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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1973)
*-Editorial Nixon using POWs again Once again the Nixon administration is using the POW issue to cloud over the real issues involved in Vietnam. In the past Nixon himself has used this highly emotional issue to playoff the emotions of the public. Time and again he has pulled some trick or other in Vietnam, tried to explain it away, and then thrown in a side comment about how this will bring the POWs home sooner. Now that the cease fire is ostensibly in effect we find Pentagon and State Department officials protesting the fact that Hanoi’s POW lists do not match theirs. Hanoi says they have 555 POWs at the present time while 55 have died after capture. The Pentagon says there should be at least 100 more names on the list. Before heart strings are pulled to the breaking point, a more rational look should be taken at this problem. For one thing the Pentagon’s credibility in matters such as this is not very high. Their ability to keep track of bodies, theirs and ours, was discredited long ago. In addition, two cases of Pentagon mishandling of POW counts casts even greater doubt on their methods of com piling lists. Marine Pfc. Ronald L. Ridgeway, listed as dead since 1968 has been found alive and well in a Vietnamese POW camp. And Pvt. Frederick L. Elbert, long considered a deserter, has turned up in a camp also. There is no reason to believe Hanoi is deliberately holding back on its lists. It is conceivable Hanoi won’t have a complete list of POWs for some time since com munications between guerilla units isn’t always perfect. Besides there is no real reason for Hanoi to keep the POWs any longer. Many listed as Missing In Action (MIA) will probably never be fully ac counted for. Almost 1,300 persons are listed as MIA. Even Pentagon officials have said that planes shot down over the incredibly thick jungle canopy of In dochina may have never been found either by government troops or North Viet namese. Infantry soldiers separated from their units could be completely lost in a matter of minutes—never to be heard from again. Given the Pentagon’s penchant for picking up pieces of bodies and counting them as dead—as in the case of Ronald Ridgeway—it is also conceivable that many of the MIAs are dead. This is not to say that efforts to get a final accounting of all POWs and MIA should be dropped. But efforts to find the true facts of the situation should be done through cooperation, not through emotional attacks. The Nixon administration will be hurting efforts for peace if it continues to use the POW issue for crass political ends. Letfers In perspective Regarding your article about MECHA and some statements about a certain patriotic festivity in Mexico, we would like to take exception to two pants: The battle took place in Puebla, May 5th, 1862, not 1864. So much fa- histaical precision. Our second criticism is more on the meaning of the “fiesta”. The battle represents a military victoy of very small consequences in the bat tlefield. A pyrrhic victory, due to the fact that Puebla was taken by the French a few days later. From the ideological pant of view it only represents the idea that a few men in a moment of heroism could defeat a numerically superior and better prepared enemy who lacked the patriotic motivation. The fourth of July in the United States is Independence Day, and it has an equivalent celebration in Mexico, the 16th of September (1810) when a group a men started the fight for independence against the Spanish colonizers. To celebrate national holidays of all sorts is a very patriotic ideal, but it is also essential to understand the signficance of the date, both historically and ideologically, so it could be seen in the proper perspective by people both of our culture and of a foreign one. Antonio Gil Juan Gomez Romance Languages Is it legal A chain letter type money making scheme came into the College Inn Saturday. Always ready to make an easy buck, the students have flocked around this opportunity. According to the format, there is really no way a person can lose. All he has to do is “buy” the letter from someone for $10. This letter tells the instructions, plus has a list of ten names on it. Also attached is a five dollar money order. Hie buyer of the letter does only five things: 1) he mails the money order to the first person on the list ; 2) he moves every other name on the list up one slot and inserts his name as no. 10; 3) he types out two identical copies of the letter, with the adjusted list of names on it; 4) he destroys his original letter; 5) he purchases two $5 money orders, and at taches one to each new letter, which he then sells for $10 apiece. By selling the two new letters, the person assures himself of losing no money. Then, _* all he has to do is sit back and wait for the money orders to roll in. Once the investor’s name reaches the top spot of the sacred list, all the newcomers will be sending five bucks to him. It sounds simple, but shady. However, it The Emerald will print one (1) letter from, one (1) letter for and one (1) letter against each candidate running for office during regularly scheduled ASUO primary and general elections. All letters must be typed, double or triple spaced, dated and signed in ink. Signatures must have accompanying address information. Letters exceeding 230 words in length will not be run. All letters intended for publication before the winter term primary election must be submitted no later than 3 p.m. Feb. 9, 1973. Letters intended for publication before the general election must be submitted no later than 3 p.m. Feb. 16. The Emerald will choose letters for and against candidates on the basis of date submitted. Candidates with questions regarding the policy are asked to contact the Emerald, 301 Allen Hail. 686-3712. supposedly has been found completely legal by a bevy of lawyers in California, who were consulted by the original schemers. Is it really legal? It would be enlightening to know with certainty. Maybe someone around campus can find out for sure. Who knows, if it is legitimate everyone at the university can invest and we can give all the proceeds to the school in hope of smaller classes and lower fees? Curt McKay Keep the faith Certainly students took note of the crass disregard shown for students’ rights when Chancellor Roy Lieuallen testified here last week in support of SB 47. Never forget when “apathy” is cast in our faces in the future. Middle-aged people long ago were beaten into the kind of apathy Lieuallen and his “establishment” backers seek to impose. P.S. Your editorial “Lettuce Boycott Can Work” graced my office door for over a week. Your January 24th editorial, “As Empty As the Words” pointing out the hollowness of Nixon’s peace words and the continued wisdom of Senator Wayne Morse hit the bull’s eve. Keep the faith and keep up the fight. Wally Priestley State Representative A senate ageada Perhaps it would be useful for the ASUO Senate to sit down (take a breath) and consider what things they want to do, what things are within their power to do, and how and by when they are going to do those things. I am suggesting, I suppose, that the Senate put aside their immediate business, for a short while, and take a hard look at who they are and where they are going. One might recall that the Human Ser vices planners from the Northwest recently met in Eugene for a 30 hour (in two days) "brainstorming” concerning their direction for the next few years. They were to have done several months worth of work in those two days. The benefits of such a planning session, for any ad ministrative or legislative body, would seem to be immense. The ASUO Senate might do well to emulate the methodology of the Human Services people. David Sonnenfeld Independent Studies WAITING OUT THE PEACE
