Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, October 14, 1986
Opinion
Unintelligent use of intelligence plagues superpowers
“Intelligence,” when used
in the governmental sense,
means secret information,
usually about another gov
ernment or operation. But
intelligence also means the
ability to learn, reason, un
derstand and direct one’s
thought effectively. A gov
ernment is expected to pos
sess the second befor e it en
gages in the first.
But in the aftermath of the
destruction of Korean Airlines Flight 007 in 1983,
both the U.S. and Soviet governments displayed
unintelligent use of their intelligence.
In his new book, “The Target Is Destroyed,”
Seymour Hersh maintains that what U.S. intelli
gence knew about the downing of the airliner
wasn’t reflected in the accusations flung at Mos
cow.
Hersh claims that U.S. intelligence had indica-
Loren Steffy
tions that the Soviets were conf used by the jet’s
presence and erroneously identified it as a U.S. re
connaissance plane. Despite this, the Reagan ad
ministration publicly denounced the Soviets,
claiming it had hard evidence that the Soviets
knew KAL 007 was a civilian jetliner prior to
shooting it down.
Hersh says if the administration had waited an
other 10 hours until the intelligence reports from
posts in the North Pacific were analyzed thor
oughly, it would have had a better picture of what
actually occurred. Instead, it launched an anti-So
viet campaign to sway world opinion.
The Soviets, however, were equally uninformed.
Hersh interviewed the Soviet high command and
found it didn’t truly understand what was going on
until two days after the plane was shot down.
Rather than admit that they made serious errors
in judgment, the Soviets allowed world opinion to
portray them as criminally evil.,
Obvious questions still remain unanswered. Why
did pilots familiar with transoceanic flights stray so
far off course, let alone into Soviet airspace? But
the KAL 007 incident raises even greater questions
about intelligence capabilities and how govern
ments deal with intelligence reports.
Ignorance does not justify the loss of the 269
who were aboard KAL 007. But before the inci
dent is filed with other Soviet atrocities, a closer
look is in order.
The Soviets had been on edge about U.S. opera
tions in tfie area where the plane was shot down.
The United States had sent battle groups into the
Kurile Islands area — a region the Soviets consider
vital to strategic interests. Although U.S. forces re
mained in international waters, they made the So
viets uneasy.
The events surrounding the KAL 007 disaster
reveal a sloppy flow of information that is espe
cially unsettling in this nuclear age. The entire pre
tense of the nuclear deterrent, the reason neither
superpower will instigate a nuclear offensive, is
that top-ranking officials are making supposed
informed decisions. Clearly, in the caseoftheli
rean jetliner, this did not happen.
But the intelligence problems that plaguedi)
KAL 007 incident are still with us. The rects
handling of the Nicholas Daniloff case shons
similar chain-reaction of decisions based on “uni
telligence.” Both sides backed themselves into
corner, hurling accusations and perpetuating®
understanding. Once superpower nations gei
lump of pride in their throats, it’s difficult!
them to swallow it.
The games played in the international,intti
gence arena are little dif ferent from those of
school yard. Neither nation is willing to admit
did anything wrong; neither is willing to let!
other forget that it did.
When viewed in this context, the dictionarydt|
initions of “intelligence” don’t apply. Itisa
mer at best, an oxymoron at worst.
Loren Steffy is a senior journalism majormit.
Opinion Page editor for The Battalion.
OK-Af, ASS,
LETS PRACTICE
ouR YELL—
PRACTICE YELIS!
OWb MY HEAD*" .
PLEASE t>Wf Hfr ME?
Silver Taps becoming
tarnished with apathi
Sfrll
. .. ^
'f. ' ’
How old is too old to drink?
Lewis
Grizzard
If the federal
government really
wants to fool
around with the
drinking age, it
should start at the other end.
What I mean is the government
should first do something about older
drinkers before it starts meddling with
the younger ones.
There are several reasons I think this;
1. Older people can drink a lot more
than younger people because they’ve
had more practice.
. 2. Also, they can afford more to
drink. It’s tough to get all that drunk
when you’re on a six-pack-a-week bud
get.
3. Older people have a lot more rea
son to drink than younger people. I
drink more now than I did when I was
20. That’s because when I was 20 I
hadn’t been through three divorces and
the Nixon presidency.
4. Older people are sloppier drunks
than younger people. When older peo
ple get drunk, they do things like cry,
call their ex-wives in Montana and sit
around piano bars making fools of
themselves trying to sing “Melancholy
Baby.”
Young people, on the other hand, get
sick when they drink too much. A few
beers later they throw up and go to bed
while their elders are still out crying,
calling their ex-wives in Montana and
sitting around piano bars making fools
of themselves trying to sing “Melan
choly Baby.”
As we all know by now, the govern
ment has blackmailed the states into
raising their drinking age to 21. Other
wise, the states would face a loss of fed
eral highway funds.
Fine, but how old should a person be
before the government mandates he or
she must QUIT drinking and no longer
be an embarrassment in public or be a
threat to do something stupid like driv
ing while plastered?
Thirty? No. Most 30-year-olds still
have no idea what they are going to do
with their lives and need a drink every
Mail Call
now and then to, convince themselves
that one day, they, too, will own a
Porsche.
Thirty-five? That’s still too young. By
the time a person is 35, he or she has the
Porsche and needs to drink to escape
the anxiety of wondering from whence
the next payment will come.
Forty? Heavens, no, and there’s a
good reason for that. I’ll be 40 in a cou
ple of weeks. I hate to think of having to
face that occurrence without the benefit
of a few cocktails.
So, how about 45? Or 50? Or 55? Stop
me anytime here. Sixty? Seventy? Why
don’t we simply pick a number at ran
dom and say: OK, you’re 61 (a number
at random) and no more booze for you.
Unfair? We did that to young people,
didn’t we? We picked what sounded like
a good number, 21, and we said: We
don’t care if you’re married, a parent, a
soldier, whatever. Be 21 or be gone.
You know what practically every kid
says at least a million times? “It’s not
fair,” that’s what they say.
And, sometimes, they’re right.
Copyright 1986, Cowles Syndicate
Difficult to condemn Corps
EDITOR:
It would be difficult to condone the actions of the
Corps of Cadets at yell practice on Oct. 3. However, it
becomes difficult to condemn them entirely, either, after
reading the remark attributed to Jeff Newberry, a
sophomore English major: “We knew what we were
getting into, and we knew senseless violence was going to
be the reaction” (Wednesday’s Battalion).
Sophomoric: “especially immature and over
confident” (American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language, 1969).
Jerri Sosvile
Old Ag upset with Corps
EDITOR:
Whoop to Karl Pallmeyer’s opinion Thursday. Hiss to
the conduct of the Corps of Cadets at yell practice.
I am not condoning the actions of the individuals who
walked across the field, but to actually beat your fellow
Aggies?
Whatever happened to the Aggie brotherhood and
friendship? Do Aggies do this to other Aggies? No way.
They should be ashamed of themselves. I do not want to
be considered part of or allied with their horrible conduct.
Escorting the offenders off of the field is Marxist conduct!
My father, who was in the Corps years ago, said they
never would have done anything like that! He was shocked
when I told him what had happened. You’ve got an old Ag
asking you “What have you done to yourself, Corps? Have
you forgotten what you stand for?”
Remember your code of honor and act accordingly.
You are disgracing the rest of us!
Carol Czyz ’87
Good bull!
EDITOR:
In reference to Karl Pallmeyer’s article Thursday,
“Corps turns yell practice into tradition of violence,” we
have one thing to say:
WHOOP! GOOD BULL! RED-ASS!
Kirk Rice ’87
Clay Baker ’87
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial
staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make
every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed
and must include the classification, address and telephone number of the
writer.
JeffL. Brady
(•itc.st Columnist
Being an active
Ag is demanding.
Time manage
ment is crucial,
RHA meets regu
larly. Intramurals are thick this time of
year. Dorm councils, Saddle and Sirloin,
Tiddley-Winkers Anonymous, OPAS,
Student Government, Campus Crusade,
Monday Night Football and the Hall of
Fame take their toll. And on and on.
Priorities.
We can’t let tedious, time-consuming
non-essentials crowd out the necessities
in our day.
Listen up, cadets, this includes you.
Yes, dear-hearts, even some of our
beloved, time-honored institutions may
have to be bent or rearranged if our
campus is to be world-class, right?
I mean, there are still only seven days
per week. And so many of us are so in
volved in so many campus groups. What
can- we do? > Some- -things just - have to
slide. Right?
Horsehockey.
Two people attended Silver Taps last
week. Me and some
guy named Mel. The
families were there,
of course, in a group
around Sully after
having driven two or
three hundred miles
to attend this special,
highly-acclaimed
ceremony.
Mel is a transfer
student from Ste
phen F. Austin. He
didn’t realize until
Tuesday night that
these crusty, out-
dated rituals
whereby Texas
A&M is set apart are
just too time-con
suming for us active
Ags to take seriously.
It was a solemn af
fair, as usual, but the
awe-inspiring hush
of a silent, reverent
student body — the
kind my upperclass
men introduced me to four years ago —
was somehow absent.
Mel and I stood there, surrounded by
darkness, as the Ross Volunteers
clomped by and the blackbirds fluttered
from tree to tree. Mopeds sputtered
through campus behind us and the
screams of flag football players floated
over from the Olsen intramural fields
just within earshot. Music blared from a
jam box near Rudder Fountain. Head
lights swung through the trees ’from
time to time. And soon the buglers’ final
notes drifted away, and we were left to
ourselves.
Tarnished Taps seemed more appro
priate.
Twenty minutes once a month is an
awful lot to ask. I mean, what a waste of
I?
I
time, right?
Consider: Putting away booksu
notes, throwing on somethingdecrnL
wear, walking all the way to thel<fl|
demit Building, then .\f/. thewavkp
— Golly!
And just think of all the hasslc l
those poor off-campus Ags. Zoiu-I
Might as well suggest a trip to the 111
Land. |
1 was checking my mail this ntorrJ
at the Memorial Student Centerwkl
overheard two women discussinpl
matter:
Amanda: l left the library,andik
1 was, walking back to my Beemeni
all the lights just shut off. Allovero
pus. I thought I wouldjustdie.in
definitely un-cool. 1 could haveb
raped or even have had my Gucap Jp 1 .
ripped off. t'
Missy: Tell me about it. Thee* T
thing caught me about fourweeksajjtL
•freaked \nd like • all theseafmvlx
marched by with big guns, right?
Amanda: Yeah, I heard ofsomeild
like this before, but I always thou;! I
was just forCorps t'
people. Youlnoi
nothing we should!
tend.
Missy: 1 know. I
can you even chedoi
the guys or see id
everyone’s weatii
when it’s so dark!
way? Am 1 right?.taj
right?
A manda: Wei
made it back anjnj
thank God. It it
burned me up -
nearly missed a a®
J eez!
What’s thedifld
ence? Silver Taps I
was held. The RVs
performed. Liglus
campus still id
dimmed. Why slw
any of us attend.!
way? Let’s just tel'
those “Corps-type|
pie” to carry on rd
tion. Then we can^
having our mixers and meeting
flag football games right throupL
first T uesday night of every n
not worry about it. It’ll still be ourt^
tion, right?
We’ll still be Aggies, right?
It’ll still be a special, solemn J
mony for those who ha veto go, ri^
Sure. And when it comes ourw 11 :
be honored one quiet, cool To
night somewhere down the lw e
whole campus will turn out, right.'
Horsehockey. . *
Jeff L. Brady is a senior journal^-']
jor
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of'
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
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Cathie Anderson, Editor
Kirsten Dietz, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Frank Smith, City Editor
Sue Krenek, News Editor
Ken Sury, Sports Editor
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