OPINION
Wednesday, October 28, 1981
The Michigan Doily
Diplomacy
-not arms-for stable Mideast
By Robert Levine
It has become increasingly apparent that the
Reagan administratio 's Mideast policy is a
three-ball juggling act involving (1) ap-
peasement of Saudi Arabia's dignity in ex-
change for doubtful strategic advantages, (2)
support for Israel based on tradition and
possible military advantages, and (3) a
fixation on the "Soviet threat" to the Middle
East.
This perceived danger of Soviet expan-
sionism provides the rationalization behind
"strategic consensus," the U.S. program in-
tent on combining the forces of Saudi Arabia,
Israel, the Gulf States, and Jordan to deter
Soviet invasion. As part Qf this policy, Reagan
has promised to ensure the stability of partici-
pating governments such as Saudi Arabia.
THE MAIN EFFECTOR of these policies
is military equipment. Armaments are being
pumped at an unprecedeited rateinto poten-
tially unstable or belligerent countries, in-
cluding, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and
Sudan.
On top of 'this, the administration is not
troubling with diplomacy. to help resolve inter-
nal foci of instability, such as the unanswered
problems of Palestinian groups. The end result
of these U.S. policies is to increase instability in
the Middle East by provoking an arms race and
negligently dismissing internal problems.
One cornerstone of the strategic consensus
policy is the administration's wish to arm
Saudi Arabia with advanced equipment, in-
cluding the five AWACS which are described by
U.S. Senator John Glenn as "the world's most
sophisticated ..: flying electronic equip-
ment."
THE CONTROVERSY over this sale
proposal, which also includes the sale of extra
F-15 fuel pods, bomb racks, advanced Sidewin-
der missiles, and ground radar, began im-
mediately With its announcement and will
come to a climax this afternoon when the full
Senate decides whether to veto the ad-
ministration's request.
Those against the sale believe that, while the
official purpose of the sale is to detect and
defend against a Soviet invasion, the equip-
ment is more likely to be used in a war against
Israel, where the AWACS could survey Israeli
.territory from the Saudi border or even win air
superiority in Arab countries bordering Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak expressed
concern that the Saudis would share infor-
mation with Arab countries at war with Israel.
Contrary to the assertions of the Reagan ad-
ministration, such tse of technology would do
little to stabilize the area.
THERE ARE ALSO fears that the secrets of
AWACS technology would be risked if sold to
the Saudis. All sources admit that there is no
absolute guarantee against a radical political
upheaval in Saudi Arabia. Opponents of the
sale are aware of the glaring similarities to
Iran, which ordered seven AWACS planes for
its national defenses before the Shah's gover-
nment was toppled. This concern prompted
President Reagan to announce that "the U.S.
would not allow Saudi Arabia to fall into the
hands of any internal or external force
threatening to cut off oil supplies for the West."
This assurance, however, can not alleviate
fears of Saudi instability because the ad-
ministration probably does not have the ability
to back up such a promise without direct inter-
vention in Saudi affairs.
Proponents of 'the sale have resorted to
negative arguments that defeat of the AWACS.
sale would destroy Saudi Arabia's confidence
in its relations with the United States. But such
arguments only underscore the weakness of the
administration position, particularly because
there is no mention of decreasing external
security threats; Saudi-controlled AWACS
would substitute for four American-controlled
AWACS already patrolling the Saudi peninsula,
ANOTHER FACET of the strategic consen-
sus policy involves a program of enhanced
military cooperation with Israel. This enhan-
ced military cooperation, however, is also
dependent on the approval of the AWACS sale.
Like the AWACS deal, the program is designed
to counter Soviet influence in the Middle East,
but-also like the AWACS dal-it is potentially
destabilizing to the area.
The program might inlcude Israeli facilities
for basing and maintaining American planes
and ships, joint naval maneuvers, stockpiling
of U.S. al-ms and medical supplies in Israel for
use by American troops, and the possibility of a
joint U.S.-Israeli land maneuvers.
Such an extensive U.S. military plan would
encourage acceleration of a Mideast arms race'
with the U.S.S.R. This would only set the stage
for a Soviet invasion-and thus negates the sup-
posed intention of the U.S. strategic consensus
of preventing a Soviet invasion.
STOCKPILING United States arms in
Israel, even though earmarked for use by U.S.
troops, might be detrimental to a comprehen-
sive peace settlement in the Mideast. It would
be an unfortunate U.S. model for Israel to
emulate in its conflict with the Palestinians:
that military confrontation is more legitimate
than negotiation in solving problems with ad-
versaries.
Such a signal would underline the Reagan
administration's attempts to find an easy
"military peace" over a difficult, permanent
solution to problems of Middle East instability.
The main sticking point to be resolved first is
the place of the Palestinians in the Middle
East. The failure of the Reagan administration
to reestablish Egyptian-Israeli negotiations on
the Palestinian question was a mistake paid for,
in part, by the assassination of Anwar Sadat. In
fact, much of the discontent recently
manifested in Egypt is directly attributable to
the Egyptian president's inability to make real
progress in the Palestinean negotiations.
REAGAN'S LACK OF encouragement for
the talks, which finally restarted after 16 mon-
ths hiatus, has concerned participants; they
believe little will be accomplished because the
U.S. is sending ambassadors rather than a
high level special envoy. Without greater U.S.
participation, the talks will likely break down
again, since neither Egyptian nor Israeli
negotiators have changed their positions.
President Reagan has shown a lack of
foresight by at once sending vast amounts of
arms to the Middle East while neglecting-or
rejecting-attempts to solve the area's internal
problems. The stability of the Middle East can-
not be guaranteed by force: stability of the
area depends on the internal stability of each
individual country.
If the U.S.S.R. staged an invasion of the Mid-
dle East, as Reagan envisions, would not this
be the most vulnerable time for explosions of
internal instability?
COULD THE United States stop an invasion
of the Middle Eastif there were a simultaneous
Palestinian insurrection in Israel and surroun-
ding countries, or if disgruntled Saudis took the
opportunity to topple their leaders? Undoub-
tedly no.
Reagan should concentrate on diplomacy to
guarantee the internal stability of the Middle
East. Perhaps what he learns from successful
negotiating could then be applied, to direct
negotiations with the U.S.S.R. to secure per-
manent peace for the Middle East.
Levine is a third-year Inteflex student.
a
0
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Ufer watches from
Vol. XCII, No. 42
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Developing University ties-
THERE WAS good news for the
University and its faculty Mon-
day. The administration announced it
had received a $1.2 million grant from
a private foundation to establish and
endow a faculty chair.
The money couldn't have come at a
better time I for the University. As
dwindling state subsidies become the
rule rather than the exception, it's en-
couraging to receive a large con-
tribution from private supporters.
But before University ad-
ministrators take a bow, they should
realize how lucky they really are. Sin-
ce June, the University has been
without a permanent vice president for
university relations and develop-
ment-the person whose job it is to woo
public support for the University.
Last spring, then-Vice President for
University Relations Michael Radock
announced he would leave his post in
June. Since that time, the University
has been without a permanent suc-
cessor for Radock and it may be quite
some time before one will be found.
True, a person has been appointed to
the post on an interim basis. But the
University relations post is one that
requires nurturing a strong relation-
ship with the public; prolonging the
absence of a permanent administrator
in this position will only widen the gap
between the University and the many
organizations and individuals who con-
tribute to this institution. It takes time
to develop personal relationships with
potential benefactors-time the
University doesn't have.
Now more than ever, the University
needs the support of thy private sector.
University administrators should
recognize the need and find a qualified
person-soon-to fill the position of
vice president for university relations
and development.
By Christopher Potter
It's 25 years ago. High
above the November tumult at
Ohio State's giant horseshoe
stadium, a lone voice roars out
from a small radio booth,
shouting fierce fealto to the
hated opponent from the nor-
th.
"There's five minutes to
play, and Michigan clings to a
one-touchdown lead, fourth
down and two Ohio State on
the Wolverine 5-yard line, and
listen to the voice of football
here at Columbus. Eleven
hundred hardy Michigan souls
hold their collective
breath-will the Wolverines
hold? 87,600 maniacal Ohio
partisans scream out their
hopes-will the Buckeyes
score?"
Ohio's quarterback rolls
out, lunges to the Michigan 3.
First down Ohio, or
Michigan's ball? It's a matter
of inches either way. The
crowd hushes. The officials
bring out the chains for a
measurement. The voice from
the radio filters the -tension
back to Ann Arbor:
"They're bringing out the
yardstick... They're placing
it down ... If you hear
87,000 people let out a titanic
roar, you'll know Ohio State
made it; if you hear nothing
but dead silence, you'll know
the Michigan line held."
An almost imperceptible,
interminable pause. Then,
bellowing from the radio with
the spiritual fervor of justice
served: "He held! He held! The
center of that Mkhigan line,
God bless his Maize and Blue
heart! I don't know who he
was, but ten other men along
with him. And Michigan takes
over at the crusial make-or-
break turning point of this
fantastic football game ... .
DENVER-News trickles in
slowly here amidst Rocky
Mountain High. Out-of-state
radio stations rarely breach the
mountains, and cable TV
languishes in the theoretical
stage..
You swiftly realize a local
gridiron paradise it ain't.
Colorado's three big-time teams
rank among the worst in college
football, and fry as you might,
you just can't work up
.. .+n"-- i. . -
GAN
dHIG
n Act
'1/
' I
f
\
-0
e
I
9'
t
,5Q 1
Valhalla .
broadcast. There was no middle
ground when it came to Ufer and
aesthetic tastes: He was an
anomaly roaring.out in the blue, a
take-me-or-leave-me media
anarchist, thumbing his nose at
the laid-back age of cool.
His final years were not his
best. Fame came lat'e but swif-
tly: a state-wide radio network,
Rose and Orange Bowl broad-
casts for NBC, a growing national
eminence born out of notoriety
and love. One began to detect a
studied frenzy creeping into his
play-by-play, as though he
realized he was now a celebrity
and therefore obligated to play
his eccentricities to the hilt. The
near-falsetto hysterics, the
raucous bleeping of his "General
Patton" horn at each Michigan
touchdown somehow seemed a
cheapening, self-mocking distor-
tion of the ebullient innocence of
earlier years.
OF COURSE by this time he
was living under a death senten-
ce. Stricken with cancer, he
labored for four seasons and into
a fifth under the dark, incessant
knowledge that an undertone of
panic, it was understandable,
surely forgivable. Through it all,
the voice itself never
weakened-it remained an in-
strument of pulsating, driven
wonderment.
Only this year when-his body
a withered ghost of its robust
me into a former self-he attempted once
le as no again to narrate thefortunes of
er could. the team he loved, did the in-
theatrical strument begin to falter: It soun-
ng a Can- ded hurt, , betrayed, hear-
,hich, in tbreakingly weary. Yet he was
)lved into surely doing what he loved
f almost most-cajoling, beseeching,
e was a nudging his Wolverines into that
and when end zone just one more time.
our own. And now he is gone. You sit
the -man thinking, reliving, and you
k back to realize how your own painful
Stadium ascent into adulthood would have
our tran- been a measurably bleaker trip
his play- without Bob Ufer's unseen but
n't live passionately heard presence.
st half a YOU TRY TO seek dome com-
ou would fort out of your very real grief.
! Turn it You recall that Ufer often basked'
ny others in the notion, only half-fanciful,
eave him that former coaching immortal
Fielding Yost was forever "wat-
distanced ching down on his Maize and Blue
pus co-op from football's Valhalla."
zens of a Hopefully, the old coach now has
n almost a partner in vigilance.
estion of Go Blue.
Awr
T E ,cetrGAht+W
- - _. - - -
--,,.- - - --
._
mesmerizing voice cheering on
the Maize and Blue in tones so
fevered and consuming that you
knew the only thing you wanted
to be in life was a sports announ-
cer.
Somehow the dream got lost,
but not the voice. Ufer and
Michigan: Insepera.b'le
soulmates. A lovematch that
spanned across five decades of
emotion. Even as the man grew
old, the voice never did. You lived
vicariously through him for
years, scoring touchdown after
touchdown right at his side.
The imagining was made easy.
Bob Ufer was, unequivocably, the
great dramatist of sports an-
nouncers. A quiet," conservative
insurance man 354 days of the
year, he would on eleven fall
Saturdays metamorphose
magically into a gleeful raving
orator for the Maize and Blue.
IN AN ERA where chie taste
dictates that play-by-play men
maintain an austere impersonal
distance from the events they
describe, Ufer stood foursquare
for unabashed emotion. In an age
of studied broadcaster neutrality,
he was the most unabashed of
Homers, cheering when his
Meeeeeechigan team triumphed,
weeping when it lost, bellowing
foul when they were perchance
cheated by an official's in-
discretion. One listened and
believed that evil surely did exist
in the world, and there was Ufer
toU.nn.ic i
Ufer could hold a gan
unified dramatic who:
other commentator ev
His delivery was richly C
yet never phony, evokin
dide-like optimism w
moments of defeat, ev
tragic recitations of
Greek dimensions. He
sweet, sad symphonist,f
he wept his tears were y
ONE EITHER loved
or hated him. You thin
the games at Michigan
when. you'd turn on y
sistor radio to listen to
by-play-you couldn
without it-and at lea
dozen folks around y
protest: "No, not Ufer
off!" And at least as ma
would counter: "No, 1
on!"
You recall a now-d
November in a camp
house, when the deniz
jam-packed TV room
rioted over the qu
whether to listen to AB
mentary on the Mich
State game, or to Ufe
BC's com-
igan-Ohio
er's radio
w
Potter is a former Daily
Opinion Page Editor.
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Witt 's nervy-and good
To the Daily:
I have been reading the Daily
for 20 years. and I think Howard
I hope Witt writes a piece on
pretentious letterwriters like Mr.
10&nn"_ n"$,UsiUYU vivt a A&
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