Page 4 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, December 3, 1990 be 31icg4an Dail EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Viewpoint I- NOAH FINKEL Editor in Chief DAVID SCHWARTZ Opinion Editor 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. I'.::.,r... ..Fromkthe al A date with war U.N. resolution gives legitimacy to U.S. invasion 0 0 cp ViC~o? ( (( .~Oro4A #NoI G - f .Ua r- I C dfr i 7 LY 6 O THE PERSIAN GULF CRISIS TOOK A dangerous turn last week when the United Nations adopted President Bush's proposal of a January 15 dead- line for an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait. This decision marks the adop- tion of a military offensive as an alter- native to continued economic boycotts. Claims that the boycott has now failed after only a few months, fueling a pro-war argument, are inaccurate. Economic sanctions work by applying slow but steady pressure, which in time severely depress a nation's liveli- hood. Thesanctions have not been given enough time to prove effective and should be continued. The U.N. has chosen an arguably quicker, but more costly, alternative to the Kuwaiti conflict. The January 15 deadline is moti- vated as much or more by United States domestic politics as any United Nations independent consensus. A U.N. resolution for war is a token gesture, because the nations of the world have done little but acquiesce to a United States invasion of Iraq. With the dissolution of a bi-polar power structure in the post-Cold War era, the United States must not continue to as- sume its role as world "police officer." The United Nations needs to take on the responsibility of maintaining inter- national order, something it has been unable to successfully do in the past. It is likely that a Persian Gulf war will be fought not by a unified United Nations force, but by U.S. forces with limited allied support. The United States should not tun to war as the an- swer, especially since there is signifi- cant public dissent. Similarly, there is much opposition from top military pe sonnel, who have cited logistical prob- lems as testimony against the war Furthermore, members of Congress should be more involved in the deci- sion-making process and given the op- portunity to iterate their concerns. The January deadline is an effort by the Bush administration to act quickly and aggressively in the Gulf before los- ing remaining U.S. public support. Concern with opinion polls and placat- ing voters is readily evident in argu- ments which mention Iraq's nuclear potential as a rationale for war. Until last week, supporters of a war effort ignored this tact, until a New York Times survey indicated that Americans will not support a war except to stop Saddam Hussein from getting "the bomb." Iraq's actions should not be con- doned, but it is ironic that the United States should lead the fight against en- croachment into sovereign nations. It is hypocritical for President Bush to con- demn Saddam Hussein's use of force in Kuwait without acknowledging that the United States has set the precedent in world politics for using force to achieve political goals - as is evident in U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and Southeast Asia. Why, then, are we surprised when Iraq also uses aggres- sion against another nation to resolve political dispute? Paradoxically, the U.N. resolution is a measure designed to stave off the use of force by setting a deadline for attack. This shows an inability for ef- fective diplomacy, because force is in- creasing being used instead of negotia- tion and non-military efforts as a solu- tion to world conflict. The most effective response to Iraq's actions remains diplomatic ini- tiatives, not senseless death as a result of an unnecessary war. Free Column! Or, I just read the recent issue of Agenda, Ann Arbor's alternate newsmonthly. If you haven't seen this newspaper, it's dis- tributed throughout most residence halls where you can pick it up for free, or, (I am not making this up) you can pay for a subscription for $10.99. They even sug- gest that you give someone a subscription as a holiday gift. (Here's your gift, honey - a subscription to Agenda! And I also got you a lifetime's supply of air!) At least when The Michigan Review tries to get money, they just come right out and ask for a donation. I don't see how they get any, though, because every time you read their newspaper you get the im- pression that their staff consists of a bunch of bitter, depressed white guys who spend all of their time trying to think of new ways to insult Jennifer Van Valey. Also, the articles tend to include sentences such as, "... Phillips claims that the 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act caused the current federal budget deficit by slashing income taxes, and he bemoans the decline in non-Social Security tax revenue as a percentage of GNP," sentences which most of us couldn't finish at gunpoint. Agenda especially stands out in its , if you want, you Letters to the Editor section. The Review doesn't print letters, and the only letters you see in the Daily are from band mem- bers threatening to crush Mike Gill's tes- ticles with a giant tuba because he insulted their formations or something. These lett- ers get kind of monotonous for those of us who are not in the band because, frankly, at the football games we couldn't even hear the band. This resulted in a situation where "The Victors" would come out, "HailHailHailHail to MichiganMichigan!" with each section singing according to its own interpretation of how fast the song goes. You don't see this in Agenda's letters, which are all written by violent-sounding prisoners and have exciting headlines such as, "Death to Imperialist Pigs!" rather than the wimpy titles in the Daily, like "Daily should be more sensitive." So, as I was saying before I got off- track in the second sentence, I just read the latest issue of Agenda, which covered the anti-deputization protests. Referring to the vote by those present at the demonstration to not boycott classes, MSA Student Rights Commission Chair Corey Dolgon was quoted as saying, 'They have good in- stincts, but they are not educated." He hoped to rectify this situation through the teach-ins. I think Corey Dolgon is absolutely can pay me! correct. The students aren't educated. How could they be if they voted incorrectly? Hopefully, the students will eventually be educated, through these teach-ins, to the correct point of view. But to simply spread the truth on the issue is not enough. We must also elimi- nate the lies. A good example was during* the first day of protests, when we occupied the News and Information Building, which produces The University Record. Our goal was to force the University Record to print the truth about deputization rather than spewing out regent propaganda. Although we were unsuccessful in that case, the technique is sound. Maybe we should oc- cupy The Michigan Review, which has consistently distorted the truth on several campus issues. Hell, we could even oc-@ cupy the Daily, to stop its slanted cover- age of the events. Some people would argue that this plan is somewhat contrary to the concept of freedom of the press. Such people are simply not educated. We should whip up a quick mob, via chalk notification, and oc- cupy their dorm rooms or apartments until they can be enlightened. This may take considerable time and effort, but we must 0 be willing to make such sacrifices if we are to attain our goal of campus democ- racy. LET'S KEEP MpM G AUw~IrAAI Many students do favor 'U' police force V To the Daily: In "The ball is rolling" editorial (11/27/90), you state that "Already, many students... have become part of the (anti- deputization) movement, but there are still many students who remain uninformed or apathetic." This gross generalization over- looks the possibility that there are many students who are NOT uninformed and are NOT apathetic. There are, in fact, quite a few students (maybe even a majority) who do not op- pose the establishment of an armed University police force. Yes there were "more than 1,000 people who attended the rally or teach-in." Yes there was a 70 per- cent no cops vote from the 4,000 or so students who voted in last spring's MSA elections. But you cannot possibly know what the other 30,000 students feel about depu- tization, let alone say that they are "uninformed or apathetic." Swain is a 'sacrificial lamb' for the regents To the Daily: As the "forum" last Tuesday night heightened frustrations and tensions of both Interim Vice President for Student Services Mary Ann Swain and those attending, I felt sad. Not only was this discussion insulting to the students, faculty, and staff - be- cause Swain admitted that nothing would come of the meeting - it was insulting to Swain as well. Although she claims that she held the meeting on her own initiative, I could not help but think that she was the administra- tion's sacrificial lamb. Swain could not an- swer most of our questions, especially those concerning security brutality, the deputization selection process, or the over- sight committee for complaints against the officers. A pawn by the administration, she was sacrificed to the students to pacify our 0 anger; in fact, she only fed fuel to our fire. Linda Rosenfeld LSA senior Doug Thiese ./ .-oar Sar *Jol DPS detains students who chalk on the Diag CP A ( N ToJV D To the Daily: The following is an account of a Saturday afternoon encounter I had with the University's Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Grounds Crew. At about 1'35 n m . nI wwlkino from the T nion nition. They then asked me to "step against the truck." Feeling threatened, I politely declined. Their response was to call in a unit from the DPS. Moments later, the officer arrived and nroeerded to nuestion me hout my activi- name and badge number. As I reached into my backpack for a pen, she nervously made the suggestion that I could possibly have had a "firearm." I suppose if she were a deputized officer, her gun would have been drawn at this noint!