Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, March 9, 1988
Opinion
The U.S. needs to devise a new Israeli peace plan
The images of
violence that have
crossed our tele
vision screens ev
ery night provide
the world with a
vivid reminder of
the plight of a
homeless people.
Israeli soldiers are
seen dragging
young Palestinians
from their homes
John
MacDougall
and hospital beds while their mothers
shriek in horror. Most recently, soldiers
forced four Palestinian youths to lie in
the dirt while a bulldozer buried them
alive.
Though our government has ex
pressed condemnation for Israel’s vio
lent treatment of Palestinians in the riot-
plagued West Bank and Gaza Strip, it is
evident that the Israeli government is
neither committed to adopting a peace
ful solution to the Palestinians’ demands
for autonomy nor concerned with re
specting the civil rights of their neigh
bors.
It is time for the United States to
adopt a tougher stance to promote
peace in the Middle East.
Ever since the British gained control
of Palestine after World War I, Palestin
ians have been trying to gain indepen
dence. In the 1967 six-day war that
pitted Israel against Syria, both Jordan
and Egypt unified Palestinians in their
quest for independence. After the war
the Israelis kept strict military control
over the West Bank and Gaza Strip
areas, where more than a million Pales
tinians resided. The Israelis, consolidat
ing their control in the territories, fur
ther alienated Palestinians by
populating the territories with make
shift “settlement communities.”
By 1984, Israel had seized about a
third of the land in the West Bank, forc
ing thousands of Palestinians to flee into
refugee camps in the territories or
across the border in Jordan. Palestinians
now account for 60 percent of the Jor-
Mail Call
You say you want a revelation
EDITOR:
I was studying in the library the other day when, from across the table,
came a shocking statement, “Brian Frederick is a fascist.”
I was stunned. Brian is God, and from his mouth come the pearls of wis
dom with which I live my life. I threw my verbal gauntlet at the man. “But
he’s opposed to welfare and other government programs that would weaken
our economy.”
He deflected my attack and returned with a wicked swing. “Yes, but he
condones the oppression of women so that men can continue their natural
role in society. Is that not fascism?”
I was reeling from this verbal onslaught. My hero, the columnist I have
read since the early fifties, was being challenged. For God and Country I had
to continue the fight. “That’s not true! He was merely criticizing the overzea
lousness of the women’s movement.”
“Ah, and what of his hard line against communism? Fascists are famous
for hating communists.”
I was down, felled by his battery of neurons. “But, you’re twisting his
words ...” I was feeling faint. I couldn’t survive this attack on my common
sense. He had me outgunned. And he didn’t stop.
“He’s paranoid about letting the Soviets sap our precious bodily fluids.
He wants the education system turned over to the private companies. The
poor will be denied an education.”
He was towering over me, ready to deal the final blow. But just as he had
me beaten, crawling in the dust from his barrage of lies, he changed tactics.
“Look at it this way,” he reasoned. ’’Studies show that one-sixth of Battal
ion columnists are fascists. Another survey shows that eighty percent of all
people who believe that humans don’t have natural rights call themselves fas
cists. Pretty telling figures, would you not say?”
I couldn’t respond. My world was shattered. I slowly dragged myself out
of the dirt. Through my hyperventilating I wheezed, “You’re right. He is a
fascist.” It was an like evil revelation. It can’t be true. But it is. Oh, sick new
world, that has such people in it!
Robert Dowdy, ’88
Peeking at the mysterious secret
EDITOR:
Brian Frederick’s Tuesday article on human rights, or rather the lack
thereof, contains an unsupported and perhaps unsupportable tenet in its log
ical framework and a very serious inconsistency which makes one wonder if
either he or his mysterious “visitor” has thought out this viewpoint.
The one elucidating point that he did make is that from a naturalistic
point of view (i.e. one without a belief in the supernatural which Mr. Freder
ick refers to as “religious mythology”) moral absolutes are indefensible. This
is the price one must pay in order to hold to a naturalist’s view of the world.
Now the problems. Brian’s “visitor” states that none of the professors or
intellectuals in good standing believe in this “religious mythology.” This is
simply not true. I know of several professors and intelletuals who do believe.
The visitor goes on to say that belief in the supernatural has been displaced
by science. Has it? I’ve met many people who claim that it has, but none of
them were actually able to produce this definite proof. Could it be that the
existence of such a proof is the real “myth?” A “myth” that people throw into
discussions as a given, hoping that no one will call their bluff?
Summing up life as a power struggle where “the only human imperative
is survival” and only the strong survive, the nameless visitor claims to have
confronted Mr. Frederick because he “wanted to free (Mr. Frederick) from
the pious nonsense” taught by the professors and society. Mr. Frederick, pre
sumably, passes this same information on to us for the same reasons. But why
would either of them want to do that? Do they feel they “ought” to enlighten
the masses or that it would be a “good” thing to do? “Ought” implies respon-
sibity and “good” implies a value judgement, i.e. a moral. But these are both
destroyed by the same reasoning which they used to destroy the concept of
human rights! If Mr. Frederick and his visitor truly lived by the ideology they
espouse, they would see that enlightning the masses is the last thing they
would want to do. If they are the only ones who “really” know how the world
works, they would have a distinct advantage in the fight for survival. By let
ting us in on their secret they only make the competition tougher and hence
their own chances of survival less certain. Maybe they just told us these things
out of a sense of fair play — a sense that maybe, just maybe, we might all have
an inalienable human right to a fair chance!
Myles Rippenhagen ’86
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 incliule the classification, address and telephone number of the writer.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Sue Krenek, Editor
Daniel A. LaBry, Managing Editor
Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor
Amy Couvillon, City Editor
Robbyn L. Lister and
Becky Weisenfels,
News Editors
Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor
Sam B. Myers, Photo Editor
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa
per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and
Bryan-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, fac-
ultyor the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper
for students in reporting, editing and photography
classes within the Department of Journalism.
The Battalion is published Monday through Friday
during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday
and examination periods.
Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62
per school year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising
rates furnished on request.
Our address: The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald,
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1111.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX
77843.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal
ion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col
lege Station TX 77843-4 111.
danian population.
The West Bank has become an im
portant strategic element to Israel. With
a border less than 20 miles from Tel
Aviv, the West Bank serves as a buffer
from possible Jordanian or Syrian at
tacks. The West Bank is a training
ground for Israel’s armed forces. Thus,
the Israelis are reluctant to give the Pal
estinians complete autonomy.
For years, Israel has tried to keep the
issue of Palestinian autonomy on the
back burner. However, they have on oc-
cassion paid lip service to the United
States. The Camp David Agreements
signed by Israel and Egypt in 1978 that
were designed to provide limited auton
omy for the Gaza Strip and the West
Bank turned out to be a failure. Most of
the Palestinian politicians and leaders
who were supposed to run the local gov
ernment in the occupied territories in
accordance with the treaty refused to
cooperate with the Israelis and were re
placed by Israeli officers.
In recent months, Israel has systema
tically jailed or silenced most Palestinian
leaders, making it difficult for any sort
of negotiation process. Last week. Secre
tary of State George Shultz was in the
Middle East to rally support for a peace
plan but received a negative response
from Israel’s Prime Minister Shamir.
If the United States is really con
cerned about promoting a peace
agreement between the Israelis and Pal
estinians, then we should use more con
crete measures to encourage the Israeli
government to work on a peace plan.
The United States should consider with
holding some of the billions of dollars in
foreign aid we give to the Israelis an
nually until they make a decent effort to
formulate a working peace plan. Also,
any foreign aid should be granted con
tingent upon Israel’s human rights re
cord.
Such an idea is not new. In the Carter
Administration, a bill was signed into
law that makes U.S. foreign aid revoka-
ble if the receiving nation is a major vio
lator of human rights. Since December,
Israeli soldiers have killed nearly 6'
estinians and wounded hundreds!
Their human rights record is beginiJ
to look a little bit likeEl Salvador’s
How ironic it is that the Israeli]
pie, some of whom had fled persecute
from Nazi Germany, have becomen
pressors. A recent poll published bi
Tel Aviv newspaper indicates thaii
percent of the Israeli public favors
ther the current polo \ "I dealings out of
the Palestinians or a more stringentor- ,*
n H Choya i
If Israel truly desires peace in their
ritories, it first must respect the hunii
rights of Palestinians. A peace plan ita
has any hope of Palestinian approu
will require Israel to extend itself strait
gically. If a plan isn’t adopted soon,l
rael may be exposed to an even greai
risk from its hostile Arab neighbors.
John MacDougall is a graduate stuk
in the MBA program and a column:,
for The Battalion.
Ron
the Re]
County
on Tue
No D
the No\
With
Milk
power
duty s
books
open tf
Milk
term ii
mum s<
officer
Milk
force m
has wo]
ics offk
Wall
is a serj
relatioi
He 1
H ment e:
Wall
said hi
about |
filed to
“Dot
I! incurnf
leaders
can be<
platfon
ing.”
Walli
more si
munity,
| Aggies.
Chri;
College
try to g<
lican pa
Walli
route” i
“I ar
It’s time to escalate the war on drugs
Nancy Reagan
spoke an obvious
but valuable truth
the other day. Ad
dressing the White
House Confer
ence for a Drug
Free America, she
said:
“We must be ab
solutely unyield
ing and inflexible
in our oppostion
Donald
Kaul
to drug use. There is no middle ground.
We must be as adamant about the casual
user as we are about the addict. ... I’m
saying that if you ’re a casual drug user,
you are an accomplice to murder.”
She went on to list some of the more
notorious instances of drug-related vio
lence here and in Central and South
America where entire countries are run
by drug cartels.
“And . . . the people who casually use
cocaine are responsible because their
money bought those bullets,” she said.
“They provided the stakes that mur
dered those men plus hundreds of oth
ers in Colombia, including supreme
court justices, 21 judges handling drug
cases and scores of policemen and sol
diers.”
True, true, true; I agree with all of it.
If nice people stopped using drugs the
crime and violence in this country
would fall to a whisper, more or less.
One of the best things about the Rea
gan administration has been Mrs. Rea
gan’s anti-drug campaign. She has
thrown herself into it wholeheartedly
and has helped raises the public’s aware
ness of the evils of drugs. Surveys show
that the use of cocaine by high school
students dropped for the first time last
year. I think she had something to do
with that.
Mrs. Reagan’s husband is something
else again. At the same conference at
which his wife took out after drug users,
the president declared that the war on
drugs was “an untold success story. The
tide of battle has turned and we re be
ginning to win the crusade for a drug-
free America.”
Wrong, wrong, wrong; another ex
ample of the president’s invincible igno
rance.
Fact: In 1982 an estimated 31 metric
tons of cocaine was brought here from
Mexico. In 1985, it was 72 metric tons.
Those are White House figures.
Fact: Last year coca production for
cocaine went up 10 percent in the top
producting countries — Bolivia, Colom
bia and Peru — while the worldwide
marijuana crop jumped 26 percent and
the opium crop 18 percent. Those are
State Department figures.
Fact: The number of teen-aged and
adult cocaine users in this country in
creased 38 percent between 1982 and
1985, from 4.2 million to 5.8 million.
During roughly that same period, co
caine-related deaths rose 124 percent.
Those are congressional figures.
That’s winning the war? God help us
if we ever lose it.
We’ve seen some gains in slowing the
rising epidemic of drug use among the
young of the middle class, almost none
in stopping drugs from coming into the
country. We’ve spent $16.5 billion on
drug interdiction during the Reagan
years and use is up, prices are down and
the drugs are of purer quality. Why? Be
cause the money has been spent, like
most expenditures in the Reagan ad
ministration, without a coherent policy.
More than half of the U.S. Coast
Guard’s drug fleet is now idled because
it lacks $60 million tied up in a budget
squabble between the administration
anti Congress. Eight Navy frigateshea'
ily involved in drug interdiction a|
scheduled for budget-related moth-bl
ling. Promised partol planes have nl
been delivered. Is this what Mr. Read
means when he says he’s for smallfl
government? More drugs?
In a sense, it is. There is no way«
fight the drug war on the cheap. II
amazing thing is that we’ve managed#
do as well as we have with kids, consi(|||
ering our piddling effort. You wall
television and the soft drink ads cor*!
on and people are smiling and dancing
and having a good time and it mala
you want a soft drink. A car ad comesoi
and this beautiful car is hurtling over
mountain road and everybody is gw
geous and you want to buy a car. The'
an anti-drug ad comes on with anal’:
lete telling you to “Just say No” andy® |
want to go to the bathroom.
We have to turn Madison AveniT
loose on drugs and let it come up will 1
ads as remarkable as those they use#
convince us that soft drinks are thest
cret of eternal youth. Then we have# |
ram those ads down the throat off 1 |
public, endlessly. That’s the Americaf
way.
We also have to get serious, reallys#!
rious, about waging war on countri®
who produce our drugs. The real
told story of the Reagan administrate
is that we’re losing Central America,®
to communism but to drugs. We have
win it back.
As Congressman Charles Ranglf
New York said:
“It’s tragic for anyone to believe^
we are winning this battle against drf
when we haven’t fired the first shot.
If we didn’t have Nancy Reagan? 1
wouldn’t have anything.”
Why doesn’t the president knowtha#
Copyright 1987, Tribune Media Services, fo c
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathe*
Tfre mou uoly affair ffoan
-me may mess mme alwayj
PO-IM/TH OPlSd (N me
VICINITY...
90 you eeueve
5PACB AUFNO
eVBK KtPNAF
people with
FOWeRFUL
TRACTVF
BBACAS T
", &
te>
afh
SEC