O ctober 9, 1996 « T he P ortland O bserver
P age A 2
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Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views O f
^Jortlaxib ffibseruer
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P eter K ornbuh
“Z / T ’ C IA ,” R epresentative
f l
Cynthia McKinney (D-
VLJ»-'
GA) stated on the floor
of Congress, has come to mean
“Central Intoxication Agency.”
Around the nation, public fury
continues to mount over allega­
tions of U.S. government com­
plicity in the trafficking of drugs.
This controversial issue cam e back
into public view after a series o f
articles in the San Jose M ercury News
by reporter Gary Webb. It cam e up
again in both o f Rev. Jesse Jack so n ’s
debates with form er Reagan W hite
H ouse aide Lt. C ol. O liver N orth, the
first in Denver, and the second on the
Larry K ing Show (CNN).
D uring the D enver debate, Col.
N orth denied that the National Secu­
rity m anagers o f the contra w ar ever
condoned drug smuggling. “ I have
never met in my 22 years o f govern­
ment service,” he declared, “any gov­
ernm ent official who would tolerate
the delivery o f drugs into this coun­
try for distribution to anyone ”
T o the contrary, we know from
N o rth 's own diaries, m em oranda and
E-M ail m essages (obtained through
the Freedom o f Inform ation A ct by
the public interest N ational Security
A rchive), that U.S. officials knew
about, tolerated, p rotected—and in
som e cases, even paid—know n nar­
cotics traffickers who had a contri­
bution to m ake to the covert w ar
against the Sandinistas in N icara­
gua.
C O A L IT IO N
CIA, Contras & Crack
C onsider just som e o f the evi­
dence:
♦ O liver North, who to ld Congress
it was "a neat idea " to use the A ya ­
tollah K hom eni s m oney to support
the contras, also w a n ted to use drug
m oney f o r the sam e purpose. Two
DEA agents testified before C on­
gress that North w a n ted to take S I. 5
m illion o f the M edellin C artel s m on­
ey that was on a p la n e b eing used in
a drug sting a n d give it to the contras
The DEA ju s t sa id no.
♦ O n.July 12, 1985, N o r th ‘s m ain
weapons suppl ier rep o rted that "SI 4
m illion to fin a n c e " a n arm s "super­
m a rke t" in H onduras, w here the
contras were b uying weapons, ‘ 'came
fro m drugs. " There is no re co rd that
North ever p a sse d this inform ation
on to the DEA and/or law en fo rce­
m ent officials.
♦ O n A ugust 9, 1985, North s c h ie f
liaison with the contras rep o rted to
him that a "H onduran D C -6 which
is being used fo r runs out o f New
O rleans is p ro b a b ly being used fo r
dru g runs into the U.S. "Again, there
is no reco rd that North ever p a sse d
this inform ation on to the DEA a n d /
or law enforcem ent officials.
♦ Ten weeks after the New York
Times ran a fro n t-p a g e story on G en­
e r a l M a n u el N oriega, "P a n a m a
S trongm an S a id to Trade in Drugs,
A rm s a n d Illic it M oney, ” W hite
H ouse andC IA officials a ll sought to
help N oriega "clean up his image, ”
a ccording to N o r th ’s diaries a n d E-
m ail memos.
♦ N o r th a d v o c a te d p a y in g
N oriega one m illion dollars—fro m
d iv e rte d fu n d s fro m the sa le o f arms
to Iran—to fin a n c e sa b o ta g e opera­
tions N oriega a g reed to conduct in­
sid e N icaragua. R ea g a n 's National
S ecu rity A dvisor a the time, John
Poindexter, a uthorized North to meet
secretly in London with N oriega to
work out the details. "I have nothing
a g a in st him other than his illegal
activities, " P oindexter sta ted
♦ A cco rd in g to a Sept. 1 7 ,1 9 8 6
E -m a il m essa g e, O liv e r N orth,
D uane ( 'larridge (the ( 'IA agent who
ran the co n tra w a r betw een 1981
a n d 1985), a n d o th er high officials
a ll "ca b a l[ed ] q u ie tly " to "look at
options: pardon, clem ency, d ep o r­
tation, reduced sentence, "fo r a H on­
duran g en era l n a m ed Jo se B ueso
Rosa. B ueso R osa h a d been caught
in a co n sp ira cy Io traffic 345 kilos o f
co ca in e into the U S — street value
540 m illio n —in p a rt to fin a n c e the
assassination o f th e civilian p re si­
d en t o f H onduras! But since he was
a key CIA liaison in the H onduran
m ilitary w ho h a d h elp ed fa c ilita te
th e co vert war against N icaragua,
U.S. officials w a n ted to save him
fr o m a j a i l sentence to keep him
fr o m "spilling the beans " (E ventu­
a lly he se rv e d less than fiv e ye a rs in
a w hite co lla r “C lub F ed " in F lo r­
ida—th a t sam e sentence that is now
m a ndatory f o r 5 bags (529) worth o f
crack.)
These declassified docum ents cast
serious doubts on the integrity o f the
CIA. Did A m erican officials “ nod
and w ink," in Rev. Jack so n ’s w ords,
at the delivery o f drugs across our
border, into our central cities, and
into the bodies o f our young?
T his charge m ust be fully investi­
gated, so that the rum ors can be re­
moved, or the culprits captured. The
San Jose M ercury News story re­
mains a hot topic on talk radio, and in
this natio n ’s ghettoes and barrios.
It will rem ain so until these allega­
tions are fully investigated in a p u b ­
lic forum.
Light Rail: Coasting Towards An Ideal
To The E ditor:
he dream is alive and
thriving. From Septem­
ber 8 -1 0 ,1 9 9 6 , 6 75 be­
lievers In the dream descended
on Washington, D.C. for Rail-
Volution, a national conference
on light rail.
W e cam e from six countries and
we shared w ays in w hich to m ake the
dream com e true. W e reaffirm ed the
necessity o f brin g in g light rail to the
Portland M etro area as a m eans o f
im proving our neighborhoods, city,
and regional area.
I had the p rivilege o f attending
the conference as a scholarship p ar­
ticip an t from the C itizens A dvisory
C o m m itte e fo r the S o u th /N o rth
Line.
I was inspired by the enthusiasm ,
d edication, and creativity o f the co n ­
ference attendees and left W ashing­
ton, D.C. thoroughly convinced o f
the need to prom ote the active in­
volvem ent o f my neighbors, co w o rk ­
ers, governm ent officials, and fel­
low O regonians in planning co m ­
m unities around light rail stations.
S ocial ju stice , crim e prevention,
consolidation o f resources, en v iro n ­
m ental protection, em ploym ent o p ­
portunities, and energy co n serv a­
tion w ould all be positively enhanced
by the developm ent o f light rail in
our area.
I saw several exam ples o f how
light rail has transform ed isolated,
concrete barriers w ithin cities and
tow ns to w elcom e, inviting g ath er­
ing places w here people o f all ages
can work, shop, or ju st hang out.
I saw and felt the w arm th o f main
streets that have been resurrected
from m ajor arterial speeding vehi­
cles through areas with total disre­
gard to pedestrians, cyclists, or the
ow ners o f business.
W hat I saw and learned has en­
couraged me to actively w ork for the
developm ent o f planned com m uni­
ties focusing around light rail We
cannot continue to build m ore and
more suburbs, resulting in longer
and longer driving distances w ithout
further destroying the integrity o f
our beautiful state and negatively
im pacting the everyday lives o f our
citizens.
We have a chance to m ake a very
real and im portant difference in the
quality o f life we all hope to attain. It
is w ithin our pow er and ability to
create the kind o f place w here chil­
dren thrive and people can live, work
and recreate in a safe, satisfying and
com fortable way.
—Irene J. Park
Reconsidering the death penalty
by
D eni S tarr J. D.
was reading about the
jl
slaughter in Rwanda on
the day that we, the Peo­
ple of the State of Oregon, killed
Douglas Franklin Wright.
O’
“ H ow could this happen?” puz­
zles Tergal Keane o f the BBC, w it­
nessing the slaughter in a church. We
pass a classroom and inside a m other
is lying in the co m er surrounded by
four children. T he chalk m arks the
last lesson in m athem atics are still on
the board But the desks have been
upturned by the killers. It looks as if
the w om an and her children had tried
to hide underneath the desks. We
pass around a corner and I step over
the rem ains o f a small boy. A gain, he
has been decapitated. To my im m e­
diate left is a large room filled with
bodies T here is blood, rust colored
now with the passing w eeks, sm eared
on the w alls. 1 do not know w hat else
to say about the bodies because I
have already seen too m uch. “ T his is
—unbelievable.” Tony w hispers in
my ear. W e are all w hispering, as if
we m ight som ehow wake the dead
with our voices. “ It i s ju s t- u nbeliev­
able. C an you imagine w hat these
poor—w ent through?” And 1 answ er
that no, I cannot imagine it because
my pow ers o f visualization cannot
possibly encom pass the m agnitude
o f the terror.
A m illion people were m urdered
in R w anda in 1993, m ost o f them
hacked to death with m achetes by
th e ir n e ig h b o rs. R w an d a is not
unique. Such genocide is still going
on in Bosnia. Iraqis are still m urder­
ing Kurds. G enocide, the m urder o f
Jews by the N azis, A rm enians by the
Turks, T usis by the Hutus, K urds by
the Iraqis, the indigenous peoples o f
the A m ericas by Europeans, is not
lim ited by tim e, geography, race, or
level o f technological developm ent.
W e in Am erica look at Bosnia,
Rw anda, K urdistan, and say, it can ­
not happen here. It has already hap ­
pened here. Ask the A paches about
Cam p Grant. Ask the Cheyenne about
Sand Creek. Ask the D akota about
W ounded Knee.
These killings are all done by ordi­
nary people. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot,
Amin, Obote may all have been evil
and insane, but the tens ofthousands o f
ordinary people w ho helped them were
not. Ordinary people like your neigh­
bors, like the guy your sister is married
to, will do things like this if two things
happen; they are convinced that kill­
ings solves problems and they are con­
vinced that a particular minority is
responsible for their problems.
M ost people believe that killing
other people can solve problems.
M ost o f the people who supported
the execution o f D ouglas Franklin
W right believed that killing him
solves problem s. It certainly keeps
him from killing anyone else. But
along with that doctrine com es its
logical, inevitable, horrifying sequel:
if killing people solves problem s,
then the more people w e kill, the
more problem s we will solve.
Do Am ericans really believe this?
C onsider that recently o u r D em o­
cratic president and Republican con­
gress ju st changed the law so that
instead o f three federal crim es being
punishable by death, now over 60
federal crim es are punishable by
death. The more people w e kill, the
m ore problem s w e’ll solve.
W ith the end o f the cold war, we are
also seeing an upsurge in scapegoating.
The Hutu people were told that the
T usi were responsible for all their prob­
lems. The Germans were told that it
was the Jews who caused a 11 the suffer­
ing in the world. Killing them was an
act o f self defense. The populace was
told over and over again “these people
are a threat to us, we must defend
ourselves.”
The more people we kill, the more
problem s w e’ll solve. W here is this
b elief taking us? Is that w here we
w ant to go?
Standing against measure 34
To th e E ditor:
ome misleading state­
ments made by support­
ers of Initiative measure
38 deserve a response.
In th e O re g o n ia n , S e p te m b e r
22nd, D enzel Ferguson, an activist,
says “ In 1920 populations o f all sp e­
cies o f anadrom ous fish in the C o ­
lum bia R iver w ere in precipitous
decline 13 years before the first dam
(R ock Island) w as built.” He follow s
this with a sentence, “ Livestock graz-
ing is the leading im pedim ent to fish
and w ildlife production in the W est.”
It would seem that a voter is sup­
posed to make a connection between
these two subjects. W hat he does not
say is that livestock, which came with
settlers in the 187O's had nothing to do
with the fish decline in 1920
T his decline, I'm told, was the
result o f over harvesting the fish,
particularly using huge “fish w heels”
that scooped salm on out o f the river
in areas w here the runs were co n cen ­
better ‘*£0 '£he (Svitar
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
A note of approval
*7d the editor... Just would like to
comment on your September 25, 1996
issue... thrilling and newswatching!...99
-Thanks, Anan Shachaq
/
trated. They w ere so deadly efficient
that they w ere outlaw ed, and the runs
began building up again.
I well rem em ber that when my
father took me to see a fish wheel in
the early 1920’s. It was aw esom e, for
me as a child, to view that stream o f
big silver fish sliding dow n its chute.
It should also be noted that the
D EQ w rote a letter to Bill M arlett,
the activist w ho started Measure 38
about another m isleading statement,
w hich said “the D E Q ’s assessm ent
S ubscribe to
o f w ater pollution found that range-
land livestock grazing is the leading
s o u r c e o f w a te r p o llu tio n in
O regon."T he DEQ said that it felt the
statem ent “ is m isleading and does
not accurately portray our position.”
These are only two o f the many
reasons why I’m against this pro­
posed law. There are many others,
and I urge all responsible citizens to
study the issues closely and to vote
N O on m easure 38.
—Linda Bow m an
anje fliortianh onitacruer
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SUBSCRIPTIONS
T he P ortland O bserver ; PO B ox 3137
P ortland , O regon 97208
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T hank Y ou F or R eading T iif P ortland O bserver
P e r s p c c / i
p c s
Book Of Revelations;
according to McKinley
x
t seems that I made a
promise last week that
my copyright attorneys
pray was “not written in stone.”
O’
I
T he A frican
experience o f re­
m ote an cesto rs
to the contrary,
s o m e tim e s
it
m ay b e ‘better to
conceal than to
rev eal-p articu larly when a prudent
delay in these much later and highly
com petitive tim es can avert theft,
trade-m ark infringem ent and litiga­
tion. W e’re talking “bottom line”
h ere-ed u catio n al curriculum and
toys, vide cassettes, instructional
gam es com pany and product must
be named.
Ms Phyliss G aines, a local A fri­
can A m erica business w om an, put
these and sim ilar issues in p erspec­
tive during an interview in the Sun­
day O regonian business section for
January, 14, 1996. H er experience-
based advice-”T he N am e G am e”-
has been cited by many as having
been extrem ely valuable in struc­
turing legal protection from the very
beginning o f their new enterprise.
In any case I will hold back for
now on any vain revelations co n ­
cerning som e m ore-than-success-
ful applications o f finalized learn­
ing m odels in trail runs ranging
from the “ Saturday A cadem y” as
I’ve described here several tim es
(M ichael Grice, D irector), to sever­
al selected W ashington C ounty
Schools to a few trial tutoring en-
gage-with the children or g rand­
children o f fellow m em bers o f the
A ssociation o f O regon Industries.
Several m odels for teaching the
very I ittle ones (head start age) have
developed over the years since that
1971 Lake O sw eg o M ontessori
School ex p erien ce o f d esig n in g
com puter program 'b o a rd s’ for the
five and six year o ld ’s; decision
trees built around sibling priorities
for bathroom , brushing teeth, school
day or not, etc . I w as successful but
not sure exactly why.
Now, twenty five years later, hav­
ing plowed through the literature and
suffered accordingly--"M ontessori
Play And Learn, Young Children
Invent Arithmetic, The Life And
Growth o f Language, the Language
Instinct, Patterns
In The Mind, Lan­
guage, T hought
By
A nd
R e a lity
Professor
(W
h
o
rf),
L an­
Mcklnley
g u ag e T h o u g h t
Burt
A nd
A ctio n
(Hayakawa), The Alphabet Effect
and on and on" - 1 think I may have
the hang o f it Anyway its been fun.
There follow s tw o poem s that
have proved oh so useful in pro­
voking older children and youth to
speculation about ‘tim e’ and posi­
tions (hyperbation) so im portant in
understanding physics. O f course I
use my own as well (sm iles).
"Tim e p resent a n d tim e p a st
A re both perhaps present in tim e
future.
A n d tim e fu tu r e co n ta in ed in
tim e past.
I f a ll tim e is eternally p resen t
A ll tim e is unredeem able.
W hat m ight have been is an a b ­
straction
R em aining a p erp etu a l p o ssi­
bility
O nly in a w orld o f speculation.
W hat m ight have been a n d what
has been
Point to one en d w hich is alw ays
p re se n t"
T.S. Eliot, Four Q uartets
"Som etim es / p la y that I catch
up with m yself.
/ run w ith what I was
a n d w ith what / w ilt be,
on the race o f w hat / cwt
A n d som etim es I p la y th a t! pass
m yself.
Then m aybe T run
in the race o f w hat ! ’m not.
But th e re's still another race
in w hich / 7/ p/cry that I m over­
taken
a n d that will be the real one. "
R oberto Juarroz, Vertical P oet­
ry, p 75
N orth Point Press S. F , ! 988
(N ext week: H Z,«/ works at the
b a rrica d es a n d w hat d o e sn 't -
B u rt’s solutions")
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