I
Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Thursday
April 9, 1981
Slouch By Jim Earle
“Let’s not get any more talcum powder in a pressurized can,
OK?“
Will El Salvador be
By JUAN O. TAMAYO
United Press International
The U.S. Army colonel was briefing journal
ists deep within the bunker-like U.S. Embassy
in El Salvador, jabbing a metal pointer at a map
of the nation as he explained how Salvadoran
troops were defeating leftist guerrillas.
In the crowd, a silver-haired news photo
grapher who covered the early years of U.S.
involvement in Vietnam shook his head incredu
lously and stage-whispered, “Saigon, 1967.”
It was not the first or last comparison of El
Salvador with Vietnam since the United States
sent 56 military advisers and $35 million in milit
ary aid to help the tiny Central American nation
battle Marxist-led rebels.
There are similarities between El Salvador
and Vietnam, 13,000 miles away, where the Un
ited States chose to “draw the line” against com
munist infiltration to avert a domino-like fall of
neighboring countries.
But U.S. diplomats and military officers in
San Salvador, who would not comment for the
the record, cockily see a U.S. victory in the
making in El Salvador. Some of them see it as “a
second chance to win Vietnam.”
The Salvadoran army, they say, is not as
corrupt as the South Vietnamese military, is
much better motivated, and is only 1,000 miles
from the U.S. mainland, compared with the
11,000 miles between San Francisco and Saigon.
But critics say that is the same type of optim
ism that prevailed in Washington in the early
stages of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam,
which ultimately claimed the lives of 57,000
U.S. soldiers.
El Salvador, they point out, is only one-
eighth the size of South Vietnam but has one-
fourth its population — 4.8 million people pack
ed into 8,260 square miles miles, compared with
19.7 million people spread out over 67,108
square miles.
That gives the 3,000 to 5,000 Salvadoran
guerrillas little room to move around, especially
since their Massachussetts-sized nation is exten
sively farmed and doesn’t have the impenetrable
jungles of Vietnam, they say.
Surrounded by rightist-ruled Guatemala and
Honduras, the rebels can’t set up a “Ho Chi
Minh Trail” supply line, and are unlikely to be
backed up by regular army units, such as the
battalions North Vietnam sent into the South.
The Salvadoran army plans to establish the
“strategic villages” used in Vietnam to protect
and control peasants, and has offered rebels an
amnesty program similar to the “Chiu Hoi”
program for Viet Cong turncoats.
Vietnam and El Salvador both tried to under
cut peasant support for rebels by launching agra
rian reform programs mapped out by the same
U.S. land reform expert, Roy Prosterman of the
AFL-CIO Free Labor Institute.
Backers of U.S. policies in El Salvador argue
the comparisons with Vietnam are only coin
cidental, and add that Washington learned
enough in Southeast Asia to avoid committing
the same errors.
That was the defense put up by the American
colonel briefing the journalists at the U.S.
Embassy when he was asked how the United
States was going to change its military tactics to
avoid another Vietnam in El Salvador.
“We’re just going to do it better,” he
answered.
Warped
V/ELL MERRITT, IT'S BEEV
GREAT talki/yg WITH
you agai/Y, filli/vs you
IN ON /MYSELF...
everything THAT'S
/VEW IN /MT LI FE, ALL
THE THI/Yes I'VE BEEN
"ANTING TO DISCUSS
with you...
Intolera nee demeans educatioi
By AMY ANDREWS
“Go back to your own country!” , “Hit the
beach!”, “If you don’t like it, get out!”, and
the classic “Highway 6 runs b« ith ways.”
These along with the cherish .ed “Aggie
horse laughs” filled Rudder Th< eater Tues
day night during the heated q'U estion-and-
answer session following fona icr hostage
Richard Queen’s analysis of th e Iranian cri-
They came from the maj ority of the
Reader’s Forum
By
comments may
First, the floor
audience in response to the questions of
some of our foreign students.: “How could
the United States support the corrupt gov
ernment of the Shah at the e xpense of the
human rights of millions; of Iranians?
Shouldn’t we draw a line on our manipula
tion of foreign cultures for our “national
interests?” I was appalled fit the heckling
and hissing they received for expressing
their views.
Granted, some of their
have been inappropriate,
was open for questions to the speaker,
Richard Queen. The purj jose of the prog
ram was to hear Queen’s a ccount and analy
sis of the situation. It was not an open forum
for airing personal opin ions — radical or
conservative. Secondly, the charges made
had little relevance to Q ueen’s role in Iran.
He had been there for four months inter
viewing applicants for American visas. It
was not his fault that tl ie State Department
chose the policies it di id, and he made that
very clear. It is a sf iame that, as a free
speaker at our univers ity, he was doomed to
be the target of such emotional outbursts
simply because he was, by the fall of the
dice, involved in the crisis. I feel that the
audience became far too emotional and lost
sight of Mr. Queen’s purpose as a speaker.
Much more disturbing, though, were the
ridiculing responses of the audience major
ity. Could no one sense the value of their
statements? I maintain that instead of
drowning out these sentiments with chil
dish hissing, as a student body we should be
much more sensitive. Our foreign students
speak based on an experience and cultural
background very different from the upper-
middle-class American’s, and whether we
like it or not, the majority of this world is
different. Their comments, misguided or
confused as they may have been, did repre
sent the sentiments of millions of people.
We can’t just shut our ears and recline into
the familiarity of our own culture with the
idea that “we’re right — they’re radical.”
We need to understand these countries,
especially since we are forced to interact
with them. Whether we are using these
countries as economic resources (i.e., oil.
cheap labor, etc.) or as battlefieldsw\
we are going to stand tough to the Sovi
we need to remember that humans dol)
there, and they don’t necessarily thii
Americans. As the future teachers,
gineers, businesmen, and military persi
!nel of this country, the students ofi
campus need to see that a failure to aa
foreign values will inherently leadtoai
lure of our own interests. It caused n
failure in Cuba, Vietnam, and Iran. Will
ever learn? Therefore, the foreign studi
on our campus offer an invaluable resotr
and service that must not be scorned
need more understanding and knowldj
— not hissing.
I realize that Texas A&M
CAROL
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homogeneous school. Consider, for eia:
pie, our standing as the most
public institution in the United
However, part of our education is toexps
the way we view the world, and a “loveii
leave it” attitude toward those withcoi
ing attitudes can only reduce the qualitvi
that education. Some may claim that!
Aggie way is the all-American way in eva
sense, but based on the reactions oflut
day’s audience. I’d have to disagree. H
American way is freedom of speech
dissent, but a “Good Ag” only thinks il
“Good Bull ' to maintain a thoughtless(ta
servative) status quo ....
Amy Andrews
major.
freshman accountaf. those card pa
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It’s your turn
Barbaric behavior disturbs reader
They contend there is a string of similarities
between El Salvador and Vietnam that augur ill,
beginning with Washington’s arrogant belief
that even a light jab from its heavyweight armed
forces can knock out an opponent as insignificant
as the Salvadoran guerrillas.
The body counts reported by the Salvadoran
military, they say, are nothing if not Vietnames-
que — 2,200 “subversives” and only 147 soldiers
killed in nine weeks of fighting beginning Jan.
10.
Editor:
I’ve just returne :d from Richard Queen’s
presentation. I heedless to say, I was
amazed at the: b »arbaric behavior display
ed by a few c 1 hc >ice members of the audi
ence.
Mr. Queen wf is holding a question-and-
answer sessio n with those who cared to
come fortbi and present themselves.
Everyone wa is instructed to ask only one
question and make it short an<T,to the
point. All w as going well until ah indi
vidual beg;a’ n blurting out a torrid of ac
cusations i' n semi-distinguishable En
glish, as if Richard Queen himself was
the ex-Shal i. This was out of line with the
format, bu it nonetheless, somewhat en
tertaining . This was to be but the tip of
the prove rbial iceberg.
Followed by this were five or so more
righteous crusaders. None had the de
cency to ask any pertinent questions, or
any que: stions at all for that matter. They
were or ily concerned with turning the
present ation into a political circus. Even
after th e ushers were successful in send
ing the m back to their seats they insisted
on interrupting others by yelling from
their seats at the back of the theater.
This b ehavior is totally inexcusable. The
incide :nt made a mockery of the presen-
tatior i and was an embarrassment to
A&M.
To our Iranian “friends,” who have again
fostered ill feelings between us: when
will you ever learn that your childish
yell ing and screaming will only do you
moJre harm than good? Now excuse me
for stooping to your level, but if you
defeest the United States and Americans
so much why don’t you just get the hell
ou t — I know I never invited you!
Gr eg Cizik ’82
started asking questions.
This letter is addressed in general to all
Iranian students in this country who like
to cause trouble, and in particular to
those Iranians who gave Mr. Queen such
a hard time the other night.
First off, I think it takes a hell of a lot of
nerve for you people to come to our
country and take advantage of our col
leges and universities, and then turn
around and criticize America. There
aren’t just a whole lot of places in the
world where you could get away with
that.
Secondly, if you are so anti-America,
leave! It’s not as if we’re twisting your
arm to make you stay here. Unlike some
other countries around the world, this
one is free; you may come and go as you
please.
Considering the circumstances, I’d say
you people ought to count you blessings
and keep your mouths shut.
Daniel Boone
their turn at the microphone.
Tom Weiricli 1
Support for Warped
Remember guidelines
Go home, Iranians
Editor:
When former Iranian hostage Richard
Queen spoke at Rudder Theater on
Tuesday, the behavior of the crowd dur
ing the question-and-answer period
should be brought to attention. The
program director, Bill Livingstone, set
the guidelines for the questions. One
short question per person was specified.
Several of the persons who came to the
microphone not only asked several ques
tions but made statements of opinion.
The reason that this was undesirable at a
presentation of this nature was that
there were several people waiting to also
have a turn at the microphone. In the
future it would be a good idea to remem
ber these guidelines so that as many
persons as possible will be able to have
Editor:
This letter is a rebuttal to criticism
Warped comic strip. My roommatess
I feel that one of the strongest mo
statements that can be made today is,
the words of Ayn Rand: “I swear by
life*and my love of it that I will neverl?
for the sake of another man, nor
another man to live for mine.” Wei
spect the opinions and wishes of otbfl
but when some people try to oblitm
Warped from existence, they are
for others to cover their eyes for the*
“to live for another man. ” We do not)
that The Battalion must conform l:oS
wishes of these few. ShaW we ban!
cartoon Tank McNamara became
offends some sports fans and
pants? The Battalion is put out forfl
lege students, who are supposed
responsible enough to decide what I
like or don’t like, what to read andui
not read, and to know the difference!
tween making a demand and express
an opinion.
Great Scott! We don’t always 1)'watch their
Warped, but if we stop liking it, we"i* ^
stop reading it, not ask that The
lion stop printing it. In fact, in our of
registration {
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Carter sail
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By MICH
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personal opinion survey, three out oft! ,,
four people polled stated they I i awpasses s j
Warped.
We will not be held liable for any misco
struction of this article, nor the use
this article, or portions thereof, in*
term paper without the written appro'
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Aiterall, our opinion may be
warped also.
into clubs.
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Jay C. Ellis!# Bail 7’? legi
Editor:
•On the evening of April 7, former hostage
Richard Queen came to Rudder Theater
to speak about his experiences while he
was held hostage in Iran. The question
and answer session which followed got a
little rowdy when some Iranian students
Dane Robin*'
Richard Zimmeri"
By Scott McCullar
GOT
WE LL, WE'VE BOTH
CLASSES TO GET TO SO
X'LL LET YOU GO NOW...
THANKS, I APPRECIATE
XT, mY AR/VS
To GET /YUAB..
The Battalion
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