I

OPINION
Page 4 Monday, March 17, 1986 The Michigan Daily


E

Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

Wasserman

Vol. XCVI, No. 112

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board
Wire service politics

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N ICARAGUA'S human rights
record has come under attack
by those who believe that the Con-
tras deserve American support.
On February 21st, the Daily
published a story about Nicaragua
from the Associated Press (AP),
which was both misleading and
inaccurate. Although the San-
dinista record deserves criticism,
the thinking reader needs to be
wary of exaggerations made for
political effect
The AP story mainly reported the
-claims of Lino Hernandez
Trigueros of the Permanent
Human Rights Commission. In
that report, the AP quoted Her-
nandez Trigueros to the effect that
the Sandinista ruling party of
Nicaragua had not allowed the Red
Cross to visit its prisons. However,
Martin Perrett of the Red Cross
told the Daily that while the Red
Cross has some complaints with
the Sandinistas, it has visited at
least some prisons in Nicaragua.
The AP itself admitted in its ar-
ticle its inability to talk to the
Minister of Interior Tomas Borge.
This would seem to put Borge in a
bad light. However, Americas Wat-
ch, a human rights organization,
has been able to meet with Borge
and various vice-ministers in its
recent visits according to Juan
Mendez of the Washington office.
According to Americas Watch,
visiting the prisons is not the
problem. The problem is the pre-
trial detention centers where
people stay usually 15 to 30 days
according to the Amnesty Inter-
national Report released February
on Nicaragua. At these centers
there are 300 to 400 people who the
Sandinistas do not generally allow
:human rights organizations to
visit.
The AP story alleges 6,500
political prisoners in Nicaragua
and quotes from the Amnesty In-
ternational report in support of
Hernandez Trigueros 's contentions
about their conditions. The AP
quote from Amnesty is especially
misleading and unconscionable
since the Amnesty report con-
tradicts the most serious claims of
the AP article.
According to the Amnesty report
and Amnesty International's
rRhona Weitz, there are ap-
proximately 1,200 political
prisoners in Nicaragua. Amnesty

separates these prisoners from the
2,000 prisoners and former national
guardsmen convicted under pre-
Sandinista criminal laws. AP coun-
ts 2,500 former national guardsmen
in its 6,500 figure.
In fact, the Daily asked Rona
Weitz if there were any other
organizations that she knew of that
used the 6,500 figure and she
said she was not aware of any.
Americas Watch uses a figure
comparable to Amnesty's of 1,000
to 1,500 political prisoners out of a
total prison population of 7,000 to
7,500.
According to Weitz, Amnesty In-
ternational also could not verify
AP's claim that the people held at
El Chipote are victims of sexual
assault and memory-erasing
drugs, although conditions such as
stripping and sleep-deprivation at
El Chipote are harsh. Americas
Watch concurred.
On the other hand, Amnesty did
not report that the Contras use tor-
ture and mutilation as "routine
practices." Indeed, they held no
captives until pressure mounted in
1985. The Contras have extra-
legally executed several hundred
people since 1981, according to
Amnesty, while the Sandinistas are
guilty of 35 murders at most in two
isolated incidents since 1981.
It is good to give press attention
to the Red Cross and groups like
Amnesty International, but it is un-
fortunate that those with access to
the means of communication often
present mainly one view in a
misleading and inaccurate fashion.
Newspaper dependency on wire
services is certainly a mixed
blessing.
Amnesty points out that San-
dinista repression comes "in the
context of prolonged armed con-
flict." Also, Nicaragua: The
Human Rights Record scores the
United States for supporting mur-
der by the Contras. One could
easily deduce that the United
States is largely responsible for the
war and resulting human rights
abuses in Nicaragua. Despite
misleading reports from the press
about Nicaragua, the question
remains what the United States
means by "democracy," freedom'
and "human-rights" when it tries
to replace Sandinistas with Con-
tras.

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4




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'-I

SUIRELYYou " NSPE I~kE
SIMI~LARITY

LETTERS:
SDI can 't serve as first strike weapon

To the Daily:
I was very intrigued by Justin
Schwartz's article "Livermore
researches SDI" (3/3/86) in
which he rattled off several ob-
jections to the concept of mutual
defense and railed against the
national laboratories conducting
this sort of research. Not that his
protests were anything new; he
simply reiterated the stock
arguments put out by the Union
of Confused Scientists. What
drew my interest was the ex-
treme vigor with which he
managed to support contradic-
tory points of view without any
apparent embarrassment or, in-
deed, recognition of the fact.
Early in the article he points
out that SDI weapons would be
useless against bombers and
cruise missiles, which is entirely
correct. Later, he claims that
SDI is really an offensive
weapon, since a country
possessing strategic defense
could launch a first strike, wiping
out much of the opponent's
nuclear arsenal, and then rely on
its defensive system to eliminate
any feeble retaliation. But if
bombers and cruise missiles are
immune from attack, how will
SDI be used to defend against
retaliation? The fact is that SDI
will only knock out ICBMs, which
are first strike weapons. As the
U.S. does not plan to launch a fir-
st strike, we have no need to
defend against a retaliatory
strike. We have, therefore, no
significant air defenses, and SDI

will not change this. The Soviets,
on the other hand, have invested
heavily in air defenses, in
the hope of deflecting any U.S.
retaliation in the event that they
initiate a holocaust.
There are many problems with
SDI, the most significant being
the ultimate cost and effec-
tiveness of the system. These are
problems which arenbeing
worked on at national
laboratories and a few univer-
sities. Schwartz seems to feel tht
the basic problem with defense
is that it may upset the present
balance of terror in the world, as
though living under the threat of
nuclear annihilation is simply
part of the natural order of
things. I don't believe this to be
the case. Nor do I believe that
SDI is necessarily the way out of
our current form of MADness.
But at least it's a new idea, and it
has managed to get the Soviets
and the U.S. talking again.
Currently SDI is just a resear-
ch program. Much of the work is
carried on at universities and
national labs, where it belongs.
Private defense contractors
should have limited participation
in the program until a viable
system has been designed and a
commitment has been made to
deploy defense. The scientists
working on the project may find,
after a time, that such a defense
is not possible. Despite U.C.S.
rantings to the contrary, this has
not yet been found to be the case.
In the meantime, researchers

should be free to pursue their
work in an open atmosphere free
from political and social
pressures. In short, research
scientists should not be the obje-

et of political protest. This is
America, not the Soviet Union.
-James Eridon
March 4
40

Consider PIR G petition

To the Daily:
I read today's article "Regents
react to PIRGIM fee proposal"
with considerable interest. The
article states that the Regents
are concerned about the effect of
the New Jersey court
ruling on the legitimacy of
PIRGIM's proposed refusable fee
system. A reading of the judge's
decision which finds a mandatory
(even though refundable) PIRG
fee unconstitutional reveals
that PIRGIM's refusable fee does
not pertain to the ruling.
PIRGIM's fee is not man-
datory; no one who checks the
box on his or her Student
Verification form has to pay the
fee.
In the March 13 article, the
Daily correctly notes that "the
court, however, did not rule on
the constitutionality of the type of
system that is being lobbied for
by PIRGIM." The actual wording
of the court ruling is:
"Hence, the exaction of a com-
pulsory fee payable to PIRG can-
not continue. We, of course, make
no judgment as to a voluntary

contribution procedures used by
PIRG at the University of Min-
nesota and the University of
Massachusetts were described in
some detail. We do not express
any views on those procedures."
(The funding system at those two
universities is that of a refusable'
fee of the type that PIRGIM is
currently seeking).
Clearly, the court feels strongly
about the constitutional tran-
sgression of a mandatory PIRG
fee, but at the same time, the
decision was specifically
modified as to exclude a
refusable fee from the ruling.
Inasmuch as the judges
deliberately expressed no opinion
regarding a refusable fee, it is"
clear that they do not consider it..
of sufficient relevance. The
decision is therefore entirely in
the hands of the individual
student. I urge students who are
approached by a petitioner to
take a minute to read the petition
through and then to judge its
merit on their own.
" -Marleta Lindt
March 13

0

Cut Michigan government

Contra aid will not help

New rhetoric

.DRESIDENT Reagan's an-
nouncement that the U.S. will
...no longer support authoritarian
dictators is heartening. Included in
the announcement was criticism of
Augusto Pinochet, the dictator of
Chile.
Hopefully, this means that the
ladministration will no longer base
its policy on the distinction between
,.authoritarian tyrannies, which
:have been largely exempt
-from criticism under Reagan, and
totalitarian communist regimes
.which have received virtually all of
the human rights criticism offered
by the administration. Reagan
administration ideology used to
hold that authoritarians will eve-
' 4. n.i. "ni rl . sannr-n o d av nlna

tainly praiseworthy it should be
followed by actions such as
lessening military aid.
Without any sort of action
backing it up, the new policy can
only be seen as an attempt to
mollify critics of the ad-
ministration who have noted the
hypocrisy in criticizing the human
rights records of the Soviet Union
and its allies while ignoring the
abuses of dictators such as
Pinochet. It can also be seen as a
way to profit from the praise the
administration received for its
handling of the Philippines
situation before the upcoming vote
on the Contras.
The continued support of the Con-
tras by the administration seems to

To the Daily:
I wish to voice a response. to
an article entitled "Left-wing
double standards." (Daily,
3/12/86)
The ideas presented in this
editorial by Mr. Nammur
frighten me. They show both the
author's naivete regarding the
history of the Central American
problem and a twisted view of the
United States' role in the world.
The implementation of these
ideas as United States policy
would only result in a worsening
of the situation already present in
Central America.
The United States, through its
past military aggression and
economic imperialism, is respon-
sible for the situation present in
Central America today. This is
clearly evident in the case of
Nicaragua.. United States in-
volvement in Nicaragua began in
1909. when the nation became "a

to be taken. Our military in-
volvement between 1912 and 1933
helped create the unstable Cen-
tral America of today. How then,
can one believe that the same
type of military response will
create a stable Central America?
Even if the United States' goal
is to deter the spread of com-
munism, which I do not believe it
should be, the military solution
will not work. The blood spilled
and the economic strife caused
by the Contra-created civil war
only strengthens support for the
Ortega government. Alejandro
Pendana, an official in the Ortega
government, says this well, "it
(contra action) has stirred up
nationalism even more. There is
nothing like getting a relative or
a neighbor killed by the contras
to commit you even more deeply
to the principles of revolution."
The United States should play a
role as a mediator instead of as
an aggressor. The continued Con-

To the Daily:
I read with interest your article
in the January 31, 1986,
newspaper in regard to the part-
time legislature. I commend
Debbie Buchholtz for her effort in
obtaining signatures on . the
University of Michigan campus
for the part-time legislature. I
commend her foresight and
willingness to lead such a con-
troversial effort.
I believe the one thing we have
in Michigan is too much gover-
nment....government that takes
away too many dollars from
productive people. One of the
reasons I believe this is true is
that we have a full-time
legislature introducing and
passing more and more laws to
justify their full-time position..

Excessive government tends to
take away the freedoms and in-
dividual rights from citizens,
and, of course, in the process
takes excessive dollars away
from productive people.
I, as one legislator, believe
very strongly that the people of
Michigan would be better served
if we had a part-time legislature.
on part-time pay. I believe this is
especially true for young people
who are going to have to assume
the debts and responsibilities and
extravagances that this full-time
legislature is leaving as a legacy.
I urge all your readers to con-
tact Debbie Buchholtz to get their
names on a petition.
-Jack Welborn.
State Senator
February 13

Uphold Kerasotes strike

To the Daily:
We would like to express our
displeasure with the Daily for en-
couraging students to help break
strikes by crossing picket lines at

Organization, in solidarity with
the projectionists' union,
requests that the Daily and all
other members of the UM com-