ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
SATURDAy, MAy 1, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
A tip of
the hat,
a kick in
the pants
A
tip of the hat to organ donors,
their loved ones who support
their choice and the medi-
cal professionals that facilitate such an
invaluable gift.
Last week, the Pacific Northwest
Transplant Bank, which handles all
organs donated in Oregon, recognized
Good Shepherd Health Care System for
helping an organ donation take place at
the Hermiston hospital — a rarity for
hospitals of that size.
For some, receiving an organ or tissue
is lifesaving, allowing them many addi-
tional years with their family and friends.
For others, it changes their life by lifting
the burden of 12 or more hours a week
hooked up to a dialysis machine. More
than 100,000 people in the United States
are on the waiting list.
April is designated as Donate Life
Month. In recognition of that, consider
placing yourself on the organ donor
registry, and having a conversation with
family about your wishes.
A kick in the pants to the bill headed
to the governor’s desk that would no
longer require drivers moving to Oregon
from another state to take a written test to
prove their knowledge of Oregon traffic
laws.
The stated intent of the law is to help
the Department of Motor Vehicles clear
the massive backlog of work it has accu-
mulated during the pandemic. But it
seems there were better solutions to that
problem than a permanent rule change.
Some of Oregon’s traffic laws designed
to keep people safe, such as changing to
the left lane while passing any vehicles
pulled over on the side of the interstate,
aren’t universal. Incentivizing move-ins
to study up on Oregon laws helps keep
everyone safer.
A tip of the hat to school districts
preparing summer learning options for
their students.
Educators tried their best over the past
year to make comprehensive distance
learning work, but there is no doubt the
disruptions of the pandemic has nega-
tively impacted most students’ educa-
tional growth.
Umatilla School District is hosting
summer camps, internships and credit
recovery for its students, and we hope to
see other districts also look at how they
can help facilitate some extra learning
over the summer for students who need it.
EDITORIALS
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East
Oregonian editorial board. Other columns,
letters and cartoons on this page express the
opinions of the authors and not necessarily
that of the East Oregonian.
LETTERS
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters
of 400 words or less on public issues and public
policies for publication in the newspaper and on
our website. The newspaper reserves the right
to withhold letters that address concerns about
individual services and products or letters that
infringe on the rights of private citizens. Letters
must be signed by the author and include the
city of residence and a daytime phone number.
The phone number will not be published.
Unsigned letters will not be published.
SEND LETTERS TO:
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
The angst of Afghanistan
U.S. exit 2021
HARRIET
ISOM
OTHER VIEWS
resident Biden has made a gutsy
decision to withdraw all U.S. mili-
tary from Afghanistan by Septem-
ber. The risk to the U.S. of a restored
terrorism base in Afghanistan remains
credible but is judged by the President
to be containable. A hardline, violence-
prone Muslim Taliban may simply grab
full power in Kabul or, in the attempt, set
off another civil war.
Last minute Kabul and Taliban power
sharing negotiations are stalled. The
democratic freedoms we helped estab-
lish and the rise of an educated class,
including many women, are in extreme
jeopardy. Have we made the best policy
decision?
P
U.S. exits
Our past record of exits from Afghan-
istan had consequences. After we heav-
ily armed the Mujahideen factions to
expel the Soviets in 1994, we just left.
Civil war and the rise of the Taliban,
mainly Pashtuns in their southern heart-
land, took Kabul in 1996 and allowed in
Al-Qaeda.
After 9/11 in 2001, we invaded and
defeated the Taliban/Al-Qaeda but our
attention shifted quickly to Iraq. Again
the Taliban rebuilt with key assistance
from neighboring Pakistan. As our mili-
tary began departing already in 2020, the
well-armed Taliban surged in capturing
more of rural Afghanistan. And today it
is engaged in a brutal campaign of kill-
ing educated Afghanis.
Possible outcomes: 1) a power shar-
ing agreement between Kabul and the
Taliban; 2) a renewed civil war; or 3) a
Taliban re-establishment of a caliphate
in Kabul. A long overdue, U.S.-backed
international effort at a political settle-
ment through power sharing has halted.
Taliban military commanders currently
prefer outright victory, hence require
more international pressure to accept it.
Kabul thinks it can hold its own but no
one knows for certain.
Strategic location
Complicating stability and peacemak-
ing are other countries besides the U.S.,
each with their own agendas:
• Pakistan. It uses the Taliban in
Afghanistan as a means to counter the
influence of its perceived enemy, India.
Indeed, the unsolved dilemma of U.S.
military strategy has always been the
sanctuary and assistance offered to the
Taliban by Pakistan. Future risks for
Islamabad, however, are an Afghan civil
war, resulting refugees and the stoking
of Pakistan’s own revolutionary Islamic
extremists. Pakistan has brought the Tali-
ban to the negotiating table but may lack
the influence to keep them there.
• India. With well-developed ties
with the Kabul government, New Delhi
is deeply worried about the return of a
Pakistan-supported Taliban government.
While New Delhi is one of the Kabul
government’s biggest aid providers, it
worries that China will replace it with far
bigger offers.
• Russia. Not to be ignored, Russia has
revived old Soviet-era contacts, supplied
light weapons to the Taliban since
2015 and joined in the disinformation
campaigns portraying the U.S. with
evil intensions.
• Iran. Shiite Iran initially supported
the U.S. invasion in 2001 and the ouster
of the Sunni Taliban. But that cooperation
changed when the USG called it an evil
empire. It thereafter joined the Taliban
in agitating for a U.S. troop withdrawal
from Afghanistan. Interesting will be
Iran’s attitude after U.S. troops leave.
• China: China shares a tiny border
in the northeast. It opposes any refuge
base for its own Muslim group, the
Uighurs. While China seems to eschew
military involvement, it reportedly has
been courting the Taliban with promised
future investments and plans to connect
Afghanistan with its China/Pakistan
economic development corridor.
• Stan countries. Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are northern
neighbors with ethnic groups in Afghani-
stan. Reportedly, the USG is thinking one
of them might be a regional military base
substitute for Afghanistan. Is so, we will
be up against China’s and Russia’s own
efforts to dominate them.
Maybe we have underestimated the
value to U.S. global interests of a limited
but sustainable military deterrence role in
a geographic area where China, Pakistan,
India, Russia and Iran — and multiple
extremist groups including Al-Qaeda and
ISIS — all seek a foothold.
Ironically, China now has the best
prospect of replacing ours and India’s
influence in Kabul through promises of
significant investment/aid and a trade
outlet to the sea through Pakistan.
———
Harriet Isom, a former U.S. ambas-
sador and career diplomat who served
in Asia and Africa from 1961-96, grew up
in Pendleton and has retired to the family
ranch.
Preventing wildfires starts at home
GEORGE
WUERTHNER
OTHER VIEWS
A
recent study concluded that
much of the West is experi-
encing the second-most severe
drought recorded in the past 1,200 years.
Currently, 80% of Oregon is experi-
encing drought. Severe fire weather, of
which drought is a significant factor,
explains the spate of large blazes that
have charred much of the West.
What drives all large blazes is
extreme fire weather which consists of
drought, combined with high tempera-
tures, low humidity and most impor-
tantly wind. All these conditions are
exacerbated by climate change.
One hears continuously that “fire
suppression” and “fuel buildup” are
the prime factors in the rising acre-
age burned annually, but fuels do not
drive large fires. If that were the case,
we would expect the largest and most
frequent fires on the coasts of Oregon
and Washington where there is more
“fuel” (biomass) than anyplace else in
the West.
Despite the assertions from the
timber industry and its supporters that
thinning and other forest management
will reduce fire spread, most “active
forest management” enhances fire
spread.
Almost all of the largest blazes
in the West occurred under extreme
fire weather conditions. They burned
aggressively on lands that were logged,
thinned, or otherwise managed, whether
it is the recent fires that charred the west-
ern slope of the Oregon Cascades, or the
Camp Fire that destroyed 19,000 homes
and killed 87 people in Paradise, Cali-
fornia.
All significant blazes occurred
during episodes of high temperatures,
low humidity, drought and high winds.
Logging does nothing to change the
climate/weather.
This is one reason why more than
200 scientists (whose jobs do not depend
on logging) signed a letter to Congress
a few years ago that said: “Thinning
large trees, including overstory trees in a
stand, can increase the rate of fire spread
by opening up the forest to increased
wind velocity, damage soils, introduce
invasive species that increase flammable
understory vegetation and impact wild-
life habitat.”
The Congressional Research Service
reached a similar conclusion: “From
a quantitative perspective, the CRS
study indicates a very weak relation-
ship between acres logged and the extent
and severity of forest fires. … The data
indicate that fewer acres burned in areas
where logging activity was limited.”
I could provide many more such
quotes and conclusions.
What this suggests is the need to
focus attention on fire-safe procedures
for communities, not trying to modify
the forest.
If the home cannot ignite, it won’t
burn. Typically, any fuel reduction
that is more than 100 feet from a home
provides no benefit.
Reducing ignitions is relatively
simple. Remove fine fuels like pine
needles from roof and gutters. Keep
flammable grass, pine needles and dead
shrubs away from the home. Get rid of
combustible lawn furniture. Put screens
on attic vents. These and other measures
will significantly reduce the chance of
home loss or fire spread through the
community.
Chain saws don’t change the climate/
weather. Given the current mega-
drought, we need to rethink how
we adapt to the inevitable wildfires.
We must start at the home and work
outward.
———
George Wuerthner is an ecologist who
specializes in fire ecology and livestock
issues.