Oregon daily emerald., November 21, 1974, Page 4, Image 4

editorials
>
The FBI is
a greater threat
The Justice Department revealed this week that between
1956 and 1971 a "counter-intelligence program" of dirty tricks
was carried out against the Socialist Workers Party, the Ku
Klux Klan, the Communist Party and a variety of New Left
groups.
The committee which wrote the report on "Cointelpro"
activities said that some of them were "reprehensible in a free
society."
But Attorney General William Saxbe said most of the actions
taken by the FBI were legitimate. "Indeed," said Saxbe, "the
programs were in response to numerous public and even
congressional demands for stronger action by the federal
government." Saxbe did say that such programs would not
reoccur under his administration. FBI Director Clarence Kelly
has defended "Cointelpro" even more strongly.
The FBI's activities first came to light in 1971 when radicals
broke into the Media, Pa., FBI office and found evidence of
them. But the details of the program were not known until
now. Included were:
— telling the families of target individuals that they were
engaging in "immoral or radical" activities.
— giving the same kind of information to employers and
creditors
— anonymously publicizing such information when the
individual ran for public office.
— putting pressure on employers, landlords and state and
local governments to harass the target individual
Saxbe's statements on the matter display his typical am
bivalence. Indeed, since taking the helm at Justice, Saxbe has
shown an unusual ability for putting both feet in his mouth at
the same time.
The "Cointelpro" activities are thoroughly reprehensible.
For the U.S. Attorney General or FBI director to say that any
of them were legitimate is equally reprehensible.
The government has acted as if freedom only applies to
those people and groups that keep their criticism within
certain bound. Those groups who have the audacity to
question or challenge the system itself are subject to
harassment, intimidation or worse.
The Declaration of Independence, in assuring the rights to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness says that "whenever
any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it
is the right of the people to alter or abolish it..."
The target groups of FBI harassment all-in one way or
another—challenge the underpinnings of the Americn
government. It is their right to do so. FBI harassment is an
abhorrent violation of free speech.
By imposing limits on dissent and free speech, the FBI has
shown itself to be a greater threat to freedom than any of the
groups it sought to intimidate.
A simple case
The following excerpt is from an Associated Press story
dated Nov. 19. It speaks for itself:
Nixon and Colson discussed clemency for Hunt on Jan. 8,
1973, the day former CIA agent Hunt went on trial for the
Watergate burglary.
"Hunt's is a simple case," said Nixon. "...We'll build that
son-of-a-bitch up like nobody's business. We'll have Buckley
write a column and say, you know, that he, that he should
have clemency, if you've given 18 years of service... That's it.
It's on the merits."
Columnist William Buckley is a long-time friend of Hunt's
and at one time served in the CIA with him.
Buckley said Monday in an interview, "I don't need to be
reminded to write a column urging clemency for sons-of
bitches, as Mr. Nixon should know from persona! experience."
Writers wanted
The Emerald is seeking faculty and students interested in
writing opinion columns for "Science and Society," a multi
part series to be published during the Winter term.
Topics for the series are yet undefined, allowing wide
latitude for writers. Potential topics may range from specific
issues such as military contracts for scientific research to more
philosophical questions such as the impact on society of the
assumptions underlying the scientific method.
Columns will be selected for publication on the basis of
interest and the quality of writing. Potential contributors are
urged to contact Lee Siegel, editorial page editor, Box 3159,
Eugene 97403 with their ideas for columns. Or call 686-5511
and leave a message.
V,
Letters
Obscene
Until last Friday I would not have
believed one would see an ob
scene caricature of Yassir Arafat
in a student paper, the editors of
which supposedly have
judgement not easily swayed by
propaganda, as well as historical
perspective.
All through history desperate
victims of alien invaders have
defended themselves by the kind
of warfare which their weakness
dictated, even though it is not
condoned by the Geneva con
vention. In recent history the
nationals of various countries who
used terror against the German
invaders were acclaimed as
heroes.
Furthermore, it doesn't take
much historical knowledge to
remember organizations, such as
Hagannah, Irgun Zwai Leumi, and
the Stern Gang, whose un
mitigated terror toppled the
British rule over Palestine. For
tunately, the British, realizing that
the coldblooded counterterror of
governments is more abominable
than the hot blooded terror in
dividuals did not bomb Jewish
settlements because of a
suspicion that terrorists might
have found refuge there.
One would like to ask
progressive students why they
prefer a state which selects its
citizens bv race and is dominated
by religious zealots to a
democratic, secular binational
society as envisioned by Arafat.
A strident propaganda to the
contrary, it is not the existence of
the Jewish people in Palestine
which is at stake. At stake is
justice for the Palestinians, which
entails an end to the dreams of a
Jewish superstate large enough
to settle every Jew in the world.
Today, thoughtful Israelis rue
having refused to negotiate with
Hussein before the latter had to
give up the West bank. Will
tomorrow the few survivors of a
large incinerated world, including
Israelis, damn the Tel-Aviv
government for having refused to
negotiate with Arafat?
A.E. Brettauer
2956 Willamette St.
Eugene, Or 97405
Ail appeal
May ! use your platform for an
appeal? During 1972-73 I believe it
was the Black Student Graduate
Council that sponsored a
publication called Blackness Is. At
least four issues came out but the
library was never able to get any
issues because it was "not for
general circulation." It was, of
course, subsidized by student
funds.
Will anyone in the University
community donate such issues as
he may have to the library? We
collect for the purposes of both
Oregon social history and
University history.
Walter Slocum
library
ext. 3036
Library concerns
While I found Bill Strubbe's
article on the Department of
History (Nov. 14) to have been, in
the main, an accurate and well
written representation of our
current situation, I wish to
comment upon two aspects of the
piece. Both concern the
University library.
(1) The critical remarks by
colleagues and graduate students
concerned the administration's
inadequate financial support of
the library. No one in the
Department of History wishes to
impugn the integrity of
professionalism of the library's
staff.
(2) My remark concerning the
impossibility for faculty to do
primary research in the library
outside certain areas of American
history was meant to extend to
graduate students interested in
primary research outside certain
areas of American history. Mr.
Strubbe quoted me as saying that
all thesis writers would find it
impossible to do primary research
in the University library. This isn't
so. The special collections division
of the library is rich in manuscripts
dealing with the history of
Oregon, right-wing American
political movements, the
Philippines campaign of the
Spanish American War, and
certain other aspects of U.S.
history. However, two thirds of
the history department faculty
and fully half of our graduate
students are not in American
history and most of our un
dergraduate course offerings are
outside American history as well.
At present support levels the
library cannot come close to
keeping up wifh the published
scholarship in the fields taught by
the history department, and
neither the faculty nor graduate
students can do primary research
in printed sources because the
funds are lacking for acquisition
of these sources.
Raymond Birn, head,
history department
Two comments
First, in the Nov. 13 issue, Sylvia
Frankie, after condemning the
irrational acts of violence by the
Palestinian Liberation
Organization, tells us that the UN
has no right to function if "a
majority could be reached for a
resolution declaring that a
country, Israel, member of the
UN, can be‘destroyed."
What Sylvia has forgotten here
is, that in creating Israel, a nation
also known for arbitrary irrational
acts of violence, (i.e. air strikes on
bordering villages suspected of
harboring PLO members,
knowing that Arab village people
will be killed, while the military
oriented PLO will escape) the UN
effectively destroyed the nation of
Palestine. Did the UN have the
right to function in that case?
Secondly, in the Nov. 14 issue,
Michael Stone pointed out that
due to the existence of "nuts who
devote their lives to making sure
it's going to be them instead of
us' when the time comes" inside
the highest positions in the
military, that we should not leave
the task of educating our future
military officers to the military
academies. A very good point.
The military bureaucracy is
designed to fend off criticism and
change from the outside (even in
case of uproar from Congress and
the American people). For that
reason I am convinced that the
University should take a special
interest in educating future
military officers, making damn
sure that they develop a clear
picture of the world situation.
Allen Klefstad Jones
sophomore, FAA
Letters policy
The Emerald will accept and try
to print all letters containing fair
comment on ideas and topics of
concern or interest to the
University community. Because
of space limitations, tetters must
be no more than 250 words —
typed, triple spaced, dated and
signed with the person's major or
discipline. Longer opinion
columns will be run whenever
possible after being submitted to
the editorial page editor. The limit
on opinion columns is 1,200
words using the same format as
letters