4 OPINION Page 4 Friday, October 28, 1983 The Michigan Daily 4 Why are Marines (dying) in Beirut? By Margo MacFarland a What can the continued presence of the American Marines in Lebanon possibly ac- complish? The regional, ethnic, religious, and intra-Arab conflicts engulfing Lebanon are so deep-seeded and so complex that we cannot hope to find any kind of short-term solution to the current crisis. And the mission of the Marines has not been mapped-out in a long &4 term way; to do so now would be naive at best; '' suicidal and immoral at worst. So what are we doing in Beirut? I am one of millions.of people asking this question, and because more than 200 Marines have just died there, this question urgently demands an an- y w Fswer. THE MARINES' mission, and the policies 5 > directing it, has become a Frankenstein of sor-. ts, taking on a life of its own and going far 's Nbeyond the scope and objectives first en- ' k visioned by the Reagan Administration. The ° troops were originally sent to Lebanon in August of 1982 as part of a multinational con- tingent to oversee the withdrawal of the PLO, - Syrian, and Israeli forces from Beirut. x,,y'qA dShortly after that they were called back to "give a kind of support and stability" to the central government after the massacres at ' Sabra and Shatilla. The international force ' then remained to watch over what was hoped to V ° be a quickly negotiated withdrawal of Syrian and Israeli forces from Lebanon. When it became obvious that the Syrians, backed by the Soviet Union, had no intention of pulling out, AP Photo Washington decided that the Marines would All of Lebanon is a crime scene and the United States is one of the criminal factions, propping up a stay as a counterveiling force to strengthen the minority government and using the turmoil to stage a confrontation with the Soviet Union. More Lebanese government. than 200 Marines died needlessly Sunday as a result. Then in August, the situation took a dramatic and frightening twist with the outbreak of hostilities between the Lebanese Army and the Sunni and Shi'a Muslim, and Druse factions vying for power. The function of the Marines ostensibly became that of impartial peacekeepers, holding warring groups apart so that a political solution could be hammered out. THE UNITED STATES, however, is not im- partial; the Marines are backing Amin Gemayel's Christian Phalangist government despite of the fact that the Christians are a minority within Lebanon. Why are we shoring up a minority gover- nment? Not surprisingly, because it is a gover- nment that is supportive of American and, in- directly, Israeli strategic interests in the area. President Reagan confirmed that fact for the first time Monday, publicly re-defining the Marines' role as being symbolic of American determination to protect its interests in the region and to resist the Soviet Union's "domino theory" approach to the Middle East. Thus, the U.S. Marines are not in Beirut primarily as neutral peacekeepers, as the public and the Marines themselves had been told, but as the American front in a debacle that the Reagan Administration perceives in primarily globalist terms. This view is myopic and inaccurate: While East-West conflicts are clearly an element in the situation, the regional and internal forces at work are the overriding basis and substance of the issues in Lebanon. FOR EXAMPLE, not only is the government dominated by the Christian minority, it is also, like most of the regimes of the Arab world, fun- damentally illegitimate. Herein lies one of the most basic problems in these countries, and a key to the endemic instability of the region. It is this crucial factor, as well as ethnic, religious, class, and intra-Arab animosities, that Reagan's Middle East policy all but ignores in order to focus erroneously on superpower rivalries. To support this incorrect logic by continuing the American military presence in Lebanon is to needlessly endanger the Marines' lives. In addition it will even further involve the United States in a multi-faceted, multi-layered conflict that a Marine force of 1,600 cannot hope to change in any lasting way. So, far from being partof the solution in Lebanon, the American Marines have become part of the problem. The U.S. force has become nothing grander than a factional ally or sym- bol of an inappropriate obsession with East- West antagonism. Beyond being outrageous, it is unspeakably sad that this well-intentioned but fatally misguided policy is the "cause" for which men are dying. And though I am afraid for what might happen if the Marines pull out of Lebanon - the Syrians could very well annex part of the country - these are regional and in- ternal problems to which answers hust be found in regional and internal settlements. Perhaps the United States .could best facilitate this process by assisting in a truly impartial, background fashion. I can not. however, see any fair or decent rationale for a continued American military presence in Lebanon. We are entangled in a conflict we do not fully understand and that is beyond our power to heal. To remain for reasons grounded solely in Soviet-American rivalry - and if the Marines stay this will undeniably be the case - is morally reprehensible and politically un- viable. MacFarland is a Daily staff member. f .4 Edits ahens t Mi Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan LaBan / nuu i .. a' I Vol. XCIV-No. 45 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor. MI 48109 =- E: VB/QW il \ Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Another fo EAR IS gripping the Reagan administration foreign policy. It, has a hold so tight that it has squeezed the life out of hundreds of U.S. soldiers in the past week alone. It is a fear of creeping communism that propels Reagan to prevent another Vietnam in El Salvador; another Cuba in Nicaragua; another Iran in Beirut or the Philippines or Grenada; even fear of another Beirut in Grenada. What it signals is that the 1Ieagan administration is so fixated on Avoiding another whatever it is ignoring the pecularities of each new "crisis." In the Philippines the administration supports a rightwing dictator, Fer- dinand Marcos, who has ruled by mar- tial law for over a decade and, most likely, had some role in the murder of his regime's most popular opponent. Instead of ending that support, Reagan, fearing a Marxist or Khomeini-type takeover that would supposedly endanger Americans living there, continues his allegiance to the Marcos government.' The Reagan fear of losing a friend in the South Pacific ignores the longtime friendship between the Philippine people and Americans. Administration policy seemingly doesn't recognize that Philippine Marxism is not (yet) significant and that the Catholic chur- c dominates the nation religiously. In El Saliador, Reagan desperately is fighting a strong leftist rebellion; following the same path that sucked the U.S. military into Vietnam. Instead of attempting to affect necessary political and economic changes, the president again is maintaining a corrupt and deadly rightwing regime with little popular support. '!1 % ie. rt ac n D% nn fin in f reign policy Soviet factions from gaining control of Lebanon. The Marines were and are nothing more than sitting ducks waiting for some crazy faction - and there are plenty of crazy factions in Lebanon - to pull something like Sun- day's suicide massacre. The Reagan braintrust steadfastly has refused to recognize Lebanon's history of warring factions, all of which are minorities and no one of which can con- trol the country alone. Tuesday's invasion of Grenada, the minute Caribbean nation with a population that could all watch a foot- ball game on a Saturday afternoon in Michigan Stadium, was the latest in the long line of Reagan's "prevent another" foreign policy. Administration officials said the United States was trying to avoid "another Iran," "another Beirut" (strangely enough, considering the Beirut saga has hardly begun), "another Nicargua," or "another Suriname." Yet again, the ad- ministration ignores the obvious fact that Grenada is none of those places. It has its own set of problems, concerns, loyalties, and dislikes - just like the Philippines, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Lebanon, and Vietnam. Why doesn't the Reagan ad- ministration treat those nations that way?I The only clear theme of Reagan foreign policy is its opposition of the Soviet Union. Reagan's foreign policy aims at curbing Soviet influence everywhere at every chance, whether or not Soviet influence exists in the particular crisis spot of the day. This plan abandons the pluralistic world of today in favor of yesterday's cold war bipolarism. Reagan has made up his mind that if i Al- t +,' : 1 y 1^\y r 4, 4; r---=-,a . a NEW ovER PFAO RM I ES - r' s ' auiafls! t THE A6A w LETTERS TO THE DAILY: Daily, not Greeks, stuck in To the Daily: Last week, you devoted quite a large portion of the front page to an article on serenading within the Greek system ("Sororities question 'raids' and 'serenades,' " Daily, October 18) and how true ithas asupposedly become. As is usual with the Daily, it took one incident and had a field day with it, hurling biased insults at the Greek system. On Saturday, October 22, the 49th annual Mud Bowl game was East Quad petitioning To the Daily: We, the undersigned residents of East Quad, feel that the harassment of Alexander Haig and his ifew as highly inn- held at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. The Mud Bowl game is one of the longest standing and most attended Homecoming events on this campus. On Sun- day morning, I eagerly ran out to buy the Daily, knowing that you would have full coverage of the Mud Bowl game. Much to my dismay, you only devoted one sentence to this event. Is it not ironic that the winning fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, whom you found so much room to abuse last week only warranted one sentence worth of the mud attention this week? Not only do I want my 15t back: but I want to know when thej Daily's petty prejudice against the Greek system will end? -Kathleen Hommel October 27 can football (Washington and Moscow) play a nuclear game of chicken." Maybe so, congressman. But if they let us have football games,; they can go right ahead and destroy the world! (My thanks to Brede for his Sunday cartoon - which said all'- this much better than I have said it!) 4 European pro test and A meri To the Daily: All over Europe this past Saturday, people gathered by the hundreds of thousands to protest against nuclear arms. Here at home, where the idea of nuclear arms was born and where the strategies for nuclear holocaust are dreamedup, there were afew small demonstrations in a few scattered places. Why? Why weren't we out BLOOM COUNTY protesting? Because it was Saturday, and in Ann Arbor and all the other centers of intellec- tual activity, the crowds were at- tending football games - and the rest of America was sitting comfortably at home, watching the big game on television. Congressman Ted Weiss of Manhattan told a rally at the United Nations headquarters, "We will not stand idly by while 4 -- Bert G. Hornback October 23 by Berke Breathed I ~4%,M -!