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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1986)
Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, July 25, 1985 The real victim of drug wars If at first you don’t succeed, learn nothing from the experi ence and do the whole thing again — in a bigger way, if possible. This seems to be the ad ministration’s rub ber stamp when it comes to handling there too much coastline to patrol, but dope smugglers are not dopes. When Florida got hot, they moved to Loui siana and Texas, corrupting local law- enforcement authorities along the way. They can always keep going. They have going for them an almost-endless coast line and an insatiable market. No mat ter. On to Bolivia. opinion. The death of Maryland basket ball star Len Bias and the resulting pub licity about widespread drug abuse has put this vocally anti-drug administration on the spot. Do something, it is urged. Richard Cohen the drug crisis. Having found itself un able to staunch the flow of drugs into the United States, it now thinks it can do it at the source. The cavalry’s been sent to Bolivia. Naturally, word of the top-secret in formation surfaced in the Bolivian press and reluctantly was confirmed by the U.S. Embassy in La Paz: “U.S. helicopt ers and U.S. personnel have been sent to Bolivia at the request of the Bolivian government to provide transportation support to Bolivian civil authorities.” The helicopters are reported to number six, the personnel about 140 and the chances of their success about nil. But the South American nation is Florida in spades. If the administration thought it saw official corruption in the United States then, to paraphrase the late A1 Jolson, it “ain’t seen nothing yet.” Already, the first joint operation was tipped to the press. A previous opera tion, launched by the Bolivians in 1984, was tipped to the traffickers. A strike into the Chapare region, where about one quarter of the world’s coca (from which cocaine is made) is grown, came up empty-handed. Bolivia tried another raid, with the same results. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, “and so it goes.” And so it has. But in doing so, it has introduced American troops into a fo- riegn country where, by proxy or other wise, they will make war against the local people. Some of them, for sure, will be drug dealers. But, inescapably, some will not. Even in the United States, inno cent people get arrested and, some times, killedin drug raids. If you don’t think the same thing will happen in Bo livia you must believe that that country is more efficient than our own. The field marshal of Operation Dope is Vice President George Bush. He is the same George Bush who is in nominal charge of the government task force that is supposed to interdict drugs on their way to Florida. The success of that operation is evident on the streets of America: We are experiencing an epi demic of cocaine abuse. In fact, it goes the same way in this country. There are regions here— northern California, for example — where marijuana was grown illegally for years. In some regions, it still is and it takes only the most determined govern ment effort to put the growers out of business. If that is the case here, con sider the odds of achieving success in Bolivia. For many peasants, coca is their cash crop and in some regions, the pro duction of cocaine is the chief industry. Moreover, the president has obscured the line between military and civilian authority. Law enforcement in this country is a civilian concern. That is the way we like it — the way our laws and traditions would have it. Now, though, the president is using the mili tary as a posse — to chase drug traffick ers in distant Bolivia. An administration that is quick to respond militarily to crises that should be handled otherwise has crashed through a significant bar rier. The lessons of the Florida operation have been lost on the Reagan adminis tration. Of course, more and more co caine is coming into the country — up by over 100 tons since 1980. Not only is There is more than a good chance that the administration’s Bolivian Bust is doomed for failure. But the real target of operation appears not to be the Boliv ian drug industry, but American public It could be argued that the adminis tration has taken an acceptable risk if, in the end, Bolivian cocaine was erad icated. But the chances of that are slim; dealers and growers simply will move their operation. Meanwhile, American troops are where they do not belong, fighting a war in Bolivia that cannot even be won at home. Usually, it is truth that is war’s first casualty. In the war on drugs, it appears to be common sense. Copyright 1986, Washington Post Writers Group SEX EDUCATION: 'int "AiKiun ntTHop " You Yo ’m Know A'froUT ^ATT @ Mail Call Cure by raids and enlightenment EDITOR: While I agree with Mark Ude’s recent assessment that the drug culture i firmly entrenched economically in South America, I take issue with his pronouncement that “The only avenue for success (in combating the drug problem) lies with ... eradicating the present level of drug use in this couni: (i.e. the United States).” True enough, a few raids into Bolivia will not thwart an entire industn no more than a single attack on Libya will eradicate terrorism. Any success toward this issue will be the product of a policy which attacks the war on several fronts, including raids at the source as well as enlightment at the ter Glenn Streiff Bolivian clarifications EDITOR: M “ We would like to make a correction to the column “Bolivian drug raidsrj cure for U.S. addiction,” written by Mark Ude and appearing in Yhe Battalion on Wednesday. Being Bolivians, it is not easy for us to be associated with the cocaine problem. Nevertheless, we found the column courageous and objective. However his sources of information are incorrect. The column statestk there are 6.5 million drug-related jobs in Bolivia, while —according to recein| reports — the entire population barely reaches 6 million. This obviously demonstrates the invalidity of his statement. Carlos Miranda Vice President, Bolivian Student Association Manfred Ledermann, Secretary AUS Thursd clear P because the uni The staff i: STNP’s pleted. cent co cial opt The comple mercial Seve called project City. I The other viewpoint EDITOR: I just read Karl Pallmeyer’s article in Thursday’s Battalion. I have read several other articles of his and noticed that he consistently has a narrow, one-sided point of view. He reminds me of a person who goes to a party wilt I the attitude that he’s not going to have any fun. He would stand aroundb\ himself and complain about everything he can think up, instead of enjoying the good times around him. I agree that all aspects of people’s opinions should be made known totk I public, but Pallmeyer is abusing his position on The Battalion staff by consistently airing his one-sided views. Besides all that, he is short, fat and he dresses like a dork. John C. Martin ’86 The worth of archery EDITOR: As one of the three basic discoveries that led mankind out of the caves and into civilization — archery — which was once a livelihood, has grown intoan ultra-modern sport. And it is that sport that the Texas A&M Archery Team strives to master. The most recent tournament the team participated in was held July 12 seems a shame that there was no school support to accompany the participating members. Does The Battalion not feel archery as worthy as football, baseball or basketball? To become an accomplished archer, one must be willing to devotea considerable amount of his mental and physical energy, not to mention time and money. Archery asks as much of its “players” as does any other sport. Why should it not be recognized? Is it not a school sponsored activity? When one of the members was asked why he was willing to give so much of himself to the sport, he replied “.. . for the glory.” What “glory” does this man have to look forward to? The team members pay their own tournament expenses and are expected to! There is no “glory” in that. If these people are willing to give 101 percent of themselves to their school, should we not be willing to give them our support in as many ways as possible? K. Freeman Stc d€ ms Al Boar ei inp prop cost “V Chai Thui heari T1 mem creas pert milli' T1 Asso dusti inert Be the oriel insui fron torn Nort Ir Insu said tion trop for i — c< •nort EDI TOR ’S NOTE: Yes, archery and the other sports clubs deserve our sup port. Unfortunately, these sports take a back seat to the “more popular”nr sity sports during the school year, and The Battalion sports department hx been understaffed to adequately cover the sports clubs. However, we areal tempting to correct the problem and provide coverage on these less knonv- but deserving of recognition — sports. Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the rijlii to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author's interi Each letter must be signed and must include the address and telephone number of the writer. Sex education programs lack quality information What would you say if I told you about this new revolutionary high school drug pro gram where stu- Mike Foarde Guest Columnist going to use drugs anyway, so the school is just going to tell them how to do it.” dents are taught how to use drugs. The philosophy behind it is that “kids are The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Michelle Powe, Editor Kay Mallett, Managing Editor Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor Scott Sutherland, City Editor Ken Sury, Sports Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is u not)-profh. self-supporting newspa per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bi van-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the Editorial Board or the author, and do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty oi the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a la bora to rv newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes w ithin the Department of Journalism. The Battalion is published 'Tuesday through Triday during the Texas A&M summer semester, except for holi day and xamination periods. Mail subscriptions are S16.75 per semester. $33.25 per school y ear and $35 per full y ear. Advertising rates furnished on request. Out address: The Battalion. 216 Reed McDonald Building. Texas A&M i niy ersitv. College Station. TX 7 7343. ' Second class postage paid at College Station. I X 77343. POS'TMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion. 216 Reed McDonald, fexas A&'M L niversitv. College Station 'TX 77343. The school starts by having seminars on how to freebase cocaine and where to get “crack” at the lowest prices. Then it will have courses that show the finer points of gardening your own mari juana plants and producing heroine in your own laboratory. Phase three of the new plan calls for in-school clinics where students will be able, without the par ent’s consent, to obtain hypodermic nee dles, water pipes and snorting straws to avoid getting any of the dirty “street” variety. Furthermore, these new drug education programs will be going into effect all over the country starting with your own hometown high school. tion programs is not the quantity of edu cation, but rather the quality of informa tion that is being taught to our youth. thy” practice, even deviant sexual habits such as homosexuality and bestiality are passed off as “normal alternate lifesty les.” Author and counselor Dr. Tim La- Haye writes in his book The Act of Mar riage that in reality it takes about six hours for him to discuss with a couple about to get married everything they need to know about sex. The rest they can have the pleasure to discover on their own, by doing. Who could conceive such an idiotic and, thankfully, fictitious plan? Who? The same people who are right now de vising the sex education programs in high schools all across the nation. In spite of this, junior and high school curricula are being designed with semesters of courses about the subject of human sexuality. More and more these courses cover the whole gamut of to day’s sexual options, including various techniques. This is certainly excessive, especially in the case of high school teen-agers. The biology of human sex uality can be covered more than adequa tely for the high school level in about one week of regular class time. This is what is dangerous. To teach kids about sex without giving them a standard to govern their behavior is like showing them how to use guns and hand grenades, but not telling them how and when to use them. It is easy to see how this is crazy using our fictitious drug example, yet some schools have started their own sex clinics, making contraceptives and other sexual devices available to kids at school. Even Secre tary of Education William J. Bennett agrees that this teaches children that according to adults, promiscuity is OK as long as you are responsible (i.e. don’t get pregnant). “Education,” proponents of these programs say, “is the key to awareness about sex, and therefore, responsible choices on behalf of the kids today.” As an education major, I can appreciate that education is important for people to make the right decision, but the ques tion lies in what kind and how much ed ucation is needed. The second major flaw of these exces sive sex education programs is what they teach. Sexual behavior is being taught to high school students many times without regard to traditional moral standards, or even worse, with a completely new immoral standard. This is the worst fallacy of them all. Pregnancy is only one of many tragic outcomes of teen-age promiscuity. The sex education supporters point to a few mildly successful programs where they actually were able to reduce the amount of teen-age pregnancies and delay the average first sexual encounter. The problem with today’s sex educa- Many of these programs teach that pre- and extra marital sex is all right, masturbation is encouraged as a “heal- These results are at best encouraging, but they tend to ignore the overwhelm ing statistics. Namely that in spite of massive education programs teen-age pregnancies are up about 125 percent from 15 years ago, and this doesn’t take into account the tens of thousands abortions. The cases of teen-age m j real disease are soaring, not to menu the tremendous emotional and spirt damage a sexual relationship canm a young person. Teen psychiatrists also report: teen-age population is suffering fre an extremely guilty conscience stc ming from, among other things,tij extreme sexual involvement. Thishel explain the 16,000 teen-age suicide tempts daily. Naturally, this happens! cause teens are in an emotional: physical pressure cooker that they* not designed or equipped to haul Obviously, this “anything goes” philj phy of teaching teen-agers about sev failing bitterly. Sex education primarily should the responsibility of the parents, d% the church and finally, if at all, 1 school. Children should be taughti: the sexual revolution is over. \Vel°l And wouldn’t it be really radical; revolutionary if after the teen-aj? were taught basic biology, they taught that sex is a beautiful experie 1 that God designed to be enjoyed in context of marriage? Any other op 11 has and always will lead to eventual saster. $ $ Mike Foarde is a senior education jor and president of the A&M chap of Americans for a Biblical Gow ment.