OPINION

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Page 6

The Michigan Daily

Thursday, May 19, 1983


The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCIII, No. 7-S
93 Years of Editorial Freedom
Managed and Edited by students of
The University of Michigan
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the
Daily Editorial Board

Wasserman

WP is -ThiE O L( WAY To qAN&yE
THE B~AANCE of ?OWE I

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New draft law
just hot air
THE "WAIT and see" attitude the University
administration has adopted toward the
Solomon Amendment, a law linking financial
aid to selective service registration, will prove
harmful to everyone involved.
Groups in Minnesota recently challenged the
law in a federal court. The judge issued a tem-
porary injunction. The law is scheduled to go in-
to effect July 1. A final ruling is expected by the
end of June, which could nullify the
requirement aimed at the 4 percent of non-
registered students.
Several bills in the U.S. House and Senate
have been introduced to repeal or delay the law,
but Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-N.Y.) who
authored the amendment said he will appeal
any ruling or bill to the U.S. Supreme Court.
University President Harold Shapiro has
criticized the rules for carrying out the law
which would require schools to check if a
student is registered before dispersing finan-
cial aid. Shapiro said it would be "an undue and
unnecessary time and cost burden," but he has
refrained from commenting on the text of the
law.
Shapiro should back a repeal of the law
because it is a clear example of discrimination.
It discriminates against low-income students
who need federal aid to continue their
education. It discriminates against men,
because they are the only ones who are man-
dated to register, and it discriminates against
those seeking higher education because it only
pertains to men in post secondary schools and
colleges.
Some private universities such as Yale and
Dartmouth have opposed the law and offered to
provide alternative sources of aid for students
who refuse to register. The University cannot
afford such a luxury and therefore, must fight
to secure a permanent injunction.
President Shapiro's support for the injunction
will serve as an example to other schools
dependent on federal aid for a majority of their
financial aid dollars. The federal government
cannot and should not use America's colleges
as its private police force to apprehend draft
resisters.
Unsigned editorials appearing on the left
side of this page represent a majority opinion
of the Daily's Editorial Board.

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_IYAS\ - 1\DN T WE TeY
-= TmT ONCE EFOE ?
Iaa
--- -
Shultz avoids Mieast trap'

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By William O. Beeman
Secretary of State George
Shultz thus far has avoided a
classic trap in the path of
American foreign policy: the
inappropriate framing of Middle
Eastern affairs in terms of U.S.-
Soviet relations.
To succeed in the Mideast,
Shultz must be allowed to pursue
a steady, if agonizingly slow,
regional approach to problems as
diverse as those of Lebanon and
the Iran-Iraq war. But his efforts
face difficulties - both at home
and abroad - from those who
prefer to see Washington treat
regional conflicts as part of the
superpower struggle.
In the present administration,
U.S. officials seem particularly
ready to find Soviet conspiracies
in every global corner. For
example, U.N. Ambassador
Jeane Kirkpatrick recently wrote
that the key to the security of
Israel lies in Central America,
with obvious reference to the
administration's depiction of that
region as central to the U.S.-
Soviet conflict.
The Israelis themselves have
consistently raised the spectre of
the Russian bogeyman, claiming
that they are the only reliable

bulwark in the Middle East
against Soviet aggression.
Through this strategy, they seek
to obtain increased leverage in
modifying U.S. reaction to their
military policies and favorable
concessions in arms sales.
The practice has been
especially evident during the
current round of U.S. shuttle
diplomacy in the Mideast. When
Shultz first met with Menachem
Begin, the Israeli prime minister
maintained an effective
monopoly on the meeting's agen-
da. Instead of addressing the
withdrawal of Israeli troops from
Lebanon, thescontroversy over
West Bank settlements or any
other matter germane to Israeli-
Arab differences, Begin focused
on Soviet activities.
There is no question that the
Soviet Union is playing a role in
the current Lebanese crisis, but it
is a very minor one compared to
the roles of the United States,
Israel, Syria and other regional
actors such as Saudi Arabia and
Iran.
Moreover, raising the Soviet
spectre obscures both the real ac-
tors and the real issues in the
Lebanese crisis, including one
very close to the heart of
Damascus. The Syrians have

always considered Lebanon to be
an integral part of their own
territory, but Syria itself is a
state which is internally very
weak. President Haffiz Assad
represents a minority com-
munity; he rules by rigid force
and is subject to attack from
many quarters. The Lebanese
issue, coupled with opposition to
Israel, is domestically very
useful for Assad,ibecause it
provides an effective distraction
from internal factionalism.
Soviet influence has little to do
with that.
Like most mythic structures, of
course, the Soviet spectre has
some truth behind it. Afghanistan
is a grim reminderof the extent
to which the Soviets are prepared
to use violence to gain some
political aims.
But the Russians are not the
prime movers in the Middle East
at present. Shultz and other U.S.
officials will do well to avoid.
falling into the trap of believing
that they are - lest the myth for-
ce events and become dark
reality.
Beeman wrote this article for
the Pacific News Service.

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