4
Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J. Christopher Hain.Editor, 472-1766
Doug Kouma....Managing Editor
Doug Peters......Opinion Page Editor
Sarah Scalet..1.Associate News Editor
Matt Waite...Associate News Editor
Michelle Garner.Wire Editor
Jennifer Mapes..Columnist
BretGottschall/DN
Money talks
Campaign becomes more than ideas
As of Tuesday evening, columnist Pat Buchanan began receiv
ing Secret Service protection.
President Buchanan he is not. Presidential candidate Buchanan
he certainly is, heading what has become a cramped field for the
Republican nomination.
A slim Buchanan victory in the New Hampshire primary gives
the former Nixon and Reagan staffer needed momentum for the
road to the San Diego convention. But what will vault Buchanan
over the top or allow another candidate to break his momentum,
sadly enough, will be money.
Buchanan’s fragile win has created a three-way dog-fight be
tween himself, Senate majority leader Bob Dole and former Ten
nessee governor Lamar Alexander. Buchanan garnered 27 percent
of the Granite State vote, while Dole and Alexander were close
behind with 26 and 23 percent, respectively.
Buchanan, Dole and Alexander were able to take their messages
directly to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. But as the next pri
maries come fast and furious, candidates will not be able to deliver
that kind of personal touch.
Dole’s second-place finish could be a fatal blow to his campaign.
Once a clear-cut front runner, he is losing the race of ideas. But the
Kansas senator still has a firm lead in the race for money.
Dole began February with $4.8 million in the bank, compared to
$425,000 for Alexander and only $101,192 for Buchanan. And
Dole’s nationwide political organization serves to give him an even
greater advantage.
Strong showings by Buchanan and Alexander will help them raise
funds, but they are handicapped by a lack of time. Many states have
moved their primaries up, giving candidates less time not only to
spread their ideas from state-to-state but to round up money. This
could give the well-known, well-financed Dole a big boost.
Sadly, the Republican presidential campaign now becomes not
only a war of conservative ideas, but a war of money.
Editorial policy
Staff editorials represent the official
policy of the Spring 1996 Daily Ne
braskan. Policy is set by die Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials
do not necessarily reflect the views of
the university, its employees, the stu
dents or the NU Board of Regents.
Editorial columns represent the opin
ion of the author. The regents publish
the Daily Nebraskan. They establish
the UNL Publications Board to super
vise the daily production of the paper.
According to policy set by the regents,
responsibility fix die editorial content
of die newspaper lies solely in the
hands of its students.
Letter policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the
editor ftwn all readers and interested others. Letters
will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity,
originality, timeliness and space available. The Daily
Nebraskan retains the right to edit or rej ect all material
submitted. Readers also are welcome to submit mate
rial as guest opinions. The editor decides whether
material should run as a guest opinion. Letters and
guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the
property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be re
turned. Anonymous submissions will not be pub
lished. Letters should include the author’s name, year
in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Re
quests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit
material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union,
.1400 R SL Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
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m h James Mehsling/DN
One man’s words
U.S. intervention worth saving thousands
TUZLA, Bosnia-Herzcgovina—
I had been there only a little more
than a day and already I had been
overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed with sorrow,
overwhelmed with guilt, over
whelmed with disgust.
It was Friday, Feb. 9, coming up
on 5:45 p.m. in Tuzla. In Lincoln, it
was 10:45 a.m.; I was missing
Spanish class.
For Americans, it was the end of
the work week. It was time to party.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
students would be heading to the
bars and to the parties in droves in
just hours.
I spent that Friday in a refugee
camp for the crippled and the old. I
saw filth and suffering that would
make Americans sick. These people
live there every day.
Every day for the last four to six
years.
Amid dirty floors, bed pans that
had not been changed in many
hours, a stench that made your
stomach turn and people in every
state of suffering imaginable—this
was how I spent that day.
As I wrote this, I sat in my 1,000
Deutsche Mark-pcr-weck flat that a
large family would normally live in,
a flat that is freezing cold, with little
heat, and with water for only three
hours a day — and this was consid
ered very nice.
I felt guilty.
Guilty to be the American I was.
Ignorant and, for some goddammed
reason, I was proud of it.
The good old American spirit of
Not In My Back Yard was the way I
used to think. I figured if it did not
affect me, my community or my
state, then I didn’t need to care.
Not anymore. Not after that day.
That day, I realized I am not just
an American and proud to be one, I
am a human being—just like the
other five billion human beings on
this planet.
The whole debate over whether
or not we should send troops here to
defend the peace in Bosnia would
end quickly if everyone who wants
to keep our soldiers home would
talk to Halid Hodzic.
He is a Muslim survivor of
“ethnic cleansing.” He does not
breathe well because of massive
internal injuries from beatings he
sustained at the hands of Serbs.
He was forced to watch 43 young
Matthew Waite
“The whole debate over
whether or not we
should send troops here
to defend the peace in
Bosnia would end
quickly if everyone who
wants to keep our
soldiers home would talk
to Halid Hodzic. ”
men, including his son-in-law, have
their throats cut because they were
Muslim and of fighting age.
Halid is blind in one eye because
he had firecrackers put there as a
means of torture. He also had
firecrackers put in his mouth,
burning it so he couldn’t eat.
He weeps when he thinks about
the camp he was in, about the
beatings he went through and about
the 43 men he saw killed.
And he is (me of thousands.
Many more were not so lucky
and were killed because they were
Muslim.
As his mother sat next to him
crying, he thanked me and Staci
McKee, the Daily Nebraskan photo
chief, for coming to Bosnia to listen
to his story. He thanked us for
sending the troops, as if we had
something to do with it.
His mother also thanked us for
the troops, saying that hopefully the
troops would free her home in a
small village outside of Srebrenica.
She asked me if they would. I
said through an interpreter that only
if the politicians told the soldiers to
free her house would they do it.
She understood.
Halid begged me to tell the world
his story because the world needed
to know it.
He is no special man. He is a
common shop keeper.
But he is a human being, just like
me and you and everyone else on
this planet. And he has endured
suffering as no other person ever
should have to endure.
He and his two daughters
survived. His son-in-laws did not.
Many others did not.
If American troops keep shells
from falling, keep innocent people
from dying needlessly, keep war
from breaking out between ethnic
groups, then I believe with all my
heart that they should be here.
I spent time at the U.S. base here
in Tuzla. For the soldiers, when it is
not miserable and cold, it is really
boring because there is nothing to
do.
When I was interviewing a guy
from Nebraska who was with the
artillery branch on the base, his
whole squad gathered around to
listen as if it was story time. They
had nothing else better to do; we
were free entertainment.
The soldiers are kept on base.
They are not allowed to go into
Tuzla on their free time. They are
stuck in tents and drafty buildings
with a couple of televisions.
Their presence alone, however,
has kept everyone on their best
behavior. No shells, no snipers in
Tuzla, the heart of the American
operation, and no more genocide.
Some soldiers have been injured
or killed while here in Bosnia. But
the death and several of the injuries
could have been avoided —
accidents and mistakes.
One soldier asked me, off the
record, if one American life was
worth this place. He said no, and I
didn’t answer.
Now I know.
Is one American life worth
thousands upon thousands of others?
You do the math.
And if you still say no, I would
like you to meet my friend Halid.
Waite Is a Jailor news-editorial major
and a Dally Nebraskan associate news edi
tor.
Editor's note: A complete account of Halid
Hodzlc’s story will appear In tomorrow's
Dally Nebraskan, as Matthew Waite's ac
count of Ms time In Tuzla continues.