Opinion
| Wednesday, October 2,1991
The Battalion
Page 13
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added, "1
ad bull from Ags
lorps supporters harass Battalion staff
hortly after the story about
the Parsons' Mounted Caval
ry broke, some of our colum-
ists took views on the issue and
ome disturbing things happened.
Our opinion editor, Carrie
avalier, wrote a column crit
icizing the Corps' lack of
lomment on the incident or
ion anything else. In the two
lays that followed, she re-
leived more than a dozen ha-
^eame ajfc^ assin & P hone calls and sever
ing to play a® more hang-ups at her
ping us offf®°me.
ie football
e've got topi
e got to stop
: to get bettei
vould giveb
ince 1986.
elmai
>m Page9
They called her names I
ould not want to reprint
is newspaper. The men said Timm
ey knew where she lived DOOlen
nd were coming to get her. Editbi'
hey said a secret organiza-
lon exists "to weed out the
■at and ugly from the student
Body." And on and on.
■ On Monday Ellen Hobbs
Evrote an column stating ROTC and
■he Corps of Cadets should be sepa-
Hated. Again, the harassing phone
-palls started.
Also, some of the reporters who
Doolcn is a
senior computer
science major.
guys who is si
ms when it coBave merely written stories on the
ikills. Hejusiipubject have received calls at home,
otball so well | There is no way I can say the per-
as capableo:B ons w ho called were involved with
b as an y onef |Jie Corps of Cadets, for all the phone
. lL . calls were anonymous,
n nows heM j n f act man y 0 f ca ll ers we nt
of their way to point out that they
e holds no e® ere no,: members of the Corps.
,rk is what wii|^ 1 offer that there is a
dchelman saidfstrong possibility some of the men
ng forward loB^ho called were involved in the
t like I said,t!if lorps of Cadets because of their
ition," Teich|§oints of view and the conviction
ver, no mattei
down. I gc;
md there's Err
all just asgooi
never let your
i of talented p;
to remain frli
though, Teiclif
with which they harassed these staff
members.
It's really sad. While studying at
an institution of higher learning,
some feel it necessary to display the
cowardice and childishness
to call someone and anony
mously harass them for ex
pressing their points of view.
This newspaper allows an
open forum for the free ex
change of ideas at Texas
A&M, no matter how contro
versial or unpopular those
ideas may be. And because
these columnists expressed
ideas contrary to what many
others believe, they had to
endure the pettiness of an
noying calls.
What 7 most ironic is Cava
lier was trying to point out
that the tradition of honor in
the Corps should cause
cadets to frown upon what
happened to the unfortunate woman
who was assaulted. And in defense
of this honor, people cowardly called
and harassed her.
People who attend this University
should be above such pettiness.
If someone has a problem with a
columnist's ideas, he should write a
letter or discuss the issue, but not in
vade the columnist's personal priva
cy.
We still will report what we find
out about the charges against the
Corps and members of the Corps.
And our columnists and others
still will continue to take sides on the
issue. I just hope maturity and reason
will prevail over the childish attitudes
that still exist.
^ thing is Iheii
ything like fa
all happy v
s a lot of
ietition w
ood enough to
Tech, Teiclie
Soph. 'Junior Senior
ing high school:
kes loves it
(l
LEONA HE3LMSLEY
IRS Cbimnis^ioner
<£W/ TH£?
CHARLES KEATING
FDIC Chairman
“9
ROBERT GATES
CIA Director
9
U.S. closer to nuclear disarmament
Reject nomination of Robert Gates
S ince the early 1950s, America has had nuclear
weapons ready to fire at a moment's notice. But this
past weekend, President Bush gave the order to the
American Strategic Missile Forces to "stand down."
For the first time since their creation, nuclear weapons in
America are not on constant alert. Nuclear tipped bombs
have been removed from all bombers, and most nuclear
missiles will be removed from the navy's missile
submarines. Missile crews in their silos have
deprogramed die controls to make it impossible to
"push the button" for a quick launch.
The commands to launch the strategic weapons
now require a lengthy confirmation procedure.
Bush also has a plan to eliminate most tactical and
theater nuclear weapons and negotiate more cuts in
multiple-warhead strategic missiles.
Flight crews at Carswell Air Force Base and
others around the country have had parties and
celebrations commemorating the event. People
around the country who live near the missile bases
are breathing a sigh of relief.
But in the bright sunshine of all great news,
there is always a shadow. In that shadow stands
the Central Intelligence Agency.
The time has come to dismantle the CIA. The
cold war is over, and communism is no longer the
government structure in the Soviet Union. Stalin is nearly
40 years in the grave. Afghanistan was the end of the
communist expansion wars. The abortive coup was die last
chance of the hard liners in the Soviet Union. The Soviets
have spoken. They have thrown their hard line cold
warriors out of power.
We in America should have the desire and the intestinal
fortitude to do the same.
The CI A's main function since its creadon has been to
spy on and steal information from the Soviets. The CIA's
David
Nash
Nash is a junior
biochemistry
major.
operations in other parts of the world have focused on
indirectly harming the Soviet Union, or stopping grass roots
communism movements in tiiird world countries.
The CIA should be dissolved and a new intelligence
agency created for the post-cold war era. An agency that
does not have employees who have always thought of the
Soviet Union as the "evil empire." We need an intelligence
organization which is willing to see the irreparable
changes in the Soviet Union and recognize the
world is not out to destroy the United States. But
the CIA will always exist because there are too
many paranoid people in national government.
Of course there will always be a need for covert
information from all parts of the world. A good
intelligence report about Saddam Hussein several
years ago might have prevented the need for
Operation Desert Storm. Perhaps top levels of
government. Bush and his advisors, ignored such a
report because they were concentrating too hard on
the Soviet Union.
For the Director of the ClA,Bush has nominated
Robert Gates, cold warrior extraordinaire. He must
not receive confirmation by the Senate. The
confirmation circus of Clarence Thomas pales by
comparison. Gates is the current Deputy Director
of Intelligence. He grew up in the CIA under
William Casey who from 1981 to 1985 was the director of
the CIA which masterminded the Iran-Contra affair. As a
career analyst of the Soviet Union, his views have been
twisted by ancient threats. Over and over in confirmation
hearings, underlings have testified of his black outlook of
the Soviet Union.
The cold war is over, and it looks Like it will stay that
way. Fear and hatred of ancient ideas do not belong in
today's society. Let's put the paranoid cold warriors out to
pasture. Reject the nomination of Robert Gates.
m Roadman
. lived in Lul
he first three ib
nt coach. It'sllil
tayed in one pi;
i child,
down-home tv:
s to keep in toils
l-town Texas to
•istic makes h;r :
ractive to his (9
t rapport with:
ler fans, butmt
is football play:
ms to have a to
us players-per
y other coaclii:
inference. Hell
y to bring mei
p to Lubbodat
d stars. The Ajjj
eful of this Sate
rs have 13retuf
6 lettermen ba :
s have proven:
f experience:;
d by its abunA
skill.
:s need to keep
Tech's senior
iver -Rodney
ear. Coming
eason, he alrer
1 records as a
koff returner,
ar scored
/er against the
ted 12th I
‘s had an easy 1
western Louis-
at Kyle Field,t
uite look up to
, A&M haste''
;s up its sleeve
ecause a lot me':
/eekend.
rs need to beat
taiders and she
who is the ma;
Student interns
support Rep. Barton
❖ We are very troubled by some of the mis
leading information in Ty Clevenger's column
about internships in Congressman Barton's of
fice. We know what it really is like to work for
a member of Congress because we spent this
last summer in Washington D.C. as Barton's in
terns.
We must say it was one of the most reward
ing and educational experiences of our lives.
It is true we had to run errands. We also of
ten had to sort mail. And just like Clevenger,
we had to enter the congressman's mass mail-
out surveys into the computer one at a time.
All of this so-called "grunt work" we often
found to be rather educational and interesting.
Our errands included conducting research
at the Library of Congress. While sorting mail,
we were able to read personal letters from
James Baker, Phil Gramm and the Ambassador
to Saudi Arabia to name a few.
While entering surveys into the computer,
we learned how to use the House of Represen
tatives information system and gained valu
able computer training that will be useful with
any job. These surveys were far from a waste
of the taxpayers' money. They were a sincere
effort by Congressman Barton to learn the posi
tions of the constituents on major issues so he
could better represent them. These surveys
also helped Barton to keep his mailing lists up
to date so he could better inform his con
stituents of what he was doing as their con
gressman.
Barton even used the results of these sur
veys in a speech on the floor of the House. This
Mail Call
hardly made us feel like we were doing "grunt
work."
In fact, we plan to write our papers (which
are required to gain academic credit for the in
ternship) on the quantitative analysis tech
niques used by members of Congress to survey
their constituents.
When we were not working in the office, we
were doing things like touring the White
House, admiring the view of Washington from
the rotunda of the Capitol Building and attend
ing meetings with top government officials like
Secretary of Transportation Skinner and White
House Chief of Staff Sunnunu.
And guess who escorted us on all these ex
cursions: none other than Congressman Barton.
The congressman really is not the brutal task
master Clevenger would like to make him out
to be. It greatly impressed us that a man who
has up to three meetings scheduled at the same
time from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day would
take time out just to show his interns around
D.C. Maybe if Clevenger had stuck around
more than a week, he too would have had the
opportunity to do some of these things.
The problem is not with Congressman Bar
ton but with Clevenger. For some strange rea
son, he thought he was going to strut into
Washington and become Barton's right-hand
man. He was not willing to work the long hard
hours it takes to make it on Capitol Hill.
Clevenger's comment about beating the
congressman in his own republican primary
can be disregarded. An individual who could
not last a week in Washington as an intern
surely does not have what it takes to be a con
gressman. Clevenger really should have more
respect for a man who has worked so hard and
done so much for this University.
As for ourselves, we feel the contacts we
gained, the experience we had and most im
portantly the friendships we made as Barton
interns will be invaluable in our future political
careers.
John F. Lauletta '92
Jennifer Hartman '92
Corps members
seek understanding
❖ After my letter stating that group dy
namics might be a factor which contributed to
the the alleged incident at Parsons’ Mounted
Cavalry, I was presented with an odd situation
I was contacted by two members of the
corps. Let me say that although my letter
could have called for anger, these two were ex
tremely polite, and sought an understanding,
not a confrontation. They went out of their
way to inform me of the internal situation and
were sincerely concerned about what people
thought about them. They asked not to be
identified but asked me to tell the story from
their side.
The Corps is sorry the incident may have
taken place, and sincerely want a just outcome,
but regret being called cowards for not speak
ing up.
Not all the members of the Cavalry know
the whole story. The best policy to follow in
this situation is one of silence. This helps the
investigation to uncover untainted facts. Ru
mors and half-truths abound if anyone who
knows the least bit starts making statements.
They also informed me that the members
Corps cannot express their opinions in the Bat
talions unless passed through countless chan
nels. This makes it hard for outsiders to un
derstand all that is going on, and most of us
have to draw conclusions from what we see in
the paper or hear around campus.
Silence is also a way of protecting innocent
people from getting pulled into the confusion.
I would gamble and say most of our opinions
are uneducated, and there is a lot of tension
throughout the Corps because of the incident.
These guys resented being seen as a group,
but my point was that all organized risks in
volved when responsibility is held by the
group and not individuals. I sincerely hope
the Corps is not targeted as a whole and that
the guilty individuals are punished.
Hans Hansen "92
Have an opinion? Express iti
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guarantee letters will appear.
Letters may be brought to 01*3 Reed McDonald, sentto Campus Mail Stop 1111 or can be
faxed to 845-5408.