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Excuses stem from a guilty conscience!
The article concerning the shoot
ing down of the Iranian civilian air
craft (Summer Daily Nebraskan, July
7), killing 290 people, quite frankly
disheartens me as a human being. I
refer to the article in which David
Forsythe suggests the Iranians inten
tionally brought about the incident.
1 found the article a rather disturb
ing attempt at rationalization.
Though he doesn’t state it outright,
Forsythe, along with most Ameri
cans, seems to beg in with the assump
tion that the United Stales is a civili
zation eminently superior to that of
the barbarous savages of Iran, and in
no way could cause the death of 290
innocent people. Iran, then, must be
somehow responsible, he asserts (as
most of us tend to).
According to the article, Forsythe
said “the captain probably acted cor
rectly _” A reasonable assumption,
supported by the initial Pentagon
claims that the aircraft was off course,
broadcasting as an F-14 fighter, at
high speed, and descending directly
for the U.S.S. Vincennes, all typical
signs of a fighter plane preparing to
shoot missiles.
Forsythe must have begun to see
the outline of a conspiracy after hear
ing these claims: The Iranians, sick of
U.S. military presence, herded 290
people (Indian and other foreign citi
zens included) aboard a plane,
equipped it with a military transpon
der, used gunboats to fire on the
Vincennes to create tension, diverted
the hapless planeload of passengers
from normal plane routes, sped up,
descended (to appear as a fighter),..
. and so on, and so on.
But according to a July 7 article in
the Boston Globe, Secretary of De
fense Frank Carlucci indicated that
the aircraft “may not have been flying
outside the commercial air traffic
corridor, may not have been descend
ing, and may not have been veering
off course ...” The assertion that the
plane broadcast as an F-14 is an arbi
trary one; there is no international set
of channels specific planes must use
to identify themselves. The captain of
the Vincennes only inferred that the
plane was a F-14. Add to this the fact
that an A300 Airbus could never
achieve the speed of an F-14, not even
a substantial fraction of it, and doubts
ensue.
The flight, it seems, may merely
have been a commercial one luckless
enough to pass directly over a U.S.
Navy ship equipped with imprecise
electronics and a trigger-happy cap
lain.
But all of this aside, Forsythe
maintains that “you cannot rule out
that they were willing to sacrifice 290
people to embarrass the United
States.” While I respect Forsythe’s
eminence as a professor of political
science, and do not wish to belittle it,
perhaps his assessment arises as a
rationalization necessary to placate a
guilty conscience.
Even if the incident was indeed
some absurd Iranian plot, the people
of the United States are responsible
for the killing of 290 human beings.
God knows my conscience is still
reeling from it.
Christopher Potter
Junior
Physics
■ .
Votes, Ed not tound at boviet caucus
CONVENTIONS from Page 4
whole team of surveillance experts
sweep the place for all manner of
microphones and hidden wires. They
unscrew phone receivers, check un
der the ham in the complimentary
sandwiches and search the “party
donkey" for electronic “ticks” and
noise-activated smegma beans. After
all, there arc sensitive party strategies
being discussed here.
The Soviets take bugs for granted.
They speak right into them. Usually
they planted the bugs themselves
years earlier, when they were up and
coming young Communists. They
like listening to themselves later at
KGB headquarters.
5. Peonle Named Fd At the
Democratic Convention, every other
person is named Ed. At the Soviet
conference, no one is named Ed. The
classical pianist dreams of being
called Ed.
6. Voting. The Democratic dele
gates vote endlessly. They sometimes
vote up to 20 limes per day. They vote
on what they’ll have for lunch. They
vote on who will get to ride the “party
donkey.” They vole on whether or not
a vote should be taken.
Old Soviets hrumph if someone
suggests a vote. Gorbachev suggested
several votes, but nobody wanted to
play along. The Soviets consider
voting a time-consuming game. They
know exactly what they want for
lunch two days in advance and the
“party bear” is in the Soviet National
Zoo.
7. Speeches. Democrats: “The
reason we have been called together
here in this place to ponder a historic
and wondrous party unity and unity
lhai we hope will inspire a deeper,
more lasting unity for all of our coun
try and, if I can say so and retain a
certain necessary humility, the world
at large..
Soviets: “Nyet. Hrumph.”
8. The Candidates. Michael
Dukakis is the son of Greek immi
grants. He was in Greece once for four
whole hours. His running mate is a
Texas Republican masquerading as a
Democrat, which often happens in the
South. One must keep in mind that
George Wallace, whose major goal in
life was to repeal the Emancipation
Proclamation, was a Democrat. Jesse
Jackson is a real Democrat who’s
been to Greece for whole days at a
time. He is going to smile all the way
through the convention because he’s
not on the Democratic ticket but he
wants to show he’s not a spoilsport.
He’s going to sit on the platform and
smile while several guys named Ed
call for a vote on lunch. What’s he
thinking? He’s thinking he’d like to
play classical piano.
Gorbachev is a New Wave Com
munist. Unlike the older set at the
conference, he’s not real concerned
about the tractor as a symbol of revo
l
lutionary renewal. He a iikc me so
viet Union to have its own stock
market. He likes girls and wine. He,
also unlike his colleagues, has pur
chased a suit made after 1914. If he
even looks at Greece the wrong way,
he’s in trouble. His vocabulary ex
tends well beyond “hrumph.” He’s
what’s known in the Soviet Union as
a man treading on a very thin wire.
As you can see, the lines may be
blurring, but they’re still there. Who
knows? Maybe next lime around you
won’t be able to tell the players with
out a scorecard.
I.ieurancc is a senior Knglish major and is
the Summer Daily Nebraskan editorial page
editor.
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