Thursday, November 15, 1G34
Dally Ncbrcskan
Pago 5
SSI
Guest
Opinion
Fo
rmer fighter pilot asks 'why '
In light of Veterans Day, it
would seem appropriate to re
spond to the recent comments by
Sen. J. James Exon concerning
Soviet supply of military arms to
Nicaragua.
According to last Friday's
quotes in the Lincoln Star, Exon
said that if MiG-21 warplanes
have been shipped into Nicaragua
and were not removed through
some peaceful fashion, Exon ex
pounds, "I believe they will and
should be properly disposed of by
forces of the United States."
May I Cisk, Exon, just how do
you intend to do that? Are you
personally ready to go down there
a. id make an air strike? A strike
like your Washington colleagues
engineered against the oil storage
tanks at Haiphong 20 years ago?
Perhaps you should take a
closer look over across the river
at the Pentagon. Those generals
and admirals sitting behind the
desks now are the same pilots
ordered into action over Vietnam
those 20 years ago. They are the
same pilots that your Washington
colleagues expected to attack the
enemy with their hands tied be
hind their backs! Hands tied by
that Congress and a good portion
of the American public who so
flagrantly supported the enemy
during those trying days.
This time when you demand
such a military action, Exon, you
and your colleagues had better
look just a little closer at what
you are asking, and more import
antly, "why" you are asking it.
While you and your colleagues
have been busy campaigning and
passing such important legisla
tion as the "Washington Theater"
bill, the people of the Caribbean
Bssin area have been starving!
Oppressed and terrorized by the
dictatorial puppets that have
been entertained in Washington
at taxpayers' expense, those peo
ple have at least found some
outside force to help them in
their futile quest for food and
freedom.
That same outside force that
was offered to Fidel back in 1958
when your colleagues turned their
backs on him and the starving
people of Cuba. After all, if the
U.S. Congress had supported
Fidel, it would have meant the
end of the Batista regime that
"wined and dined" them so elegant
ly when they visited that fun city
of Havana
So, HOW you want to call for
an air strike to remove those
MiGs? Please just remember those
MiGs are there now because you
and the Congress have been
sound asleep for the last five
years. You want to make a war?
Then go make it; but make it
yourself, and leave the rest of this
country out of it. This is one
veteran of Vietnam who ha3 heard
from your kind before: "Go fight,
make that air strike, get your
body twisted and bent, watch
your friends die!" And then come
home to a group of American
public demonstrators who wait
for you at the airport to shout
"murderer." Come home to a
family broken by the war, to
friends who disagreed with the
war (without bothering to vote
against it) and now turn their
backs on you. Come home to find
your job taken by a young fellow
just back from Canada; but then
he is a little better physically
qualified than you, because your
back doesn't move so good any
more. And come home to an
America that you fought so hard
for. An America that now turns
its back on you so completely
that you have to put up your own
monument to your buddies killed
in that God-forsaken placed called
"Nam."
Well, I got a message for you
and your kind, Exon, "go fight
this one by yourself!" The Nic
aragua problem is there because
you ignored those people when
they were crying for help, you
and your Congressional colleagues
have made this problem, now go
solve it! Oh, and in the meantime,
if you can take time off from your
demanding theater schedule, you
just might take a look over at that
Pacific area again.
Remember that fine couple,
Ferdinand and Imelda, who
showed your Congressional col
leagues such an elegant time the
last time they visited there while
flying to Hong Kong on that Air
Force jet? Well, it turns out that
friendly couple were really pretty
dictatoral, and those starving
people in the Philippines have
had enough of it. They're starting
a rebellion of their own.
Are you interested enough to
try to help them out a little? Or
are you going to ignore them until
those MiG-21s are sitting on the
pier in Manilla?
Have a happy Veterans Day,
Exon, and a nice evening at the
theater.
Dick Shaffer
Vietnam fighter pilot
graduate student
HANK YOU!
The UNL Residence Hall Association would like to
affer its sincere gratitude to the following individuals
and organizations for their support of Residence Hall
Week '84.
Bob Beemer
Campus Activities and Programs Office
Cather-Pound-Neihardt Maintenance Staff
Garlene Carden
CID Productions
Bob Coder
Anne Dumper
Encore Screen Printing, INC.
Kelly Grossoehme
INASENSE
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Lancaster House Printing Company
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Neihardt Hall Desk Staff
The Picture Man
Pontillo's Pizzeria
P.O. Pears
Residence Hall Food Service Managers
Residential Education Staff
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Kathy Shellogg
SWANK Motion Pictures, INC.
Ted & Wally's
Varsity Print & Copy
Jim Willet
Laura Williams
Brent Wolfe
Dr. Douglas Zatechka
The office of University Housing
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