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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1985
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The terrorism cycle . . .
"We will not forgive."
"We will not forgive . . ."
The words, ancient and strong, have been used for too long to justify too many mild acts. Someone always utters them after the bombs have killed.
On Sept. 25, Yom Kippur,
three gunmen killed two men
and a woman aboard an Israeli
yacht anchored in a harbor in
Cyprus. Israel connected the
gunmen to a group that claims
to represent the Palestinian
Liberation Organization.
Israel neither forgave nor forgot.
On Oct. 1, Israeli war planes, built by the United States, bombed the PLO's headquarters in Tunisia. At least 73 people died.
Islamic Jihad terrorists neither forgave nor forgot, apparently.
The fate of William Buckley, a U.S. embassy official and one of six American hostages held in Lebanon, is unknown. The Islamic Jihad claimed last week to have executed him, partly in response to Israel's bombing.
Sanctimonious declarations of need do not change that fact. Nor do they break the cycle of revenge.
A terrorist act is a terrorist act. Innocent people die whether a Palestinian group, the Islamic Jihad or the government of Israel does the killing.
... to unite superpowers?
What 20 years of summits and state visits couldn't do to melt the icicles off the Cold War, terrorists' guns and bullets in Lebanon soon may.
Last week, four Soviet diplomats were kidnapped by Moslem extremists demanding a cease-fire to violence in the Libyan port city of Tripoli, where Soviet ally Syria has been battling Moslem fighters. Apparently frustrated that the Soviets offered no immediate response, the terrorists murdered one of the diplomats.
Arkady Katkov, the slain diplomat, is the first reported Soviet victim of terrorism in Beirut.
Then comes word late last week that the Islamic Jihad, a shadowy band of terrorists that has kidnapped seven Americans in Beirut over 19 months, executed the hostage held longest — William Buckley, chief political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
If last week's violence serves any good, it may unite the superpowers.
The United States and the Soviet Union must act quickly if they hope to save their remaining hostages. Middle Eastern terrorists come with short fuses these days.
Now, specifically because they have dragged their feet, Soviets and Americans have become pawns in a deadly civil war.
Perhaps in working to save the lives of fewer than a dozen captives, the United States and the Soviet Union will realize that they can work together.
That accomplished, they can start working on saving the rest of us from a threat worse than terrorism.
The Heckler power play
President Reagan's promotion/demotion of Margaret M. Heckler, secretary of health and human services, provides another chapter in the continuing saga of Who Really Runs the White House.
Because of the ever-present politics in politics, Heckler found herself last week faking enthusiasm for a job she really doesn't want. And Reagan found himself with the messy job of explaining that the Ireland ambassadorship was not a dumping ground.
Regan entered his job earlier this year determined to oust Heckler, according to White House officials, because of her personal style. Heckler made the unpardonable mistake of wanting to report to the President rather than going through Regan.
As an alternative to a pink slip, she was offered the ambassadorship to Ireland.
Who is the winner in this power play?
Critics of this move include Critics, for not being consulted about Heckler's appointment, and women's rights
supporters, who are irate at the gaping hole that will be left in the administration with Heckler's departure.
Regan — who not only has removed a defiant cabinet member but who also has exerted his position as the key man behind the throne.
A Royal cheer
Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals. They have returned to the baseball playoffs, the only team to repeat from 1984.
By the time this reaches print, the Royals will have completed the first game of the American League Championship Series against Toronto - barring snow, ice or other Canadian treats. It's the first American League playoff in Canada, and it's the first playoff series to be contested on a best-of-seven basis.
The prospect of an I-70 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals is a delight, especially because it worries the ratings-minded networks. But first, Toronto.
Rob Karwath
Editor
Duncan Calhoun Business manager
John Hanna Michael Totty
Managing editor Editorial editor
Lauretta McMillen
Campus editor
Susanne Shaw
General manager news adviser
Brett McCabe Sue Johnson
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Measuring your geographical IQ
Ignorance of geography continues to astound me. After a column I wrote last spring, a lot of people told me stories of people who could barely identify a globe.
But browbate does not help. So I have prepared a quiz that shows just how easy it is to learn geography, and if you think we live west of 23rd Street.
The quiz is divided into sections of five questions each. Answers follow each section.
PART ONE: The basics.
1. Of what city is East St. Louis a suburb?
Dan Howell Staff columnist
3. True or false: The Bible Belt is a part of a rew line of fashion by the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
2. Is North Dakota or South Dakota farther north?
5. Besides water, what can be found in the Great Salt Lake?
4. In what state do the Texas Rangers play their home baseball team?
2 4 3 0 1 1 9 0 1 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 9 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 9 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 9 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 9 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 9 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 9
ANSWERS TO PART ONE 1. L
Louis, although St. Louis denies it. 2.
It doesn't matter. They're both cold.
3. False. It's what champions get on
Bible quiz shows. 4. A state of disaster. 5. Mormons.
PART TWO: Making distinctions.
6. In mid-February, which is most likely to be the warmest? A) Sydney,
Australia. B) Butte, Mont. C) The Senate chamber at the Kansas Statehouse.
9. Where is Old Faithful? A) The Everglades. B) Yellowstone Park. C) The set of "Firing Line."
a. Which produces the most spillage? A) Niagara Falls, B) Yosemite Falls, C) A Barbara Walters special.
7. Which is highest? A) The Apalachians. B) The Rockies. C) The ideals of the Kansas University Endowment Association.
10. If you had to drive from Lawrence to Nashville, the capital of country music, which way would you
head? A) East. B) North. C) To a monastery or convent.
ANSWERS TO PART TWO: 6. A. 7.
B. 8. A. 9. B. 10. A.
PART THREE: Tourist idea. You're warmed up now. These are for real.
11. If you took the ferry to Provincetown, what natural feature and what state would you be in?
12. To what city and state would
12. To what city and state would you go to visit the Alamo?
14. In what state is Warm Springs, the "little White House" of Franklin Roosevelt?
PART FOUR: What's near what. It gets tougher now.
13. What state is the "Land of 10,000 Lakes?"
15. What river, held upstream by the Grand Coulee Dam, farther down becomes the border between Washington and Oregon?
ANSWERS TO PART THREE: 11.
Cape Cod, Mass. 12. San Antonio,
Texas. 13. Minnesota. 14. Georgia. 15.
Columbia River.
16. What five states border Ohio?
17. What four states border Mex-
ice? (As I noted in the earlier column, Mexico is not a state. It is another country.)
18. What six states compose New England?
19. What four states border Kansas?
20. What five states share the Continental Divide?
ANSWERS TO PART FOUR: Be nice to yourself, take credit if you get half or more on each question. 16. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan. 17. Pennsylvania, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
18. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. 19. Nebraska Missouri, Oklahoma and Colorado. 20. New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
SCORING: 18-20: Traveler. 15-17:
Wanderer. 12-14: Homebody. 9-11:
Provincial. 0-8: Hick
Finally, a bonus question. If you can answer this one, you pass no matter what else you got right. The question: Why would anyone think Ohio is in the Midwest?
Meese crusades for judicial morality
Edwin Meese III finally has carved his niche in the U.S. Justice Department. Meese's marathon struggle to become the attorney general endured attacks from the Republican-controlled Senate, but now he's making up for lost time.
Under Meese's high-pitch fervor, the Justice Department has swerved off its passive path onto a path of vendettas, instilling a brand of moralism in its legal stances. The department now crusades for social mores in addition to enforcing the laws of the land.
Conservatives have praised Meese's agenda. As a visible leader of the social agenda, Meese has turned the Justice Department into a center for conservatives and young conservatives to attain government credentials.
Meese, as a stance moralist, sees his role as attorney general as a protector of traditional values.
The president certainly represents the mainstream of the United States, Meese said last week in an interview on The MacNeil-Lehrer Newsworth. Therefore, it is proper to inject the
president's philosophy into the legal system, he said.
Since taking office six months ago, Meese has pulled several vendetta tricks out of his sleeves.
So much for innocent until proven guilty.
With the intellectual assistance of Bruce Eliot Fein of the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank, Meese and his men have the necessary intellectual underpining for their legal stances. For example, the Justice Department now views the Supreme Court's application of the Bill of Rights to state laws as a violation of states' rights.
Meese also scored a public relations victory this summer when the
Another example would be the Miranda decision, which gives a person who is arrested the right to remain silent and to have counsel. Yet Meesie now says that the Miranda decision is an instrument that aids criminals and denies police evidence needed for prosecution.
Dwight Hunter Staff columnist
Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to reverse the Roe v. Wade decision, which in 1973 established a limited system for legalized abortion. But despite the certainty of defeat, the request for reversal was submitted to make Reagan, Meese and the Justice Department the dailings of conservatives, right-to-life groups and abortion clinic bombers throughout this land.
Then there's William Bradford Reynolds, Reynolds, the assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, was denied a promotion to associate attorney general. Senators were not happy with Reynolds' civil rights enforcement record, but Meese was not happy with the Senate and expanded Reynolds' role in the department anyway.
The most lasting legacy Meese may help President Reagan leave is in the federal judiciary. Reagan is certain to break Jimmy Carter's record for judicial appointments.
Meese recently nominated Herbert E. Ellingwood to head the office that screens judicial candidates. Ellingwood, the chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board, has been branded as a outspoken Christian fundamentalist. Ellingwood has said that judges should bring God with them into the courtroom. However, once again the Senate challenged Meese and Ellingwood's nomination was withdrawn.
So far, the Senate has thrown several obstacles in Meese's path, but it only can stop so many nominations. The Senate's straight jacket may not hold a robust Meese much longer.
But Meese seems adamant on pushing a social agenda that could fundamentally change our present legal system.
French press uncovers its own Watergate
It was a lovely day in Paris in autumn 1974. The restaurant near the Champs Elysees was all a stranger could ask for. True, it only had one star, but that was enough. We were visiting journalist friends. It was a sizable gathering of French and Americans.
Before the second course had arrived, the party turned tense. One of the French journalists turned to me and said in a voice intended to be heard by the entire table:
"You Americans sometimes amaze me, the things you do. I am speaking especially of you in the press. You have just driven out of office the best president you have had since Franklin Roosevelt, maybe even smarter than Roosevelt. How could you do such a thing? Richard Nixon was your greatest president, and you have destroied him."
Robert C.
Maynard
Oakland Tribune
A hush fell over our table and the whole corner of the restaurant in which we were seated. My wife and I and another American journalist at the table and our work cut out for us.
We tried to explain that ours was a
nation of laws and not of people, that even presidents could not obstruct justice, suborn perjury and engage in bribery. If it's all right for the president, why isn't it all right for the ordinary citizen?
Our French' friends, journalists and non-journalists alike, gave our argument a chilly dismissal. By the time we were ready to return home, we felt bruised and bloody by the dinner argument. We were so hurt that we went could we avoid the subject. Always the condemnation was the same.
How# I would love to reconvene some of those dinner today. Perhaps sooner than anyone might have expected, the French have a Watergate of their very own. Where the Washington Post led the press of the
United States, Le Monde is leading the press of France.
Indeed, the French public has displayed very little sympathy for Greenpeace or even for the young photographer who was killed. The
The French are going the Nixon White House one better. They indicted four intelligence officers and a military officer, people they suspect of leaking elements of the story to the press.
French public tends so far to regard the expedition as an unwarranted interference in France's business.
The press and the public are awakened now to the fact that their government is engaging in a cover-up. As was the case with the Nixon scandal, the cover-up is harder for them than to accept than the original crime.
"Greepace-gate," as some are calling it, concerns the destruction by the French of the Rainbow Warrior nuclear protest ship. A photographer was killed. The government originally lied about its involvement, and Le Monde proved it. Then the government went into the same defensive crouch the Nixon White House assumed for all those months.
What has caught the imagination of the French public is that the government had to admit it lied. The French press, as our dinner conversations made clear, did not see itself a decade ago as a watchdog.
Now, as a result of the disclosures in Le Monde, the character of the French press appears to be changing. Interestingly enough, Le Monde, which has been in economic trouble, is finding that it is gaining an audience by breaking out of the dull mold of traditional French journalism.
Perhaps now French journalists can better appreciate what American journalists were trying to say at the time of Watergate. It is not pleasant to point it out when your government is lying, but it is necessary to democracy that such reporting be done.
We had a tough time right after Watergate try to make that point.
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