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The Battalion
Serving the University community
A
S
M
. 75 No. 94 USPS 045360 36 Pages In 2 Sections
College Station, Texas
Thursday, February 11, 1982
Vietnam War
jioviet break,
Mien says
ikes for
)lks"
lorthpuj
by Johna Jo Maurer
Battalion Staff
brmer U.S. National Security
viser Richard V. Allen Wednesday
the Vietnam War provided a
ri. IWSi ategic wedge for the Soviet Union
d the Soviets made the most of it.
Allen opened the 27th Student
nference on National Affairs in
idder Auditorium, with more than
D persons attending.
“While we were hopelessly
Rbroiled in that land of conflict,
hpusands of miles away, wasting our
wdand treasure, the Soviet Union
itinued its dramatic and relentless
rch up the ladder of military ac-
sition,” he said.
“That strategic wedge constituted,
yview, the most important open-
in the entire historv of the Soviet
The outcome of the Vietnam War
the United States with a distaste
that kind of conflict, Allen said.
“We shy away from it today when
think of the projection of Amer-
n military power any place for
atever reason, because it evokes
harsh realities, the bitter memor-
of the Vietnam War.”
Former president Richard Nixon’s
ministration promised the begin-
gofan era of negotiation with the
viet Union, Allen said, with a move
ay from the old era of con front a-
n.
But the war went on for four years.
The illusion the Americans suf-
from, Allen said, was that some-
w the Soviet Union wanted the
ericans to end the war. In reality,
Soviets wanted the Americans in
ietnam for as long as the Americans
dd endure. All the while the Soviet
stem was geared to the production
the “military colossus” with which
: United States is faced today, he
id.
Allen attributed the beginnings of
is Soviet striving for military super-
lied
iority to the Cuban Missile Crisis of
1962.
Americans hoped for a converg
ence of Soviet society with American
society after the Cuban crisis, as a
means for future disarmament. In
actuality, divergence was building as
the Soviet leadership decided it would
never again be caught in the strategic
realities of hopeless inferiority to the
United States, Allen said.
“The Soviet Union made the deci
sion that whatever it would take to
catch up with the United States — and
hopefully surpass us in terms of milit
ary power for the pursuit of defiant
objectives — would be worth the
price.”
Today, Allen said, Americans are
confronted with the product of the
decisions that were made during the
fateful days of the Cuban Missile Cri
sis and thereafter.
Discussing Soviet-American rela
tions in 1982, Allen said President
Reagan’s goal is to restore a vital mar
gin of military safety that has been
allowed to dissipate over the 10 years
prior to his taking office.
“It was his decision to deal with the
Soviet Union from the position of
principled prudent strength based on
a notion of reciprocity, utilizing our
leadership and our allies in concert
with us because alone we can do no
thing.”
United States economic strength is
our most important weapon and to
insure national security, Allen said,
the economy must be revitalized.
“The President can indeed help
close that window of vulnerability into
which we have been thrust by inaction
for so many years.”
Allen’s closing suggestion to SCO-
NA delegates was to get involved in
public life.
“The penalty for refusing,” he said,
“is to suffer at the hands of those
perhaps less qualified than
yourselves.”
Syrian forces
battle rebels
United Press International
DAMASCUS, Syria — At least
1,400 people died in weeklong fight
ing in the city of Hama between gov
ernment troops and rebellious Mos
lem fundamentalists urged on by reli
gious leaders speaking from mos
ques, diplomatic sources say.
President Hafez Assad’s govern
ment said Wednesday, Washington’s
accounts of the trouble in Hama were
lies, and accused the United States of
“flagrant interference in Syria’s
domestic affairs.”
Syria acknowledged disturbances
involving the rebel Moslem Brother
hood in Hama, a city north of Damas
cus of 300,000 people, although it in
sisted events were now under control.
Diplomatic sources said up to
16,000 Syrian troops, air force planes
and helicopters and at least 100 tanks
were sent to Hama after anti
government Islamic rebels killed
members of an army patrol.
When troops arrived, residents
were “called into rebellion by local re
ligious leaders” standing in the
minarets of city mosques, the sources
said. Rebels reportedly shelled an air
base a mile from Hama and damaged
a bridge over the Orontes River.
The reports said rebel casualties
ranged between 1,000 and 2,000
while about 400 government troops
were killed.
Hama, 50 miles east of the Mediter
ranean Sea, has been a center of anti
government sentiment.
The Syrian statement said several
hundred weapons were confiscated
and criminals, including escaped con
victs, were captured in Hama during
a search for firearms and hideouts of
the outlawed Moslem Brotherhood.
The Moslem Brotherhood wants
Sunni Moslems, who constitute a ma
jority in Syria, to replace Assad’s gov
ernment, which is led by the minority
Aiawite faction Moslems.
Syria’s statement accused the State
Department of trying to shift atten
tion from Washington’s “political and
diplomatic defeat” when it backed
Israel in a United Nations’ vote con
demning Israel’s annexation of the
Golan Heights.
Team to travel
to El Salvador
staff photo by David Fisher
Getting all the news
Richard Allen reviews Wednesday’s SCONA story in The
Battalion on his way from the MSC to the reception in
Rudder Exhibit Hall. After the reception Allen spoke in
Rudder Auditorium .
United Press International
WASHINGTON — House Speak
er Thomas P. O’Neill is sponsoring a
fact-finding mission to El Salvador
that will give him a firsthand report
on the war-torn Central American na
tion.
Chris Mathews, a spokesman for
O’Neill, confirmed Wednesday a
three-member team consisting of
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., an
Appropriations Committee aide and
Kirk O’Donnell, the speaker’s general
cousel, was scheduled to leave today
and spend several days in El Salvador.
The trip comes in conjunction with
one by Rep. Clarence Long, D-Md., a
leading congressional critic of the
administration’s policies toward Cen
tral America. Long begins a nine day
tour of the region today, his office
announced Wednesday.
O’Neill’s decision to send the mis
sion, Mathew said, was made on brief
ings the speaker received earlier this
week from the State Department, the
CIA and the House Intelligence
Committee.
The sending of the investigative
team comes at a time when American
policy toward El Salvador is under
intense scrutiny amid fears the Un
ited States is entering a Vietnam-type
entanglement.
enate thanks Samson; Hood among appointed
staff photo by Rose Delano
Itudent Government President Ken Johnson presents Charles
Samson, Texas A&M vice president for planning, with a
[laque in appreciation for his help while serving as University
President, while Dr. Samson’s wife Ruth looks on.
by Rebeca Zimmermann
Battalion Staff
Greg Hood, the cadet suspended
last semester after the saber incident
with SMU cheerleaders, is one of nine
new senators appointed by the Stu
dent Senate Wednesday.
Hood received national attention
after he drew his saber and chased
SMU cheerleaders off the Kyle Field
turf during the Texas A&M-SMU
football game in October. Hood, who
was serving as an Officer of the Day,
said he thought it his duty to keep
people off the playing field.
His controversial actions resulted
in his suspension for the duration of
the fall semester. At the time of the
incident. Hood held the position of
judicial chairman for student govern
ment and also served on the Traffic
Appeals Panel.
Senators voted 37-13, with four ab
stentions, in favor of Hood’s appoint
ment. No discussion preceeded
Hood’s appointment or any other
senator appointment.
Other appointed senators are:
Mary Glymer, Angela Dodd, Terry
Duran, Mary Flynn, Mark Gruettner,
Sue Lednicky, Mike Plank and Mike
White.
Recognition also went to Dr.
Charles H. Samson Jr., University
vice president for planning. Student
Body President Ken Johnson pre
sented him with a plaque in recogni
tion of his devotion to the University.
Samson served one year as acting
University president before Dr.
Frank E. Vandiver w'as appointed to
the presidency Aug. 26. Johnson said
Samson is one of the University’s most
faithful servants.
Much of the Senate meeting was
devoted to the allocation of
$2,886,529.50 from student service
fees for the 1982-83 budget.
The Senate finance committee re
commended an overall increase of
10.1 percent in the 1982-83 student
service fees budget. Senators unani
mously approved the budget.
Allocations made by the Senate wall
be submitted to Dr. John J. Koldus
III, University vice president for stu
dent services.
The Personal Counseling Service
received the largest increase in
budget allocations with a 22.7 percent
increase over the 1981-82 budget.
Terry Smith, Senate vice president
for finance, said the service has an
80-student backlog which justifies the
request for an additional staff person.
The A.P. Beutel Health Center re
ceived a 16.9 percent increase in its
budget. The center requested
$703,135, but the Senate approved a
budget of $610,000. The addition of
two doctors last year and an increase
in nurses’ pay called for the increase,
Smith said.
The Senate also approved a 15.3
percent budget increase for the
Office of Student Activities, and the
Shuttle Bus Service received a 14.3
percent increase.
See SENATE page 16.
staff photo by Rose Delano
Greg Hood, Sr. Senator College
of Business
New Federalism sparks diagreement
by Bill Robinson
Battalion Staff
In his State of the Union message last week,
[President Ronald Reagan proposed a return to
federalism by the U.S. government. That prop
osal fueled disagreement between economists
(and hard-line Democrats.
U.S. Rep. Phil Gramm, a former Texas A&M
[economics professor, State Sen. Kent Caperton
and Dr. Charles Maurice, head of the Texas
A&M economics department, gave The Batta
lion their differing opinions on that proposal.
Should Congress approve New Federalism
| as proposed by Reagan, the taxpayer can expect
increased efficiency and accountability of the
government, Gramm said in a telephone inter
view.
“To quote a famous Democrat named Tho
mas Jefferson, ‘Our country is too large to have
its affairs controlled by one government,”’
Gramm said in support of the president’s prop
osal.
Reagan proposes that the states take over the
costly and controversial basic welfare program,
aid to families with dependent children and the
politically sensitive and expensive food stamp
program.
In addition, the states would be in charge of
distributing funds that are currently handled
by federal grants.
“Texas will benefit from New Federalism,”
Gramm said, “because state money w ill be kept
within the state.
In addition, Gramm said the Texas legisla
ture can do a better job of determining state
needs and appropriating funds than Washing
ton can.
“I have more confidence in Bill Presnal
(chairman of the House Appropriations Com
mittee in the Texas House of Representatives),”
Gramm said, “than any member of the approp
riations committee of the U.S. Congress.”
The legislature will be able to tailor programs
to local needs. The programs supported by the
people would be secure but programs imposed
upon the people by the government could be
cut, he added.
Welfare and other entitlement programs
probably would have the greatest cuts. In a
survey Gramm conducted of his constituency,
37.5 percent favored cutting welfare drastical
ly, 33.3 percent cutting it substantially and 88.3
percent overall favored some cuts in welfare.
“Texas has never been a big supporter of
welfare so I would imagine it would be cut se
verely,” Caperton said.
However, Caperton disputed Gramm’s
claims that the program would be good for the
state. It could result in major tax increases to
See FEDERALISM page 16
inside
Classified ", 10
Local 3
Local/State 6
National 12
Opinions 2
Sports 17
| State., 5
What’s Up 9
forecast
Today’s forecast: Clear becoming
mostly cloudly with a 30 percent
chance of rain tonight; high in the
upper 50s, low tonight in the mid
40s. Friday’s forecast calls for cool
temperatures again with a 20 per
cent chance of rain.