01 OPINION Page 4 Tuesday, January 10, 1989 The Michigan Daily Chemical warfare and U.S. foreign policy: 01 Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan 420 Maynard St. Vol IC, No.71 Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. Theory vs. practice By Arlin Wasserman This is part one of a series on chemical 'eapons ,, ; f { M 1 !S ! S t 1 Distorted images SINCE THE JANUARY fourth down- ;ing of two Libyan aircraft, the United States has belligerently rejected offers of mediation and direct negotiation with the Libyan government to settle what- ever contention the Reagan administra- tion has in the region. Instead, the :United States has relied on the racist stereotype that Arab peoples are irra- tional and violent to discredit the Libyan position of negotiations. Immediately after the attack on the alleged chemical weapons plant at Ra- bat, Col. Moammar Qadaffi, head of the Libyan government, proposed that the United States enter into direct negotiations and come to Libya and in- spect the plant. The state department brushed aside both this proposal, and the offer from U.S. ally Saudi Arabia to mediate the dispute, saying "communication is not the problem, the problem is the Libyan policy." The administration and the main- stream media have effectively created a hysteria around Qadaffi which focuses on how he looks, his strong statements in support of Palestine, and other irrel- evant details such as the Associated Press' attention to his body guards at the recent press conference, a detail wholly ignored when examining West- ern press conferences. The media's wholesale acceptance of the administration's line further re- moves the Libyan position from the ra- tional context. The major wire services gave the official version - U.S. ac- tions in self-defense - major play, while the Libyan claims of unarmed, routine reconnaissance planes being at- tacked by 14 USAF aggressors was largely ignored. The question of why the U.S. feels compelled to unilaterally assume the role of global police, at- tacking sovereign nations without con- sulting international organizations, is never asked. Speculative articles such as "U.S. pilots were afraid" and assertions that video tape evidence, which is in fact blurred, corroborates the U.S. story of armed and dangerous Libyan planes, does not conclusively prove that the Libyans were even involved in the in- cident. Such coverage is used to insure that the facts about Libya are ignored. The frame of reference is, thus, moved from the U.S. being the largest producer of chemical and biological weapons, planning a new production facility and maintaining an arsenal of nerve gas in Fort Detrick Maryland, to a Libyan pharmaceutical plant which even the state department admits could be used for legitimate medical pur- poses. No longer is the development of chemical blistering agents in the University of Michigan School of Pharmacology or the supply of chemi- cal weapons to NATO allies an issue. When Qadaffi has *suggested rational actions that would reduce nuclear weapons, the star wars pro- gram, or chemical weapons, he is at- tacked by the U.S. for being "authoritarian." Vernon Walters, U.S. delegate to the UN summarized: "The United States is not really disposed to receive lessons on terrorism from a na- tion like Sandinista Nicaragua. Nor is it ready to be taught norms of interna- tional behavior by nations governed by various forms of military or civilian one-party rule." The U.S. asserts that all evidence leads to the conclusion that the danger- ous Libyans are increasing tension in the region, therefore attacks are pre- emptive and justified. With no evi- dence connecting Libya to any of the supposed terrorist acts such as the West German discotheque bombing, the U.S. should take a rhetorical lesson and negotiate immediately. While disclaiming any relevance to the attack on Libyan aircraft, the United States continues to assert that the dan- gers of chemical weapons proliferation in the Third World merit intervention. Even before there was conclusive evi- dence Reagan threatened to use force to prevent what he calls the "chemical plant" from going into production. In light of the administration's con- stant attacks and threats, negotiation can not proceed in good faith unless the U.S. aggressors withdraw from the region. In short, U.S. policy, not Libyan communication, is the major problem in this dispute. This past weekend marked the beginning of yet another global conference on chemical and biological weapons (CBWs). Past conferences, notably the 1925 Geneva conference, have resulted in a fragile world consensus not to use CBWs in wartime. However, the development and mass pro- duction of these weapons is permitted. So each country until now has faced the moral dilemma of whether or not to use a partic- ular existing, effective weapon against its enemy. This week's conference in Paris has the potential for dramatic moves toward CBW disarmament initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev's move to destroy the Soviet stockpile of CBWs and reduce all Soviet defense spending by 10 percent. But it is more likely that these talks will be scut- tled by the U.S. representative George Schultz. First of all, these talks may result in verbal sparring between the United States and Libya, whose reported CBW produc- tion plant may serve as the rationale for a U.S. attack. But beyond that, the U.S. has a vast stockpile of 30,000 tons of CBWs stored in the country and an additional 10,000 tons of CBWs deployed abroad. With such a great investment in CBWs, which originated with the mass production of Agent Orange, the Reagan-Bush administration may be highly resistant to notions of CBW disarmament. Moreover, under Reagan, funding for CBW research and production has risen from $29 million in 1980 to approxi- Arlin Wasserman investigates military research at the Universityfor the Michigan Student Assembly mately $245 million in 1988. (CBW costs are minimal in relation to other weapons systems since there is little equipment needed for their production.) The United States was also the last of 84 countries to ratify the 1925 guidelines; it did so in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam war. Until now, the Geneva guidelines of 1925 have provided little disincentive for the use of CBWs and there are numerous instances where CBWs have been used in the 1980s. These include the much publi- cized Iraqi use of gases during the Iran-Iraq war in 1984 and 1988 and the Vietnamese use of trichothecene mycotoxins against Thailand in 1982. The U.S. government reported that South Africa used chemical CBWs are not a single weapon, how- ever, and not all of their forms are as abominable as the mustard and blister gasses of World War I. They also include many agricultural weapons such as defo- liants like Agent Orange and fungi that can wipe out specific crops, such as Nicaraguan coffee that was decimated by a previously unknown rust virus, or geneti- cally modified diseases that can kill live- stock. CBWs also include tear gas and choking gas that the U.S. has used domestically as well as abroad. Current trends in CBW development in- clude strengthening of older weapons like mustard and nerve gases as well as the modification of naturally occurring plant- 0 'The European press has carried stories of the United States it- self using dengue fever against Nicaraguan civilians and bio- logical weapons against cash crops in Nicaragua and Cuba.' weapons including defoliants against An- gola in 1978, 1982 and again in 1984. Not so highly publicized in the United States is the use of CBWs by U.S.-backed regimes. The USSR reports that Afghani rebels poisoned the water supplies of its troops in 1986. Mexican newspapers re- ported the Salvadoran government's use of acidic sprays and burning white phospho- rous against the opposition movement, the FMLN/FDR. The European press has carried stories of the United States itself using dengue fever against Nicaraguan civilians and biological weapons against cash crops in Nicaragua and Cuba. (Further documentation of these instances is available in Gene Wars by Piller and Yamamoto.) derived poisons and the controlled muta- tion of existing diseases such as bubonic plague, cholera and dengue fever; these diseases are modified so that they cannot be cured by readily available medicines. However, aggressor countries are likely to hold the antidote for ransom or surrender or use it to immunize its own troops which can then seize a debilitated and de- moralized city or nation. (The paired cre- ation of new forms of viruses and bacteria coupled with new antidotes has compro- mised numerous universities within the United States and will be discussed in the second part of this article.) But if other countries follow the Soviet initiative, all these chemical and biological weapons may soon be obliterated from the planet. Letters tio the editor Daily trivializes student problems To the Daily: Once again I am sickened by the shoddy way in which your paper (as a student I don't want to have to take responsibility for it) handles critical issues for students on this campus. Last night while working at the 611 Church Street Computing Center I was approached by a Daily reporter asking questions about the wait at the center. She asked about common student problems and what students should know about how to get along better in the over-crowded campus sites. We attempted to give answers which accurately conveyed problems which many of us have, as well as ways to avoid them. We proviied suggestions for alternative sites to the most well-known (611, Union, the UGLI), and hoped for an article that would increase student awareness about the computing centers and the problems involved with using them. Instead we get a poor attempt at a humorous article about an admittedly fictitious character. The story's main concern was to point out "humorous inci- dents" (which the reporters kept asking us about) and to lighten what is, to most students, a very serious issue. I am not surprised at the Daily's failure to seize an opportunity to help the student community it supposedly represents, only sickened that there is no opportunity to reach students with relevant facts about issues that are important to them. -Robb Lippitt December 13 Patrons I r I newspapers. It is with a great sense of disappointment therefore that we, the undersignedpatrons of the Fleetwood Diner, have learned of the mean-spirited, vicious, unwarranted, inaccurate.and highly unprofessional attack recently printed in the Daily upon the staff and management of the Fleetwood - an establishment which has outlived scores of fashionable Ann Arbor com- petitors since first opening its doors in 1947. It has come to our attention that not only was the interview that gave rise to this piece conducted under false pretenses, but that the author of this "review," a Mr. Michael Mosher, saw fit to publish demeaning and false interferences directed against innocent employees, not the least of which were cheap remarks leveled at Mrs. Gloria Vitaglioni, mother of three and hostess. We are offended that Mr. Mosher, budding journalist and would-be wit, was allowed the use of this respected platform to insult honest working people. Mr. Mosher should know that there is a difference between criticizing or lampooning institutional leaders who are well-paid to take the heat, and the pointless defamation of ordinary folks who have but slender means to defend them- selves. In conclusion, the employees of the Fleetwood Diner have a message for Mr. Mosher: "Sir, in the spirit of the sea- son, we forgive you. If you don't like the Fleetwood, you don't have to eat here. If you do eat here, next time leave a tip and don't forget to pay for the souvenirs - postcards are 35 cents each, four for a dol- lar." -Randy Pickut and ninety-two cosignors December 9 Even old gan Union. -Michele L. Thompson Colleen Tighet January 9 AIDS is more complex Advice is useful To the Daily: As the project directors for Advice magazine, we have re- ceived several complaints from professors about the data in Advice magazine being inaccu- rate. We would like to address the fact that due to a variety of problems, we were unable to obtain the current data for the Winter 1988 edition of Advice magazine. Some of the data is misleading because things like the workload and median can change from term to term. However, because much of the information is useful for stu- dents, we decided to run the old data. A student may use the data to determine if one profes- sor is better suited for him or her than another based on the rating given by other students. Usually, if a professor is con- sidered good by the student, he or she will consistently receive high marks and vice versa. We sincerely apologize for any problems this may have caused. We are devoting time to producing a helpful resource for students so that they may choose their classes more intelligently. Additional copies of Winter 1988 Advice magazine are available at MSA 3909 Michi- To the Daily: In your opinion article "Emphasize AIDS" (Daily, 12/6/88), you state "AIDS has...preventative education." Once again this is a clear example of a complex issue made simple by ignorant, provincial, liberal thinking. The author accuses that famous institution called racism for the AIDS virus' disproportionate infiltration into the Black and Hispanic communities. Before one blames the governmental institutions for poor care and/or lack of education maybe one should examine the real causes of its spread, namely IV drug abuse ad dangerous sexual habits. These were not brought on by a "white conspiracy" but by an environment in which the family unit has been broken down and in which basic moral values have van- ished. Does one expect the government to sit down with each member at risk in these communities with a cup of" coffee and warn them of the: dangers of the virus because they cannot find out for' themselves? Do not blame racism for the plight of these communities; blame those ele- ments within these communities which brought it upon themselves. -Robert Waxman Mara Kasler December 7' 0 0 00 too r Daily Opinion Page letter policy Due to the volume of mail, the Daily cannot print all the letters and columns it receives, although an effort is made to print the majority of the K .,. "sue ,,,i.:; .;y- .,, - } * . . : . . . e wI