Pag* 4 Portland Observer, September 14.1963
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Reagan diverts citizen anger
The loss of the Korean airliner over the Soviet
Union is being used to build pro-war, anti-Soviet
hysteria which will result in vastly increased ex
penditures for war, including the M X missile
and deployment of Pershing II missiles in Europe.
Five days passed after the disappearance of
the jetliner before the U.S. admitted that a spy
plane was in the area. As more information is re
leased it becomes apparent that the USSR’s ver
sion is true — that the airline was warned and re
fused to respond and that the USSR believed
that airliner was a spy plane.
The question that remains is whether the
Korean airliner was really a spy plane or whether
it was being used by other U.S. spy planes in the
area. The C IA and other U.S. intelligence
services and the Japanese intelligence services
were watching the flight for 2 Vi hours as it pene
trated Soviet air space. Why didn’t they warn it?
And why was the Korean pilot afraid to land?
South Korea is one o f the most repressive
countries in the world, and the plane’s pilots
were reportedly military reserve officers. The
nation was created by the U .S., which perma
nently partitioned Korea. Its government, mili
tary and economy were constructed in large part
by U.S. economists and intelligence agencies and
it is dominated by U.S. transnationals. Over
strengthen anti-Soviet feelings in the U.S. tnd
end any moves toward detente. Docs the Korean
plane incident have the same purpose?
The hysteria campaign launched by the U.S.
government and the press diverts attention from
the U.S. intervention in Centrai America, the
Middle East and Africa. It diverts the public
attention from the fact that the U.S. is waging
war against Nicaragua and propping up the dic
tators of El Salvador, Chile, Guatemala,
Philippines, etc. etc.
It also diverts the attention of the American
people from the real problems at home —
poverty, unemployment, racism, sexism, poor
education, lack of medical care and housing,
etc.
The people of the United States are justifiably
angry over the social and economic conditions
imposed on them while their government builds
an ever larger war machine, but the Reagan ad
ministration — the target of that anger — is suc
cessfully diverting it into anti-Soviet hysteria.
The Korean airline incident meets two objec
tives for the Reagan administration — it aids
their plan for a new military build-up and it
turns the attention o f the people from problems
at home to an “ enemy” abroad.
40,000 U.S. military forces and hundreds of
intelligence agents are stationed in Korea.
Was the flight merely a spy mission or was it
designed to create a climate favorable to the war
industry?
Recently the U.S. and the USSR have made
some progress with economic, diplomatic and
cultural agreements. The nuclear freeze, anti
war movement is growing world-wide and in the
U.S. But there are forces in the Pentagon, the
C IA and the Reagan administration that are op
posed to normalizing relations with the Soviet
Union.
In 1960 there was a similar period in which the
cold war relations were beginning to thaw. On
the eve of President Eisenhower’s planned visit
with Premier Kruschev, a U.S. spy plane was
shot down over the USSR. The U.S. first
blamed the USSR but later admitted the U-2 was
on a spy mission. This incident was calculated to
I
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5AV
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Lebanon: Land of conflict, pain
Letters to the Editor
Equality, justice
k n o w no race
To tha Editor:
The case for justice knows no race
or religion. One has to rise above in
dividual deprivation and suffering
to recognize it for what it is and
speak out against it when it occurs,
be the victims, Jews. Chinese, Indi
ans, Hispanics, Japanese or Blacks.
Washington State Senator George
Flemming recognized the injustice
done against persons o f Japanese
ancestry during W orld W ar I I and
not only spoke against it but spon
sored a bill which subsequently led
to reparations o f 32,300 for each
victim.
In the battle for equality and
justice for all there is little to be
'7 usa'ta tall oat laughin' in school whan they said anybody could become
Pnsldant, hut that eras halon that put this ttaagaa la !”
gained and much to be lost in argu
ments about who suffered the most,
who should be compensated first,
second, etc. That kind o f divisive
reasoning serves only those who
would discriminate against us. In
the end, the women and minorities
will be the losers.
Walter Sakai
Emergency food
donations increase
To tha Editor:
word out, contributions to The Sal
vation A rm y’s Family Services
offices in our area have increased. I
hope it's a trend that continues; be
sides Christmas, late summertime
traditionally has been a very tough
month for us in terms of the number
of people coming to us for food and
help.
The N e w P o rtla n d O bserver’ s
continuing support for people-help
ing agencies is another outstanding
example o f editorial leadership and
commitment to upgrading the quali
ty o f life for our whole community.
M ay God bless you and this news
paper for your support.
Thanks for the lovely surprise —
a story about our emergency appeal
for food items. . . on page I no less!
It may interest you to know that
thanks to your help in getting the
Sonia Fatharaton
Madia Ralatlona Coordinator
Cascada Division
Tha Salvation Army
On June 4 , 1982, under the code
name “ Peace for Galilee,” Israel
launched an air, sea and land attack
against
Lebanon.
More
than
120,000 soldiers armed wjth the
most sophisticated U .S. arms parti
cipated in the assault. The invasion
destroyed I I Palestinian refugee
camps and four principal cities of
Lebanon — among them the capital,
Beirut. M ore than 20,000 people
were killed, 40,000 wounded and
20,000 detained. Twenty-five com
munities were destroyed. 800,000
made homeless and 10,000 are miss
tag. The invasion was a massive e f
fort to destroy the Palestinian L ib
eration Organization, the progres
sive Lebanese National Movement
and units o f the Syrian army.
The goals o f Israel and its part
ner, the United States, were to:
• Eliminate the Palestinian cause
and impose a so-called “ autonomy”
in the West Bank
• Install a fascist government in
Lebanon that would form an
alliance with Israel and Egypt
• Annex southern Lebanon to Israel
• Force the withdrawal o f Syrian
troops from Lebanon.
The Cam p David accords would
be imposed on the Arab nations —
one by one. This would assure
making the Arab countries political
ly, economically, and militarily de
pendent on the U.S. and insure its
access to oil.
The weakness o f the Israeli plan
was that the new Lebanese govern
ment was not able to impose its will
on all o f the people o f Lebanon and
as the Israeli troops withdrew, the
civil war, in a state o f truce when
the Israelis invaded, erupted again.
Background to civil war
ill
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The influence of Western Europe
was strong in the development o f
Lebanon's political system. The
upper class, which in Lebanon is
predominantly M aronite Christian
(followers o f M aron, a hermit monk
who lived in the 3th and 6th centu
ries). control the wealth of the
nation and have held political power
since the establishment o f the
"G reat Lebanese State” by France
in 1920.
In 1943, when the nation became
independent, a verbal agreement
called the "N atio n al Pact” was
made between the Maronites and
the weak Arab entrepreneur class
who were competing for power. The
Pact insures that the president will
always be Maronite; the Sunni
Moslems would have the chairman
ship o f the Council o f Ministers; the
Shiite Moslems would nave the head
o f Parliament and the Greek O rtho
dox the vice-president o f Parlia
ment. Parliament is 34 Christians
and 43 Moslems, although the coun
try is 38 percent Moslem.
Faianglata
In 1936, Pierre Gemayel estab
lished the Kateb Party (the Falan
gists). Param ilitary bands were
formed to attack anyone who op-
posed their plans and terrorism was
used to impose their rule. By the
1930s, Lebanon was a showcase for
the rich — the "Switzerland o f the
Middle East” — but it was being de
stroyed by internal conflict.
The 1950s were a period o f
growth o f Arab nationalism and de
velopment o f new Arab-based
parties. In April 7, 1973 civil war
broke out, lasting until the next
summer. This was a period o f grow
ing strength for the Falangi-.ts, who
were allied with the Lebanese
National Party o f ex-President
Chamoun and the followers of ex-
President Frangie. They were all
Maronites and all were representa
tives o f the aristocracy, united mo
mentarily to crush the progressive
forces and their allies, the Palestini
ans. Large contingents o f Palestini
ans had moved into Lebanon after
the 1970 massacre o f Palestinians in
Jordan.
In 1976, Bashir Gemayel became
the chief of the M aronite militias o f
the “ Lebanese F ro nt.” The country
was divided, some ports under the
pro-Western fascist Maronite rule
and some under the rule o f the pro
gressive forces. Beirut was divided:
the Falangists controlled the eastern
sector, while the western sector was
held by the Palestinian-Lebanese
command. In 1978, Gemayel killed
his ally, Frangie, and many o f his
followers, and attacked the L N P , at
last consolidating his power over the
right-wing factions.
Saad Haddad
In 1979, Saad Haddad pro
claimed a "Free State o f Lebanon”
in the southern area bordering Israel.
In 1977, he had publicly called for
an Israeli invasion. W ith Israeli fi
nalising and arms, he has main
tained a type o f mini-state which has
expanded greatly as the result of the
Israeli invasion.
M ore than 23 years ago Moshe
Dyah said, "W h a t is needed to
create a M aronite state in Lebanon
is to find an officer — even if he's
only a major — and convince him to
declare himself a savior o f the
M aronite population . . then the
Israeli army will go into Lebanon,
occupy the necessary territory and
create a Christian regime that will be
allied with Israel.”
Labanasa National Movamant
In 1975 Kamul Joumblatt and
other progressive leaders created the
Lebanese National Movement —
the only opposition fo fascism in the
country. The L N M from the very
beginning took the position o f prac
tical solidarity with the Palestinian
people. This position, together with
growing popular support, gave it the
strength to resist the bloody offen
sive of the Lebanese Front in 1973-
1976 as well as Israeli invasions and
incursions.
Joumblatt, a Druse by origin, was
killed in 1977. His son, W alid, re
placed him and in 1980 was elected
head o f the L N M .
Since its foundation, the L N M
has announced its program of
“ channeling the struggle o f the
Arab masses in favor o f a united
Arab, democratic, non-sectarian
Lebanon allied to the Palestinian
resistance.”
Gamayal govarnmant
The president is elected by Parlia
ment every six years and the people
elect members o f Parliament every
four years. The current Parliament
was elected 10 years ago and when it
was elected, it represented only 28
percent o f the population. Today
Parliament represents only the up
per class and the remnants of feudal
ism (4 percent control 40 percent of
the economy).
The August, 1983 election o f the
president was held in an occupied
city, with the parliamentary build
ings surrounded by Israeli and
Falangist tanks and with many
members o f Parliament threatened
with death.
Bashir Gemayel was elected presi
dent and immediately assassinated.
Israel entered West Beirut. Gemayel’s
brother, Am in, was elected presi
dent; nobody dared vote against
him.
The Gemayel government does
not have the support o f the vast
m ajority o f the people and he has
not been able to consolidate his
power over the nation.
Tha United States
The U .S ., which supported and
financed Israel's war against Leba
non, has established a beachhead in
the oil-rich, militarily strategic M id
dle East through its participation in
the United Nations peace-keeping
force. W ith troops caught in the fire
from the L N M , the Navy has moved
in reinforcements and has shelled
L N M positions. The British and
French have strafed L N M positions
from the air, ostensibly to protect
their own armies.
W hat began as a force to keep
Lebanese, Israeli and Syrian troops
apart and to protect the civilian
population has become a military
program to aid Gemayel. Defense
Secretary Weinberger has indicated
the possibility o f expanding the
force from 1,300 to as many as
10,000 and to expand its role outside
of the Beirut region. There are re
ports that U.S. advisors are accom
panying, if not leading, the Leba
nese Arm y in their battles and
Ronald Reagan has talked about
sending Marines to southern Leba
non to “ guarantee" Israel's borders.
The Reagan administration has
attempted to avoid <.»ngressiona]
scrutiny by denying that the Marines
are in "h ostile" territory. This
week. Congress should consider in
voking the W ar Powers Act o f 1974,
which slates that the president
cannot place military personnel in
hostile territory for more than 60
days
without
congressional
approval.