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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1998)
CONTACTING US NEWSROOM: ADDRESS: (541)346-5511 Oregon Daily Emerald E-MAIL P.O.BOX 3159 ode@oregon uoregon.edu Eugene, Oregon 97403 ONLINE EDITION: www.uoregon.edu/-ode EDITOR IN CHIEF Sarah Kickler EDITORIAL EDITOR Mike Schmierbach NIGHT EDITOR Carl Yeh .1 ..mu...wiiiiiin.an.. ......nil...■■it Latin America’s lesson: Make U.S. policy moral The US. government’s treatment of “our little region ” reveals the sort of aggression for which Clinton has lambasted Iraq The manner in which former Secre tary of War Henry Stimson re ferred to Latin America is an illus tration of how the U.S. government has traditionally viewed the area: “Our little region over here.” The implication, of course, is that the United States is in charge and responsible for the fate of the region. This credo is as tonishing in its arrogance, and yet the latter part is plainly true. The reason it is true has nothing to do with U.S. “hegemony” or "super power status,” and it cer tainly has nothing to do with our "peacemaking role,” as policy-makers might like you to think. It’s true because some of the most hideous crimes of the 20th centu OPINION 12sSm Jeff Shaw ry have been run in Central America via Washington, paid for by your tax dollars. Before we try to bring peace and justice to other regions of the world, we might try to work for them here in “our little region.” These conclusions are mine, not neces sarily Dan Goldrich’s, but Goldrich’s talk on Feb. 17 helps explain the historical background of the U.S.-backed atrocities. His remarks come at an appropriate time to assess U.S. objectives and the morality of our foreign policy. More than ever, we are trying to expand our sphere of influence — the Iraq crisis being only the most visible example. It’s fair to ask how we’ve done so far. Goldrich, a political science professor, covered many nations and many years in his remarks. I have chosen for the sake of depth to concentrate on Nicaragua. When the Sandinistas came to power in 1979, the efforts at land reform and public health initiatives were derided as “creep ing socialism.” Goldrich points out that fear of international communism com bined with Jimmy Carter’s brokerage of the Panama Canal treaty left Carter vulnerable politically. Reagan attacked him for “giving away the U.S. position in Latin America.” Of course, Reagan’s version of events left out the government that came before the Sandinistas: President Anastasio Somoza and his murderous private army, the Na tional Guard, were hated throughout Nicaragua. In contrast, the democratically elected Sandinistas had widespread popu lar support. “But does anybody in the Unit ed States know the history of Nicaragua, that the United States set up the Somozas in the first place?” Goldrich asked. “No, but who cares? [The Sandinistas] are there, and Jimmy Carter let them take over.” In short, the violent regime we had sus tained so alienated the people that the San dinistas couldn’t help but look good to the Nicaraguans. But once Reagan rode the Red Scare wave (among others) into office, So i&r*?- \ * moza’s bloodthirsty legions were evacuat ed by the United States. We trained them in assassination, sabotage and kidnapping. Then we flew them back to wreak havoc. We called them Contras. Our president said he was one of them, which meant he was a murderer, too. And God bless him, he was right. He proved it when his CIA mined Nicaragua’s harbors, killing innocent fish ermen who presumably cared little for po litical affairs. Even overlooking the eco nomic warfare the Reagan administration waged, the World Court still found it in vi olation of international law that forbids, as George Bush would say, “naked aggres sion." Don’t worry, Reagan fans. After 10 years of economic and military warfare, the Nicaraguans gave up. “The Nicaraguan people voted in [U.S.-backed candidate] Violetta Chamorro because they thought the United States would stop the war on them, and the U.S. did,” as Goldrich put it. It probably didn’t hurt that Panama had been invaded a month before — the Nicaraguans saw what awaited them if they voted wrong. As far as American-backed atrocities in Latin America go, we could go back a long time and discuss a lot of examples — such as U.S. military support for El Salvador, ruled by stand-up guys such as Roberto D’Aubuisson (nidaiamed “Blowtorch Bob,” after his favorite instrument of tor ture), who once commented to a German visitor: “You Germans were very intelli gent. You recognized that the Jews were re sponsible for the spread of communism and you began to kill them.” The good news? D’Aubuisson is dead. The bad news? His government, with the help of billions of dollars in U.S. aid, slaughtered approximately 63,000 Salvadorans. His ARENA party still runs El Salvador — and still gets U.S. support. The story is just about the same, no mat ter which country you look at. Two lessons leap out at us from these sad examples. First, the United States has much to an swer for in these nations. Goldrich notes that “people in the U.S. aren’t accustomed to taking responsibility” for the govern ments we inflict on other countries. It’s time to start. "There are ways that almost anybody with any discretionary time could partici pate in promotion of human rights in Latin America if they contact an organization with people working on it,” Goldrich said. He recommended local groups like CIS CAP, the University’s Colombia Support Network or local Amnesty International chapters. The second lesson is simpler yet. Let’s be vigilant and not deluded when our govern ment acts to protect “national security in terests.” The lessons of history suggest the opposite happens, and not just in our little region. Jeff Shaw is a columnist for the Emerald. His work appears on alternate Wednesdays. His views do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper. Homosexuality is unnatural Hannah Dillon’s column titled “Dear Lon” could have been addressed “Dear Americans” since over two-thirds of this nation agrees with Lon Mabon and opposes homosexual marriage and adoption by homosexuals. Mabon is simply the focus of her hatred because he dared to pub licly disagree with this perverse movement and or ganize opposition. The two most admired individ uals of this decade agree with Lon, so she might as well have addressed her letter "Dear Colin Pow ell” or “Dear Mother Teresa.” Powell said you have no constitutional right to engage in sodomy and to demand the state elevate it to protected sta tus. Washington state agrees with him as they re cently defeated, by a 60 to 40 percent margin, an initiative attempting protected status for homo sexuals in the workplace. Dillon could also have LETTERS TO THE EDITOR addressed her letter “Dear God,” as the Old Testa ment unambiguously condemns homosexual be havior as wicked, sinning greatly against the Lord, an abomination and detestable. The emotion God feels is fierce, burning anger. The New Testament refers to homosexual behavior as vile affections, error, degrading passions, unnatural, indecent acts and states the homosexual will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and will suffer eternal pun ishment. Could God have homophobia or be a big ot? These terms are simply liberal propaganda used against the two-thirds of Americans that still dare to disagree with this absurd, perverse move ment. Homosexual behavior is unnatural/dysfunc tional. It is using the wrong devices in the wrong locations. Not once in the history of humankind has it succeeded in producing offspring! There is no need for confusion over your sexuality. Look straight down from your belly button and even a toddler can figure it out. Homosexual behavior is unhealthy and results in 1 to 2 percent of the pop ulation having 29 percent of Hepatitis A, and 30 percent of current 20-year-old homosexuals will be either HTV-positive or dead from AIDS within 10 years. No homosexual is trapped. Jesus guarantees power over and freedom from the bondage of sin. You are what you are only if you love your sin more than you love God! Currently four national ex-homosexual networks are ministering to more than 10,000 former homosexuals. Not one who truly chooses God over sin will fail, because God will be in him. Sin aborts who we were intended to be. Bany Williams Lane County Oregon Citizens Alliance CORRECTION The article “ASUO protests cuts in aid” (ODE, Feb. 20) should have said the ASUO wants legisla tors to support amendments that would negate funding cuts included in President Clinton’s cur rent budget draft. The Emerald regrets the er ror.
