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Wednesday, October 17, 1973
University Daily Kansan
KANSAN commer
Editorials, columns and letters published on this page reflect only the opinions of the writers.
Traffic Jam
Perhaps Lawrence's sawtoot parking concept can be transposed to warship anchorage in the harbor if the traffic there may demand it.
At least two U.S. aircraft carriers, presumably along with their usual complement of escort vessels, are steaming in or toward the troubled Mideast waters. One helicopter carrier with Marines embarked is in the area and another is on its way.
The Soviet Union reinforced its Mediterranean flotilla last week with at least one heavy cruiser and two guided missile destroyers. The Soviets were already operating with one of the carrier carriers, several guided missile frigates and at least a half-dozen submarines.
The more traffic in a given area, be it automobiles and bicycles on Massachusetts Street or Soviet and U.S. warships in the Mediterranean, the greater the probability of unavoidable accidents.
The greater the level of movement of that traffic and the
more intense the surveillance efforts, the higher the level of tension, the greater the temptation for some to indulge their machismo and the greater the resultant probability that provocative individual incidents."
Unfortunately, the analogy to Massachusetts Street doesn't go very far.
There aren't any stop lights in the Mediterranean, there aren't any designated parking bays for the warships and there aren't any effective provisions for third-party settlement of disputes.
Supplies are flowing, ships are steaming and the superpower war business is generally picking up. These are the immediate consequences of warfare renewal under a new constitution presumably desired, apparently leaders in the Arab capitals.
"Remember the Liberty" would probably be a reasonably effective, if somewhat inscrutable country of country's reaction to the Mideast crisis.
But a more effective and more germane call would be, "Remember the Tonkin Gulf Resolution."
—C.C. Caldwell
By ALVIN ROSENFELD
Society for the Near Mention Road
Latest Arab-Israeli Conflict Seen as a Slugging Match
TEL. AVIV—The War of the Day of Judgment, as the Israelis are calling the present struggle, differs in every way from the three earlier Arab-Arab conflicts.
Dyneb Special to the Washington Post
The War of the Day of Judgment, thus far at any rate, is a slugging match between massive Arab war machines and an Israeli army, built upon well-trained reservists.
The 1948 War of Independence pitted the fledgling but unconventional army of a newborn state against the traditional armies of conservative Arab regimes. It was long, it did not involve heavy equipment, but it was brilliant Israel breakthroughs. The 1960 War of Independence ended. We were lightning Israeli attacks featuring surprise and surprising tactics.
The war's origins and patterns raise questions of some importance, questions being asked by members of the security forces. Answers are available here, some extent they represent the views of citizens of one of the belligerent nations. But they have not been about the war and its eventual aftermath.
For six months before the Yom Kippur battles the Israelis had been getting intermittent signals of an imminent Egyptian and Syrian attack. Each time a signal was received the government had to decide whether or not to mobilize the reserves.
The War of the Day of Judgment
IF THE ISRAELI KNEW the Arabs were massing ominously, why didn't they埋
The Israelis, in peaceetime an often侵扰ingly individualistic people, are extremely disciplined in crises. They would, we have accepted a mobilization call.
Readers Respond
To the Editor:
Reviewer Missed the Message
After reading Don Kinney's review of Costa-Gavras "State of Siege," (October 5) I feel compelled to comment on his interpretation of the film.
First of all, it is obvious that the action in this film does not take place in any fictitious South American country, as Kinney implies. Even though the name of the country is not mentioned, it is evident that the events take place of geography that the events take place in Uruguay.
As to the question, "Could it happen?" the film is based on an actual kidnapping which took place in Uruguay in August of 1970
At that time, Daniel Mitrione, a 50 year-old AIDS official and former police chief of Richmond, Ind., was kidnapped while working in Montevideo as an assistant to the police in security measure. Claude Fly, an agronomist from Colorado and Aloyso from El Salvador, was the General in Montevideo, were also kidnapped, though later released.
The film, which the reviewer found to be mediocre and uninteresting, is an accurate and profound commentary on the political situation in Latin America today. Perhaps this film will not become too popular with the American public because, unlike the majority of films shown in this country, it attracts the U.S. as the benefactor of the world.
But he writes in such a manner as to create the impression among his readers that the events, characters, and country of this book are made up of all fictitious inventions of Costa-Gavras".
Orlando Rivas
I would suggest that the next time Kansan critic Don Kinney attempts to write a movie based on actual events and carry them out, he might costa-Costa-Gavras" "State of Siege," that he undertake the minimal amount of research required in order to comprehend completely of the motion picture's subject.
Venezuelan Graduate Student
To the Editor:
I am not speaking of the reviewer's political or ideological attitude toward Costa-Gavras' film. In this respect he is a critic, and is apt to be magnetic to the director's radical viewpoint.
The reviewer unconsciously (I hope)
thereby undermines the director's almost semi-documentary (if, admittedly, less than objective) effort to illuminate the perilty of covert American intervention in Latin America by tracing the career and violent end of an American expert in police relations. This analysis underender benevolent cover of A.L.D. (Agency for International Development).
The reviewer apparently lacks any information whatsoever about recent Latin American history when he asks the incredibly naive question:
"Could it happen? Would the American government secretly support such a program to make sure the government it favors, stays in power?"
And finally, I would also suggest that the reviewer take a refresher course in geography. He might hopefully discover that Montevideo, shown clearly in several of the films, has been a car containing the body of the executed L.A.D. official in the opening sequences of the movie, is the capital of Uruguay, that "unnamed South American country" that had its first governor on the walk of walking down the theater as to shout the name in our sleeper reviewing ear.
Look up the United States' s sorry record in Guatemala, 1954; Brazil, 1964; Santo Domingo, 1968, and Chile, 1973, Mr. Reviewer, for the answer to that question.
I would hope, Mr. Reviewer, that you go see this "dail Mission-Impassible style" film again and rediscover it as something to watch, but I never movie with a readymade and worn plot.
Mike Clotrettler
1947 Rhode Island
Why Vote at KU?
To all KU Students, particularly in LA&S:
As a candidate for LA&S senator, I have purchased several classified advertisements in the Kansan. These advertisements are short, glib statements acknowledging the fact that I am seeking a senate position. However, it has come to my attention that I do not unappreciative of my creative efforts, on the ground that my attitude in seeking office (based upon the ads) is capricious.
Such criticism is well-founded, particularly in an era when the world of politics and the popularity of politicians are at an all-time low. It'refreshening to find at least a few students who still care about their university to the extent that they immediately dismiss demagogues.
Unlike our fallen leader Spiro, I will not "plead no contest," particularly since my view of student government is quite serious. Having served on the student senate and a variety of committees, primarily financial, we have had our work at Pittsburgh), I understand only too well the result when the political process, even at the university level, is regarded lightly.
The senate's decisions of who gets what, when and where become increasingly vital when one considers that organization's priorities are different than the senate budget decrease. Consequently, the representatives selected in the upcoming election are more important now than ever
Of course, I would like all LA&S students to support me in my bid for a senate seat. It would be great if you could plug. I urge everyone to vote, not because voting is a civic responsibility, but because every student on campus pays a substantial fee to attend class. That is responsible for allocating your money.
Mike Mattix
But mobilization is costly to the Israeli economy and somewhat alarming to the Western world. Each time Israel decided against mobilization.
GIVEN THE APPARENT DANGER,
why didn't the Israelis launch a pre-emptive
attack?
Pittsburg iunior
The Thursday before the current war broke out, as a result of large-scale Egyptian and Syrian troop concentrations, in which they were surrounded. They maintained certain security precautions but nothing dramatic. Final word of an imminent attack was brought to Israel's political leaders very early in the morning and sent on the army command. The cabinet decided to
territories. Tensions between the conqueror and the one million Arabs of Gaza and the West Bank had virtually disappeared. The Arab terrorists had at most nauseance value. No one seemed interested in getting ousted from the territories.
Some Israelis feel the Arabs also saw a favorable—or at least not hostile—international climate. The spectacle of Austria crumbling before two Arab terrorists, the factor of oil, Western Europe's wariness with the Middle East problem and annoyance with Israel's "unreasonableness" added to this climate.
The fact that some of the smaller African countries were dropping relations with Europe is hard to explain.
"The war's origins and patterns raise questions of some importance, questions being asked by foreign and Israeli observers. Answers are available here."
These, at any rate, are the reasons offered for her decision not to strike first. There is always the tantalizing additional possibility that, to a certain extent, the agent may create their intelligence record, may have misjudged the Egyprian-Syrian intentions.
The reasons were varied. The Israelis did not want the stigma of starting another war. The vastness of the Sinai protected the Israeli heartland from Egyptian ground attack and made air strikes against Israel cities a very risky business for Egypt.
The air force was confident it could ward off Syrian planes. Yet another pre-emptive strike would create problems for Israel in Europe and perhaps in the United States.
Most important perhaps was the fact that the Arab armies had changed greatly in the six years since the '67 war. They had amassed formidable strength in armor, artillery and other modern weaponry. A pre-emptive strike might have repeated the bombardment and wounding the Arab air forces but could not demolish Egyptian and Syrian armor.
IF THE ISRAELI VERSION is correct and Egypt and Syria attacked in a remarkably well-timed, well-coordinated attack, what motivated the two Arab countries?
The Israelis remember that in the aftermath of the debacle which the 67 war represented for the Arabs an older Arab Israelis, and they are still article arguing in this vein—the Arabs will grow stronger each day, but so will they, the Israelis; and we (the Arabs) with our half-western, half-eastern, will never catch up with them; therefore it makes sense to make peace.
The Arabs did not accept his final message, but in the last two or three years, it is felt here, Egyptian and Syrian leaders have agreed that they should once thought, their ally but their enemy.
Israel was settling down in the occupied
seemed to be even more isolated. All this
would have been too hard, would do nothing
if we had broke wrist.
*NON THIS A SHARP CONSTRAINT with
leave in the earlier conflicts with
laws.*
In the earlier wars the Arabs often fought with amazing bravery, stubbornness and cunning in small units. Egyptian platoons and companies held out against the massive weight of Israeli armor in 67, but the hopeless forces that sometimes broke down.
The Israeli acknowledge that the Arab forces are generally fighting with skill, bravery and grim determination this time around.
This was partly the fault of the officers, particularly the Egyptians, who sometimes abandoned their men for personal safety. It was also a result of an organization as well as a pog mindation.
The war of 67 was a trauma, a shock and a humiliation for professional Arab military men and many other Arabs as well. The officer class in Egypt and Syria was determined to wipe out the shame of defeat, to kill them, and to commit commitment grew up and their anger was fed by the continued failure of the Arab world to oust Israel from its conquests.
In the years since 67, the Egyptian and Syrian armed forces were completely retrained and reorganized, mainly by the Russians. Some Israeli students believe the Soviet specialists included motivation fighting spirit is evident on the battlefields of October, 1973. The two armed forces were also completely re-equipped by the Soviets with thousands of tanks, excellent aircraft, a military infrastructure of radar stations and missile sites and transport. The Arab countries have also developed a new efficiency.
WHY DIDN'T THE ISRAELI Bar-Lev line, which served so well in the long war of attrition, prevent the Egyptians from crossing the Suez?
response to the furious Egyptians of the late 60s. It consisted of a series of pillbox defenses and strong points facing the Suez. Between the strong points there were mine fields and barbed wire entanglements but no unbroken line of men and trenches. But Lev Line was also designed as a trap-wire—and it served function on Yon Kipur.
The Bar-Lev line was designed in
WHAT KIND OF WAR is being fought? The Israeli holds air superiority and apparently supremacy. But planes are not nuracle workers. On the ground, masses of bombers fly from the maneuver and blast away. On the Suez, the line has been a wiggle affair.
The Egyptians made some early attempts to jump over the Israeli line behind the canal into the vastness of the Sinai, but the Israelis said most of these early efforts
On the Golan, the Syrians sent strong tank columns to attack an Israeli line consisting of strong point and artillery positions designed to cover the front, plus a tank reserve. Theighting has seen the two barking together each other with tremendous fire power.
WHERE ARE THE SURPRISES the world has come to expect from the Israelis? They may yet come. It has taken the Israelis time to organize their reserves, to counter the Arab strength and to prepare for the next steps.
Whatever surprises develop they will appear far behind the Arab lines, not along the sterile, frozen lines of the Golan and Suez.
WHY HAVEN't THE ARABS, given the element, made more progress?
WHAT ARE THE ARAB war aims?
They seem to have underestimated the staying power and willingness to self-sacrifice of the small cadres of conscripts commanded the Israeli defenses on Yom Kippur.
Here disagreement exists. Some observers believe the goal was to secure gains that were moderate but sufficient to compel Israel to give up the territories while forcing the powers to realize the explosive reality of today's Middle East and thereby propel them into pressuring Israel. Others believe the idea really was to overwhelm Israel.
WHAT ARE THE ISRAELI war aims?
They were expressed by the chief of staff,
Lt. Gen. David Elazar: "To break their bones."
WHAT OF THE OUTCOME?
In other words, to destroy the Egyptian-Syrian war machines and gain five to ten
Prosphey is always dangerous in the Mideast. An Arab victory seems impossible. The possibilities apparently are stalemate or an Israeli victory. The casualties have been extremely heavy on both sides. The bitterness that engenders, for example, Israel's war and the latest fighting, make any progress toward settlement most unlikely. But a costly Arab defeat could lead to the downfall of some present leaders.
Dick Tuck Defined for Lexicon
Rv DICK TUCK
BY BICK LUCK
special to the Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON- 1972 was the year of the innovators—the McGoverns brought us the new politics, and the Nixons invented political chicacery. Right? Not so! In both cases it was really new dogs doing old tricks.
Twenty years before, Estes Kefauver worked the primaries with his unwashed bunch, and more than a hundred years ago, he was called Wilhita. The Whigs then were using skuldigugery.
The presidential campaign of 1844 wasn't the first to employ dirty tricks, but it may have been the first to contribute to our vocabulary. James Polk, the distinguished Democrat from Tennessee, was opposed by the Whig Henry Clay of Virginia. The difference was particularly bitter; it was on the eve of the election that all hell broke loose.
THE CHRONICLE of Ithaca, N.Y., a prominent Whig paper of its day, came across a journal written by a Baron who was part of the movement through the Western and Southern States."
In it the Baron told quite vividly of witnessing "the purchase of 43 slaves by K笑. Kol," and how "the mark of the branding iron and initials of his name was placed on their shoulders to distinguish them." Although the election was fast approaching, other WPA papers throughout the country were able to reprint the story of Polk's inhumanity.
As it turned out, at that point in time, there were a few discrepancies in the story: There was no slave sale; the branding scene never took place; and, finally, there was no
JAMES POLK DID WIN the election, but the smear did a lot to weaken his presidency. And the nonexistent Roorkeb became a common noun known and used by generations and students of politics for generations and until this day can be found in the dictionary.
I bring this up because of the frequent reference to Dick Tuck during the current Watergate hearings. We have heard of "Dick Tuck activities," "Dick Tuck capers," and most recently we were told that those folks who brought us Watergate were willing to spend $30,000 to develop a "Dick Tuck capability."
It boggles the mind. They should have given the contract to Lockbeed, but (after numerous overruns) it still wouldn't have gotten off the ground.
Baron Roorback. In today's terms, the whole tale was inooperative.
Even Bob Halalden in his opening statement before the Watergate committee requested that he be suggested that I was the model for the perfectly legal and aboveboard antics they wanted Mr. Segretta to perform. Bob applauded. Mr. Segretta turned out to be a Trock run amuck.
Haldeman also suggested that either George McGovern or Dick Tuck was guilty of bombing campaign headquarters, throwing eggs and tomatoes at and assaulting eggs (what), and inattention to possession (what). And burning? We must be getting old. George.)
WELL, BEFORE SOME ITINERANT
intactigator cones along and drops me
up.
Griff and the Unicorn
by Sokoloff
01
First it should be noted that Dick Tuck activities were at least touched with humor.
SOKALOFF
Secondly, they never contained malice, although some politicians consider a vote for him to be illegal.
make a couple of things perfectly clear (to mention another corrupted expression).
And thirdly, their purpose was to unmask the fraud or and exposure the fool. They were designed to open up, to ventilate the situation; they were not surreptitious or anonymous activities. (Some have said that I not only claimed credit. I demanded it.)
If we have reached the point where people are confusing the altering of fortune cookies so that the message pokes fun at an over-servious candidate with the altering of State Department cables to make it appear that a terrorist has been arrested, then it's time to set the record straight.
NO DOUBT DICK TUCK defining Dick Tuck is like setting a box to guard the hen house, but if I were to print my own dictionary (in the past I have found that Dick Tuck's own paper is the best way to ensure a good press), the definition would be as follows:
"Dick Tuck—(dik tuk) N. (After a political figure known for his use of lapping tactics, active mid-twentieth century feminism, a living activist characterized by humor, devised to unmask, ventilate, bring to light, debunk, hold up to view, etc., the comical, ludicrous or ridiculous in nature, and displeased with stupidities, etc., esp. of a candidate for office. 2. A political prank 3. (archaic) A witty, genial fellow.
—SYN. Boston Tea Party.
*Americanism.
(Dick Tuck, a Democrat, has played a few tricks in his time.)
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