William F, Buckley, Jr .
Lam Son 719
The news is that the
military operation against
Laos, which was originally
called Dewey Canyon II, is
now called Lam Son 719, and
the symbolic meaning of that
change in terminology is
crucially important. It suggests
what should all along have
been suggested, namely that
the operation is a South
Vietnamese operation not an
American operation. That it
would not be feasible except
for the logistical and air
support of the United States
means simply that we have a
veto power over extensive
South Vietnamese military
activity, even as the Soviet
Union has a veto power over
extensive North Vietnamese
military activity. So what?
But now consider, in the
light of this move towards a
convincing Vietnamization,
how strange, indeed how
inexplicable, some of the
reactions that have come in.
George Pompidou, for
instance, is quoted as saying "I
deplore the events in Laos and
I condemn them, and with me,
so does France." By Mr.
Pompidou's reasoning, French
forces struggling to liberate the
homeland in 1944 and 1945
should have stopped at the
borders of Belgium and
Germany, rather than press
forward to victory. It is
altogether unclear why it was
correct for France to fight her
enemy, Nazi Germany, in
Africa, Italy, the Lowlands,
and indeed into Germany
itself, but wrong for South
Vietnamese to move into Laos
to defend itself against the use
of that nation as a corridor for
hostile enemy troops.
Mr. Pompidou went on to
say, "there can be no military
solution. The solution can
only be political, thus
negotiated." When politicians
speak that way, one has the
feeling that their descent into
cant suggests that not even
they take seriously what they
say.
A stone's throw from the
Presidential " Palace in Paris,
negotiators are beginning the
third years effort to find a
political solution to the chaos
in Indo-China. Suppose the
North Vietnamese were to take
another year? Or another two
years? Or another ten years?
What are South Vietnamese
supposed to do in the
meantime? Visit Gay Paree?
Political solutions, more
often than not, are
reconciliations based on
military realities. The military
reality in Indo-China is that the
political solutions to which the
North Vietnamese agreed in
1962 respecting Laos have
been utterly ignored. The
reason why has not been so
much the military weakness of
Laos and South Vietnam, as
the restrictions placed upon
Laos and South Vietnam by
the United States government.
It is as though we had said in
1944 that we would help the
exile government of General
Charles DeGaulle to liberate
France, but that Nazi forces
surrounding France must net
be touched.
The intransigence of the
negotiators in Paris is a direct
result of their belief that the
military situation in
Indo-China argues a strategic
usefulness of obduracy. The
South Vietnamese desire a
political solution too. They are
less adamant in such matters
than leaders of all Western
struggles. The men Mr.
Pompidou grew up admiring, in
whose war he fought gallantly,
were demanding things like
unconditional surrender. The
South Vietnamese, with
considerable restraint, have not
said that they aim once and for
all to remove from Hanoi the
militant imperialists who have
soaked Indo-China in blood
during the past ten years. They
merely ask that the United
States grant them, and that the
community of nations applaud
their use of, the fundamental
military mobility consistent
with international law to
deprive the enemy of the use
of a neighboring state for the
purpose of mounting
continued aggresson against the
independence of South
Vietnam.
The absence of any reaction
that can be compared to that
against the Cambodian
operation is heartening, and
precisely it is explained by our
understanding that South
Vietnam should not be
expected to inherit our
political incumberances, which
because we are a great power,
attach to any operation the
apocalyptic overhead of
potential great power collision.
-So that operation Lam Son
719 it is, and must hereinafter
or . . . dear editor
Defends Love Story
Dear editor,
I write, not as a
counter-attack, but for the
benefit of those who may feel
as I do about Love Story.
What Kelley Baker has to say
in criticizing both the movie
and its author may or may not
be true depending upon the
point of view. (I stand in
defense of Love Story, as a
work expressing a beauty so
often repressed in day-to-dav
living. That is the freedom to
be one's self. I long for the
freedom to live and grow and
learn by experience without
the fear of the negative critic
eye which so ruthlessly
suppresses.)
1 have only found playing in
the snow as stimulating and
refreshing a richly rewarding
experience.
If Love Story signifies
love and brotherhood, the key
to acceptance of fellow man,
that is the ideal I strive for.
And if appreciating Love
Story classifies me as a
"physical and mental
thirteen-year-old," then I'll
have to stand and admit to
being that. For the truth is, I
find that this bookmovie
contains beauty of people I
would like to see preserved.
LB190 RitaMines
Dear editor,
LB 190 is a bill to provide a
uniform policy for the
acquisition of private property
for publicly financed projects.
The intent of the bill is to
allow for equitable treatment
of persons displaced as a result
of these projects; conseq
uently it would require that
the University act in a
responsbile manner toward the
surrounding community as the
campus expands eastward.
Generally, the bill allows
payments for moving expenses,
as well as payments for losses
of property as a result of
moving. The bill requires that
replacement costs, rather than
market value, be paid to any
person who is displaced from
his dwelling owned and
occupied by the individual; the
bill also would require that the
agency which is purchasing the
property grant financial
assistance to those displaced
persons who had been renting
or leasing a dwelling, in order
that those persons may find a
safe and decent place to move
or in order to allow them to
make a down payment on the
purchase of a dwelling.
Because of University and
city purchases in the area, most
of what used to be the Malone
neighborhood is gone. That
neighborhood was
predominantly composed of
black people. Isn't it a strange
coincidence that both the
University and the city could
so readily justify to themselves
the destruction of this area.
Remember that the University
will continue to purchase
property in the surrounding
regions as it is financially able
to do so. I suggest that as
students we have an obligation
to see to it that this University
acts in a manner which insures
citizens just and equitable
treatment. Write to your
representative in the State
Legislature to express your
concern for LB 190. A copy of
the bill is available for you to
read in the ASUN office.
Linda Schaefer
'Meaningless trivia
Dear editor.
In response to the letter by
Gary Carter in the February 1 2
issue of the Daily Nebraskan I
would like to say that the
important issues facing the
student of today are of
maximum importance (ie. the
firing of Rozman and
Hubbard).
If Carter considers these
matters to be "meaningless
trivia" then he'd might as well
return to ag college and get the
education he deserves!
And above all a crossword
puzzle how childish can you
get?
Paul Baker
THE DAILY NEB R AS KAN
be thought of as being.
The news should come from
Saigon, not Washington; to the
extent possible, Saigon should
begin to use mercenaries -Sons
of the Flying Tigers - in
order to diminish the formal
participation of United States
armed forces. And those who
desire the long sought for
political solution should cheer
the news that, finally, military
action is proceeding of the kind
that precipitates political solu
tions. This is going to be a long
one, but the moves are exactly
in the right direction.
Statement
We, the undersigned, note the Regents' statement
that they would not condone "action which
threatens to disrupt the educational activities of the
University" (Defined as refusing to leave the M & N
building on the morning of May 5, 1970) from
anyone: Tenured or untenured faculty or students.
We also note that the Regents have chosen to single
out only one man for discipline in the matter, and to
ignore many others in the same situation. We feel it
our duty (in agreement and solidarity with the letter
of faculty members Hilliard, et al,) to inform the
University community that we, too, refused to leave
the M & N building on the morning of May 5, 1970.
Steve McElray
William J. Kohlhaase
Timothy A. Dindelar
Michael Barret
Jacki Barret
Michael A. Richardson
Paulette M. Sydow
Steven Strasser
Michael Nelson
Ray G. Stangel
Howard L. Hansen
Ed Anson
John R. Cunningham
Len Pavelka
Douglas C. Hintz
Martin F. McMahon III
William Cockwood
Dave Minneman
Jerry Soucie
Keith Bartels
Carl Circo
Xmw
MICK MORIARTY
editor
CONNIE WINKLER
managing editor
JOHN DVORAK
news editor
PAT DINATALE
advertising manager
JAMES HORNER
chairman, publications committee
Telephones: editor: 472-2588. news: 2589. advertising: 2590. Second
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Subscription rates ere $5 per semester or $8.50 per year. Published
Monday through Friday during the school year except during vacation arm
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The Daily Nebraskan is a.student publication, independent of the!
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Address: The Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union. University of
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PAGES
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1971