Observer Achievement Awards P«0« 7
Economy boosts
Prophet
discusses military
enlistment
agenda
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ÙJ
UJ
NBA draft
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PORTWND OBSERVER
June 23, 1982
Volume XII, Number 37
25C Per Copy
Two Sections
USPS 959-680-855
US implicated in Israeli attack on Lebanon
by Claudia Wright
Pacific News Service
W A S H IN G T O N . D .C .— Tw o el
ements distinguish the fifth A rab-
Israeli war from its predecessors go
ing back to 1948. First, the violence
has been far more concentrated, in
discriminate and devastating— few
er Israelis have lost their lives killing
more Arabs than was the case in
earlier A rab -Israeli wars. Second,
the record o f American action from
just before the fighting commenced
through the first tw o weeks in d i
cates that the U .S . anticipated the
invasion, and provided Israel with a
degree o f m ilita ry and d ip lo m atic
support that Washington has never
before granted in com parable c ir
cumstances.
W hat is obvious, even from the
prelim inary and censored estimate
o f casualties, is that by comparison
with earlier A rab-Israeli wars, this
one has resulted in the lowest num
ber o f Israeli dead and wounded.
On the A rab side, however, one
must go back to the first war ot 1948
to count a larger number o f casual
ties.
There are several reasons for this
shift in the ratio o f Israeli to Arab
casualties. This was a very one-sided
battle between the enormous fire
power o f the Israeli a ir, naval and
artillery forces, and tight arms oper
ated by pockets o f Palestinian guer
rillas holed up inside the Lebanese
cities o f Tyre, Sidon and Beirut. The
P L O ’s tanks, truck-mounted rock
ets and heavy artillery, which Israel
has been claim ing fo r months had
given the Palestinians a new degree
o f military potency, either failed to
enter the action and were captured,
or were easily demolished by the Is
raeli bombardment and blitzkrieg.
Israeli command o f the air and sea
was never challenged by the Pales
tinians who lack an air or sea force.
Israeli victories over the Syrian air
force were inevitable given the su
periority o f F-lSs and F-16s over the
Soviet built M IG -2 1 s used; the
greater flexibility o f American-built
Sidewinder a ir-to -a ir missiles; the
enormous advantage the Israelis have
in electronic techniques for suppres
sing their adversaries’ target compu
ters; and, most crucial o f a ll, the
complete Israeli coverage by radar
, « f Syrian aircraft movements inside
Syria itself.
W ith radars overlooking southern
Syria from Mount Harm on, and un
challenged aerial radar reconnais-
(Ptease turn to page 4 column 4)
Afterm ath of an Israeli raid In South Lebanon.
Federal aid harms poor cities
Reversing policies o f past admin
istrations, a draft o f the first urban
policy statement for the Reagan
adm inistration asserts that federal
aid has contributed heavily to the
decline o f US cities and agues that
many grants should be eliminated.
The new criteria would eliminate
a wide range o f federal assistance
including help for water supplies,
street repairs, transportation and
other areas where federal dollars are
now used extensively.
The re p o rt, prepared by the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development, states that even the
most fiscally troubled cities could
recover w ithout federal help. The
report says federal aid has helped
cause the poor to become the only
class o f people without motivation
to move elsewhere for a better op
portunity.
M ean w h ile the U n ited States
Conference o f M ayors, which met
last weekend in Minneapolis, seeks
increased federal assistance. Most
large cities are cutting budgets to
cope with the recession and federal
cuts. M any states are in the same
situation.
The report states, "T o o often the
Federal Government has been called
upon to intervene to insulate
in d ivid u als,
businesses
and
communities from the consequences
o f changes brought about by
evolving technology, shifting
market conditions and altered social
attitudes. Intervention can do more
harm than good by slowing the
process o f individual and collective
adjustment to changes. ”
As for the poor, federal programs
have provided subsidies that
" o fte n
underm ined
personal
am bitions fo r s e lf-b e tte rm e n t,”
m aking " p o te n tia lly productive
individuals wards o f Governm ent
agencies" and slowing " th e
advancement o f minority groups as
a whole in their assimilation into the
economic and social mainstream."
Israelia return from raid in Southern Lebanon.
Confidential report
IMF sees 'holding plan' for El Salvador
by Walden Bello and John Kelly
Pacific News Service
W A S H IN G T O N . D C . — The
normally cautious and conservative
International Monetary Fund (IM F )
is about to rush in where most f i
nancial angels, including the U .S .
Congress, fear to tread: El Salva
dor.
A confidential 53-page IM F staff
report reveals that the Fund is plan
ning an emergency "standby” pro
gram to be financed to the tune o f
$83 m illio n . The docum ent de
scribes the Fund’s role as supporting
"a holding pattern” for El Salvador
and supervising a set o f policies
which would be "instrumental in re
storing and retaining an economic
setting conducive to the renewal o f
grow th and p rivate investm ent—
once noneconomic factors perm it
i t . ” The Fund, in short, is to pre
vent the econom y fro m de
te rio ra tin g any fu rth e r u n til the
country is pacified politically.
A ccording to a W o rld Bank
source who leaked the report, “ The
IM F plan is part o f a package that
includes the recent elections and
high levels o f bilateral U .S . aid un
der the Caribbean Basin P lan .” He
added that the Fund’s board o f d i
rectors is "m ost likely to approve
the plan, barring radical changes in
government direction in El Salva
d o r."
Though the plan certainly would
be opposed by many o f the 146 IM F
member nations, the United States,
which contributes the largest share
o f IM F funds, can yield its greater
voting strength to help win appro
val.
The economy that the IM F w ill
try to hold together is, by its own ac
count, in a shambles:
•T h e governm ent is lite ra lly
b an k ru p t, says the F u n d , w ith its
liq u id reserves (re a d ily a va ila b le
cash) reduced to S2.5 m illio n in
1981.
•M assive c ap ital flig h t has v ir
tually wrecked the private sector,
with net capital outflow amounting
to over $800 m illio n between 1979
and 1982.
•Arrears on payments o f debts to
in te rn a tio n a l p riv ate banks in
creased from $41 m illion in 1980 to
$63.5 million in 1981.
•T h e state enterprises sector is a
mess, with its overall deficit coming
to $600 million in 1982. The report
attributes this development to the in
creasing effectiveness o f the leftist
guerrillas.
The IM F strategy to restore some
semblance o f order to this chaotic
situation has three key components.
Most important, from the Fund's
point o f view, is relieving the b al
ance o f payments deficit. To achieve
this, the IM F wants to make imports
more expensive, through reducing the
demand for them, by devaluing the
colon. Devaluation will take place,
however, under a curious arange-
ment: the encouragement o f a black
m arket exchange rate (cu rre n tly 4
colones to the dollar) alongside the
o ffic ia l rate o f 2.5 colones to the
dollar. The Fund wants all "non-es
sential im ports” transacted at the
black market rate. The rationale for
the arrangement is that the regime
must continue to purchase essential
commodities like guns, warplanes
and am m unitions cheaply even as
the prices o f consumer imports rise.
The second com ponent o f the
Fund program is an a n ti-in fla tio n
plan consisting o f the restriction o f
domestic purchasing power and re-
(Please turn to page 4 column 4)
Dr. Matt Prophet discusses school district agenda
I have id e n tifie d a number o f
agenda items for action in the future
for the Portland Public Schools. I
see all o f these as critical issues vital
to our futu re. O u r agenda w ill be
both busy and complex. I have iden
tified, at least on a preliminary ba
sis, five m ajor items on the agenda
for m aking a good school system
even better. Let me speak briefly to
each o f them:
I . Community Credibility: There is
a need to improve the Public's con
fidence in our schools. In the final
weeks prior to the election on May
18th, the Board and D istrict were
under fire from community groups
regarding decisions made earlier
that were either unpopular or con
troversial. I will seek to develop pro
cesses for internal decision making
that provide for increased commu
nity participation in decision m ak
ing to avoid such disruptive commu
nity encounters. It is non-produc
tive to fight such battles after (he
fa c t. . . fu ll airing o f the pros and
cons on all issues can help to avoid
such confrontations which are so
costly to the maintenance o f good
community relations.
2. Educational Programs and Ser
vices: I see an immediate need to or
ganize our delivery system for edu
catio n al services to m axim ize the
flow o f resources and energy into
classrooms where (hey belong. My
approach to the education o f Port
land children will be to seek to meet
individual needs in (he most effect
ive way. A ll students whether they
be high achieving students or stu
dents who need remediation will re
ceive the individual attention they
deserve.
3. Private Sector Partnership: A
major thrust for the future will be to
strengthen the partnership between
the schools and the private sector.
There is a glaring need for greater
cooperation between the district and
the business community. I would see
this evolving in a number o f ways.
The most logical arena for begin
ning this renewed relationship may
well be in the area o f vocational and
technical edu catio n . The public
schools must recognize the need to
more adequately prepare students to
live and work in a w orld that will
stress communication, high techno
logy and com puter science. T he
schools for the 1980s and 90s, in my
judgem ent, must respond to the
changing n. ds o f our society. W e
must prepare students to live in the
real w orld o f tom orro w . Students
must learn to cherish the dignity o f
w o rk . . . irrespective o f whether that
work comes at the end o f college or
vocational or technical training. For
the schools for the future must pro
vide opportunities for all students to
pursue their interest with equal dig
nity and respect.
4. Com m unications: There is an
urgent need to further open the lines
o f c om m u nication between the
schools and the community. And, it
will be my intention to maintain an
by M atthew W. Prophet
Superintendent.
Portland Public Schools
open door policy in order to deal di
rectly w ith com m u nity problem s
and concerns. The schools must be
responsive to the community.
5. Com prehensive P lan : One o f
the things that became immediately
obvious to me after arriving to as
sume leadership o f your schools was
the need for a comprehensive plan
for the schools, and now that the
election is behind us, that lack will
be corrected. It is my intention to be
gin at once to develop a plan that
will chart the course o f the schools
at least for the next five or six years.
The changing agenda fo r the
schools in the ’80s must reflect the
changing nature o f our world it the
schools are to remain strong and it
w ill be my charge to see that they
do.
The new era, forged by techno
logical advances, underscores the
urgency and need to shift to a fu n
dam ental emphasis fo r the futu re
on: (a ) c o m m u n icatio n skills; (b )
com putational skills, and (c) com-
iPlease turn to page 5 column /)