OPINION Page 4 Saturday, October 4, 1980 Weasel y The Michigan DdilI y Robert Lence- E nga o Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCI. No. 27 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, M1 48109 WHATS THIS? CREAMEP CORN ARAIN?lZP RN ! EUEVE IT EVERYDAY WE HAVE CREAMED C~oRN r IM SICK OF CREAM4EPDONH! I HATE CREAMEP CORN j! x HATE CREAMED CORNiTs !! i1r4 J Editorials represent a majority opinion of The Daily's Editorial Board pt YOU &ET Ct MT OF yoUR SYSTEM? YEq I THINK So. I -gip E I Iil"N Au a hero even in defeat ,. , . ' f , a-^",,,; ,ter _ ; : ,, ,,.. OE LOUIS, Ezzard Charles, Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Muhammad Ali have a lot in common. All earn or earned their livings by beating up on each other or on other pugilists. All were black. And all were heavyweight champions of the world.' But one of these men is much more than just a boxer. A hero to many, a God to some, a leader on political and veiled his new religious faith, Black Islam, and his new name. Ali's radically different faith-and his sometimes excessive arrogan- ce-was an important influence in the growth of black pride during the six- ties. Ali helped to make it acceptable for blacks to express discontent, anger, even rage at America's racist values and policies. This rage sometimes had bloody consequences, but its effect overall helped move Afro- Americans toward greater political and social power, a trend long overdue. Ali's life and times again jumped from the sports pages to the news pages in 1967, when he refused to fight in Vietnam.. His reasons were not precisely the same as those of most war resisters, for Ali as a Black Muslim would have been willing to fight in a jihad, or holy war. But his refusal to join the merciless, vicious war effort in Southeast Asia provided a spur to others inclined to do the same. For Ali's sacrifice (the move cost him his title and livelihood for three years) the nation owes him thanks. Ali's glorious past, his flamboyance, his intelligence and wit, all make his fans and admirers cringe to see what's been happening to him lately. Years past his prime, the three-time cham- pion continues to battle on, promising- just after his loss to Larry Holmes on Thursday that he would be back in the ring yet again. Please, Muhammad. Your call to blacks to demand civil, rights--nay, ehuman rights-were words the nation needed to hear. Your verbal attacks on the American adventure in Vietnam were heroic. That is why we can no longer stand to see you humiliated in the ring; take your bows and get out. Twenty years of punching and getting punched are enough. Did the U.S. have a hand in the Iran-Iraq conflict? V Al ... battered but still the champion personal issues, better known than any U.S. president in many corners of the world, Muhammad Ali is one of those few Americans who deserve to be called a "living legend."' Like Jack Johnson at the beginning of the century Ali stood out as a beacon of hope and determination to the nation's blacks when he first won the heavyweight title (as Cassius Clay). But unlike Johnson, who was the first black man to win the title, Clay was allowed to be different; or rather, he insisted on it. Shortly after beating Sonny Liston for the crown, Clay un- A quiet MSA victory Perhaps the most surprising thing about the full-scale conflict between Iraq and Iran is that Iran did not immediately lie down and :martyr itself in Shi'ite fashion. Instead, it met the challenge with counter-attacks which must have surprised those in Iraq and elsewhere who believed that a quick strike now could topple the' militarily weak Khomeini regime within a matter of days. There is good reason to believe that that is just what Iraq, and the sizeable an- ti-Khomeini Iranian opposition forces within Iraq, believed would happen. And there is equally good reason to suspect that a power- ful faction in the U.S. foreign policy establishment shared that analysis, and in- deed encouraged it. The fact that it did not happen that way may mean that key actors in the drama have committed a gross miscalculation that could result in dire con- sequences for everyone concerned. CLEARLY, THE effective cause of the present conflagration runs much deeper than the disputed border issue. The border is little more than a wild card, ever ready to be played whenever one side wanted to pick a fight with the other. Since the accession of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran and Iraq have been entirely antithetic to each other. Khomeini has repeatedly called for the majority Shi'a Islamic sect in Iraq many of whom are transplanted Iranian Shi'as to overthrow the government af President Saddam Hussein and establish a revolutionary Islamic government in Bagh- dad. Iraqi leaders, who could be labelled as secular Marxists, have on their part labelled the Khomeini government ' as racist-presumably for their treatment of Arab and Kurdish Sunni minorities in Iran. They have given shelter to Iranian op- positionist leaders from the old National Front government and to Iranian troops to train on Iraqi soil, and have provided a location for two anti-Khomeini radio stations. BUT IRAN IS claiming that Iraq is not ac- ting on its own in this conflict. Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union have disclaimed respon- sibility for the Iraqi attack. Still, it does not seem that Iraq gains all that much in making deep strikes into Iranian territory. Though the fighting started over control of border regions, the Iraqis now claim that they want no less than to destroy Khomeini's regime. If the present Iranian government is brought down under these conditions, who is likely to be the successor? Iraq surely has no designs over the whole of Iran. At best, they would attempt to annex Khuzistan, the southern province with the largest ethnic Arab Sunni population, and the province with virtually all of ian's oil supplies. However, the pattern of battle does not support this supposition. Khuzistan has not been singled out as a focus for Iraqi operations. Far more likely is the possibility that the principal actors in the Iran-Iraq conflict, and the likely successor to Khomeini, are in fact the Iranian oppositionist forces operating un- der the cover of a de facto Iraqi declaration of war. OPPOSITION LEADERS like Shahpur Bakhtiar, the former Prime Minister in the final days of the Shah's regime who now lives in Paris, visited Iraq in June to confer with government leaders and Iraqi-based Iranians. Bakhtiar was reported than as saying that the Iraqis had told him that they had no designs on Iranian territory. Also, ' General Oveissi, the former military commander of Tehran under the Shah, has frequently been reported training an Iranian opposition army in Iraq, and an air strike force of Iranian opposition forces has also been said to be training in Egypt. The probable existence of these forces, estimated at 20,000 by most analysts, makes the likelihood of their being behind the front line Iraqi advance very great. Iraq, it would seem, would be quite happy to sponsor such an operation. By providing a thin political cover, they could rid themselves of a troublesome foe without committing significant numbers of their own troops. QTV H UI AT3' .. ..1 t .. ....,.k *. ,. a.t By William Beeman on the aggressive military front and on the conciliatory diplomatic front. And there is no question but that key Administration advisers in the National Security Council have long favored' a militarist solution to the hostage crisis, even while State Department officials stick to the diplomatic path. Thus, it is not inconceivable that the right hand of the Administration, whose thinking closely parallels the Iraqi quick strike scenario, signaled a green light to Gen. Oveissi, even while the left hand, in the per- son of Secretary of State Muskie, was making 0" Khomeini? The Saudis, for one. The clerical regime in Iran has been a perpetual thorn iP Saudi Arabia's side since the beginning of the* revolution. Khomeini has openly called for the overthrow of the Saudi government and Iran has opposed Saudi leadership on OPEC policies. Iranian leaders have made direct overtures to Shi'a Muslims in Saudi Arabia to join their revolution. The coming month of pilgrimage has been looked upon by the Saudis with great trepidation. During this time they must allow Muslims from every nation to enter Saudi territory. Iranian revolutionary pilgrims caused a great deal of trouble during last year's pilgrimage, and the Saudis may be very relieved to have them out of the way this year. UDOS ARE again due for the Michigan Student Assmebly-this time for showing it can address mun- dane as well as more pressing student problems. It seems the Ann Arbor police had begun a new, policy this term which allowed officers to issue tickets for ex- cessive noise at parties-without the prior warning that had been given in past years. This week, MSA members' met with Police Chief William Corbett to discuss the p roblem, and Corbett anno iced ~"- CITY1' DESK REAGAN BLAMES ThE IRAN-IRAQ WAR ON CARTER5 WEAK FOREIGN AND I DEFENSE POLICIES! LORD HELP US PON'T COUNT AMk1hh ON N \T yesterday he would revise the policy and encourage his officers to issue warnings before they issue tickets-some of which can run to $100. Certainly the noise ticket problem is not as important as the formerly plan- ned North Campus bur hours cutback or the now-defunct proposal to shorten Library hours. But it is an inconvenience for studen- ts, nevertheless. MSA properly devoted only a few hours to solving the problem, and got quick results. EDLEY! ARE YOU ON THE AUC AGAIN? NO! HONEST, THAT'S WHAT HE 5A1D! Y ACCORPING TO THE CHRISTIAN FUNPAMENTALU6T MOVEMENT, HE'S A REAGAN SUPPORTER. AP Photo AN IRAQI SOLDIER points his Soviet-made assault rifle at a portrait of Ayatollah Shariat* Madari Monday after the arrival of Iraqi troops in Qasr-E-Shirin, northeast of Baghdad. a friendly gesture to the Ayatollah in a speech at the UN. IN ANY CASE, the timing for a strike was right. The Islamic calendar, which has been such a useful guide to political and military actions in the past, is between Ramazan, the month of dawn to dusk fasting, and the month of Hai, the pilgrimage to Mecca. The weather is also excellent in late September and early October. Also, Iran is at its lowest ebb in- dustrially, financially, and militarily, and chances for a quick military success must have appeared very great. The elimination of the Khomeini regime at this time could be extremely convenient for the Carter Administration. A quick strike leading to a change in government by early October would give the new regime just about a month to establish itself, release the American hostages, and re-establish ties with Washington before the November election. The revelation of a new American-sponsored offensive against Iran planned for Septem- ber, made late this summer by columnist Jack Anderson, must now gain credence. Of course, there is a joker in the deck-the possibility of Iranian resistance, which seems to be happening. If the quick strike solution is repulsed, and if sufficient Iranian suspicion about a U.S. hand in the game is aroused, then the honitaes are in 0reater dnae than e. France could also gain by Khomeini's fall. France is the chief European customer for Iraqi oil, which is threatened by a hostile Iranian regime. It is now trying to establish itself as principle arms salesman to the Mid- dle East, and is gradually replacing the Soviets as the chief supplier to Iraq. Disap- pointed by Khomeini's treatment of French economic interests after the revolution, France has also served as a staging area-for the Iranian opposition and hopes to gain economically if that opposition takes control'. CONTRARY TO some analyses, the ,ne nation that gains very little from this conflict is the'Soviet Union, for it is not clear who they should support. Repudiated by Khomeini and on tenderhooks in their relations with Iraq, the Soviets may well find their best course is to sit back and wait to see how best to exploit the situation. So when one answers the question "Qui Bono"-who gains by a successful invasion of Iran-the answer is very clear. Many, many people gain. Iraq, with its traditional enmity towards Iran, gains a measure of security, if not territory. But history may record that the Iraqis were acting with the encouragement and direct support of a whole raft of outsiders. William Beeman, who spent close to