Wednesday, April 16, 1986
Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
Editorial
r
NebraMcan
University ol Nebraska-Lincoln
One madman
It appears that we are dealing
with more than one madman.
The U.S. attack on Libya
Monday night showed the world
the shallow mental depths of one
of the world's most powerful
men.
Immediately after the attack,
President Reagan addressed the
people of the United States to
rationalize his attack on terror
ism. Only terrorist-related targets
were destroyed, he said. We don't
want to harm any Libyans. The
message was clear: We have to
stop terrorism, and if it takes a
bomb or two, so be it.
"He (Khadafy) counted on
America to be passive," Reagan
said. "He counted wrong." It was
the tone of an irrational man, not
a world leader.
True, terrorism has gripped
the world in the last few years.
The United States was embar
rassed when captors in Iran held
about 40 Americans prisoner for
more than one year. Last summer,
terrorists hijacked a TWA com
mercial jetliner in Athens. Re
cently, there have been so many
terrorist attacks that Americans
have grown ho-hum when read
ing about them in the newspap
ers. Yet the attacks are real and
action should be taken. That
action, however, should be well
thought out. Right now, it's not.
The fact that no European
countries have emphatically sup
ported the terrorist attack on
Libya should carry some weight
and a lesson or two for the
United States. Europeans have
lived with terrorist attacks for
decades. Let's assume they know
something about dealing with
them. Maybe there's something
to be said for keeping a cool
head.
Reagan has indicated that the
attack was partly sparked by a
bombing in a Berlin disco and a
commercial jetliner two acts
that, Reagan says, are the respon
sibility of Libyan-based terrorist
plans. Both attacks followed the
U.S. provocation of conducting
sea maneuvers in the Gulf of
Sidra a move that Khadafy
Editorial Policy
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Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the
Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its
members are Vicki Ruhga, editor;
Ad Hudler, editorial page editor;
Thorn Gabrukiewicz, managing edi
tor; James Rogers, editorial associate
and Chris Welsch, copy desk chief.
Editorials do not necessarily re
flect the views of the university, its
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The Daily Nebraskan welcomes
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Letters will be selected for pub
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Vicki Ruhga, Editor, 472,1766
Thorn Gabrukiewiez, Managing Editor
Ad Hudler, Editorial Page Editor
James Rogers, Editorial Associate
Chris Welsch, Copy Desk Chief
fights another
considered an act of aggression.
We seem to think that bombing
the terrorists will eliminate the
problem. The events in Berlin
and on thejetliner show us other
wise. It all can be traced to Khad
afy's beliefs. The man apparently
thinks on a child's level. He and
his followers are guided by st rong
religious and political beliefs.
Lisa Anderson, one of the
nation's experts in North African
politics, put it this way in a Lin:
coin Star column: "Khadafy is
firmly opposed to the interna
tional status quo, which he re
gards as exploitative and illegit
imate. It is the Libyan revolution,
not the international system, that
stands for justice, equality and
freedom . . . Because these are
firmly held beliefs, as long as
Khadafy remains in power he
will be a source of insta
bility . . ."
Again, these beliefs are so
strong that it's unlikely attacks
on terrorist targets will curb any
terrorist activity maybe in the
short-term, but certainly not in
the long-term. Consider the young
man who drove the truck of
explosives into the U.S. Marines'
barracks in 1984. It was an act of
suicide on his part. Chances are,
he considered it an act of God.
There's no doubt that one of
the madmen will strike again. As
Tripoli recovers from its blasts
and Reagan savors victory, other
events will transpire. If Reagan
provocates the next attack, he
needs to be a bit more careful.
The U.S. Constitution contains
a war powers act, which requires
the president to gain approval
from Congress for long-term mil
itary acton. Some senators have
said the president hedged a bit
on his authorities. Some have
said he told senators about the
act, rather than asking for their
input.
Congress must demand a more
active role in shaping U.S. policy
toward terrorism. And U.S. citi
zens, consequently, should con
tact their congressmen to voice
their concern and opinion.
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warn
ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS ARE
CONVINCED THAT THE ATTACK UPON
PRESIDENT REAGAN FOLLOWING HIS
PRESS CONFERENCE WAS ORDERED
BY MOAMMAR KHADAFV-
itics is not the sum of life
Students' focus on
Lamenting the apathy of students
always evokes a sympathetic re
sponse from "Right Thinkers." All
Right Thinkers shake their heads in
oh-so-saintly disapproval whenever the
lamentation is wailed.
Scratch the surface of the Right
Thinkers' claim, and you discover that
their tortured cries result not because
students are disinterested in all things,
but that students are only interested in
the "wrong" things. In other words,
students aren't interested in the Right
Thinkers' agenda.
They're just so "establishment," so
"serious and studious," so concerned
about "getting jobs," so "politically
unaware," . . . "so politically unaware,"
. . . "so politically unaware . . ." There's
the rub. Right Thinkers loathe the
thought that life can be defined let
alone meaningfully pursued without
exclusive reference to politics.
I have some sympathy for the Right
Thinkers' argument. I became an avid
reader in the later years of elementary
school. One book in particular radi
cally altered my previously childish
view of the world. Although I forget the
title now, I distinctly remember the
subject and content of the book, as well
as the cover style, paper quality and
graphics. The book was on the events
and individuals of the Russian revolu
tion. I was quite excited by the story
and wanted to learn more. I am still
excited, and still want to learn more.
Political theory, in assorted divers
fashion, still is an avocational and
vocational interest.
Thus by intellectual constitution I
regard politics in the broad to be
important. But Right Thinkers require
universal assent to such a view, and
Plan for Egyptian military help shows
shortsightedness of foreign policy
On his recent'visit to Washington,
Israeli Prime Minister Shimon
Peres was a man with a mission.
In his head he held a plan, and in his
briefcase he held some statistics. They
showed that a combination of sinking
oil prices and military profligacy had
(as they don't say at the World Bank)
busted some Arab countries. Contrary
to what you might think, this did not
make Peres' day.
Instead, it put the Israeli prime min
ister in a somber mood. In a meeting
with Secretary of State George Shultz,
Peres outlined his worries. A bankrupt
Arab world is an unstable Arab world,
he said. In particular, Peres was wor
ried about Egypt. It was in trouble.
Revenues from oil and tourism were
way down and the moderate regime of
Hosni Mubarak might be in trouble.
At about the same time that Shultz
was hearing from Peres, others in the
State Department were hearing from
jobs and family not wrong priorities
that is unjustified. Politics is not the
sum of life: Truth and beauty the
normative core of earthly human life
are not summed up through our rela
tionship to the state.
At bottom, this is the distinctive dif
ference between the conservative and
the liberal. Insisting upon this distinc
tion is anathema to the liberal.
James
Rogers
William F. Buckley lucidly summar
ized this point by quipping on a "Firing
Line" program that he is a conservative
because he considered social change
to be of much greater importance than
political change. The conservative view
thus embodies work a day "pedestrian"
activities with significance.
This only makes sense. In our imme
diate circle of activities, we all come in
contact with numbers of people whom
we can serve. Thus, family, church,
neighborhood, union, vocation are the
appropriate focus of life.
After all, it's much tougher to recon
cile yourself with your neighbor after
he broke your radio than to speak a
thousand words in support of an amor
phous "world peace." The practice of
peace is most difficult when it involves
children and the neighbor with bad
breath. But these expressions have the
greatest, lasting effects.
Such an emphasis of everyday activi
ties draws only contempt from Right
Thinkers contempt, for the bour
reporters. They were asking if it were
true that the United States had on
three occasions asked Egypt to con
sider joint military operations against
Libya. The plans apparently varied, but
they seemed to call for some combina
tion of Egyptian troops and U.S. planes.
The State Department confirmed the
reports after the news leaked from
Cairo.
Richard
Cohen
The two events U.S. attempts to
enlist Egypt in its anti-Khadafy cru
sade and Peres' attempts to enlist the
United States in a program to help
Egypt are juxtaposed here for a pur
pose: They illustrate differing, almost
w
4
HELLO!
I REPRESENT
BUILDERS
FROM 127
PlFFERENT
COUNTRIES...
geoisie.
Right Thinkers loathe the thought
that other people actually draw signifi
cance from non-political activity. The
thought that the state is not the well
spring of life is simply unconscionable.
Nonetheless, the nursery of society
is within those non-political structures
which mediate between the individual
and the state. Each structure, family,
union, business, church, school, etc.,
has a sphere of authority that can be
captured by the term "governments."
The "activism" of the 1960s is always
held as the appropriate standard of
student involvement. The myth of the
model is significant. "Involved" stu
dents are those who totally immerse
themselves into political activity. Any
involvement less than total immersion
is deemed to be evidence of "apathy."
Of course, Right Thinkers forget that
as the students of the 60s hegan deal
ing with the broad realm of life that
cannot be addressed merely by sym
bolic speech, their radicalization lar
gely disappeared. Many are now pop
ping up as Reagan Republicans.
The fact that students today primar
ily are concerned with marriage, jobs
and other "pedestrian" activities hardly
gives evidence of mislaid priorities.
After all, this is where most of our lives
will have the greatest impact. Certainly
cultural materialism ought to be a con
cern. But the evidence for the asserted
increase in materialism of today's stu
dent is the "fact" that students are not
immersed in politics. And thus the
argumentative circle closes. The argu
ment is hardly compelling.
Rogers is an economics graduate and
law student, and DN editorial page edi
tor. contradictory, world views. And they
raise questions of whet her the Reagan
administration is so enamored of force
that it fails to consider long-term
implications.
For instance, the Egypt that figured
in U.S. invasion plans bears little
resemblance to the same country that
so worries Peres. Peres' Egypt is a fra
gile society one whose last leader,
Anwar Sadat, was assassinated by reli
gious zealots. It is a country in eco
nomic trouble. Its security police re
cently rampaged in Cairo because of
low wages and miserable living condi
tions. Mubarak was able to handle the
riots, but not the cause of them. None
of that has changed.
The Egypt that worries Peres could
be pitched into chaos by becoming an
American ally in a joint operation
against another Arab country. Moslem
See COHEN on 4
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