*-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