4 - The Michigan Daily Summer Weekly - Wednesday, August 5, 1992
,O IIO :
EDITOR IN CHIEF
ANDREW M. LEVY
OPINION EDITORS
GIL RENBERG
DAVID SHEPARDSON
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion
of a majority of the Daily's editorial
board. All other cartoons, signed articles,
and letters do not necessarily reflect the
opinion of the Daily.
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
764-0552
Edited and Managed by
Students at the
University of Michigan
'Ethnic cleansing' continues unchecked
In September of last year, Jan Karski came to
the University to receive the University of
Michigan WallenbergMedalofFreedom forhis
work to inform the U.S. government in 1943 of
the atrocities of the Nazi government. Nearly
halfacenturylater, the world watches asreports
begin to tricklein of hundreds of civilans being
excecuted or starved to death by another bar-
baric European regime: Serbia. The world only
watches while the killing goes on.
In a document published by the U.N. High
CommisionerforRefugees, Serbian concentra-
tion-camp guards said they would, "not waste
bullets on detainees" because the would starve
anyway. The actions of the Serbian government
are intolerable and in complete violation of the
Geneva convention. To disregard all concern
for the children, the starving, and the homeless,
in favor of acampaign to create "ethnically-pure
zones" in Bosnia-Herzegovina is repugnant.
A U.N. reportnoted last week that there are
11,000prisonersatone camp: Omarska. In total,
tens of thousands of people are in internment
camps in Serbian-controlled Bosnia-
U.N. reports rampant atrocities being carried out
by the Serbian regime while the world only watches
Herzegovnia. The report further noted that at
Omarska, most prisonershave no food, water or
shelter,andarebeatentwiceaday. Theevidence
isconclusive: eyewitnessreports, the RedCross
and the United Nations all agree that the Serbs
are taking monstrous actions.
The Geneva-based International Red Cross
(IRC)istrying to get access to all of the concen-
trationcamps.Thusfar,theSerbiangovernment
hasrefused toaccede to the demandsof the IRC.
Withoutthe IRC investigation, the Serbians can
continue to practice genocidal warfare on the
Croats, Bosnians, Herzegovinans, and Muslims
of the region.
In the latest in a series of atrocities, Serbian
troops shot47 innocent babies and children who
were on a bus headed for Germany. The bus was
proceeding along "sniper's alley" in Sarajevo
without U.N escort. Two of the children were
killed by sniper fire. Before opening fire, the
Serbian police rescued nine babies whom they
believed to be Serbian -another act of "ethnic
cleansing."
The fighting in the has created more than
twomillionrefugees whoare scaterredthrough-
out Europe. There are more refugees now in
Europe than atany time since World WarII. The
situation has become desparate.
On Monday, the State Department spokes-
person Richard Boucher announced that the
United Stateshadconcrete proofthat theSerbian
governmentis operatingeconcentrationcamps in
which itlis overseeing the torture, starvation, and
execution of Croatians and Muslims. Boucher
said the United States condemns the actions but
wouldnot supportmilitary action. BritishtPrime
Minister John Major simiiliarly ruled out the
use of NATO forces to end the fighting.
It is important to note that the others in the
old Yugoslavia - including the Croats and
Muslims -have operated detention camps and
some human-rights groups and Serbs have ac-
cused themof improper treatmentofrefugees in
their custody.But this does not even approach
the killing-machine that has been created by the
Serbian governnent.
Jan Karskisaid in his speech about the world
turning its back on the millions in concentration
camps, "I learned that people in power have
tremendous ability toreject the truth." The world
cannot sit idly by, as it did a half a century ago.
Condemnation is not enough. Time and time
again, Bosnians cry out for the United States to
intervene. ButtheUnitedStatesisnowhere tobe
seen. It is an election year and the suffering of
Bosnia is unimportant while our goverieent's
top priority is sending thousands of U.S. ma-
rines to conduct military exercises with Kuwait.
The United Nationsmustimust use its peace-
keeping forces already stationed in Bosnia-
Htercegovina to ensure -by force, if necessary
-that the Serbs follow the Geneva Convention
and stop the sadistic treatment of the Bosnian
people. Additional sanctions should be consid-
ered toclamp downon Serbia. Toshirk from this
monumental responsibity would be crmnnal.
Bad comppany
Surrounded by mediocrity, President Bush and
the country - suffers; Quayle is least of concerns
A s thePresident'sreelection bidsputters, the to report bad news to the president, it is i
finger-pointing and search for scapegoats wonder thathe has become so out of touch. T
by Republicans and the media is increasing. is not to make excuses for Bush. He re
Recent targets of criticism are perennial favor- several newspapers and watches a great dea
ites, Vice President Dan Quayle and Treasury television -and yet, nothing seems to make
Secretary Nicholas Brady.Quayleis being pres- impression on him. He chooses instead tor
sured by many Republicans not to seek reelec- on his advisors'. perception of events. It is
tion, since his presence is widely-perceived to clear whether Bush is finally starting to rea
be impeding Bush's bid for a second term. that part of his lagging popularity is caused
It is fashionable to call for Brady's resigna- the poor performance of some of the peoph
tion because of his failure to directthe Treasury whom Bush has placed the most trust. He mi
department - in other words: the economy - end up getting a very rude wake up cal
competently; Brady's recent use of the word November if he does not catch on sooner.
"Japs" at a meeting of business reporters led to Dan Quayle has been singled out by th
aresurgence in calls forhisremoval. Regardless who do not realize that he has less to do with
of whether his critics are justified, the barrage of mess the country is in than other administrat
negative comments about Brady are representa- officials, such as Brady, budgetdirector Rich
tive of one of Bush's gravestproblems: many of Darman, and Council of Economic Advis
the people in whomhe puts the most faith are not chair Michael Boskin. Quayle is perceived
good for Bush or the country. many as the least competent member of
Nicholas Brady is one of Bush's oldest and Bush administration, when he is probably
dearest friends. However, he is also as much to more effective than several cabine-level
blame for the recession as anyone at the White cials. Quayle's main job is to ensure that Sei
House. Secretary Brady has received consis- Republicans support the president. Quay
tently poor marks fromjust about everyone - initating speeches on "family values" and
includingmany Republicans.A slipofthe tongue unfortunate gaffes have overshadowed onev
like his remarks about"Japs" would doom most telling fact: not one of Bush's vetoes has b
other cabinet members, but President Bush is overturnedby theDemocraticCongress. Quz
unlikely to rid himself of someone whom he may eventually have to step aside if the Ret
values so highly. licans are to maintain their hold on the W
Unfortunately, one of Bush's best traits, his House, but he is certainly not the main ret
sense of loyalty to his friends and assistants, is that Bush is floundering.
dragging down the country with Bush. In addi- Although some of the high-ranking m
tion to making too many mediocre appoint- bersoftheadministrationcertainlydeservec
mentstocabinet-leveland other positions, Bush - Housing and Urban Development Secre
has surrounded himself with yes-men who look Jack Kemp, for example, is in some waysb
out for their own interests and agendas instead of presidentialmaterial than any other Republ
Bush's or the country. For example, it has been candidate - there are too many who do
reported that during the Los Angeles riots, some belong. People deciding whether to vote
Black advisors on Bush's staff were reassuring Bush and Quayle focus only on these twon
him that he had the support of the nation's however, voters should keep in mind thatt
African-American community. have the power to determine whether Br
With aides who are not courageous enough Darman;and the yes-men stay in power.
A failure to lead
U.S. role in AIDS Conference demonstrates a lack
of resolve to finance the fight against the disease
0
tttle " ie VIIIth Annual International AIDS Con-
his I ference in Amsterdam ended in widespread
ads criticism of the United States for not allocating
Il of significant resources to combating the spread of
e an the epidemic. The conference focused on global
rely prevention and the possible discovery of a sec-
un- ond strain of the virus by researchers in Califor-
tize nia. The AIDS Conference follows the Earth
J by Summit as the second confernce at which the
e in administrationrecently demonstratedits incom-
ight petence in dealing with perhaps the two greatest
I in social problems of the next century.
The conference was slated to take place in
ose Boston, but the administration several months
the ago issued an order prohibiting foreigners with
tion AIDS from entering the United States. This
hard move was viewed by the world as a sign of
sors hysteria, and as a result the AIDS Conference
I by was moved to Amsterdam.
the Protesters rocked the conference with dem-
far onstrations criticizing the Bush administration
offi- for a lack of funding. These complaints are
mate indeed justified. While funding for the military
yle's rose to $300billion in this decade, real growth in
his AIDS research funds has gone down propor-
very tional to federal spending.
seen The administration declares that it is doing
ayle all that is necessary to fight the epidemic, but
pub- many research labs are understaffed and grossly
'hite underfunded. AIDS funding is still not seen as a
anon top priority in this country. What is needed is a
national mobilization of resourceslike the cam-
em- paign to end polio if we are to defeat AIDS.
redit The conference noted that in the poorest
tary regions of the world, the virus is spreading at an
etter outofcontrolrate. In these poor regions, there is
ican little or no access to condoms.
not Africahas been hardesthit.Estimatesput the
for number of victims by the end of the century in
men; the millions, while the United States refuses to
they fund U.N. programs that sponsor birth control.
ady, A U.S. congressional reportnoted that HIV
is "spreading uncheeked among the, natioh's
adolescents, regardless of where they live or
their economic status." Now the sixth leading
cause of death among teenagers in the United
States, more than 5,000 children have died of
AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic.
The world that is slowly losing its most
important asset - its children -to the menace
of AIDS. It is time for a globally-coordinated
strategy headed by the United States to counter
the disease. Without this, the number of cases
and deaths will continue to rise exponentially.
The United States' abysmal performance at
the International AIDS Conference cannot be
repeated. Ithis a far cry from what is so badly
needed if we are to defeat this dreaded disease.
A Fetal Error
Last month, officials at the National Insti-
tute of Health (NIH) admitted what experts
had been saying for months: fetal tissues pro-
vided by ectopic pregnanciesand spontaneous
miscarriages would not be enough to meet the
demandofresearchers.ThisexemplifiedPresi-
dent Bush's willingness to put political gains
ahead of the lives of Americans by banning its
use in federally-funded research.
The Senate voted87-12lastmonth to over-
turn Bush's veto of the Health Appropriation
bill. The House was convinced not to override
by NIH officials who assured them that there
is plenty of tissue for research. These claims
have since been shown to be untrue.
It is absurd that Bush opposes the use of
aborted fetuses in research on the basis of
abortion. No one has an abortion in order to
donate tissue. In Alzheimer's and diabetes
research, scientists desperately need fetal tis-
sue to find a cure. But Bush will have no part
of it. Unless the House joins the Senate in
overriding the veto, cures for these diseases
will be needlessly delayed."- '
I
I