EDITORIAL
Noriega trial was
simply for show
Like the Canadian Mounties of old. the Bush ad
ministration finally got its man. The only question is ...
was it worth it?
I.ust Thursday, a Miami jury found former Panama
nian dictator Con. Manuel Noriega guilty on eight
counts of cocaine trafficking, money laundering and
racketeering The 14 member jury, which haggled for
five days and was at one time dangerously dose to
deadlock, threw out two other charges.
Noriega's conviction ends a saga that began nearly
five years ago. First there was a diplomatic crisis when
Noriega wouldn't accede to then-President Reagan’s
wishes. Next came the the US invasion of Panama,
which deposed Noriega and put him on trial. Now, the
guilty verdict.
From this corner, there is little doubt that Noriega
was guilty .is sin. The evidence was there and was
nearly overwhelming But what the jury apparently
didn't consider, and what the defense attorneys proved
with equal vigor, was that Noriega, for most of his poli
tical i areer. was a patsy and front man for the t ,'nited
States
For years. Noriega was on the (TA payroll The
United States saw him as a stanch ally in (Central
America leader of a valuable country with a long ca
nal running through it He was but one dictator we
supported.
However, times change, and like Saddam Hussein
found out, the U S, government has a nasty habit of
turning on former dictatorial buddies when the politi
cal climate cools. When Noriega was no longer valu
able. and he began to thumb his nose at them, he w.ts a
goner.
The invasion killed several hundred Panama
nians. 2.) American soldiers and did more than SI bil
lion damage to a country already staggering under the
economic chaos of the Noriega regime There is no tell
ing how much the seven-month trial cost the taxpayers.
And it might all be for naught. The grounds for ap
peal in this case are staggering. Illegal seizure, U.S.•vio
lation of Noriega's lawyer-client privilege, a possible
prisoner of war status — these are all assertions
Noriega's defense has brought up for questioning This
is prime materia! for an appellate court.
The worst thing about the Noriega trial was the
hypocrisy. Bush, who ordered the invasion, was sim
ply looking tor some tangible evidence that he was
"fighting the drug war " Noriega's conviction will do
nothing to stop the drug trade. Uocaine has come
across the American borders unabated by his incarcera
tion It was all just for show.
yon Daily
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LETTERS
Snooze alarm
I)car snoozing students
It sit-ins snnii' of vmi have
gotten 111«■ l.Mi tonlused with,
your bedrooms Nnnnyingly.
often when we try to find a (jU)
et plat i* to study, such as the
International Loungi* «1 r tin*
loin Taylor Memorial Lounge,
tliere is nowhere to sit Not U
t .him* it is pun pat ked vs ith
studying students but bet a use
it is occupied h\ snoozing stu
dents. some of who think it is
their living room and take off
their shoes
I m sorry' It is mu onsiderute
I hey take up vs hole t out lies
Why not trv sleeping sitting up
so others < an study hy you? We
have the < onsideration not to
vs.ike you. so now have some
lor us and st oot over'
Michollo Balzola
Gayle Forman
Students
Cuts hurt
A*. .1 stuili'nt lur whom l.ng
lish is a sim olid language «ml
who often st.imis behind the
si ('lies ,111(1 slllihos thu Issues. I
rarely go into the public eve to
express mv views However,
angered hv |ose|)h Wong s lei
ter (I >1>1 April (d. I .im fori ed
to m.ike ms views understood
No one i .m s more .ibout di
versilv ASl () sen. u ex ami free
seats lo home games more than
I I have signed the petition he
cause I feel all students should
have the opportunity to make
their feelings heard
The U) pert cut i ut w ill hurt,
hut lor the sake of argument,
we must ( onsider the uu reused
efficient v of the multiplying
bureaucracy We must 1) put
students ir.it k into student pro
grams and services. J) replace
stipends with w o r k
study internship opportunities,
and most importantly t) let in
dividuals who have genuine
concerns for the student body
lead!
The It) percent from one in
dividual doesn't matter much;
however, from It'.000 students,
tile Incidental l-'ee Committee
may suffer a bullet wound
How fast tins wound heals tie
ponds on tile efficiency of the
a Hoi a! ions I am in support of
and w illing to pa\ more lor a
more efficient, more .innun!
able and inuri' person,ible gov
eminent
it's time for us to etui these
bure.iin ratl< games of politics
and gel serious a! re evaluating
opportunit\ costs that go into
pub!it goods and to free riders
I)ou King and ifollv Ferguson
li,iu done just that They have
opened tin- ironcurtain setup
between tie IK', and ASt’O ex
ec utixes to tr\ to work together
\ i ite not from w bat the so
1 ailed politic inn promises, fmt
vote bum what she or be has
accomplished Please join me
in studying the issues at band
and lasting votes in the pri
ntarv and general elec lions, and
show that we students still
Trl Huu Bui
Political sclenc#
Dysfunctional
An- homosexuals u product
ol recruitment or genetic pro
disposition? Thom are persua
sivi' arguments lor both sides
Personally, I believe inherited
homosexuality is an oxymoron,
but that's not the point How
mx ietv should regard dysfunc
tlonal behavior should not lie
determined by whether or not
il is inherited
Homosexuality has many
similarities to alcoholism Ho
mosexual behavior, (list as the
behavior ol alcoholism (which
many consider to lx- inherited),
is dvslunctional and highly in
jurious to the individual, the
family unit, and six iety Morul
Itv completely aside, tills fxidi
ly destrui tiveness is clearly ev
ident in terms of vastly in
i reused health i are require
ments and drastically reduced
life expe< fancy lor both alco
holic s and homosexuals
We do no kindness to the al
coholic by endorsing or legiti
mizing their dysfunctional be
havior So homose\ual behav
ior shouldn't be embraced by
six ietv as an acceptable model
for human behavior Certainly
we would do a disservice to the
nation's children by telling
them homosexuality is stan
dard behavior
lust as alcoholics, homosexu
tils should !«' tile subject of our
benevolentnot to accept or
legitimize their conduc t, but
r.idler to assis! the person to be
i nine ,i more functional and
construe live member ol society
The most effective way we
(.in prevent government from
institutionalizing homosexuali
ty .is normal and .ice eptable be
havior is by signing Oregon Cit
izens Alliance's initiative peti
tion and then voting ' yes'' on
their ballot measure this fall
This is not mean-spirited."
"hateful." or any other thesau
rus derivation Quite the con
Iran it is the responsible and
loving tiling to do
Jon Wollander
Eugene
Mistruths
I usually don't involvu my
sell with tin: |k> 1 i11< s of student
government, hut alter reading
the liver Don King and Holly
Ferguson have been distribut
ing to greets, 1 f»;11 some
mistruths needed to he recti
fied
As a greet student and an
ASUO intern of a greet execu
tive member, it's dear King and
lergu son's statement that
greets are "ignored i>y student
government" is not true Iliey
also state there is a "lact of stu
dent government support" for
greet students, but the fact is
that more than half of the
ASUO staff is made up of greet
students In addition, the
ASIJO is currently vvorting
with greets in battling the ef
fe< ts of Measure 5
They claim greet students
"are in danger!" I agree greets
are in danger, but only if they
believe King and Ferguson's
desperate scare tactics. King
even verbally promised he
would hire an entire staff of
greet students
I certainly hope if 1 was to lx;
hired to an executive staff, it
would bo because of my experi
ence and abilities and not be
cause of my associations.
William Paabody
Studant