I I
Viewpoint
The Battalion
December 11,19j[l_> C
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Slouch
By Jim Earle
GOODBYE
CLASS OF 81
By DAVID BRODEK
WASHINGTON — On Nov. 30, the day
the new round of nuclear disarmament talks
began in Geneva between the Soviet Union
and the United States, Eugene V. Rostow,
the director of the U.S. Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency, made a speech be
fore the English-Speaking Union in Lon
don. It is a speech worth noting.
The sentiments were nothing new from
Rostow. But the skepticism this senior
Reagan administration official expressed
about the effort at capping the nuclear arms
race is an important warning sign of the
barriers to be overcome — not just in Rus
sia but here — before the hopes of Geneva
can be realized.
The essence of Rostow’s argument can be
summarized in a series of excerpted quota
tions:
“The wall between conventional and
nuclear war can never be impermeable, no
matter how high we make it. Small wars can
become big ones at least as readily as in the
days when archdukes w6re assassinated at
Sarajevo and Danzig was the center of
world concern. It is now apparent that
arms-control agreements are hardly worth
having if they make the world safe for con
ventional warfare, terrorism and the move
ment of armed bands across international
borders.”
Again: While “arms control agreements
could residt in a somewhat more stable en-
viroment, at least in restraining the poten
tial escalation of conventional force conflict-
s.. under contemporary circumstances,
that is an insufficient goal, and probably an
illusory one.... The fruits of SALT I and
SALT II have turned to ashes in our
mouths. The decade which began ten years
ago with high hopes of detente became the
worst decade of the entire Cold War. ”
Rostow’s argument is that the great dan
ger is not nuclear war but the relentless
aggressiveness of the Soviet Union. “There
is no blinking the fact that the Soviet Union
risks war in its campaigns of expansionism
all over the world,” he says. And since ev
ery war, in his view, is potentially a nuclear
war, there can be no real security unless
Russia renounces its expansionist goals.
Since earlier arms-control agreements
have not halted that Soviet imperialism and
since the existence of the agreements may
have lulled the West into neglecting its own
defense needs, the nuclear weapons
treaties “have turned to ashes in our
mouths.”
Believing that, Rostow makes only the
most grudging concession to the Presi
dent’s decision to enter a new round of arms
negotiations. Indeed, he exclaims at one
point, “arms negotiations have no magic in
themselves. ”
Rostow is exceptional in having the tem
erity to express these doubts at the very
moment when the President has launched
an ambitious nuclear disarmament plan.
But his view is far from unique. There are
many like-minded skeptics in the Reagan
administration and in the Congress who
argue that no arms-control agreement is
worthwhile unless it somehow compels the
Soviets also to renounce their habit ofcreat
ing and exploiting political and military
problems all around the globe.
For the moment, Ronald Reagan has
embraced the opposite view— that nuclear
war is an evil in itself. He said plainly in his
National Press Club speech that limitations
on deploying, developing and testing nuc
lear weapons are goals worth seeking even
in — and perhaps especially because of —
the shaky international enviroment.
He embraced the view that avoiding the
use of nuclear weapons in warfare for 36
years is perhaps the most significant
achievement of the past generation, one not
easily to be dismissed.
It is true that in those 36 years there have
been a multiplicity of small wars. There
have been countless shifts in the world ba
lance of power, affecting the interests of the
Soviet Union and the United States. But all
of those conflicts and shifts have not been
one-sided. The Soviets — no less than the
United States — must reckon their losses
along with their gains.
Those calculations are all dwarfed by the
overriding fact that, for 36 years, we have
avoided nuclear war. We have avoided it
because Presidents of both parties under
stood — contrary to Rostow — that arms-
control agreements are worth having, even
if they still leave us to contend with the risks
of conventional warfare, terrorism and
cross-border conflicts.
Rostow may believe the the fruits of
those treaties are just “ashes in our
mouths.” But there are many — including,
I think, this President of the United States
—- who rejoice that the globe has not been
reduced to nuclear ash, as it might have
been without the continuing quest for nuc
lear arms control.
the small society
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squad affects Reagan’s lifestyle^
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The reported threat
from Libya hit squads, and terrorism at
large, is having an impact on the life style of
president Reagan, already the victim of one
assassination attempt.
Even after he was shot in the chest last
March, Reagan did not fear to venture forth
in public. And he told reporters he was not
going to be chained to the White House,
which presidents often view as a prison.
But from now on, it appears all his public
movements will be weighed with the
thought: Is this trip necessary? despite the
dangers and risks?
It is a more dangerous world with instant
communications and rapid transport. More
and more, the Secret Service will be able to
impinge on a president’s activities, making
perhaps the ultimate decision on where he
goes and when.
In the past, some presidents have prided
themselves on overruling their body
guards. When a helicopter pilot told John
Kennedy that it was too foggy to lift off, he
said, “Let’s try it.
Lyndon Johnson was not one to be dic
tated to by his protectors, although all pres
idents are briefed on the dangerous lives
they lead from the moment they set foot in
the White House.
During the Vietnam War, particularly as
the protests mounted, Johnson soon came
to the point where he could only go to milit
ary bases, and to his home in Texas.
Time was when Harry Truman could
take his early morning walk with Secret
Service agents and a few reporters and
cameramen dogging his heels. But a morn
ing constitutional outside the White House
fence would not be recommeneded for a
president these days.
Many new safeguards have been intro
duced in the protection of Reagan, and as
they become institutionalized, as they will,
the public exposure of any president will be
lessened considerably. More and more, he
is expected to resort to television as people
contact is ruled out for safety reasons.
[By NAN<
Administration officials are
there has been some skepticism regari« ( <)
the reports, and they have seennoreas# y a PP r( *y
publicly justify their concerns.
There is enough support for theadi^
(ration to bank on general faith intki
tion’s intelligence community.
also are some questions relating tocre| igth the
ity that somewhere along the linen
to be answered.
iques in
the Pres
If the reports are true, livesareatsd s plaque
and no one would want to jeopardize in
But the White House is
have to produce more facts in thehitie
win support for any tough measures^
proposes
Whether the reports of Libyan death
squads dispatched to eliminate the U.S. top
leadership are true are false, they cannot be
ignored and steps are being taken to en
hance the president’s protection.
And although the present administration
is not fond of laying its cards on the table, it
may just have to produce some of the “evi
dence” that has heightened international
tensions and worried the country.
esident’s
south w
d not the
oposed.
Council
•foot-3-
que, wh
lOol
When Kennedy had his secondCn
missile crisis, he showed on nationals
sion the photographs of Russian
that he wanted removed. The decisis
show the pictures was a happy strolfi
convinced the people that i
gers were there in Cuba.
Whether the Reagan White
follow suit and back up its story will
crete evidence is not known. But it
convince some of the skeptics, andei
By
I But
[hoppers
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e rate
the administrations’ stature in (iti Sistmas
policy.
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Nuclear arms control
needed for survival
...SCENE ONE...TAKE Tm
HERE’S THE 'WORLD WAR m
SoijAPRON Of 1 ' SOVIE1 H&HTERS.
W00SHHIKABCOM!
'SCRATCH FIVE RUKSKH'S.'
UK MUSES- CUT! PRINT/
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B1 VICTORY
Riding
e holida
is and lx
I ptorcyel
fer and
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Bie nu
figs of
Iso tha
can
It s your turn
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USJ
Merry Christmas with stolen tree
Visit i
gifts
Editor:
First of all, Merry Christmas to every
one, but mainly to the person who visited
our door Tuesday night. Yes, we had a little
problem at Fowler Hall. It seems our
Christmas spirit was so impressive that
someone became jealous.
We want the person who took the Christ
mas tree at Fowler to really enjoy it. The
tree was going to he taken to a nursing
home on Thursday, hut it appears you
needed it more than they did.
Not only did you disappoint us with that,
you also had to take the Santa’s boot that
was on our door.
We want you to have a Merry Christmas
with OUR tree and hoot. Oh, and if you
need a string of popcorn for the tree, it’s
inside, but we ll put it outside for you —
we have no use for it now.
bang, the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshi
ma. Now, if these don’t sell furniture, no
thing will.
Let me close by saying thank-you for pro
ving to me once again, that for many people
in today’s world, the only thing that matters
is the almighty dollar!
Steven M. Harris ‘80
Nutrition vs
edibility
Editor:
When I came to A&M at the beginning
of this semester, I was against having to eat
in a school cafeteria. But after 1 hadvi
Sbisaand eaten there, I found theW:
very good.
In the past few weeks, though,
has been going downhill. The servid
Sbisa is still very good, but the cb
good food is getting progressively wofi '
Last Monday night, when I\
eat dinner and saw they were sen
spaghetti with watery sauce and beef:
novers, I was tempted to walkouts
But I stayed and went to the “jur 1 *™ *
section to get something to eat.
looked around, it seemed as though at l(
one-half of the students who eat in v
had the same idea.
I think it’s pretty bad when youl#
resort to eating “junk food” because:
choice of good nutritional food is nearti
Cotton
Lauri Strickland
Pam McDonald ‘84
Karen Zern ‘84
Fowler Hall
Local ad in
poor taste
Editor:
(re: letter to Teague Furniture)
This letter is in response to the advertise
ment you ran on December 7 on a local
radio station. I find this commercial, adver
tising Teague Furniture Store, to be the
most tasteless advertisement I have ever
heard.
“Zeros are dropping from your prices like
the Japanese on Pearl Harbor that day.”
Really! Is business so bad that you must use
the tragedy of Pearl Harbor to sell furni
ture? If so, I have a few ideas for your next
advertising campaign.
Let’s start with, oh say, the Boston Mas
sacre, Custer at Little Big Horn, the sink
ing of the Titanic, the Alamo, or you could
use the senseless murder of 6 million Jews
during World War II, and finish with a
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Angelique Copeland
Managing Editor Marcy Boyce
City Editor JaneG. Brust
Asst. City Editor Kathy O’Connell
Photo Editor Dave Einsel
Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy
Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
Asst. Focus Editor Debbie Nelson
News Editors Phyllis Henderson
Bernie Fette, Belinda McCoy
Diana Sultenfuss
StaffWriters . . . . Gary Barker
Frank L. Christlieb, Randy Clements
Gaye Denley, Nancy Floeck, Tim Foarde
Colette Hutchings, Daniel Puckett
Denise Richter, Mary Jo Hummel, Rick Stolle
Nancy Weatherley, Barbie Woelfel
Cartoonist Scott M cCullar
Graphic Artist. Richard DeLeon Jr.
Photographers Brian Tate
Daniel Sanders, Colin Valentine
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Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M Unives'j
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D
fines
prim
fillet
don't
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