UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kansan edition. Signed columns represent the views of the writers.
February 21, 1979
Draft not the solution
Those among us who thought the military draft was nothing more than a relic of much different days might do well to take note of the rumblings being heard recently in Washington.
those rumblings have been notable because they have carried with them renewed calls for an end to the all-volunteer military system. Those calls-to-arms coincide with President Carter's request to Congress for an additional $2.5 million for the Selective Service System budget and with the failure of three of the four military services to meet their enlistment quotas for December.
SOUND OMINOUS? It is, but fortunately the logic used to support the resumption of the draft is so full of holes that the likelihood that it will be resumed is very slim.
Of course, the arguments against the all-volunteer system by now are well known. Opponents say that adequate numbers of recruits cannot be maintained, that the quality of recruits will decline, that the process will be too expensive and that it will produce an army with disproportionate numbers of blacks and the poor.
But studies by the Pentagon and the General Accounting Office have disputed those claims. The studies indicate that despite the common perception of the armed services as havens for the mentally maladroit, the percentages of below-average intelligence among the services is lower than it has been since 1950, while average intelligence scores for Air Force and Navy recruits have increased since the end of the draft.
THE INABILITY of the services to meet their quotas could easily be remedied through intensified recruiting efforts, and physical requirements could be eased to allow those new excluded from the military a chance to perform certain tasks.
The disproportionately high percentage of blacks in the military stems from a lack of jobs for military-age blacks. Obviously, drafting more whites is not the solution to that imbalance.
In the face of the current system's difficulties, the hawks in Washington sound determined in their task. But while the volunteer system does have its problems, those difficulties are not sufficient reason to rescurse the draft. That should happen only in the face of a national security emergency.
Until that time, Washington hardliners should busy themselves with more pressing concerns.
Death vigil's message carries wisdom, hope
There are moments one experiences that put everyday concerns and complaints in perspective. Such was the case when a young man went to say goodbye to his great uncle in the small four-room house adjacent to his.
It has been many months since the youth had lived at home and the time and distance ebbed away the sensitivity toward the old man, his farewell seemed to be routine and menacing. The room was slowly, and reverently, the young man entered the dark bedroom, the sun yet having risen. The room was dimly lit by a single candle in the northeast corner, the warm light spilling feelings. And yet, that same darkness permeated the room with a sense of death.
EMERGED FROM this small pocket of light was a small wooden desk, which served as an altar of sorts; the vigil light illuminated a Bible, a small portrait of the Lord in his own crucifix, whose silhouette was stretched against the wall and toward the ceiling.
In the opposite corner of the room, the old man stirred as he struggled to stand and extend his wrinkled hand, worn by many hands. The stern-looking hand-handle was firm, steady and continuous.
His large eyes, which were colored with a tired yellow-brown tinge and frosted by gray eyebrows, were nestled behind his forehead, protruding cheekbones and long hooknose. The features embodied those of his Aztec ancestors. The eyes come from the message, "thank you for remembering." The stare was impressible.
HE BEGAN to speak, his voice raspy. He said that he was thankful for all that he received from the people.
table to eat on and chairs and a bed to sit and sleep. He was thankful that he had lived almost 80 years and was still able to share moments with others, even though there was a time he wanted to die, to escape his tired body. He was thankful to live near her presence sustaining his vigor for life. His eyes seemed to say "church each day."
But the young man's mind wandered, not wanting to confront the reality of life's end, of the totality of death. Instead he wondered about his own life. He was young and wondered about where he would go, the place he would see and who he would become.
BUT THEN HE Wondered what memories he would have when he took his place, perhaps, among the old, and if he would have the chance to share those memories with
The motion of the steady, continuous baskuke recaptured the young man's attention.
The old man was offering words of encouragement, telling the youngster to do well in all he undertook. And most all, to help him keep his head up, he raised his right hand and gave his blessing.
The hands parted, even though one of them was holding on to life and preparing to let go of it and the other just reaching to it. You'll notice that but he would remember the simple message.
The old girl south of the border who we once wouldn't dare be seen with in public is suddenly beginning to look
U.S. must court Mexico for oil
It seems she has fixed herself up and has raised quite a few eyebrows. But she's been seeing some other guys lately, and Uncle Sam is finding it difficult to get something going.
Last week, President Carter spent three days trying to land a date with Mexico. But from the looks of things it was too early for that.
In A SERIES of unscheduled public lectures from Mexican president Jose Lopez Fortillo, Carter was given the opportunity to learn about Alamo, but from a Mexican perspective. Fortillo must have sensed that the topic probably was not dealt with in Carter's high school history books and thus took it upon himself to fill the fill-in in what has happened since
Our relations with Mexico have long been strained, going back to the days when it contested us for custody of Texas and California. During the Texas war of 1838 and 1846, the United States threatened Mexico to code all of its territory north of the Rio Grande.
Recent history has not been better. Increasing pressure from labor unions to stem illegal immigration, coupled with Energy Secretary James Schlesinger's abrupt veto of a law prohibiting unauthorized immigration exactly put America in good standing with Mexico. Of
Vernon
course, this really has not mattered to most Americans envy.
Smith.
But oh how time has a way of changing things, or at least putting them in a new light. An oil price increase by our Arab friends, a surprise revolution in Iran, and the resulting increase in our oil reserves, begins to look very appealing to the U.S.
SOME EXPERTS believe Mexico's energy supplies rival those beneath the砂ands of Saudia Arabia. In a draft study prepared last last year, the National Council said, "Mexico could fill 30 percent of U.S. oil supply and maintain securing security of supply, and more than compensating for the decline of Venezuela and Canadian supplies."
This has been one of the more curious aspects of the so-called energy "crisis". Nothing would be simpler than to buy oil from Mexico, rather than try to secure it from the unstable and sometimes hostile Middle East. But we've been used to looking down our patronizing noses at others. Burus up to us to have to deal with them as an equal partner.
PORTILLO IS no fool, he knows the motives behind America's sudden renewed interest in his country. Referring to his nation's ability to find itself found itself the center of American attention—attention that is a surprising mixture of interest and fear, much like the recurring vague mention of inspiration in certain areas of our national consciousness."
With the discovery of Mexico's vast oil and gas reserves, Mexican politicians are ready to extend their new economic muscle into discussions of other issues, such as illegal immigration.
Mexican authorities argue that most illegal aliens from Mexico take low-paying jobs that are refused by U.S. workers, and they seldom perform permanently in the U.S. immigration system, long regarded illegal immigration as a social safety valve.
But Carter is under pressure from organized labor to tighten immigration restrictions, and any concessions he makes are likely to be denied.
Carter is expected to try his luck again with Mexico in a few months, and with a little luck and more thought and consideration before he speaks, he just might score. Considering all that has happened in the last few weeks, the dim future for energy resource that is predated by sense, this is one affair that we can't afford to skip away.
'New influentials' pose policy risks
By HENRY BIENEN
BY HENRI BIENEN
N V. Times Feature
PRINCETON, N.J. -The idea of the 'New Influencers' has been used by ad-distributors to shape their Third World countries whose wealth, size, military and strategic importance give them a prominent role in regional politics and in international affairs.
Some of these countries used to be called regional or middle powers. The term "New Influential" indicates that a country is of special interest to us and that it is influential on international, not merely regional, issues.
Rhodesian white support unfounded
To the editor:
Richard West's column about Rhodesia that appeared in Friday's Kansas is a subtle attempt at persuading Americans to identify with Rhodesia's 250,000 whites. West presents the thesis that the war in Rhodesia and the American war in Vietnam was driven by questionable suggestions favorable to the whites and unfriendly to the nationalists.
In conceding a similarity between Rhodesia and Vietnam, West lends support to the whites with a fattened analogy of the colonists. The Americans fighting the Vietnamese, to
Further, by subtly suggesting that the racist phrase, "killing goers," can justify killing nationalists in Rhodesia as it was used to justify killing Vietnamese, he seeks to elicit racist sentiment against the nationalists. He also suggests that the
Americans fighting in the War of Independence.
West seeks to conjure up an image of corrupt and uncivilized nationalists as he distinguishes between Rhodesia and Vietnam. He promotes this image by referring to them as "thieves" because nationalists are communists only to claim that they are more even evil than communists. Specifically, he does this by claiming that the nationalists are getting more and more victorious victory might result in the "mindless savagery" that occurred in Cambodia in 1975.
nationalists are communists and that their rule is to communist rule in neighboring areas.
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In contrast, West gives only praise to Rhodesia's whites as he distinguishes between Rhodesia and Vietnam. He states that Americans lacked a strong enough will to continue to fight against the Vietnamese. They still have no allies in Vietnam—"enjoy and incomparably higher murals."
In the fight to protect "their" land and "their" life of work against the 6 million blacks, West praises the whites as "a fighting force of toughness and ferocity" and as people who "are disciplined and believe in their cause."
We hope that Americans will question this racist and undemocratic appeal and compensate for it by building an inclusive and our sense of democracy to refrain from supporting the 250,000 whites against the six blacks.
Mark Cline
Medice Lodge junior
Veronica Cruz
Bronx, N. Y. junior
IT IS A tempting doctrine. At a time when the United States thinks its economic, political and military resources are stretched thin across the world, we look for developing countries that can help provide economic assistance to poorer countries, that can police regions and cooperate with that can police trade of goods and monetary stability.
Consider India, by far the largest of the developing countries—excluding China, which we treat as a great power. India has areas of extremely advanced technology, a large scientific community, a nuclear capability and a larger economy. It is the problems of poverty, food production, employment and urbanization in an extremely heterogeneous society.
The United States cannot and should not get locked into seeing its security needs, economic interests and concerns for basic rights through the eyes of New Influentials.
The United States must, of course, take account of influential actors in its bilateral, regional and international policies. The New Influential concept goes further than this however. It suggests an extremely close relationship with national policies with key developing countries.
THE CASE OF India also suggests that the warmth of bilateral relations with the United States has been an important element for inclusion as a New Influential.
Some of our policy markers now see India's military potential as a force for stability in the region. The UN envoy said:
BUT IRAN IS not likely to be an isolated case of instability in an oil-rich country. Indonesia and Nigeria are very large oil-rich nations too. Both are New Influentials that have extreme problems of national integration, histories of large-scale internal conflicts, and the need for civilian-military relations. Political stability remains questionable for both.
First, it is not clear who is a New Influential. The criteria for inclusion pertain to the relatively durable factors of power-size, wealth, technological sophistication, and intelligence. This is no military might. But these factors do not nearly cohere within an individual country.
Mexico and Brazil, the two largest Latin American countries, are more industrialized than Nigeria and Indonesia and are among the wealthiest of developing countries. Mexico has the added benefit of huge oil and gas reserves and a strong domestic distribution problems, and Mexico has a hard time employing its expanding population.
BRAZIL FACES a difficult political transition that will take place in the context of domestic bitterness over repression and human rights violations. The power struggle in Iran may well be nascent in other New Influentials.
For years we essentially have neglected protection. Its oil and export of petroleum is as important a resource as we are to our economy.
MOREOVER, MANY countries which are not New Influencers have the capacity to create local and regional vibration, proliferate arms races and violate human rights. There is no evidence that a set of policemen can or do well at just international system. We should not abdicate our own general concerns to them.
There are other good reasons not to try to define our foreign policies through New Influentials and not to harden our relations with any one of them. New Influencies may themselves be in conflict, cataloging us in the war against Iraq or that we are not always consistent with ours.
Not many months ago, Iran was considered one of the most important New Influencers in the Arab world; in Saudi Arabia, its larger size, greater industrialization and military might gave it a special place. Today Iran is the prime example of the New Influencer with
We should not place too large a bet on New Influentials. Corruption, foolish policies, endemic strife and vulnerability to outside intervention can make it impossible for the state to develop infrastructure into economic development or its wealth into political and military power.
function of improved relations with India and of chaos in Iran, and it suggests that the fall of one New Influential opens up possibilities for another.
Henry Blee is professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton
continue. Mexico also illustrates that conditions change and warms us that today's climate is a result of global warming.
Iran, on the other hand, is an example of our having so closely meshed our policies with a regime that relations may be difficult with a successor.
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STATE U.
BY T. M. ASLA