Editorial
Surprise in Panama
may lead to others
Like most Americans, we wore surprised by the
Hush Administration's decision to invade Panama and
remove strongman loader Manuel Noriega by force last
Dec: 20. And. probably like; most Kugeniuns (being the
good liberal folks ihev are), we wore initially cynical
about this latest exercise of I I S. military machoism.
Hut this is the* lirst chance: we've had to let our
opinion la: known on the invasion and the' benefit of
three weeks ol hindsight has tempered somewhat
oiii initial misgivings about Operation lust Clause
(though that stupid, jingoistic title* still smac ks of out
dated Manifest Heston imperialism to our minds)
I his tempering is due to the lac.I that while we
wen* surprised In the invasion we’ve been more sur
piiseel l>\ events that have tinlidded since then At
first, we subscribed, unalrashedlv. In nor favorite con
spiral.\ theories Pin: Hush Administration didn’t real
lv want to bring \oiiega to 111st ic <• \s a lormer ( l.\
lii*ad. Hush would nevei risk exposing publii Iv embar
rassing intelligenc e* lies that put \otiega in power and
fueled the di ug ec ononn Despite tin* tough posturing.
I he ad mini.st i at ion would t til a deal with Noriega
\nd at first it all looked that wav Noriega s dec
laralion of w.ti was too eas\ an opportunity for the
1 oiled Stales The deaths ol American mi lit.u\ person
nel bv I’anamanian thugs seemed too convenient
\nd then the invasion itself Some 2(1.00(1 troops
lolled in but appaientlv before sending in a team ol 20
Hangers to locate the large! dic tator Noriega disap
peared but showed up at a papal nunc m that had been
left unguarded despite the nuncios past history ot
tree refuge (a recent fusion too the opposition i an
didales thill won Panama's elections last Mav were
sheltered there from Noriega's Digmtv battalions)
It looked like Noriega would get shipped oil to a
third countrv out ot Panama but safelv out ot Hush’s
hail. It all seemed too convenient, too arranged
riicn ilii* suiprising thing happened. Hush held to
his tough talk of captuiing Noriega and bringing him
to the I'oiled States The administration appears ready
to withstand a long, embarrassing tried Wait a minute!
The Hush Administration doing what it said it would?
Our verv worst fear happened, in that our other fears
didn't The worst i ast: scenario didn't materialize.
( )! course, things «m*n t mushed yet I m* misn /\u
mimsti.iti<tn slill m.iy settle; for .1 plea bargain deal
with Noriega. And Id's be careful to reassess i.rafty ol'
(.forge just vet The nuncio bishop's recently released
diarv shows Hush was willing to send Noriega to a
wealthy exile in the Dominic an Republic but the tlic
tatoi ironically refused, fearing Panamanian assassins
The invasion stands as an unc haracteristically hold
move by Hush, who must have agonized over sending
troops out just before Christmas If Noriega had gotten
away nr if more soldiers had come home in body hags,
the political damage would have been immense In
stead. Hush is riding an all-time popularity < urve high
Still, the apparent turn of events from the sc ript we
expix led makes us hesitant to comment until things
are settled Was the invasion worth it:’ Was it .1 vie lory
in the larger ’ War on Drugs"? Was it a blow tor re
gional self-determination? Our gut reac tion is to "just
sav no" in answer, but history will have the final s.n
These items we arc* decided on: W e hope the Hush
Administration isn't so emboldened by the apparent
success of Operation )us! (anise to consider American
military intervention in this hemisphere* as .1 good al
ternative’ to diplomacy The outrage ol the Organiza
tion nl American Slates demonstrates the damage to
Americ an interests in the region
Administration officials say they have not revived
the- Monroe Den trine1 and that they won t use the ex
cuse of rigged elec lions in Nicaragua to invade there
Hut Hush lias ordered the Navv to begin .1 1 ampaigi) ot
drug interdiction oil the coast ol Columbia to that
country's dismay. and to ours.
We don't want a new "Hnsli Doctrine." To that
end. we tall lor the tpcii k withdrawal of IPS. troops
Irom Panama Their military mission is complete
I 'nfnrtunalelv t S involvement in Panama is
prohahlv just beginning After the military ac tion, we
now have the expensive task ol lehuilding Panama So
mm h lor the independent e ol the new Panamanian
government, which is living hard lint to appear as a
gringo puppet, as Noriega used to he Things look to
lie on the iip-aud-up. hut we still wondei what strings
are being pulled elsew Iteie
C/A S"iup
-Letters
Save your bike
W hili' 1 nisersils students
bicker with OPS .mil KIM) ovet
thi* cm rsMH* issue ot i itations
.1 iiiiii h larger problem is not
getting its share of attention
Ihousanils ul dollars umlli
ill bustles and hike parts are
stuleii Iruiii (lie I 'mversitv i am
pus eai h week Surprisingls
enough a lul ul these thefts
have hi i lined in tiroad das
light
II is inteasihle tin publii safe
Is and piilue olficers hi watc h
ever\ hike rack cnnsluntlv loi
signs nl theft so it s time that
students administration and
puhln safets ssnrk together to
solse the problem
There are mans students that
rels on Ini st les .is their main
form ol transportation. Hut
suite the numlier nl hike llielts
has ini leased more students
are afraid to ride to i ainpus and
are svulking, ruling the bus.
eti These students should not
have to live ssith the fear tli.it
their hikes might lie stolen it
(lies lot k up on rumpus
Mans students would !>c
ss tiling to pas money (say $'■ a
teim| to he able to loi k their
hikes ill a safe area II Hit) pen
jile svere interested, that ssould
give tin* t'niversits $1500 a
term In maintain a supervised
hike garage" where students
t.ould lot k their hikes ssith an
assuratlt e that tiles ssould he
safe Thieves would lie di.scour
aged, and these students ss ho
list* in tear i nulil ride to i am
pus out e again
This plan is only one idea,
and I entourage people ssith
ideas of their ossn to come lor
ward Hut for runs protect your
investment at all times The
hike you save mas be your
oss n
Adam Smith
Eugene
Ban them
This letter constitutes a i all
for .1 boyt ott of the band i ailed
the rhern I’oppitT Daddies,
and any < lub \tlio hires them or
allows them to play on the
premises
The name of the group insin
ii.lies llir approv.il ol. an on
couragernent of. at the very
least an ai i eplance of the fre
quent and horrifving truth that
is the rape ol voting girls b\
then lathers
The hand i aused an uproar
last year with its choice ol
name capitulated to puhlii
pressure and i hanged it
The\ 're bar k this \ ear. and ap
parentlv haven't learned that
\\e wont stand for it
Did they think we wouldn't
notice? Surr\ it’s an issue, a
problem. that hasn't been
sol\ ed
It s time to stop this sexual
violence against women and
t hildren No. vou wouldn't
rape anyone, so show vour out
rage .it those u ho do by stn\ mg
awa\ when these bos s |ila\
Apparently, they want noto
riety Fine Let's just not give
them any more money for their
lack ol respect, lark of under
standing and lar k of memorv
Kate Mar.Queen
hugene
Coercion
The proposed mandatory
ASI'O health insurance re
i|uirement lor the 19911-9 1 at a
demii year is an outrage It
smacks ol "central planning"
ol the very sort that has bank
rupted economies of commu
nist nations the inefficien
i ies and inequities of which
hundreds of thousands of peo
ple in I astern Furope are daily
rising up against in a i horns of
protest
I he student bureauc rats in
the ASl'O either presume to
know what's best for <<11 stu
dents or they realize that forc
ing students to purchase a
product they neither want nor
need is wrong and unfair, hut
justify it with the rationale that
some students w ill benefit even
if others .ire penalized
In the wake of rising costs
and eroding benefits in the
ASl'O plan, many students
have shopped around com
pared available health plans
and pure based other coverage
These students decided the
ASl'() plan was inferior to their
alternatives
Many younger students are
covered through their family
h(*alth insurance plans 1 un
derstand the ASI'O i mild ntlet
a better plan it all students
were Ion ed to purchase it. lull
it these lower rates are ai hiev
able only bv coen ion it simply
isn't fair The benefits are mi
i ertain. and not worth the sac
i iln e of our individual freedom
ol i hoice
II the AM () could formulate
a plan that could stand on its
merits, students would bin it
v\ ithout coon ion Hut the trai k
ret ord is not encouraging I’ei
haps the honest answer to the
i urrenl quagmire is simply that
the ASI'O should not be in the
health insurance business at
all.
Peter Mark
Computer Scienc e
No martyrs
In response to the letter
•Darn'' (O/JK. Dec 8). I must
ask Did not Hitler. Capone and
a host ol others die tor a c ause
their cause? Since when
does dying lor a cause make
you someone great7
Also if anyone would like to
read one of those "Unmasking
Planned Parenthood" papers
see me They came complete
with reference's to Margaret
Sanger's own writings, whic h
are supposed to be in the
knight Library
Bob Weigel
l.ab Tec:h
Research
I would like to publicly note
<i mistake which was made in
the latest issue of The Student
Insurgent.
Although 1 agree wholeheart
edly with the viewpoints ex
pressed in the article on Stu
dents for Choice and Rep rod u<
live freedom. 1 feel that it is
necessary to point out that 1 am
not the author of the art it le
Some of the ideas are mine, but
1 did not write the article I
merely researched it
Rene DeCair
Pre-lournalism