Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1975)
editorio V oratorium look at U.S. arms, not down them P-2 "RST WAVE OP UNITED STATES MARINES, RBPRK3ENTING PHASE ONE OP THE !KHKM'r B UI,ITaD STATES INVASION FORCES, LANDED THIS MORNING AND umii naaiOiAnan rnon TJIK ELITE, U.S. -TRAINED SAUDI NATIONAL GUARD AS WELL AS THE HIGHLY PROFICIENT SAUDI AIR CORPS USING THE VERY LATEST IN SLEEK, SOPHISTICATED UNITED STATES JET FIGHTER AIRCRAFT FLOWN BY U.S. -TRAINED PILOTS. in otuuis, BUUirFKD WITH U.S. RIFLES AND THE ALL-NEW ZfM RADAR -EQUIPPED MARAUDER TANK, BUILT IN THE UNITED STATES, HAVE INFLICTED HEAVY CASUALTIES ON UNITED STATES TROOPS AS THEY SEEK TO PROTECT THEIR OIL FIELDS, BUILT BY U.S. OIL COMPANIES . . a. ilWl m mr m .MP A aw What do Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Israel and Jordan have in common besides either plenty of money or plenty of problems? Well, for one thing, they're armed to the teeth with weapons sold them by the United States. An investigation by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in preparation for hearings on U.S. arms sales abroad this spring has revealed several interesting facts. Perhaps most interesting of all is the announcement that defense sales for U.S. contractors totaled $8.3 billion in fiscal 1974, up from $3.6 billion in fiscal 1973 and $1 billion in fiscal 1972. While these sales may be doing wonders for the U.S. balance of trade and the defense industry now, they could generate second thoughts in the future if, for instance, we suddenly find ourselves being shot at with our own guns. Some senators don't find the prospect too unlikely. 'These sales are of such magnitude as to possibly affect our own defense capability," Sen. John Mctlellan ot Arkansas warned early this month. The sales list is, in fact, fnghtening. Somehow the Saudi Arabians have convinced us that food shipments or technical assistance are fine but what they really need for self-development is light and medium tanks, Mirage III jet fighters, frigates, minesweepers, Hawk surface-to-air missiles and lightweight F-5E fighter aircraft. All of these we have been glad to sell them in hopes of getting back the dollars we paid them for oil. Iran has gotten into the act too. Last year they paid $1 .5 billion for U.S. military equipment and services. Once these nations have purchased weapons, they discover that they need someone to teach them how to use them. And for that they turn to the U.S. also. A $77 million contract was awarded recently to California's Vinnel Corporation to train units of the Saudi Arabian National Guard. And early this month defense officials announced that the Pentagon and private contractors were training military personnel in 34 nations-at a cost of $727 million. The danger in selling U.S. arms to foreign nations, besides the possibility of someday having to look down our own gun barrels, is that U.S. military stocks might be seriously depleted. The danger in cutting off U.S. arms sales altogether is that the weapon-hungry nations will simply turn to the Soviet Union, Britain and France to fill their needs. What we need now is a moratorium on U.S. weapons sales such as the one proposed by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Kennedy has introduced legislation seeking a six-month moratorium on sales of defense supplies and services to the Persian Gulf states. During the moratorium, Kennedy proposes, the U.S. would look at impact of arms sales on regional balances or power, consider the impact of arms sales on the international affairs of a country and contemplate replacing arms sales with economic and political policy actions. Such a reassessment is necessary and, if taken seriously, it will no doubt reveal that there is something suspiciously contradictory about sending Henry Kissinger flying all over the Mideast seeking peace at the same time we are arming the combatants. Wes Albers in VlfmSffiiMB V... i .... , ' - nrvT? f NLA I i eaiEve hewis HERE FIWT ( 1 1 nWmm Spring when you question education 's worth joe dreesen It's SDrinff and the end nf th srrvdr i nnlw ;v ..,!,,. o wiijjr aiA wvti away. The appealing lure of that long, lazy summer grows stronger every It is a time when getting engrossed in school is more difficult than usual. It is also a time when you start to wonder and reflect' about the worth and meaning of your education. Questions like, "What am I doing here?" and "Why am I going to school?" run through your mind, causing no little amount of confusion and bewilderment. You sit in a classroom all day long, listen to lectures occasionally take exams, suffer through finals week and then, with a few exceptions, quickly put aside or forget whatever it was you spent the last 17 weeks doing. Sitting in that classroom, your mind wanders. You dream of distant places, trips you're going to take, things you'd like to see and do. The professor in front of the room is a mere distraction who draws your attention only when he raises his voice or asks a question. Pioneers Park seems much more tantalizing than that classroom in Bcssey Hall. At home in the evening, you're on the couch, textbook before you, mindlessly skimming over pages. Your eyes keep glancing at the table on which lies a good novel you've been reading just for the sake of reading it. But there's a test in the morning, so you quickly focus back on the textbook and the studying continues, the novel forgotten. In short, it seems that you waste a lot of time doing things you really don't care to do. Spending the day in Pioneers Park and daily nebraskan reading that novel are put aside in order for you to become educated and assume your proper place in society, whatever that might be. Time and time again, you keep wondering why you should be in school, doing things you receive little satisfaction in doing when mere are a million and one things to do outside of school which are probably more beneficial and have more learning value. Time and time again the same question keeps coming back. Is there a valid and worthwhile reason for being here at this university? & The answer to this question, surprisingly enough, is yes. Amidst the crap and the waste, there is a worthwhile reason for seeking this education. As corny as it may sound, this reason is called seL-en rich men t, or in simpler terms, learning. If you place any value at all on knowledge and you're committed to seeking such knowledge, then, a higher education does offer you this opportunity. Even though this university tries to turn us out like so many marketable zombies, more by accident than any other reason it can and will provide some intellectual stimulation and a certain amount ot real learning. You may have to do a lot of searching and you may have to wade through a lot of worthless classes and wasted time, but chances are, after four years, you'll walk out of here a little more emihtened, a little more able to figure out exactly what is going At the very least, after attending this school Pioneers Park and that novel will seem so much more the better. thursday, march 20, 1975 page 4