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r opinion^ Battalion/Page 2 September 21,131 Lebanon situation Plans to stop central government surface Editor: In the wake of the past events in Leba non, devious intentions which were sub merged until a month ago started rising to the surface of reality. It is not the idea of creating a strong Lebanese Central Government supported by a capable Lebanese army that is being sought, but the use of all means to preclude such a goaL The assassination of Lebanese Presi dent-Elect Bashir Gemayel is the strongest evidence. The new govern ment of Gemayal was viewed by most Lebanese as the salvation of the nation. This nation is trying to rebuild itself after eight years of anarchy by reconnecting the ties among all Lebanese - Christians and Muslims - and building up a compe tent Lebanese army capable of assuming its normal responsibilities. His untimely death has plunged his country into deep despair at the most critical time of its history. Although his death was designed to rekindle fear and distrust among the Lebanese factions, the Voice of Free Lebanon radio, oper ated by Gemayel’s party, ordered the Phalangist Lebanese Forces to show no retaliation. Not satisfied by the peaceful reaction of the Lebanese after this cruel assassination, the plotters behind the fat al bomb decided to try a more drastic strategy. As a result, a few days after Gemayel’s death, armed men were allowed by Israeli troops into the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila, where they massacred over a thousand Palestinian women, children and elderly men. Im mediately, Israeli occupation forces de nied responsibility and blamed these hor rible actions on the Phalangist Lebanese forces. This is nonsense. First, since the Israeli army controlled the camp region, it was impossible for any other armed forces to enter the camps without Israeli consent. Second, the Lebanese army had no in volvement in the genocide committed by the renegade troops of Major Saad Had dad. Had the Lebanese army been allowed in the region, this atrocity would never have occurred. Proof of Haddad’s involvement was aired internationally by surviving Palestinian women who cried: “Why did they send Saad Haddad here? Why?” With Haddad’s headquarters located in Marjaoun, 40 miles south of Beruit, on the Israeli border, how could his troops have travelled all this distance through Israeli-controlled territory, enter the camps, and murder innocent people without the assent of Israel? Finally, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, whose people were slaughtered in the incident, charged the renegade Haddad forces, in collabora tion with the Israeli army, as amenable to the genocide. In allowing this atrocious act, Israel has violated President Reagan’s peace plan for Beirut. Israeli troops opened the doors, shut their eyes, and played deaf to the sound of the machine guns being fired on innocent, defenseless people and their death cries. The forces responsible for this car nage — along with the distorted media coverage — should have the decency not to reverse the truth by blaming the ma jority of Lebanese citizens for this act. The Lebanese, who are fed up with war, have been striving for the last five years to bring unity and peace back to Lebanon. Roger Zard Box 949, College Station Arab student: What would American reaction be? Editor: Imagine if you will the massacre of 1,800 American men, women and chil dren — what would be your reaction? Would you be able to control your rage, knowing full well that the safety and well-being of these people had been guaranteed in writing by five so-called soveriegn nations. I say so-called because the chief signatory on the document, guaranteeing the safety of the women and children of Beirut in return for the evacuation of the fighters, has proven to be, (and I paraphrase Senator Charles Percy), nothing but, “a tail on the Israeli dog“. . The argument that the United States did not sanction the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the subsequent occupation of Beirut is a lie. The very fact that there has been no cut-off of the $2.5 billion annual subsidy to Israel is more than enough to prove America’s complicity in the Israeli invasion. Apart from these 1,800 non- combatants murdered in cold-blood, 19,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, main ly civilians, have been killed by the Amer ican armed and subsidized Israeli army. If the same death-to- population ratio was applied to the United States, it would mean the death of 1,100,000 people. How would Americans feel? Nothing about the massacre surprised us; this is why the Palestinian freedom- fighters took so long to withdraw from Beirut. We knew this could happen be cause the rightist militia did this before in . 1977 in Tal-Azater refugee camp. What is shocking though is the lack of tangible American response to this atrocity. Israel broke a cease-fire which all parties in cluding the United States had signed when it entered Beirut. American honor is at stake, and no amount of verbal critic ism from Washington can excuse the breach of document that has occurred. Isn’t it about time the American peo ple took an interest in their country’s foreign policy instead of standing on the sidelines and taking the blame for the Israeli lobby’s decisions on their govern ment’s every action? We, the Arab peo ple, know exactly what to do. Our first goal is to tear down the reactionary re gimes which rule much of the Arab world, who rattle their sabers in the air and then sit complacently by while our brothers and sisters are murdered. There will be a new order in the Arab world and what the American people do today, not just say, will decide Arab- American relations for a long time to come. Nabil Al-Khowaiter Issue is now security of Palestinian people Editor: Last week, a carnage of the style of Dier Yassin was recreated on a much lar ger scale in the Chatilla and Sabra camps outside West Beirut. Once again the vic tims were unarmed innocent Palestinian men, women and children. It is hard to believe that Israelis were caught by sur prise when they discovered that hun dreds of Palestinians were killed in cold blood. The massacre continued for over 24 hours while Israeli forces were on guard in West Beirut. Most fingers point toward the group of Saad Haddad, an accessory of Israeli army in southern Lebanon. It is unim aginable that Haddad’s men would travel over 70 kilometers past various check points in occupied Lebanon without any plans blessed by Israel. How can one be lieve that Israeli forces were unaware of the groups of killers and thousands of rounds fired when they were not willing to spare a marine on duty on the roof of the American Embassy and fired at him? Israel is directly responsible for letting the killers in the refugee camps and indi rectly for the slaughter. The fear of reprisals against the Pales tinian civilians after PLO’s departure from Beirut has become a reality. Israel’s latest venture in Lebanon in the name of security for her citizens has resulted in the loss of thousands of lives of Palesti nian and Lebanese civilians. The issue now is the security of the people of Pales tine, at least those in exile. W.E.K. Warsi Department of Oceanography Any life after Doonesbury? by Maxwell Glen and Cody Shearer WASHINGTON — It’s like losing your favorite teacher. Come next year, millions of faithful Doonesbury readers will have to look somewhere else for wis dom each morning. At 34, cartoonist Garry Trudeau is taking a much- deserved sabbatical. Yet as much as we’ll miss Trudeau’s work, 20 months of freedom may pro duce something more remarkable than Doonesbury itself. Besides, even sages need an opportunity to put thirigs . in perspective. Trudeau has undoubtedly been the leading chronicler of the Baby Boom generation. He’s shepherded us from the early confrontations at home and school in the 1960s into the whplly different world of the Reagan era, noting and illu minating our every move. It all began 15 years ago, when, with the encouragement of a sports editor, the lanky sophomore from Saranac Lake, N.Y., walked into the Yale Daily News office in New Haven, Conn., with a prop osal to draw a strip called “Bull Tales.” Before long, Trudeau was winning peers’ accolades for his caricatures of such stereotypes as football players, radicals and social dilettantes, following them later in Doonesbury through work, Vietnam and, of course, love. “He really had our number.” re minisced Mark Zanger, the Yale student leader who was the prototype for Megaphone Mark, “particularly when he wrote that ‘even revolutionaries enjoyed chocolate-chip cookies.’” While he soon began to tackle bigger targets — Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, among others — Trudeau never lost sight of the rest of us and how we managed the ebb and flow of each year. Perhaps no character better personi fies this universal ordeal than Jonie Caucus, the unhappy wife of an inveter ate bowler. Initially, “Ms. Caucus” leaves her husband, goes to Walden Puddle and takes a job at a local day-care center where she converts many of the girls, in cluding star pupil Ellie, to feminism. Sub sequently, Joanie goes on to law school and falls in love with a Washington Post reporter named Redfern. Today, both pregnant and a full-time campaign man- ager, Joanie is worried about her age and the need for amniocentesis. If the strip adds up to anything, it’s probably that “the personal is political.” That is, concern about our own lives should foster a similar concern about those of others. The presence — or abs ence — of this homespun philosophy permeates every character in the strip, from Michael Doonesbury on down. In an apolitical age, Trudeau’s is a badly- needed contribution to the conscience of group to some of the world’s h; realities.” Moreover, Trudeau has soughtto vide explanations of a much-divided group and to broach issues that, even recently, were considered tal Only two weeks ago, for example, gracefully confronted the emergencfl gays as a political force in the Unr States. That Trudeau will step aside injai ary hasn’t surprised his friends had known that his 12-year contractu the Universal Press Syndicate wouldi pire in three months, allowing his chat ters, as Trudeau explained it, thechai to adapt to a new era. Indeed, to a large degree, catching is what.Trudeau has planned for hints Unfettered by a daily deadline," able to free his energies for thesubsti tial demands of screenwriting, whiclt adores. Trudeau has already finisln one film comedy about the national pit corps and is now considering a collate tion with friends on a musical version Doonesbury. The theater might potential that Trudeau has posses since, as a teenager, he first put: on at home. oenc by ui will c today with 1 al clo D not b thrivi psych despi sterih H a generation. “Garry has been a spokesman for the children of the ’60s and done a great deal to politicize kids in the 1970s,” said Joe Wheelwright, the cartoonist’s roommate at Yale. “He’s also introduced the latter Most of all, the husband of NBC’s Ji Pauley wants a child. His closest friec are crossing their fingers that his saH deal will turn into a paternity leave, become a parent, more than anythii else, could guarantee Trudeau that long role as a generation’s chronicler Slouch By Jim Earle “It’s just a nightmare you’re having! You won — now get some rest, Jackie!” The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalistn Conference Editor Diana Sultenfo 8 Managing Editor Phyllis Hender# Associate Editor Denise Rick® City Editor BernieFe» Assistant City Editor GaryBarlt Sports Editor Frank L. Chris# Entertainment Editor NancyFlod Assistant Entertainment Editor Cole* Hutchin? News Editors Rachel Bostwick.Caik! Capps, Daniel Puckett, Jan Wentf Todd Woods: 1 Staff Writers Jennifer Carr, Suss: Dittman, Beverly Hamiltt'- John Lopez, Robert McGlobS Hope E. Paasch, Bill Robins:: Dana Smelser, Joe Tindel.Jot Wagner, Rebeca Zimmerman* Copyeditor Elaine Engstroc Cartoonist Scott McCut Graphic Artist PamStarasin Photographers ... David Fisher, Octavio Caret Jane Hollingsworth, John R'® Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting ft 1 ' paper operated as a community service to Texas M' University and Bryan-College Station. Opinions o pressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or ( author, and do not necessarily represent the opinion Texas A&M University administrators or faculty W bers, or of the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspi) for students in reporting, editing and photography^ ses within the Department of Communications. Questions or comments concerning any editP- matter should be directed to the editor. United Press International is entitled exclusive' the use for reproduction of all news dispatches erwk® to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter heK* reserved. Second class postage paid at College Station, ^ 77843. newc day p and t well i his hi Do studi< the o youth could bone born munc him ability Th dered Willia cian f* there thing never “M; consic said, appea -to tra: Dai Child] Th exert phert body cause equal surfai inch, inten notice !7h