thursday, december 6 1979
daily nebraskan
page 5
WASHINGTON-You remember the Charles Atlas ads
in the back of the old comic books. The 98-pound weakl
ing on the beach with his girl when this big bruiser comes
up and kicks sand in his facf . ' - ; :
Some time later, after a Charles Atlas bodybuilding
course, they meet again on the beacft. This time, the for
mer wealking beats hell out of the big bully. Very satisfying.
Question: What satisfies when it's the scrawny guy who
kicks the sand?
What brings this to mind, of course, is the apparent
popular consensus that, sooner or late;, the muscle-bound
United States must do something about the "98-pound"
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
THE CONSENSUS is that, while it may be a painful
necessity tor President Carter to practice restraint until the
immediate problem of the American hostages is resolved,
the Iranians must not be allowed to get away with their
insult. The United States will have to vdo something.
But what? If there were the slightest possibility that an
Entebbe-style commando raid might have saved the host
ages, most Americans would have seen that as the perfect
solution. Go in, save the 'Americans, while we are at it,
bloody a sufficient number of Iranian noses.
But suppose the hostages are released without military
action. Or worse, suppose one or several of the hostages
are killed. What's a decent-minded big guy supposed to
do? '
There is hazard in discussing the question here, since
this column is being written several days before it appears
in the newspaper. By the time you read it, the situation
may have changed substantially.
But no matter. If I read the public reaction correctly,
resolution, of the immediate - crisis will heighten, not
diminish, the demand that President Carter "do some
thing." CARTER'S DECISION to end U.S. purchases of Iran
ian oil obviously was an attempt to "do something." But
it satisfied hardly anybody, Indeed, it seemed just a
matter of time before Iran would have cut off its oil ship
ments anyway. And since Iran will have no problem
selling all the oil it wants to, the Carter action is not
punitive, and therefore, not satisfying.
The people want more, But what? A . bombing raid
when the hostages are no longer in jeopardy hardly makes
sense. What purpose would it serve? Even if-God forbid!
-the hostages should be slaughtered, what would be the
point of military action? And how much action? Enough
to kill SO Iranians? Ten tirres that many? The Ayatollah
himself?
In the first place, it is by no means clear that the
Ayatollah is in control of events in his own country. And
in the second, there is the problem ot deciding on an
action that satisfies both our desire for vengeance and our
desire to think of ourselves as decent, law-governed
people.
A further complication is the fact that the Iranian
militants may be seeing themselves as the former 98
pound weakling and the United States as the big bully
whose longtime support of the shah constitutes a genera
tion of sand-kicking. .
It goes without saying that we cannot satisfy their
quest for justice, as they see it, by handing over the shah, '
whom they, see as a bloody criminal, :,; ; s
We can bring our people home and send theirs packing.
We can tell them to take their oil and shove it.
But not much else. That empty feeling of unrequited
insult will be with us a long time.
There's humiliation in being a 98-pound weakling. But
being a helpless giant is just as hard to swallow,
c) 1979, the Washington Post Company
mm
s
Continued from page 4 :
to be less the desire for justice than the de
sire for vengeance. Perhaps there is a fine
distinction here. Perhaps we are mistaken.
If so, we hope that the Iranians will en
lighten us. Perhaps they will explain how.:
the pursuit of justice, -as opposed to ven
geance, justified the commission of new
crimes and the flouting of international
agreements. i - .;. -
It appears to me that one goal of de--fenders
of the embassy takeover is to pub-'
licize the record of the shah as ruler. In this
I imagine they are being successful. They
are, however, paying an enormous price in
lost American good will.
J. k J
i Bud Narveson
Professor, English
Criticism questioned
How can the Progressive Student Union
consider their criticism of the Daily Ne
braskan's advertising policies "serious?"
Rather, the criticisms are laughable. Where
is the scholarship, where is proof for the
accusations presented?
According to the author, the "CIA
trained, or is training the most brutal secret
police in the world." The letter then goes
on to list countries where this alleged con-
: duct has taken place. , --
Upon 1 what foundation are these ac
cusations based? Are they provable? If so,
why not cite the source. of information.? i
I Do not misunderstand me; I do not sup
port despotism or abridgement of human
rights by any person or nation. I do
support proper scholarship and intelligent
argument. "Serious" criticism and accusa
tions cannot be based on unsubstantiated
rumor. Before the Progressive Student
Union accuses the Daily Nebraskan or any
one else of. ignorance, they had better be
sure they have facts to back up their
claims. And be. willing to release and
defend those facts.
, Daniel L. Vawser
Senior, Broadcast Journalism
and Mathematics
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