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December 03, 1982 - Image 4

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1982-12-03

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

OPINION
ge 4 Friday, December 3, 1982
[he need for intervention in El S

By John Jacobs
Recently, it's been suggested from a number
of quarters that the United States should not be
supporting the current regime in El Salvador.-
These well-intentioned but misguided persons
argue that we should moderate our support for,
the Salvadoran government because it com-
mits human rights violations.
This position, while certainly very popular on
campus, shows a shocking ignorance of
history and, ultimately, a callous disregard for
the future of the people of El Salvador.
THE UNITED States has every right to help
a ,free people fight to keep the yoke of com-
munism from being put on them. Suffering
from the so-called Vietnam Syndrome, the
United States in recent years has shrunk from
its moral duty and watched as more and more
people have come under the yoke of com-
munism.
The lesson we should have learned from
Vietnam was not to abandon power, but rather
to use it with wisdom. The 50,000 men who died
in Vietnam did not die in vain, because the
present leadership of our country did learn this
lesson.-They are demonstrating this by taking

an active and positive role in the affairs of El
Salvador. By supplying economic and military
aid, the United States is playing an effective
and justifiable role in the affairs of our neigh-
bor to the south.
When the well-intentioned criticize the
human rights violations of nations such as El
Salvador, they seem to forget our own, not-so-
illustrious past. Not much more than 100 years
ago, slavery was legal in the United States.
Racial discrimination, repression, and violen-
ce occurred in this country with alarming
frequency into the 1960s-and many of these
abuses continue to this day. Those who use the
white gloves test to judge human rights in El
Salvador should re-evaluate the facts: The
United States did not evolve into a full-flung
liberal democracy overnight, and we should
not expect other nations, such as El Salvador,
to do what we could not.
LAST MONTH, the Daily editorialized that
the people of El Salvador "want a Cuban-style
workers' state about as much as they want
their current masters." Perhaps. But it's here
that the Daily and other opponents of U.S. in-
tervention in El Salvador miss the point. If the
United States sits back and does nothing, a

Cuban-style workers' state is exactly what the
people of El Salvador will get, whether they
want it or not. ,
Just look at the plight of the truly oppressed
peoples of Poland, Afghanistan, East Ger-
many, Hungary, Angola, and other nations con-
trolled by the Soviet Union. Left unaided, El
Salvador, Like these unfortunate countries,
will turn from being a nation with many human
rights and a developing democratic tradition
into a nation with absolutely no human rights.
The opponents of intervention in El Salvador
must learn to distinguish autocratic gover-
nment from totalitarian government. Admit-
tedly, autocratic governments often repress
political opposition, but they do allow most of
the other basic human rights to remain.
Totalitarian governments, on the other hand,
permit none of those rights.
ASK THE people of Vietnam which gover-
nment they would rather have: the autocratic
government of former President Diem or their
current totalitarian, communist government.
The flood of refugees from Vietnam and Cam-
bodia and their tales of torture and death is
testimony to what their answer would be.
It sounds trite, but we must learn from

history, or we are destined to repeat it. In Viet-
nam, the United States army intervened in a
civil war in an attempt to fight and win the war
our way. Everyone knows we failed, but we
shouldn't continue to react to that failure with
ridiculous and naive slogans like, "No more
Vietnams."
Instead of learning from the Vietnam War,
we have developed, a gun-shy attitude-an
inhibition the Soviet Union and its allies don't
share. Instead of aiding countries in desperate
need, we did nothing. The subsequent spread of
communism is evidence of our foolish mistake.
THE MOST important lesson we can learn
from Vietnam is that we cannot fight (and,
more importantly, win) a war for another
country. We can aid a government with money,
materials, and know-how, but the country itself,
must provide the men and the will to win. In
this sense, El Salvador is not another Vietnam.
In the case of El Salvador, the U.S. government
is applying the lesson it learned in Vietnam.
And, with U.S. money, materials, and advice,
the democratically-elected government of El
Salvador seems to be prevailing.
Nevertheless, reports in the United States
media continue to, criticize our role in El

1

Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

Wasserman

Vol. XCIII, No. 70

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board

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LeT's BR~WINGE c-U61
C-CONOMY 'TO THE~
5INK OF

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YoU CR~AZY

A graceful exit

w/!v

WHAT'S THE most unusual thing
about Ted Kennedy's withdrawal
from the 1984 presidential race?
Perhaps that he managed to pull it off
so well.
'Kennedy certainly doesn't have
miuch of a reputation for making firm
decisions about his presidential bids.
In. four of the last campaigns for
president, Kennedy has been the
perennial possible' candidate. In one
campaign, 1980, he became a real can-
didate and botched the job. In the other
tfree, he remained a rumor, and his
indecision and feinted moves helped
stifle other Democratic hopefuls.
Keeping his party guessing has
become a Kennedy art form.
But now Kennedy has made a smart
tactical move by coming out front with
his plans decisively and gracefully.
-By forthrightly discussing his
problems with his divorce and by
making no bones about his future am-

bitions ("I don't think it's any mystery
that I would like to be president," he
said), Kennedy has put on the best
public show he's had for a while.
And by getting out early, Kennedy
has added an element of sanity to a
race that has turned into a speculation-
filled event beginning as soon as voting
for the last election stops.
Although doubts certainly exist on
whether his stated reasons for with-
drawing ("for the kids"?) are his ac-
tual reasons, why Kennedy pulled out
is not as important to his policital
future as how he pulled out.
Whoever gets the Democratic
nomination this year, it is Kennedy
who will wind up looking like a winner.
He'll be in good shape for another
run-and ,he'll get plenty of oppor-
tunities. After all, even if he waits
around until the year 2000, he'll still be
a year younger than that actor from
California was when he made his bid.

mill

ll

The Michigan D
alvado?
Salvador. While reporting the abuses of the
current regime, they ignore the plethora of
human rights violations committed by te
Salvadoran leftists.
If El Salvador is to head down the road tog
democracy, we must not lose sight of reality.
When the United States has done nothing co-
munism has prevailed, and as a result the
people of many countries have lost out. Our
news media, including the Daily, must seek to
report more responsibly on issues like E
Salvador, so that people can make judgments
based on all of the facts. By studying history we
can learn how to use our power effectively fer
the betterment of all.
The people of this country, including oir
leaders, must not shy back from our mistakes;
we must learn from them. The mistakes We
made in Vietnam and in other countries caused
partially by our moralistic naivete should not
be repeated in El Salvador. We owe this to our-
selves and, more importantly, to thepeople of
El Salvador.
*4
Jacobs is a sophomore majorngin
history.
44
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opportunities
ected af- Policy Board, will be sent to
the issue every LSA student along with the
LSA Checkpoint Newsletter.
student We're currently publicizing the
lecision- Academic Judiciary and
orked for Grievance Procedures-the for-
orts a mal route for LSA students and
student faculty to register complaints of
,xecutive academic (cheating, plagiarism)
lobbying and non-academic (sexual
students harassment, racial discrimina
g faculty tion) misconduct.
rsolution LSA-SG is an opportunity and a
ted upon. resource for students. Its effec-
cured a tiveness depends upon the energy
current and initiative of all students. Stop
edagogy by and involve yourself.
ents were -Margaret Talmersi
her LSA. LSA-SG president
Will Hathaway,
Insider's LSA-SG vice president
d by LSA- November 29
Faculty
?ii on drugs? -,
tence at the beginning of the
. Krell's review? Let those who are in-
Y's Peter terested in a study of chaos read;
Nov. 23) the rest.
,ind. That I read the Daily to be informed.
I was looking forward to this
ay? What review, hoping that a
a that he professional music critic had en-
3 concert joyed the concert as much as I
the Daily had. Instead I am faced with this

IEM- LCeT5 140T 5RIW6
U5. ECONOM~Y TO TE

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"FORWARP! FORWARV! FORWAR)! WAIT FOR
0 YOUR LEAPER) MENRI

LETTERS TO THE DAILY:

LSA-SG: Resources and

,,

a rr o s
s 1I
95 Tqk
f ,

To the Daily:
As our terms of office expire
and the new LSA Student Gover-
nment council's term begins, we
would like to briefly highlight
some of our activities this year.
Due to LSA-SG's efforts, all
foreign teaching assistants are
required to pass an oral English
language proficiency exam
before they can teach. LSA-SG
sponsored a series of race
relations workshops, exploring
racism nationally and on cam-
pus-one of the few attempts by
any University organization to
discuss this problem. Plans for
another workshop also are un-
derway. We helped educate
The triumph
To the Daily:
A big mistake has been made!
Return all those calendars and
datebooks you have just pur-
chased, for January marks the
start of 1984, not 1983.
It's got to be so, for President
Reagan is replacing "oldspeak"
(standard English' with
"newspeak", a change George
Orwell predicted in his novel
1984.
Look at the word "peace" and
see the change in its meaning. In
"andneak" the word means

students about nuclear weapons
and petitioned to get the nuclear
weapons freeze proposal on the
ballot in Michigan.
Throughout the year, LSA-SG
published The Advocate, our
newsletter to bring students up to
date on various issues and ac-
tivities. We assisted students
with appeal procedures and
problems with professors, and
funded outside groups putting on
educationally-oriented events.
We also helped those students
appointed to LSA committees
bring out important issues and
raise questions. We were effec-
tive, as in the case of the CULS
"program membership"
of newspeak'
"doublethink", that is, not
remember a word's original
meaning and use only words that
are pleasing to the ear.
"Newspeak" is based on
euphemism, so therefore
"peace" really means "un-
peace"; the more harsh word
"war" does not exist in this
language).
"Newspeak" is introduced to
London society to both narrow
and distort the peoples percep-
tion of reality, and to meet the
needs of "the party." The word
peacekeeper" lulls us into com-

proposal, which was rej
ter student action made
public.
In order to increase
representation in d
making, LSA-SG has w
and currently supp
resolution to include a
member on the LSA E
Committee. We arel
faculty and preparing
for the Dec. 6 governint
meeting, where the ri
will be discussed and vol
LSA-SG this year se
student position of the
Foreign Language P
review committee (stud
excluded from all oti
reviews).
And in January, an
Guide to LSA," compiled
SG and the Student

Kn

k
1
a

To the Daily:
I came away from CE
review of last Saturday
Gabriel concert (Daily,
with one word on my m
word is "What?"
What is he trying to se
gives Mr. Krell the ides
knows how to write a
review? What inspired t

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