1993
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Thursday, March 4,1993
Opinion
The Battalion
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Gridlock on the White House track
Editorial
Bush Librarygate
Wilson should be
The recent appointment of Dr. Don
W. Wilson to the position of execu
tive director of the George Bush Pres
idential Library Center has come un
der intense scrutiny. In defense of
the appointment, the Office of Uni
versity Relations has claimed that
Wilson is unquestionably "the most
qualified person to be executive di
rector." However, there are a num
ber of troubling issues that Bush Li
brary and Texas A&M officials would
be wise to keep in mind.
At 11:30 p.m. on Jan. 19 - Presi
dent Bush's last full day in office -
Wilson signed an agreement giving
Bush "exclusive legal control of all
presidential information, and all de
rivative information in whatever
form." One month later, Wilson was
named executive director of the Bush
Library.
The agreement gave the Bush ad
ministration control of millions of
items of electronic mail concerning
domestic and foreign policy initia
tives during the Reagan and Bush
years. Sighificantly, this period of
time covers the Iran-contra affair.
This eleventh-hour agreement per
mits "Bush or his.designee" to re
view all of the records before allow
ing anyone access. On this point,
Wilson has stated that "no rights
were given to the former president
that are not already in existence un
der current law." If this is so, one
must question why the last minute
agreement was even necessary.
According to federal conflict-of-in
terest laws, all officials are prohibited
from participating in any matters in
which they have a financial interest.
At the time Wilson signed the agree
ment, he was being seriously consid
ered for the directorship of the Bush
Library which provides an annual
salary of $114,000. In light of these
facts, the Senate Committee on Gov
ernmental Affairs, under the leader
ship of Sen. John Glenn, has asked
the Justice Department and the Office
of Government Ethics to investigate
put on probation
the allegations.
Wilson insists that he took no part
in any decisions or actions that could
be construed as conflicts-of-interest.
Though this remains to be deter
mined, there are other factors inde
pendent of this issue which bring
Wilson's credibility into question.
Last November, the Senate Gov
ernmental Affairs Committee criti
cized Wilson as an "absentee
archivist" in fulfilling his duties as
the Archivist of the United States.
According to the panel, his deputy,
Claudine Weiher, was in effect run
ning the agency. Three weeks later,
Wilson replaced Weiher. In addition-
Wilson was criticized by the panel
for his selection of Lawrence Oberg
as the inspector general of the
archives. When he was selected,
Oberg was under federal investiga
tion for suspicion of contract fraud.
Although these accusations may
be blown out of proportion, there is
one charge of misconduct that cannot ,
be dismissed. Last January, federal
Judge Charles R. Richey found that
Wilson had violated the law govern
ing federal record keeping when he
"failed to fulfill his statutory duties
under the Federal Records Act."
Judge Richey said that this breach
of duty occurred when Wilson failed
to take preventative steps after being
informed by the White House of its
intention to delete computer records.
In light of this information, one is led
to question whether Wilson truly is
"the most qualified person" for the
job.
It would be prudent for Texas
A&M and Bush Library officials to
consider placing Wilson on a proba
tionary-type employment status
pending the outcome of the investi
gation. Texas A&M has certainly
weathered more than its fair share of
negative publicity among the nation
al media, and this situation, if not
handled properly, could tarnish the
image of both the Bush Library and
Texas A&M.
Economy improved
under Reagan regime
I was surprised to see a fellow Aggie
so obviously ignorant about the history
of Reagan's presidency. Paul Greco in
his Feb. 24 letter to the Batt says that he
has seen no improvement in our econo
my in the past twelve years.
Apparently Greco has chosen to ig
nore the facts. As the Bureau of Eco
nomic Analysis points out, the prime in
terest rate fell from 15.26 percent, where
h was at the end of the Carter presiden
cy, to 9.32 percent at the end of the Rea
gan presidency.
These numbers are replicated in al
most every other area of the U.S. econo
my. .. Inflation fell from 12-5 percent to
4.4 percent and civilian unemployment
from 7.1 percent to 5.5 percent. The Dow
Jones index rose from 950.68 to 2235.36,
and the average disposable per capita in
come for every ethnic group rose at least
16.5 percent.
To add to these numbers, Gallup polls
taken at the end of the Reagan era
showed that most Americans thought
they were better off at the end of the
Reagan presidency than they were dur
ing the Carter years. America clearly
benefited from conservative leadership.
Greco points out that the United
States experienced a budget surplus un
til the end of Lyndon Johnson's presi
dency.
This fact simply makes my argument
because history shows that it was under
Johnson's administration that Medicare
and Medicaid as well as many other en
titlement programs began.
Today these programs comprise the
biggest part of the budget. These poli
cies are untouchable and no Republican
was able to eliminate them substantially
due to the Democratically controlled
House of Representatives.
If we are looking for a place to cut the
budget, I would start by freezing spend
ing, not increasing it as Clinton wants to
do.
Then cut welfare so many jobless
Americans would have an incentive to
get off the government dole and begin
working again.
Elliot Williams
Class of '96
Bombs, boxes and Bosnians away!
Airdrop adds excitement to lifestyles, pork to diets
T he sky is falling! The sky is
falling! And in Bosnia-Herze-
govina. Chicken Little is about
to become a McNugget. SPLAT! Just
like the Bugs Bunny cartoons of our
youth, very large things are falling
from the sky. Unlike the anvils and
pianos of Bugs and Wile E. Coyote,
these airborne bundles bear food and
medical supplies for a war-torn land.
Unfortunately, it's the wrong food.
Leave it to the chefs at Chez Meal-
Ready-to-Eat in the Pentagon to cook
up a variety of goodies for our starv
ing Muslim friends. Unfortunately
the starving Muslims in Bosnia don't
eat pork, which is one of the gastro-
nomical delights that we have dropped on their houses.
Of course this is nothing new for the United States; we
have a long-standing tradition of dropping the wrong
things from airplanes. In Vietnam, we dropped urine snif
fers. I kid you not. I learned about it in my history semi
nar on the 1960s. One of the neat things about being a lib
eral arts major is that one has the opportunity to take cool
classes. Anyway, we were discussing the vast array of
American techno-toys that we dumped on Vietnam during
the war, and one of those cool techno-toys was the handy-
dandy urine sniffer.
The urine sniffer operated under the assumption that a
Vietcong soldier would probably need to go to the bath
room while he was busy being a "bad guy." American
strategists concluded that the VC soldier, being male and
thus being convenient, would proceed to relieve himself
on a trail or tree. Knowing where the enemy was through
this urine trail, American artillery could bomb him back to
the stone age. Did it work? Put it this way, water buffalo
and peasants also pee on trails. My professor explained
that the Vietnamese had a lot of barbecued buffalo.
And now in Bosnia, the Muslims have a lot of barbecued
pork. A lot of good that will do them. Of course, the hu
manitarian aid packages of doom won't do any Bosnians
much good if they miss their targets. After all, the United
States is dropping these 1,550 pound boxes from 10,000 feet
and has yet to confirm that the people who need these
goodies - but can't eat these goodies - are even getting
these goodies, i.e. the Serbians really dig U.S. pork.
Serious concern arises over the serious size of these care
packages. Imagine dropping a Geo from 10,000 feet.
Odds are that these packages could do some serious dam
age to the Bosnians themselves. American insurance mor
tality rates estimate that three deaths per year are caused
by falling Coke machines. Now imagine a veritable hail
storm of Coke machines falling from the sky. Think of the
carnage! And that's another thing: Would Bosnian home-
owners insurance cover 1,550 pound boxes falling through
the living room?
Of course the United States thought ahead in this case
and dumped one million pamphlets from airplanes on
Sunday. The pamphlets issued the following warnings:
"DANGER! FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, LET THE HU
MANITARIAN AID LAND BEFORE YOU APPROACH,"
and, "AMERICAN PLANES WILL PROVIDE HUMANI
TARIAN AID TO ALL PEOPLE BY AIR. DO NOT SHOOT
AT AMERICAN AIRPLANES. THE FOOD AND MEDI
CINE ARE INTENDED FOR ALL."
Though some may think that littering thousands of dead
trees across a foreign country is environmentally unsound,
dumping pamphlets has been a staple of American foreign
policy. We used this method successfully in Vietnam when
we warned peasants to steer clear of falling urine sniffers.
Certainly the Clinton administration is using recycled
paper products in these pamphlet dumps. Otherwise,
everyone from Earth First to Aggies Against Bonfire would
be protesting the senseless dumping of dead trees over
Bosnia. Come to think of it, dead trees would probably be
better than what we are dumping right now. Bosnian Mus
lims could at least burn the trees - in order to roast their
pork. Perhaps we should just drop urine sniffers on
Bosnia. Then they could eat roast buffalo after we bomb
them into the stone age.. . which just might start to happen
if we don't watch out.
Feducia is a senior English and history major.
STACY
FEDUCIA
Opinion Editor
Aggie Cinema prices
too high for students
We have a question for Aggie Cine
ma: What are the objectives of their or
ganization? If this is a student organiza
tion, we expect it to provide services for
the students at reasonable rats. Why do
they charge $2.50 per student for
movies? If all the cinemas around town
charge $3.00 for new releases during the
matinee showing, why should Aggie
Cinema charge so much? Ironically,
when they showed the "Last of the Mo
hicans" and "Under Siege," Schulmann
was screening the same films for $1.
Please explain why it is necessary to
charge $2.50.
How Mooi Lau
Graduate Student
Accompanied by four signatures
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When is too close too much?
I k
Regarding the standoff between the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms and the Branch Davidian cult in
Waco, the media has been criticized for its constant
presence at the Mount Carmel compound.
Some argue that the media is simply in the way, and that
their presence is hindering efforts to end the standoff. In
addition, critics say that the large presence of the media
may hdve added to some of the deaths and injuries suffered
on both sides during the shootout.
However, media proponents believe that the public has a
right to know about the events as they unfold.
Question: How close do you think the media
should be allowed to cover a crisis such as this?
If
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