The Battalion
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OPINION
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Thursday, May 4,1989
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£/.S. should pressure Israel, Syria
to remove troops from Lebanon
Last month Lebanon celebrated the
14th anniversary of the beginning of
the war in which 100,000 people
have been killed and 200,000
wounded.
The fighting, which has lasted al
most without interruption since 1975,
has brought ruin and horror to what
was once one of the most democratic,
most orderly, best educated and most
technologically and culturally ad
vanced nations in the Middle East.
The shooting in Lebanon is com
monly regarded in the outside world
as a manifestation of a civil war in
which Christians are on one side and
Muslims are on the other.This is not
Nabil
Joubran
President, Lebanese Student Association
SO.
Lebanon has a long history of in-
tercommunal hostility that has often
descended to violence. But Leb
anon’s 14-year-old travail is not, to
any significant extent, the outcome
of hostility between Lebanese of dif
ferent political or religious per
suasions. It is the result of foreign in
terference in, and aggression against,
Lebanon.
The fighting, which began in
1975, was between the Lebanese
Christian militiamen and armed units
of the Palestine Liberation Organiza
tion (PLO), which had moved its
headquarters to Beirut from Jordan
after the Black September massacre
of 1970, and established itself as the
government of a state within a state.
The confrontation arising from the
PLO’s presence in Lebanon led to in
vasion by the Syrian army as the
principal, and almost sole, compo
nent of the so-called Arab Deterrent
Force, and later by Israel.
The Israelis’ objectives were
largely realized when the PLO was
expelled. They were not concerned to
help the Lebanese regain their inde
pendence. The Israeli army still oc
cupies southern Lebanon which
serves as a buffer to Israel’s northern
border.
In any normal circumstances, the
Israeli military presence would be
rightly regarded as intolerable by any
sovereign government. But, it is
overshadowed by the much more si
nister occupation of Lebanese terri
tory by a Syrian army of 30,000 to
40,000 soldiers.
Syria refuses to acknowledge Leb
anon’s sovereignty or right to exist,
and so occupies at least two-thirds of
Lebanon and is attempting to destroy
all those Lebanese who try to main
tain their country’s independence.
On April 21, over 11,000 Leb
anese and Americans of Lebanese
origin, Muslims and Christians, dem
onstrated in Washington D.C. in fa
vor of the U.S. government’s using
its influence on other democracies to
bring about withdrawal of foreign ar-
-mies from Lebanon.
In the meantime, Lebanese stu
dents in universities and colleges
around the States are getting support
from their American friends and all
those who care about issues such as
freedom, democracy and influencing
the federal government to make a
move to pressure the countries in
volved in Lebanon to pull their trdops
out.
Student offers remedies:
to construction woes
WA
The Texas A&M campus is being
turned upside down. You can’t get to
class without trudging through ankle-deep
muck and mire. Female students can’t
walk down Ireland Street without being
chased by slobbering bricklayers. And if
the cement mixers don’t run you over, the
dump trucks will.
These are common complaints among
students who fail to see the necessity and
value of the construction taking place
around the A&M campus.
Mike Stanglin, a senior finance major
from Grapevine, said he’s particularly
bothered by the construction of the utility
plant behind the Trigon.
“You would think they could find a
better place for the plant, maybe off-
campus,” he said. “I mean that area is
enough of an eyesore already.”
Well do not fret, Mike. In November
1988, Keith Chapman, manager of con
struction at A&M, reported in The Battal
ion that the mid-campus site for a new
utility plant was chosen for economic and
aesthetic reasons.
“We are putting a lot of effort into
making a utility plant that doesn’t look
like a utility plant,” Chapman said. “It’s
kind of the same philosophy we used with
the parking garage. It will be a brick
structure, pleasing to the eye.’*
There’s nothing more beautiful to me
than a brick structure. And every time I
pass the parking garage, I consider myself
lucky to be attending a university that
places so much emphasis on environmen
tal art.
It’s difficult for me to complain when I
realize it’s all being done for us, the stu
dents of Texas A&M University. Just
think how much better off we’ll be once
the comer markers are completed.
Someday we’ll be able to return to
campus with our children and say, “Son, I
remember when I was here. All these
beautiful buildings used to be a bunch of
old trees and grass. And all those dam
squirrels and birds are gone, too.”
For those of you who refuse to accept
the changes and feel your rights as stu
dents are being violated, I have come up
with several proposals, soon to be pre-
lional
Ron
Pippin
Senior Journalism Major,.
/Vedn
the st;
Irance
late.
Bui
erage
sented to the Board of Regents, that may
improve the situation:
• A hardhat fee will be included or
each student’s fall fee slip.
• Helicopter shuttles will replace shut
tle buses.
• All professors will be supplied with
bullhorns so students can hear them.
• Each student will volunteer 10-15
hours a week to help with construction
Classes will be conducted by foremen,
teaching students to lay bricks, sheet
rock, etc. Each student will receive an
Aggie Construction Certification Card.
• A special construction cheer, I mean
“yell”, will be added next year. The yell
will go as follows:
“Builders build.
Builders build.
Build, build,
Builders, builders build,
AAAAYYYYY!”
• Crowded classes will be held in the
Zachry staff parking lot, because there’s
always plenty of room.
• Sororities will hold mixers with con-
struction teams to increase worker morale
(A construction cookie crew would be a
nice gesture as well).
• Yell leaders will teach construction
workers to say “Howdy” instead of “Ooh
Baby!”
It is my belief that the implementation
of these recommendations will make your
stay at A&M a more pleasurable one and
assuage some of the “trauma” that the
thankless few of you are experiencing.
For those of you who continue to re
nounce the construction. Highway 6 runs
both ways (but Asbury Street no longer
does).
As with ail columns, opinions ex
pressed by Guest Columnists are not
necessarily those of The Battalion. Per
sons interested in submitting guest col
umns to The Battalion should contact
the Opinion Page Editor at 845-3314.
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For a month and a half now, the
Syrian army has been fighting against
the Lebanese army and bombing Bei
rut daily.
The United States government
seems to be indifferent.
Not acting against these mass kill
ings that the Syrian army is conduct
ing in Lebanon is no less than a dec
laration of American endorsement of
the Syrian government — the gov
ernment that is attempting to murder
Lebanon.
All that we, the Lebanese, aie
asking for is a country free of foi
eign, armed intervention so we cat
work out our problems away froit
any outside influence.
As with all columns, opinions express^
by Guest Columnists are not necessarill
those of The Battalion. Persons interest
in submitting guest columns to The Battal
ion should contact the Opinion Page £di
tor at 845-3314.
EPA toxic waste cleanup plan needs revision
After decades of polluted landfills, cancer-
causing playgrounds and contaminated
drinking water, the United States has fi
nally freed itself of unclaimed hazardous
waste sites. This amazing work is due to
the wonderful effort of the Environmental
Protection Agency.
Of course this is an absurd scenario. Su
perfund, the EPA program designed to rid
us of toxic waste, is a failure. The fault
lies with the EPA and the courts.
Superfund has managed to spotlessly
clean 38 sites. Well doesn’t that seem
peachy?
It doesn’t when one considers that the
program began nine years ago and has
managed to spend over $4 billion on its
feeble efforts. Even worse is that 1,137
top priority waste sites remain uncleaned
and over 29,000 lower priority sites are
still hazardous — staggering numbers that
indicate the hazardous waste situation is
out of hand.
Matt
McBumett
Columnist
Obviously the EPA is not using all of its
resources. Superfunding should come
from the responsible parties. This is only
just — the government should not be re
sponsible for private industry’s mistakes.
The EPA blessed the Superfund pro
gram with the “treble-damages” trump
card. If a company does not comply with
Superfund orders, the EPA is allowed to
fine the responsible company an amount
triple the cost of cleanup. So far this is
seen merely as a threat.
Superfund must use this valuable tool to
survive. Too much of the program’s
money is spent in the courtroom. Unfortu
nately, this prevents the needed funds
from being applied to the cleanup effort.
As it is now, to collect treble-damages
the EPA must fight it out in court with the
polluting company. To win, they must
spend much of their budget on the legal
proceedings, and therefore an unending
spiral of litigation is perpetuated.
Because most of its funding is used in
court. Superfund is forced to employ
workers of low quality. According to an
anonymous EPA contractor, the typical
Superfund project manager is a “25-year-
old kid on his first job out of college.” An
agency with such an important purpose
must be an employer, not an educator.
Another problem arises because Super
fund is legally forced to provide cleanup
methods proven to be 100 percent effec
tive. With such provisions as this, no inno
vative new ideas are explored. So now,
not only are the engineers toxic-waste
rookies, but they are also not allowed to do
their jobs.
Superfund can work, but the program
must be altered. An agency of this magni
tude must be provocative, not reactive.
The process must take on an image of Eliot
Ness, the tough Chicago mafia buster of
the 1920’s. Like Ness (not the Scottish
monster), the agency’s only advantage is
that it has the law on its side.
Superfund must use its treble-damage
capabilities. This would encourage many
companies to dispose of their waste prop
erly. The extra money collected from the
fines would also help the agency recruit
capable engineers.
If more inspiration is needed, the EPA
should publicize the names of the violators
and the quantities of toxins dumped. In
light of the public outcry over Exxon’s re
cent Alaskan oil fiasco, it is apparent that
the media has the power to prodn
change.
Someone should inform the leaders t
our court system that the United Stats
faces one of its toughest survival battles it
history. In 1983, Senator A1 Gore notes
that the United States generates an an#
amount of hazardous waste equivalent! 1 '
fifteen times the body weight of evet)
American.
Strict laws and numerous enforcer#
agencies now govern modem disposal 1
hazardous waste. If these programs a'
successful, the number of hazardous was-
disposal sites will not increase si
cantly. Still, something must be
about the waste which is currently contaf
inating our country. The Superfund pa'
gram, with a few modifications, can #
workable solution.
Matt McBumett is a sophomore elt'
trical engineering major and a cold
ist for The Battalion.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
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Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Scot Walker, Editor
Wade See, Managing Editor
Juliette Rizzo, Opinion Page Editor
Fiona Soltes, City Editor
Ellen Hobbs, Chuck Squatriglia,
News Editors
Tom Kehoe, Sports Editor
Jay Janner, Art Director
Dean Sueltenfuss, Life Editor
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