11 i Seventy-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS -'M Where Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH. Trutih Will Prevail NEws PHONE: 764-0552 Editoriils printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 1968 NIGHT EDITOR: ROB BEATTIE r Engineers. in Polities: Why Not? SUGGESTIONS that engineers go into politics usually aren't taken very seriously. But they should be. As our society grows in complexity, the need for legislators and planners trained in handling the technology upon which modern life is founded and capable of dealing with technical problems in imaginative ways grows along with it. As R. Buckminster Fuller has written, "politics undertakes to reform man, not his environment." Engineers, on the other hand, attempt to change the en- vironment to meet the needs of man. Because the major problems facing the states and communities of the United States today are essentially environ- mental in nature, it stands to reason that more engineers in positions of public re- sponsibility would be that many more "politicians" used to dealing with these problems on a practical level. MANY OF the problems facing us domestically quite obviously demand practical technical- solutions. The pres- ence of even one engineer in a legisla- ture or on a special review board would be an invaluable asset to that group's ability to formulate and evaluate possible solutions to. the problems of pollution, urban development, traffic control, raw materials and energy production,!irriga- tion and flood control. Other problems, which at first glance seem to be purely social in origin, often have important economic roots or mani- festations which can be solved, at least in part, by creative engineering. For example, American race relations, although founded in a long history of prejudice, have many economic implica- tions. Sub-standard ghetto housing in cities like Chicago, New York or Detroit often costs more per month than super- ior housing in 'other parts of the city- but Negroes cannot live there because of restrictive rental practices or inability to make down payments. Similarly, the suburbs are off-limits both for-purely racial reasons and be- cause many ghetto residents cannot af- Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan, (20 Maynard St., Ann Arbor. Michigan, 48104. Daily oxcept Monday during regular academic school year .Fall and winter subscription rate: $4.50 per term by carrier ($5 by mai); $8.00 for regular academic school year ($9 by riaii). ford to make a down payment on a house and are unable to borrow money from a bank. Housing in a government-subsi-1 dized tetrahedral "city of the future" (as envisioned by Fuller) could make mod- ern, equitable housing available to citi- zens from all walks of life on a mass basis. Such housing would hardly provide a complete solution to the race problem, but it would certainly be a step in the right direction. We must remember that most of last summer's rioters were not unemployed; they were Negroes with low-income 'jobs who were unable to afford non-ghetto housing, people who could not partake fully of the benefits of technological advancement. THERE IS hardly an area of our do- mestic life which would not benefit froni creative application of modern technology. But, as State Rep. Raymond Smit (R-Ann Arbor), himself an engi- neer, observed in a speech to Chi Ep- silon Engineering Honorary Society last Tuesday, many engineers voluntarily cut themselves off from human problems and humanistic concerns. The engineering college at the Univer- sity has recognized the need to provide opportunities for its students to pursue interests ouside of mathematics, physics and chemistry. Thus the college com- bines a new six-hour Great Books pro- gram for freshmen with a requirement that engineers take about one-fourth of their courses in non-technical subjects. Although many crusading liberals might object to engineers seeking public office on the grounds that the profession tends toward political conservatism, it seems likely that in the future political divisions of left and right might lose all traditional meaning. What we might well have instead is technical versus non- technical politics, where a combination of creative technical theory and humani- ist sympathies will be at a premium. Even in traditional liberal-versus- conservative terms; however, having en- gineers in positions of power could hardly be more harmful than the current blend of businessmen-lawyers-movie actors who are running the country. It might even be better. -JENNY STILLER Letters to the Editor LBJ Withdrawal pngBoyGone - By MARTIN HIRSCHMAN THE TIMING of both the major announcements of President John- son's speech Sunday night have been subject to a dIrth of speculation. Political analysts have asked why Johnson chose this moment to try for peace in Vietnam and why he decided at that time to leave the Presidential arena. The initial analysis of the peace proposal was severely muddled and has since been obviated by Hanoi's surprising response. It now appears that the President's proposal was not made. in- an information vacuum and that, in fact, Johnson was informed that Hanoi would be ammenable to such a proposal at this time. Last week Gen. Creigton Abrams, Gen. William Westmoreland's expected successor showed up unexpectedly in Washington for a series of secret talks with the President. Possibly those talks gave Johnson significant hope that Hanoi was ready to talk about peace. In addition, U.S. and North Vietnamese officials last Friday suc- cessfully concluded negotiations which lead to an exchange of prisoners. It is possible that some significant peace feelers were sent out during that time. Possibly, Johnson considered the successof the conferences alone significant enough to warrant further peace moves at ,this time. JOHNSON'S SPEECH reeked havoc on the U.S. political scene, bu at the same time put the issues of the 1968 campaign into sharp per- spective. Analysis of the President's announcement he will not run for an- other term has been limited largely to discussion of his possible suc- cessors. This is unfortunate. For Johnson's speech hardly eliminates him from consideration as a candidacy. On the contrary, everything about the President's speech seems designed to enhance his chances for November. * By announcing a limited bombing halt Johnson exposed the fraud of the 1968 campaign; he showed how very close ail the nmajor contenders for the Presidency are in their attitudes towards Vietnam. SENATORS EUGENE McCARTHY and Robert Kennedy almost immediately expressed their support for the Johnson's move toward peace. Ever former Vice President Richard Nixon, the ,only strong Republican possibility said he favored the proposal. Thus, by announcing the plan, Johnson eliminated the majo issue of his opponents-the present Vietnam policy. 0 By nominally withdrawing from the political arena Johnson isolated himself from possibly disastrous defeat in the Wisconsin primary. In this area Johnson has clearly achieved his goal. It is now im- possible to give an intelligent analysis of the Wisconsin results. 0 Johnson created a perfect image for the U.S. public when- he went on the air Sunday night. The manner of his speech 'showed a Great Man facing a Great Decision to help preserve this- Great Society. The speech created a single day during which the American public was hungry for news. And when they turned on the television Or objened up the morning paper they saw the image, not of a defeated politician, but of a man seriously concerned with securing peace, in South East Asia. This image could only have been put forth by combining the two announcements. 0 By creating a situation in which he is in agreement oin:- the Vietnam War with every major Presidential contender, and by "demon- strating" that their solution-cessation of the bombing--will not work,- Johnson has shown that he has been following the appropriate cburse of action all along. * The President's actions, in addition to their cunning, ar ex- tremely flexible. At any time up to the convention. Johnson can turn around and jump back into the race. If he judges that he can win the nomination and the election he will probably accept a draft at the convention. Hopefully, the American people will understand what President Johnson's speech Sunday night really means. Unfortunately, even if they do there will be no reasonable alternative road for them to follow. For as the eents of the past week have shown, there is presently no truly fresh alternative to Lyndon Johnson within reach of the Presidency.- PERHAPS KENNEDY or McCarthy or Nixon will be able to demon'- strate differences with Johnson in the domestic sphere. But although. they may wish the United States had never become involved in a war of the size and scope of Vietnam, they will continue to harbor a philosophy of U.S. foreign policy which has been out-dated for ten. years, a policy which could easily make a large portion of South East Asia into another Vietnam in the next four years. A Defending the Johnson Administration To the Editor: AM WRITING this letter in re- sponse to your editorial of Mon- day, April 1, 1968, concerning President Johnson and the cur- rent administration's domestic and foreign policies. The present situation deserves a more serious consideration than the cursory one given by your staff. Mr. Johnson's de-escalation of the Viet Nam War is certainly not only a cause for exhilaration but also a moment of exaltation for some. It is my opinion, and likewise the opinion of many other students and faculty, that your attack againstrthe Admin- istration was a ruthless one, founded only on large generaliza- tions, concerning contempory Am- erican policies. Your article began by reference to "the surge of enthusiasm which swept the nation and the world last night, when President John- son handed down the mantle of the Presidency." I, and millions of other Americans, felt no en- thusiasm, no happiness, and no exaltation. Instead we felt that this coun- try is growing sicker and sicker, typified primarily by flagrant and blatant attacks, such as yours, against what is the most pressing and most difficult public office in the United States po- litical system, the Presidency of these United States. Furthermore, contrary to your opinion, Mr. Johnson did not en- ter the office of the Presidency in a relative period of peace. Were the threats of communist infiltration into African, South American, Southeast Asian, Mid- Eastern, countries only peaceful movements? Mr. Johnson did not make the commitment to the South iVet Nam government. It was made by his predecessors, but it will con- tinue to be mandatory that the word of the United States be kept, in all such agreements. You refer to the race riots dur- ing Mr. Johnson's administration as being his fault. They are not. Race riots are a culmination of the desires, the anxieties, and the disappointments, which have faced the American Negro ,since his forced implacement on this con- tinent in 1619. It is only coincidence that this culmination erupted into violence during President Johnson's in- cumbency. You, the editors, seem to forget the Poverty Program, Aid-to-Education Bill, Medicare, the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, the new Department of Housing and Urban Affairs, and the Job Corps, - all which were passed through Congress under the auspicies of the Johnson Administration. You, like all people, see only the bad, and minimize or forget the good that Lyndon Baines Johnson has brought to this country. THE PRESENT administrators have been faced with insurmount- able problems - civil rights, Viet Nam, the American dollar, pov- erty, and civil liberties. Mr. John- son reactions to these problems have been the mostwescan expect from any President of the United States in such demanding situa- tion. You have expected Mr. Johnson to clear up all the difficulties of the United States, which have existed years on end, in one short four year term. My estimation of your staff's ability and moreover your intel- ligence has been diminished by your simple-minded, drastic at- tacks leveled at the President of the United States. Your most un- fair reference to Joseph McCarthy as being correlated with the John- son campaign is utterly ridiculous, and deserving, as your entire editorial is, of enormous criticisms. I regret that I must lower my- self to your mud-slinging tactics, but it seems as if this is the only language that you understand. After Mr. Johnson's address to the nation Sunday night, report- er~s gathed in the White House. A certain reporter voiced the opinion that Mr. Johnson has ac- complished more for this country than any other President of the United States. I'm sure that mil- lions feel this same sentiment for the President of the United States. -Mark Evans, '71 4 ^' .M..:. n4.vm.....:: iT. 2...xR... f'n...::..vr.:..:.:B _...: ...... :::.....:.....,....... . . .,,..:::.^..:.. . . . .:.. .v.. .f''+?'......n.. ..................'...-::<:................ . . . .ii .:. . ..::J.i.. .. ... ::$-iinn Palestinian Liberation Movement: Guerrillas, Jordan anc (Israel 4 By IMAD KHADDURI Daily Guest Writer rf HE ALGERIAN National Li- beration War, 'in which the Arab Algerian people defeated the French colonialists, lasted for seven years. During that time, 50,000 French and a million Al- gerians died. There are certain identical political and psycho- logical forces in both Algeria's liberation experience and Pale- stine's. In both cases, a Western-orient-, ed people, in order to secure their vested interests, imposed their existence from a position of su- perior strength on the indigenous Arab population. This unjust con- dition bound anddeformed the Arab population physically and psychologically, a fact which further facilitated their continued oppression. In both cases, the people of Al- geria and Palestine, after years of fruitless passive resistance, came to the realization that a na- tional liberation struggle is the only effective force that are pitted against them. In both cases, mounting repres- sive violence is the intruders' only answer to the "thing" which once again can become a man by the same process by which he frees himself. "It is because France could neither liquidate the Algerian peo- ple nor integrate them with the* French that it lost the Algerian War." (Jean-Paul Sartre, Ram- parts, Feb. 18, 1968). It took the Algerian Arabs 130 years to focus and transform their anger and frustration into the drives and the motives which im- pelled their National Liberation Movement. It has taken the Pales- tinian Arabs 50 years. Liberation Movement, announced today that it had completed setting up many well-hidden, well-stocked bases in Israel or Israeli occupied territory. It said from these bases, Palestinian guerrillas 'most of them dedicated peasants and stu- dents are now operating daily ... No part of Israel, no Israeli instal- lation, no Israeli target is out of their reach!' It added, 'Al-Fattah wishes to point out that its opera- tions, which today enjoy the sup- port of the entire Palestinian people, are in no way aimed at the Jewish people as such,''' (N.Y. Times, Feb. 7, 1968). "PALESTINIAN casualties rose today to 17 dead and 58 wounded in yesterday's artillery duel be- tween Jordanian and Israeli forces, across the Jordan river. The official Amman radio said that 6 children and 5 women were among the dead and that 18 chil- dren and 12 women were among the wounded. Most of the casual- ties were among refugees whose camp on the east side of the Jor- dan River was struckbysIsraeli artillery fire." (N.Y. Times, Feb. 10, 1968). "Ahmad Nazzal squinted past the rubble left here by an Israeli air strike, toward the gray green Beisan Hills across the Israeli border 15 miles away. . . Over there the Arab commandos' blood has been mixed with the earth, he said in Arabic. 'They are the men who are trying to liberate their land: they must fight on.' Mr. Nazzal and the men of Qmiem insisted today that their sym- pathy for the guerrillas was un- deterred. Their reaction, which appears to be shared by a large part of Jordan's population poss- es a problem for the authorities in Amman. King Hussein .is trying to crack down on the Arab com- "IN A MESSAGE to a gathering of Bnia Zion, a major American Zionist group, President Johnson cited the work of Bnia Zion 'as a force of peace and justice in hu- man affairs.' Another message by Vice President Humphrey hailed Israel as a 'sister democracy,' and expressed hope that time would bring 'continued progress and realization 'of permanent peace between the Arab states and Is- rael . . . . Senator Kuchel (told) the group that, 'Jerusalem must never be divided again. It must remain one city, as the capital of Israel, as a living and joyous cen- ter for the celebration of the har- mony of the Western World. We all have a stake in that cause.'" (N.Y. Times, Feb. 26, 1968). ". . . Despite the repeated self- complimenting assertions of the occupying forces that they have completely destroyed Al-Fattah in one area or another or that they have discovered large supplies of weapons and ammunition, the military successes of the Al-Fattah guerilla as increasing in scope and intensity. As a result, the enemy is launching repressive measures in many Arab cities and villages such as Jerusalem, Gaza, Nablus, and others during which they have arrested tens of civilians and de- stroyed or blown up several homes of unarmed civilians. The Al- Fattah National Liberation Move- ment finds itself compelled to re- consider what it had previously ,announced with regard to avoid aiming our attacks against civil- ians. Let the enemy's civilians car- ry the responsibility of Moshe Dayan's and his Nazi military forces' repressive measure against our civilians." (Palestinian Na- tional Liberation Movement, (Al- Fattah, March 4, 1968). ".Israeli officials said that they have captured William Na- guib, a leader of Al-Fattah, who had trained saboteurs in Algeria and West Germany before he went to Syria to serve as an instructor- in a camp run by the Arab ter - rorists. He was traced to Jeru- salem and picked up yesterday. After interrogation, the Israelis said, he led his captors to an- other leader, Kamal Nimri, an engineer who was said to have been seized while he was writing a report to his superiors describing 'a successful operation' Friday night in Abu Ghosh. Vehicles in a tractor station were damaged by an explosion and fire set by the sabouteur." (N.Y. Times, March 5, 1968). "ISRAELI MILITARY authori- ties extended to Jerusalem last night their practice of dynamit- ing the homes of suspected Arab terrorists. . . A handsome stone house in the fashionable Wadi Hoz area was destroyed and thou- sands of dollars worth of windows and furniture in neighboring houses were smashed in a series of explosionsdthat rocked the Arab neighborhood. . . . This swift re- taliation for suspected anti-Israeli activities is practiced by the mili- tary authorities to impress on the Arab civilian homes of suspected terrorists or civilians who harbor them is conducted independently of any legal action aganst tihve suspects, hundreds of whom have been in custody for months. In another action today, the former Mayor of Jordanian Jerusalem, Rouhi el-Khatib, was expelled to Jordan for 'hostile activities and incitement to rebellion against the authorities. Mr. el-Khatib had re- fused to cooperate with the Israeli municipal authorities.' (NY. Times, March 8, 1968). Tomorrow: The spread of guerrilla actions ,Jordan's King Hussein ganization announced that the Arab guerillas operating inside Israeli occupied territory have agreed to work under a unified military command that will co- ordinate underground strategy. The statement said that Arab guerrilla operations inside Israel were aimed only against military targets and were seeking to avoid harming Israeli civilians as much as possible. It said the operations would be coordinated by a 'rev- olutionary command council for the liberation of Palestine which will set up clandestine he-dquart- ers in Jerusalem following a con- ference of guerrilla leaders 'in- side our homeland.'" Chicago Daily News, Dec. .8, 1967). "ISRAELI OFFICIALS say that the Israelis more as a ruthless occupying force than an aggrieved victim of aggression. Furthermore, repressive measures might so arouse the Arab population within Israel that an internal guerrilla effort becomes more feasible . .." (N.Y. Times, Jan. 12, 1968). "The Israeli army clamped a general curfew on the more than 200,000 Arabs of the occupied city of Gaza today while security forces searched house to house for arms used in a current wave of sabotage. There have been almost daily hand grenade attacks in Gaza . Security forces recently arrested 40 persons suspected of belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organ- ization." (N.Y. Times, Jan. 19, 1968). "Five mortar shells were fired 41 'UA um