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 1 'rJ G~ t " ff 1 1 l ..f LeT's BR~WINGE c-U61 C-CONOMY 'TO THE~ 5INK OF WMT?! AE 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 Y7 GT A TE ATERNAT-WE ? --4 d4 f.1 5T ce nn4 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 7 TM 31dNI( OF . ' 1 .. "' _ R 1 mz I I "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