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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1984)
■WPS Opinion Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, February 2, 1984 Let Marines fight or come home Monday another unidentified Marine was killed in Lebanon. He was the 259th American to die on Lebanese soil. What are the Marines doing in Lebanon? Are they fighting for democracy? No. Are they fighting for peace? No. Are they fighting at all? That seems to be the question. The United States government has sent the Marines to Lebanon as a “peace keeping force.” But there is no peace in Lebanon. So what are they fighting for? Only their own survival. What’s going on in Lebanon? A civil war. A religous dispute over doctrine. A fight for a homeland for the Palesti- We cannot afford to get involved in a conflict where winning isn’t the goal. Vietnam proved that. The United States has the capability and the power to end any military dis pute in a matter of days. The American bloodshed in Lebanon would be over once and for all. But because the entire situation in the Middle East is unstable, it is nearly impossible to tell the good guys from the bad. Near the Persian Gulf the Ira nians are fighting the Iraqis with the Russians selling arms and giving aid to both sides. If the United States wishes to get involved in someone else’s dispute, then they should declare which side they stand for and fight to the end for it. The Marines may be doing a service for the citizens of Beirut. But they are doing nothing to alleviate the Lebanese situation. Which leads to yet another question “Who will be No. 260?” Let the Marines fight or bring them home. — The Battalion Editorial Board Shuttle takeoff taken too lightly The United States will launch another space shuttle Friday, the 10th such launch in less than three years. Americans, unfortunately, will greet the event with a collective yawn — if that much. Space travel has become so common that we don’t think twice about launches, or shuttles or satellites. But this mission includes a special twist that will ultimately lead to an orbit ing space station. Astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart will use new jet-propelled backpacks to fly up to 300 feet away from the shuttle — with out safety lines. Never before have astronauts set off in orbit without ties to the mothership. The spacewalks are critical to the next shuttle mission, when an astronaut will use one of the jet backpacks to fly over to a crippled sun-watching satel lite, grab it and allow the shuttle’s mechanical arm to bring it into the ship’s cargo bay for repairs. And all accomplished while floating freely in space. These free-flying spacewalks will lay the foundation for future satellite re fueling missions and for construction of the space station President Reagan wants NASA to build. Though shuttle flights and space wa.ks aren’t as unique as they once were, Americans need to realize that the progress we are making in space will no doubt change our lifestyles. Reagan’s challenge to NASA should re sult in renewed interest in space travel, and that interest could bring about a new era in the history of man’s explora tion of the unknown. Think about that today. — The Battalion Editorial Board Letters: Scriptures condemn homosexuality Humor a matter of opinion Editor: In “Reader’s Forum,” Feb. 1, 1984, Len ny DePalma stated that those who say the Bible condemns homosexuality “twist and bend the scriptures.” I would like to submit a couple of verses which deal with homosexuality. “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination,” (Leviticus 18:22). “...for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatu ral, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned their desire toward one another, men with men committind indecent acts and receiving in the own persons the due penalty of their error,” (Romans 1:26-27). Randy McDougal Class of ’85 Editor: In response to Mr. Lueckemeyer’s letter in Wednesday’s Battalion, “funny” is a matter of opinion. Mr. Lueckmeyer is en titled to express his views, but his letter went beyond opinion. It stated blatantly that the strips printed in the paper are not funny and the artists responsible are not doing a good job, period. He offered no intelligent reasons for his assessment, but merely his decision as fact. The world is not flat and the cartoons are not funny. It’s simple. Letters written in this tone are fairly common. But no matter what the subject is, be it the Aggie Code of Honor, senior finals or the proper pronunciation of the the words “clam chowder,” it seems to be more effective to explain your views to somebody than it does to thrust an opin ion on them. At least that’s my opinion. Brian Massey Class of ’87 Slouch by Jim Earle By S Bryan t^eir inv ■heel se: X&M Un 1^' Frida r “Us ( going ver gltiavarru per se." The st friday m after beii fraternit who idei fool ball r Bob V and seen Ben •me state of the union Learn to take it easy Unitei | geo: heard e linking n trial for r hairy girl suddenl shortly a with a di Dele Since this week has been designated “business week” by the Business Student Council, I thought I’d take some time and talk about a less stressful, but no less im portant topic — leisure. Too many people believe they work in order to buy the paraphanalia that will enable them to enjoy leisure time. Consider this: The average work week is 40 hours, but full-time workers, on the average, put in 46 to 47 hours during the week. brigid brockman That in itself doesn’t seem too astounding, but a recent study showed that when given the chance to choose be tween free time and work, most people said they would choose work. The easy answer is they need money, but I think the meaning goes deeper. But leisure has nothing to do with time and work or money and gadgets. It is a freedom — freedom to do what one wants. Doing nothing is not considered to be a proper use of leisure time for Amer icans. They are uneasy with free time, don’t know’ how to handle it, and, under neath it all, it seems to make them feel they are lacking purpose to their lives. Freedom from the necessity of work. It is especially important to realize that rest, recreation and diversion are justifi able because they restore us mentally and physically for work. So, if you’re going to considtS 111116 ™ 1 week what types ofjobs interestyoEB r ^ er s might also think about how youM heal spend your f ree time, and howkJjU s 'j 11 - y° ur life - M.Clelk Ked of Leisure can take many forms ofamus think one of the most interesting! 1982. leisure is high-risk adventure reot® Jones — mountain climbing, skydiving with inj gliding. ’patients five wet Mithleei Being exposed to environment' n j c n 0 , we must battle the forces of nature on those as the weather or the power of wait® An / gain a new understandingofthev Vylednes a world that exists beyond humar Jitnmy 1 trol inside a route f Antonio Our technological environmem# Sgt. predictable and structuredlwhortsa machines, that it can deceive us ini; bov, wht lieving we are completely in contif ecls an' everything. appeare of medi We live in a society where work seems to tower above all else. Do we work in order to have leisure time? Our society’s concepts of production and efficiency are mo easily carried over into our own free time, making us feel guilty because we are wasting “valuable time.” But by getting outside and ex| ing nature, we can gain a newpers] on what it means to be human twentieth century. ariothei “But it i r “In tl suspect to injec lied to i Vietnam: Learning our lessons tton) on said. He s By JIM ANDERSON United Press International As one of the last acts of his life, Martin Herz, a diplomat, teacher and writer who died last year of cancer, gave a series of four lectures at Georgetown University called “The Vietnam War in Retrospect.” The talks, which have now been pub lished by the university, raised some troubling questions for democracies in general, and for journalists, in particular. Some of Herz’s conclusions: —The United States is not capable of waging a protracted war, especially one that is complex and difficult to under stand. But, Herz said, the American press — and particularly television, with its enor mous political impact — has a built-in bias for reporting news that is bad for the home team. He recalled the example of a wire ser vice pool reporter in World War II, cov ering the allied landings in North Africa. He sent back a report that accurately de scribed ships running aground on land ing barriers and allied ships shelling the positions of their own troops amid gener al confusion. He was talking about Vietnam, but his point could just as easily be applied to Lebanon. But the reporter, who had been trained to look for the unusual and the unpredictable, missed the central point. The allied landing succeeded in its goal of putting ashore 5,000 men with a mini mum of casualties. He said these vivid impressions, their immense political impactom U.S. public and Congress, obscured! more subtle and more difficult li truths: The South Vietnamesetr« generally fought well and they wen proving toward the end of the war; Viet Cong, which was essentiallya6 organization for the North Vietnat government, had a brutal but unp cized policy of executing all localgoi ment officials; the Tet offensive military disaster for the CoratBii forces that decimated the Viet Coup forced the North Vietnamese to take! the fighting in the South. If Herz was right, then so is Syrian Foreign Minister Abdul Khalim Khad- dam when he says, “The Americans are short of breath,” and will eventually drop Lebanon because it is inconvenient, un popular and unsuited to quick fixes. So it was, Herz said, in Vietnam, and so it will be with all military operations. Herz offered no solution tothep lems he posed. But he predictedttit of American ability to back up its* dwide commitments would lead tot Vietnams (and Lebanons). —The lack of American staying pow er, Herz said, is partly the result of the shortcomings of the American press, which tends to report all wars in terms of good guys versus bad guys. The lasting impressions of the Viet nam War are photographic: South Viet namese soldiers clinging desperately to helicopter skids, Cen. Loan summarily executing a Viet Cong captive in the streets of Saigon, bodies laid out in the U.S. embassy compound after the 1968 Tet offensive. “All I can do is point out to you what happened in Vietnam has P percussions almost everywhere,”kf: “because it affected what wethink''< : and cannot do, just as it affected others think they can do with inv “This is not a good situation cannot last.” "hef SSI American reporters in Vietnam con tinually told us the South Vietnamese government was corrupt, repressive and unpopular. But Herz said in retrospect (and he was there) it was clear that the South Vietnamese government was mak ing military progress in fighting the war and generating popular support. The Viet Cong were increasingly dependent on forced inductees from the North. He said he never found a single inst ance in the American press where the South Vietnamese military was favorably portrayed, although the South Viet namese soldiers frequently fought well and suffered many times the casualties of the U.S. forces. The Viet Cong, who were portrayed as gallant little native guys in black pajamas (think of Phred, the character in “Doonesbury”), were North Vietnamese draftees, sent to the South in about the same way they are now sent to fight and die in Cambodia. The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference Editor Rebeca Zimmernlann author, and do not necessarily represent the op Managing Editor John Wagner Texas A&M University administrators or fxulif City Editor Patrice Koranek bers, or of the Board of Regents. Assistant City Editors Kathleen Hart, . Thc Battalion also serves as a laboratorync* Stephanie Ross for students in reporting, editing and p/iofograp* 1 News Editor Tracey Taylor scs within thc Department of Communications, Assistant News' Editors .'.'.7.7.7.'. Susan Talbot, Questions or comments concerning any edim Wanda Winkler tcr should hc to the cdttor. Editorial Page Editor Kathy Wiesepape Sports Editor Bonn Friedman .j Assistant Sports Editor Bill Robinson , rhc Battalion is published Monday throug' Entertainment Editor Shelley Hoekstra c unn 8 Jcxas A&M regular semesters, except^ Assistant Entertainment Editor . . . Angel ^ ;'. nd cxam.nat.on penods. Ma.l subscript^ Stokes ■»lb.75 per semester, S.V.'i.zo per school ycai ana).’ T , i i i full year. Advertising rates furnished on Photo Editor John Makely o ur addrcss: Th e Battalion, 216 Rccd Md Building, Texas A&M University, College 77843. Editorial Policy United Press International is cn.idcd cxd the use for reproduction of all news dispatches Thc Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting news- to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter paper operated as a community service to Texas A&M reserved. University and Bryan-Collcgc Station. Opinions ex- Second class postage paid at College Station pressed in Thc Battalion are those of the editor or the 77843. hi- I