opinion
Battalion/Page
July 21,1982
Slouch
By Jim Earle
“I took all these notes in this course last semester; I
studied them; condensed them to a single volume; re
duced the volume to a report; summarized the report in a
single page; compressed the page to a paragraph; then to a
single sentence and finally to a single word; and then ... I
forgot the word.”
Leo Tolstoy wrote in War and Peace
that two factors determine the effective
ness of an army: its physical size and
equally significant, its spirit. In the re
volution of 1978-1979 and particularly
during the ensuing war with Iraq, Ira
nians provided the world with historic
examples of the potential force of the
behrooz
moghaddam
latter. And in those years, as the central
figure, Ayatollah Khomeini played no lit
tle part; his nationalism and Islamic fun
damentalism proved decisive in both in
stances.
Coincidentally with these successes,
however, there has also evolved in the
Iranian political structure an uneasy ten
dency away from pursuing the political
and economic needs of the public. In
stead, leaders have become dangerously
pre-occupied with maintaining power
and vying for favor with the Ayatollah.
The latest Iranian incursion into Iraq is a
case in point.
I agree with most in linking the inva
sion with the desire to focus public atten
tion away from domestic problems.
However, whether this end will be
achieved or not is another question.
Iraqi territory is not Iranian soil. No
matter the propaganda and rhetoric, Ira
nians will not support this new offensive
to the extent they supported the expul
sion of Iraqi troops from Iran. Pride and
country are no longer threatened.
Rather both have been defended heroic
ally and in the process Iraq has been
humiliated.
The Battalion
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Photographers .... David Fisher, Octavio Garcia
John Ryan,
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77843.
Psychological baggage
by Art Buchwald
“This is ridiculous,” said Tabash, as he
read The New York Times on the beach.
“It says here that the toughest time for
couples is when they go on vacation. The
reason seems to be that the couple is
together for an uninterrupted block of
time. The husband and wife have fanti-
sies of what it will be like to be together,
and many times these fantasies don’t
come true, so they get angry and pick
fights with each other over little things.
One doctor in the article calls it ‘psycholo
gical baggage.’”
Fenton laughed. “Barbara and I don’t
feel that way.”
Fenton’s wife sat up angrily and said,
“My name isn’t Barbara. It’s Bernice.”
“Barbara — Bernice, what’s the big
deal?” Fenton asked.
“After 15 years of marriage, you could
get my name right.”
“Now you’re getting picky,” Fenton
said. “Barbara is my secretary, and every
once in a while I get them mixed up,” he
explained to the rest of us.
“It’s an honest mistake,” I agreed. “A
guy can’t remember his wife’s name ALL
the time. That’s why I always call mine
‘Honey.’”
“What else does the article say?” Fen
ton wanted to know.
Tabash referred to his paper. “People
who take vacations are full of guilt. They
feel guilty about not working. They feel
guilty about taking a vacation their pa
rents can’t afford. Guilt leads to dishar
mony in the couple and ultimately spoils
their vacation.”
“I don’t feel guilty about not working,”
said Dobler. “I’m enjoying every moment
of it.”
“Then why are you on the phone to the
office every day?” Astrid Dobler asked.
“Because I have to know what is going
on,” Dobler replied bitterly. “You can’t
have a good time if you have no idea what
they’re doing in the shop while you’re
away. My clients don’t pay me to sit on the
beach all day long. I notice you call the
house-sitters every day.”
“That’s different. It’s my house, and if
they don’t hear from me daily, they’ll
think I don’t care what they do to the
place,” Astrid retorted.
Dobler turned to all of us. “I couldn’t
go on a vacation if I didn’t check in with
the office. One lousy call a day doesn’t
make you a workaholic.”
“You’ve never known how to take a
vacation, bacause your parents!
took one,” Astrid said.
“They never had the money I
one,” Dobler shouted.
“Right now they’re stuck in anaj
ment in Brooklyn all summer. IgJ
heartburn every time 1 think abowg
Astrid said: “I’m not respons™
cause you’re having a guilt tripi
your parents.”
“Keep reading, Tabash,” I toldl
think you’re making our summer.’!
Tabash said, “The article saystkl
a study at the University of Minntj
and found more couples foughti
each other during the summer I
any other time in the year.”
“It figures,” I said. “That's
they’re stuck with each other’s net
for the longest period of time.”
“What neuroses?” my wife want!
know.
“I’m not talking about us,” 1 said,]
sides I thought you were sleeping.”
She threw a bluefish at me.
“What am I supposed todowithtl
I sputtered.
“Stuff it in your psychological!
g^ge”
Iranians want peace
in home country
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Consequently, Iranians will soon find
themselves perplexed with the decision
to push on. And confusion may well lead
to indifference of anger, either of which
will serve as the first ingredient in the
recipe for losing a war.
The potential for losing yet thousands
of more lives also weight against the new
offensive. In what is termed the biggest
land battle since World War II, 200,000
troops are presently locked in fierce
combat.
Contrary to Tehran’s expectations, I
suspect the Iraqi people and army will
fight for their authoritarian government
for the same reason the Argentines gave
overwhelming support to their military
dictatorship — nationalism. The mother
land comes before government. As a re
sult therefore, Iranian casualties will
probably reach unbearable levels, while
in the meantime the possibility for losing
the war itself looms overhead. Moreover,
this turn of events would simultaneously
extinguish Iran’s present bargaining
position, one which may still yield excel
lent gains at any negotiating table.
Finally, the new flare-up invites
heightened United States and Soviet in
volvement, thsu bringing with it all the
dangers of escalation. Having accepted
limited Russian assistance in the last
twenty-two months of the war, Iran from
necessity, risks even closer links with her
northern neighbor. Moscow, for its part,
following the Lebanese embarrassment,
will undoubtedly press for more influ
ence in Tehran. Hence the longer the
war lasts, the tighter the bear-hug be
comes.
In the final analysis, Iranians do not
want this war. Rather, they want peace at
home. This is in part best symbolized by
the exodus of tens of thousands of highly
skilled and educated Iranians from their
country. The answer to this drain of Ira
nian energy must be found soon, lest
Iran falls irreparably apart.
Reader clarifies bombing fact
Editor:
While I agree in the main with Terry
Duran’s expose on the word terrorism,
there were finite points that needed clar
ification. His views, however, are lucidly
clear as compared to those of Nabil Al-
Khowaiter, who appears to be plagued by
a kaleidoscopic myopicness that vitiates
the facts but acts as a veneer for his seeth
ing, dogmatic hatred of the Jewish peo
ple and everything and one they stand
for or are associated with. His latest faux
pas was comparing the Irgun and Stern’s
brand of terrorism with that of the
PLO’s. A case in point is his allusion to the
King David Hotel bombing that occurred
in Jerusalem in 1946.
The King David Hotel at that time bil
leted both the British and civilian-
military governments. On July 22, 1946,
the Irgun set the bombs that led to the
subsequent death and injury of more
than 200 people, 15 of whom were Jewish
civilians. Those are the overt facts: here
are the covert facts (Chapter 15 in
Menachem Begin’s “The Revolt 11 ).
The prime consideration in planning
the attack was the eliminiation, at all
costs, of civilian casualties. In order to
ensure this outcome then, the following
three actions were taken, a priori to the
bombing:
1) A small cracker bomb, noisy but
harmless, was let off to keep passersby
away from the building.
2) Three offices received a telephoned
warning: the King David Hotel manage
ment, the Palestine Post and the French
Consulate-General. These admonitions
were later verified by independent
sources.
3) The attack was delivered at an hour
when there were no customers in the
hotel’s Cafe for lunch.
In addition, the chapter proffers inci
sive ponderings between the troika of the
Palmach, the Haganah and the Irgun
and Stern outfits, highlighting in the pro
cess their concern for the non-
combatants and the polemics that went
on to insure just such an outcome.
This form of “terrorism” differs in
both a qualitative and quantitative vein
from that of the PLO as witnessed by
Reader’s
Forum
their indiscriminate Ma’alot killings of
Israeli school children and their Black
September hijackings of airplanes. I
therefore doubt that the PLO spends its
time in vehement debates concerning the
fate of its victims before striking mali-
the small society
ciously forth. The reprehensivei
with which the PLO carries outitsdo]
is also disdained by the rest of the A
world, which, as Newsweek basso
nantly stated, left the PLO to fight
battle alone in Lebanon.
I do not want to engage in a quid
quo battle with Mr. Khowaiter, but
leaves me little choice. His vendetta
wards Israel has reached leviathan pu
ortions and must be defused beh
pyrotechnics of a serious nature rest
As I am sure he will instantly retorttl
missive, let me conclude thusly:
I am willing to forego our tete-a-i
that has been going on in The Battalii
editorial section for some time now,sot
to enable other Texas A&M studti
their allotted space and opinions. Iff
choose to do otherwise, however
rebut every one of your odious letttj
until we part ways. Napolean had 11
Waterloo and now you have yours.
Marc Rogi
Graduate stud*
Educational Psycholo
by Brickman
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©1961 King Feature* Syndicate, Inc World rights reserved