the editorial opinion of The Batta
lion: not news stories, not features, but
opinions. And we don’t have to defend our
opinions. Also, the editorial in question did
not “support our choice in presidential
candidates” — it endorsed no candidate).
The d
®an op
account
said the i
a house,
the pur
What is a competent leader? Is lit 'from hi
Honey v
Wher
eparat.
iainst I
te the
'■issentec
at temptii
Reagan: magic
up his sleeve?
No, anything
but economics!
Editor:
It is quite evident that you support your
choice in presidential candidates by de
fending them with slandering remarks
against the opposition. By no means is
Ronald Reagan incapable of “intelligently
confronting the problems of our country” as
you so colorfully put in Monday’s paper.
Perhaps- you should educate yourself by
reading an economics text. Within the
Editor:
In response to Thursday’s letter, Mr.
Leonardon, the context of your letter
seems to be from either (A) John Tower’s
Newsletter, (B) a Young American’s for
Freedom Newsheet, or (C) both.
Where do these “facts” come from: We
always hear them, but I for one can never
find them. Did someone research your
facts, or did someone make them up?
The letter expressed the need for compe
tent leaders in 1980. What is a competent
leader? Is it a man who bellows about tax
reform while refusing to make public his
own tax return? Another candidate (George
Bush) supposedly paid $3,000 in taxes last
year on his $ 100,000-plus reported earn
ings. What did Reagan pay, and where did
his money come from?
who promises to cut taxes by 30
increase defense spending by 25
and balance the budget at the sameft
this just a ploy to get support or
have some magic up his sleeve?
What is a liberal? Obviously it n
(A) an opponent in an election, iiii|® rs nip.
colleague’s opponent in an elect®,■F arn ‘ e 0
someone who has an idea that you ;0115 tee f<
think of first. How can I sign up(d 11 ?2' Vne '’ °
government giveaways that you wf . ra ™ett
out? Are they anything like theoili' ">624.4-
tion allowance? ■ p^ ma
Your letter said that President C*;’ . ^hief
“an incompetent worthless president
nically, the author suggests a#
Reagan.
My point today is not that profits^
or that big government is good. Mm
not that I will never vote Republic
point is that all stories have twosidf ‘ ^ m ‘
facts about the different sides not trey
paign ads, or from Washington lot'!* 1
from governors who close their eyes'
they talk, but from neutral sources-
In closing, the American
in for a real task if November co'
deciding between one former stale
ernor who can’t get anything do# 1
another former state governor who
know how to do anything except act-
Ted W. A:
L“if th
-Ppellee
‘and an<
Readers’ For uni
Guest viewpoints, in addition ;
Letters to the Editor, are welcoi#|
All pieces submitted to Readf !! j
forum should be:
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line ‘
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