Page 4-Saturday, January 19, 1980-The Michigan Daily

I

Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom

PLO is aligned

Vol. XC, No. 89

News Phone: 764-0552

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

Reporters' ouster alarming

I T HAS BECOME apparent over the
past week that the answer to jour-
nalists who do their jobs effectively is
to evict theni from the areas they are
covering. On Monday, all American
journalists were ordered to leave Iran
because their reporting was allegedly
biased. On Thursday, the Soviet-
backed government in Afghanistan
also ordered out U.S. journalists,
charging them with biased reporting
and "interference in the country's in-
ternal affairs."
:That the Soviets could accuse the
U.S. of interfering in Afghanistan's in-
ternal affairs would be funny, were the
consequences not so serious. Since the
coup of last month . that ousted
President Amin, Afghanistan has been
in a state of turmoil, with the Soviets
finding themselves forced to send in
more troops than they had anticipated
simply to keep their puppet gover-
nment in Kabul in power.
Clearly, western journalists were not
making this task any simpler. Network
nlews reports'night after night depic-
ting rebellion against the new gover-
nment and reports and photos of the
growing Russian presence were
verifying the international com-
munity's suspicions of what the Soviets
were up to.
In times as tense as these, when
more and more leaders in this and;

other nations are calling for the Olym-
pics to be moved from Moscow, image
becomes everything. In the past, the
Soviet Union generally has - been
concerned about its image, not
wanting to look tyrannical in the eyes
of its fellow nations. This feeling,
however, seeme to have fallen by the
wayside.
The Soviets have obviously decided
that the best way to keep themselves
from looking foolish is to keep them-
selves from being seen at all; they
hope to use rhetoric to counter any ac-
cusations which cannot be refuted by
fact. If there are no western reporters
on the scene, we will have to rely on a
nearly total Soviet-Afghan monopoly
on news from the area.
It is almost incomprehensible that
the Soviets are naive enough to believe
that they can make the international
community think them justified in
evicting western correspondents
because those correspondents have
done something wrong. Clearly, they
have decided at this point that it is
more important to repress the turmoil
in Afghanistan without wasting time
and effort shdting at journalists, en-
forcing curfews, and destroying film,
than it is to maintain an international
image. This .act is chilling and its
repercussions rebound on more than
just the journalists.

The current crisis in Iran and Afghanistan
have put the focus of world attention on the
most volatile region of the world: the Middle
East and its periphery. Yet while these
critical events have been unfolding, Israel
and Egypt have been pushing forth to carry
out the terms of last year's peace treaty.
Israel's return of the Sinai is right on
schedule. Both countries are making final
arrangements for the opening of borders and
the exchange of ambassadors, a historic
milestone which will take place in a little over
a month. Just last week President Anwar
Sadat and Prime Minister Menacherr Begin
met for their ninth summit to discuss regional
concerns and the Palestinian autonomy
negotiations.
The fact that the Soviet occupation of
Afghanistan dominated Sadat and Begin's
discussions illustrated the common interests
their two countries share with the United
States. Both countries have offered the United
States military facilities and other assistance
since the American hostages were first seized
in Teheran. And both Israel and Egypt seem
to have pledged that they will not allow
threatening events in the Middle East to in-
terfere with the peace process.
BUT WHILE ISRAEL and Egypt have
been forging more permanent ties, the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has
been trying to take advantage of the political
turmoil in the region. Palestinian leaders
have tried to link theactions of the Iranian
government and militants with their own
political and military struggle. In a recent
speech broadcast over the "Voice of
Palestine," Yasser Arafat, head of the PLO,
expressed Palestinian solidarity with the
Iranian revolution. Arafat elucidatedthe role
of the Ayatollah Khomeini in the "jihad (holy
war) to liberate Jerusalem. Tell Imam
Khomeini," he said, "to give the order and we
will all obey and move to strike U.S. im-
perialism and U.S. imperialist interests at
anytime and in any place."
The PLO's man on the scene in Teheran,
Hani Al-Hasan, confirmed his organization's
support for the Iranians against the United
States: "The PLO puts all its forces, armed or
unarmed, at the disposal of Khomeini, to fight
against American intervention, inside and
outside Iran."
In addition to such statements, several
recent press reports have sub'stantiated a
direct link between the PLO and Iranian
militants 'at the American embassy in
Teheran, including the presence of
Palestinians among the captors. The most
detailed report came from Marvin Kalb of
CBS News. "When Washington raised the
threat of military intervention, U.S. experts
say an unknown number of Palestinian
guerrillas joined Iranians inside the com-
pound and provided what's called 'technical
assistance.' "
BOTH CBS NEWS and Jack Anderson have
confirmed that it was the Palestinians who

By Jeffrey Colman
mined the Teheran embassy and may have
taken a direct hand in the security of the
hostages. In a column devoted to the
mysterious role of the PLO in Teheran, An-
derson raises the possibility that Arafat's
organization "may have had a hand in the
planning and execution of the embassy
takeover from the start." He cites the seizure
of the Egyptian embassy in Turkey last July,
as an example of the PLO assuming the
deceptive role of mediator in a situation it had
itself instigated.
The State Department has not yet officially
confirmed such reports. But Rep. Philip

'th Iran
came to power, joining the Ayatollah in his
denunciations of the United States and Israel.
GIVEN THE PAST history of the PLO and
its connection with Khomeini revolutioaries,
why did it attempt to mediate the hostage
crisis. at the beginning? Considering the
evidence of PLO involvement with the
Iranian terrorists, its mediation efforts seem
to have been no more than cosmetic. Arafat
apparently saw the appearance of a
humanitarian gesture as a golden opportunity
to gain favorable publicity in the United
States. But Americans should not be deceived
by the PLO leader who has been popping
around European capitals appearing as a
moderate while still threatening to destroy'

01

AP Photo
IRANIAN LEADER Ayatollah Khomeini and Palestine Liberation Organization Chief Yasser
Arafat embrace in Tehran.

ILA: Comply with Carter

T HE INTERNATIONAL Long-
shoremen's Association (ILA),
like most unions of blue-collar
workers, has the reputation of being
quite patriotic-at times excessively
so. When President Carter announced.
two weeks ago that he was halting
grain shipments to the Soviet Union in
response to the invasion of
Afghanistan, he wisely did not impose
the ban immediately. He said he would
permit some 8 million metric tons of
grain to be shipped first,' so that
domestic transportation lines and
storage silos would not be choked by
the undelivered grain.
The union, composed mostly of
dockworkers, has elected not to
deliver some of those 8 million tons,
reverting to a boycott of Russian ship-
ping that it held to steadfastly until
1972. But this time, they are doing
far -more immediate harm to their
countrymen than to their supposed
enemies.
As the President predicted, the
mechanics of transportation and
storage have been hindered by the
union's action. Increasingly, farmers
are finding it difficult to reroute their

products to market. Carter's attempts
to mitigate the negative effects of
halting the grain shipments then, has.
been largely wiped out by the ILA's
expression of anger with the Soviet ac-
tions in Afghanistan. It would seem
that the nation could use a dose of
Soviet-style labor-agriculture alliance.
The union pressed on with its
irresponsibility when its president,
Thomas Gleason, declined to promise
President Carter that he would ex-
pedite a reversal of the group's policy.
Despite Gleason's stubbornness on the
issue, he had no explanation for his
reluctance. For Gleason to deny im-
mediate support for the President's
request is to push the situation even
closer to a state of emergency. Hasty
action, which might not be afforded by
the usual processes of union politics, is
called for.
The way is paved for the ILA to get
about the business of unclogging
domestic systems. President Carter is
not even asking that the ILA discon-
tinue its boycott of non-food shipments.
It is past time for the dockworkers to
return our foreign policy to the proper
hands.

Crane of Illinois, a Republican Presidential
candidate, said that he was told by Deputy
Secretary of State Warren Christopher that
there was evidence of the presence of radical
Palestinians in the embassy compound.
The PLO-Iranian relationship should be of
no surprise to those who are familiar with this
terrorist organization. For the PLO has a long
record of holding and killing innocent
hostages, including diplomats. Most notably,
Americans- should remember the 1973
execution of U.S. Ambassador Cleo Noel and
Chrge d'Affaires George Moore at the Saudi
embassy in Khartoum by Al Fatah terrorists
.of the PLO. The instrumental role the PLO
played in bringing Khomeini to power should
also be noted. PLO leaders boast of having
armed and trained Iranian revolutionaries
who now control Iran. Arafat in fact was the
first official visitor to Iran after Khomeini

American interests in the Middle East.
The PLO seems bent on taking full advan-
tage of the crises in the Middle East to upset
the peace process begun by Israel and Egypt.
Faced with these crises and the PLO position,,
it becomes more and more obvious that
American vital interests in the region are
shared by Israel and Egypt. The United,0
States should do all it can to prevent disorder
in other parts of the Middle East from upset-
ting the peace process, including the
Palestinian autonomy negotiations now un-
derway. It is an interesting irony of history
that after being the scene of five bloody wars,
the most stable and peaceful area of the en-
tire region today is the Israeli-Egyptian bor-
der.
Jeffrey Colman is an LSA senior
majoring in political science and history.

Think you're gonna graduate?

By Nick Katsarelas

A good friend of mine was
planning on graduating this April
and going on to medical school.
Despite the fact no one else was
planning on him going to medical
school, he insisted on going,
maintaining that the rejection
letters were a prank and that the
acceptance letters were forth-
coming. But his hopes were
dashed the other day when he
received a letter from the
Academic Admissions Board in-
forming him he cannot graduate.
It happens that Fred (his real
name) failed to meet all the
criteria for graduation and will
have to attend summer school.
The letter is a good warning to
those of you who believe you are
headed smoothly down the road
to commencement exercises.
Dear Mr. McZinsky:
We regret to inform you that you

will not be allowed to graduate Satur-
day, May 3, 1980. After reviewing
your transcript, the Audit Council and
the Academic Admissions Board of
the College of LS&A have discovered
you have not yet completed the
necessary work required for
graduation.
The University takes pride in ex-
plaining its regulations clearly and
coherently, and it is a shame you have
not been able to follow simple instruc-
tions.
According to our evaluation, Mr.
McZinsky, you have firsit of all not
finished your four-400-level cognates
required for successful completion of
your biology/zoology major/concen-
tration. You filed for Distribution
Pattern II (Plan C under the old for-
mat) and according to the University
of Michigan Bulletin, 1977-1978, Pat-
tern II encompasses only 300-level

cognates of humanities and social
sciences under the new plan, with
qualified exceptions to dual BA and
BS graduates of the College of LS&A
and the School of Nursing. Biology
concentrators must complete 24 hours
of C or better work in Plan A or C
(under the old plan) or Pattern I or II
(under the new plan). Or, the student
must complete 13-23 credit hours of
class inside or outside his or her Field
of study, while being certain to fill out
Form J (see Bulletin, Pg. 18) or Form
X (see Bulletin, p. 48). Ten credit
hours of work must be completed
within non-cognates, but only with
counselor's permission, bladder disrup-
tion, and proper completion
of Document 3DXZ (file No. 42).
Also, Mr. McZinsky, your 432
"Behavior Modification of Hari
Krishna" cannot count towards a
humanities cognate, for only 17-24


I

credit hours under Distribution Plan
W (old format) or 12-16 credits under
Pattern HImay be counted toward su41
cessful completion of a BA, BS, or
BGS in 7 semesters of 2.0 work or bet-
ter, not including social and/or
natural science courses, under new
plan C83XZ (see Bulletin, p. 98) or old
plan (see Bulletin, p. 23).
If you have any questions, feel free
to contact me in 1230 Angell Hall on
odd and/or rainy days, or Room 384
Student Activities Building on even
and/or sunny or partly sunny days,
unless there has been more than thr*
inches of precipitation for the month.
Signed, Elton Gullett, Assistant
iAssociate Director, Academic Ad-
missions.
The unique humor of Daily
reporter Nick Katsarelas will
be seen on this page more
frequently in coming weeks.
argument that politics has been a
factor in past Olympics is
meaningless. By boycotting the
Olympics for political reasons,
the U.S. will be justifying future
boycotts for similar reasons. This
action will jeopardize future
Olympics, and future hope for
world peace. -David Waddell
To the Daily: Jan. 18, 1980
I recall that in two previoul
Olympic years (1968 and 1972)
after our government had placed
mordthan a half million troops in
Vietnam (based on the now4
debunked Tonkin Gulf incident);
no major countries-not even the
USSR-boycotted the Olympics
becaase of U.S. military
operations there. In this light, the
President's threat tn null ITS


Letters to the Dail

To the Daily:
Public schools and universities
in a democratic society must be
kept free of militarism. The
educational institution, which
has as its aim the nurturing and
improvement of life, remains in
sharp contrast to the military
which has as its ultimate aim the
making of war.
In recent years, however, the
military presence in high schools
has become a fact of life. Many
parents and other citizens are not
aware that military recruiters
regularly visit high schools to

various services. College credit is
frequently given for military sci-
ence courses taught, not by
faculty of the academic com-
munity, but by military person-
nel. At Eastern Michigan Univer-
sity, a student can even take
military science courses leading
to a minor.
Against this background of
tacit acceptance which can lead
to the erosion of civilian control,
one faculty member and one
student last month challenged the
presence of the military program
at the University of Michigan and
the makeun of the governing

questioned whether "a military
organization which is run on
authoritarian principles should
be located on a university cam-
pus at all."
Dan Soloman, president of the
Literature, Science and Arts
College student government,
asked for greater student and
faculty representation on the
ROTC governing committee.
Those of us concerned about
growing militarization in our
schools and country are grateful
to Dr. Bassett and Mr. Soloman
for taking time to raise issues in
support of democratic values.
-Edith C. Hefley
Jan. 2, 1980
To the Daily:
Should the United States boy-