Wednesday, December 3, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
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Letters
DN editorial misses most important point
Your editorial on the SALT 11 treaty
(DN, Dec. 1) misses the most impor
tant point.
Although it is true that SALT II was
never ratified, President Reagan an
nounced in May 1982 that the United
States would take no actions that
"undercut" the treaty as long as the
Soviets exercised equal restraint.
Adoption of this policy represented
tacit admission that the terms of the
treaty benefited the I'nited States.
Without any legal obligation, both sides
have been complying with the treat y all
this time. (The administration has
accused the Soviets of several viola
tions, but the charges are questionable
and the alleged violations are relatively
minor.) You are therefore incorrect in
saying that the president made it clear
before the 1984 elect ion that he had no
intention of abiding by the termsof the
treaty.
There is no military justification for
the United States breaking through the
SALT II ceilings. In fact, doing so
requires us to spend a lot of money on
refurbishing an old Poseidon subma
rine, an action the Navy is not enthusi
astic about. By simply retiring that sub
marine we would have stayed within the
ceiling, with no loss in U.S. security.
The SALT II restrictions provided for
mutual restraint to be followed while
reductions were being negotiated. By
abandoning those rest raints the presi
dent has invited the Soviets to do the
same. It is generally agreed that, at
least in the short term, the act ions they
can take are more significant strategi
cally than our retention of the subma
rine. Thus, even if the Soviets are guilty
of the violations charged, the U.S.
action makes no sense as a response.
The ill-advised decision by the pres
ident is not irreversible: We can still
retire the old Poseidon and return to
compliance. It is reported that Con
gress may bring that about by with
holding funds for the required refur
bishing. The president would do better
to make the move on his own.
Leo Sartori
professor
physics and political science
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Daily Nebraskan wrong ;::
i on Solidarity editorial
"America forgets Solidarity," and
the Daily Nebraskan forgets the impor
tance of accuracy and thorough research.
The editorial, "U.S., Polish Trade,"
(DN, Nov. 14), criticizes the American
government for the recent attempts to
remove the economic sanctions imposed
on Poland in 1981. The editorial says
that what triggered this decision was
the Polish government's September
decision to release all its political pri
soners. So far, so good. Then the DN
claims that "a government-backed
Catholic newspaper in Poland suggested
the U.S. is trying to find a way to justify
removal of sanctions. . ."
Apart from the fact that it is bad
journalism to quote sources without
acknowledging them by name, it is
even worse to distort the facts. Namely,
there is only one Catholic newspaper in
Poland, Tygodnik Povvszechny (Every
body's Weekly), published in Cracow,
and anybody who feels qualified to
write strong opinions about Polish
issues should know that Tygodnik is
not backed by the government; on the
contrary, it is one of the more liberal
and independent newspapers, called
by the November Atlantic Monthly "the
only free newspaper from Berlin to
Vladivostok."
Not only did the DN forget to check
the source and its profile, he or she also
decided to misrepresent the facts behind
the issue. According to the article, this
Catholic newspaper claims that "the
U.S. has lost its main argument for
sanctions because of the amnesty for
political prisoners."
I subscribe to Tygodnik Powszechy
and can find no such quote. If there is
one, I suspect it was taken out of con
text. What the DN should have menti
oned is the front page "Statement"
published inTygodnik on Oct. 10, signed
by Lech Walesa, seven other Solidarity
leaders, and the editor-in-chief of the
newspaper, Jerzy Turowicz, in which
they express their concern for the wor
sening of the economic situation in
Poland and suggest that all the Polish
people, regardless of their ideological
or political affiliations, should con
sider the task of improving the econ
omy the most important one.
They go on to say that Poland is
unable to overcome the crisis without
any assistance from the outside, and
that "the president of the United States
can play an important role by lifting
the remaining sanctions. That would
mean the reinstatement of the most-favored-nation
trading status, as well
as access to financial credits . . ." (my
translation). The leader of Solidarity is
pleading for removal of the sanctions,
and still the DN knows better what's
good for the Polish people, for the
American people, for Solidarity, and for
Walesa himself (since he, apparently,
doesn't know what he wants).
I was in Poland in December of 1981,
and I happened to attend the press
conference organized after the U.S.
imposed its sanctions. The Polish
government spokesman, Jerzy Urban,
when asked about the impact of sanc
tions on the government, answered
that the officials are not worried about
their economic situation, since they
will always be able to feed themselves.
The first repercussion of the sanctions
was the collapse of poultry -farms,
which were dependent on American
fodder; soon baked chicken became a
legend and scrambled eggs a dream
from the glorious past. And so it goes.
The DN is right in saying that Amer
ica shouldn't forget Solidarity. But nor
should ill-informed editorial writers
arrogantly assume they know better
than the leaders of Solidarity itself
what should be done to show support of
the movement. And right now, what
should be done is to lift the sanctions.
Klzbieta Szerf-Volkmer
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