1987_01 The Daily Collegian January 1987

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.Wednesday, Jan. 28,1987..
Page 2
Miitcwni-
Iran defended; motives mixed
Deal explained
By Rudy Rodriguez
The Iranian crisis is very much in the
news today, and for the past semester many
of you have been reading and seeing on the
tube the different versions of what exactly
has been going on. The fact is, there may not
be a "crisis" at all.
OK, maybe there were some top officials
selling arms to countries abroad. Let's face
the facts. How many years has the United
States been doing things like this? Well, the
fact is, this has been going on for years.
Republican and Democratic presidents have
been doing this as long as there has been a
defense budget.
I remember when Carter was president and
we were seeing how he was promoting peace
through the Middle East summit. Israel and
-' Egypt were supposedly coming to terms
toward a significant peace settlement,
something most Carter supporters wanted.
But how long was that to last?
What was actually happening was that the
Soviet Union was building up forces to take
over Afghanistan, and terrorists were being
trained by "insane" leaders in other countries
in the Middle East to take over in hope of
winningjhc "age-old" wars that have lingered
on long before we were bom.
But all this is a whole new story. How
much of what was really going on in the
White HoiKe during the Carter
Administration did .we actually know about?
Although Carter was viewed as honest, he
really did not let the country know
everything that was happening in the White
House. Reagan is simply doing the same as
past presidents' have done.
Back to the Iranian crisis. The Reagan
Administration was making some very
important decisions in 'hope of bettering
foreign relations in the Middle East.
If you think about it from the outset, do
you really believe that U.S. leaders were
deliberately trying to hide something? I don't
think so. President Reagan has from the
beginning of his presidency viewed the
country basically as a "quasi-business." He
had confidence in his subordinates and gave
them the responsibility to get the job done
and achieve die results that the country, his
constituents, would approve of.
Whether or not President Reagan knew
what was going on was really not that
important at this point because he was not
actually doing all the work. Of course he is
ultimately responsible for what eventually
happens because he is the president. But is it
wrong to trust your support staff to do their
Opposing
Points
Rudy Rodriguez
part in an organization, or government, to
achieve the results set by that group, even if
the results are unfavorable? Let's not base our
judgment on results that have yet to be
determined unfavorable.
The point is, the intentions were there and
the top officials in the United Stales were
doing their best to solve a problem that was
becoming increasingly large as the terrorist
movement-was continuing. It has not yet
been decided, by Senate investigation, that
those involved are guilty of any wrongdoing.
I feel that the investigation, which is
being covered by the Cable News Network,
has been conducted very professionally. Let's
not pass judgment on what we have heard
through the media, or from our friends, on
the guilt of those that were involved. In fact,
we actually still don't know who was really
involved. Wait and see what comes out of the
investigation to form our opinion
President Reagan's popularity has been
effected significantly in the past few months
from what has been coming out of the
Iranian crisis. Hence, the strong support that
the Republican Party has built up in the past
tbur years has also been effected. However, I
still think that this will not really have an
effect on voter registration as far as choosing
a party. The Iranian crisis c&uibt be
compared to Watergate simply because there
are no people pointing a finger at Reagan for
doing something wrong. Instead. he is
simply being blamed for knowing too much
or too little.
President Reagan admits to knowing very
little about what was going on because he
placed responsibility and trust on his
subordinates. Furthermore, it has not been
determined that a crime has been committed.
It is easy to criticize a leader for problems
See RODRIGUEZ, page 8
ATTENTION
j
ALL GUARANTEED STUDENT LOAN (GSL) APPLICANTS
Those students wishing to apply for GSLfor the current academic
year 1986-1987: the deadline for submitting all forms to the
Financial Aid Office is 3/2/87.
Those students who plan to apply for a GSL for the 1987-88
academic year, the California Student Aid Application (SAAC),
required of all applicants, is currently available in the Financial
Aid Office.
A reminder... there are 3 steps involved in processing a GSL at
CSUF:#
1. Complete the SAAC
2. Respond to all document requests
3. Complete the supplemental GSL packet
(avail, mid-April for trie 1987-88 academic year)
Patrick Young
Reagan lied
By Patrick Young
"The charge has been made that the United
States has shipped weapons to Iran as ransom
payment for the release of American hostages
in Lebanon, that the United States undercut
its allies and secretly violated American
policy against trafficking with
terrorists...those charges are utterly false."
-Ronald Reagan
Nov. 13. 1986
With those words. President Ronald
Reagan opened one of the more interesting
chapters of American politics this decade. His
lies, along with the deceptions and falsehoods
of his staff, are meant to cover-up and limit
damage from a scandal that may wreck his
administration.
It is a scandal that involves deliberate
lying to the American public, lying to our
allies, U.S. support of terrorist activities in
Central America, White House violations of
(at last count) more than a dozen different
laws, CIA support and assistance of a cocaine
smuggling ring, clandestine burglaries of
important records and shredding of others,
muder of potential witnesses in several
countries, and more. Surprised? We shouldn't
be.
To my knowledge, there is not a single
thing the Reagan White House had done dial
previous administrations have not done also.
Secret wars and political murders? The CIA
and its moilcy crew of mercenaries and
misfits have been killing and torturing for
years under every president since Eisenhower.
They've done it in your name and in mine,
and they've done it on every continent on the
globe.
For those of us who can make it to die
library occasionally, take a peek at the >
Congressional Committee hearings on CIA J
activities that were held in 1975 under the
direction of Frank Church, a former Idaho
senator. Find out what's been done while we
(or our parents) have been sleepingwalking
through history. It's certainly not-frtity, but
you will begin to understand why our
government is both feared and despised by so
many other countries.
What should 'we think about the CIA
support for ' drug smuggling, the
"CIA/Contra/Cocaine Connection?" Well if
CSUF had more history students . this would
be no major revelation. The CIA's
connection with drug smuggling goes back
to the days of our involvement in Indochina
where we inherited the French role in opium
trafficking as a means to win the allegiance
of the indigenous peoples to aid in our wars.
Perhaps this time, in the midst of the While
House's much-ballyhooed campaign against
drugs, the cocaine smuggling seems
exceptionally outrageous. But it's just more
of the same old scenario.
/ The rest of the scandal? Lying to the
^American public? Presidential flouting of
numerous laws? Burglaries and shredding of
documents? This is certainly nothing new.
fe may be surprised to'find a convicted
terrorist on our payroll in Central America
(Bay of Pigs veteran Luis Posada Carriles,
convicted by a Venezuelan court of bombing
a civilian airliner that killed 73 people) but
we've longed worked with these type of men.
Who else would do deeds so heinous?
What these revelations leave me with is a
great feeling of sadness. Why sad? Because so
many people chose to believe that Ronald
Reagan and those that surrounded him were
(can I say it?) honest men.
We are one of the most literate and highly
educated civilizations the world has ever
known, yet in many ways we have all the
political sophistication of children. We
deliberately choose to misuse our democracy
by ignoring unpleasant realities, by keeping
our heads buried in the latest mini-scriesr
romance novel or sporting event.
We arc manipulated by dishonest men year
in and year out who rely on our apathy as a
constant, and men wc wonder why our
country is slipping ai.d slidding downhill,
why wc have fewer and fewer friends every
year, why wc are becoming* an isolated and
militarized giant that can no longer rely on
its moral strength, because the world can sec
wc have little left.
My dislike of the Reagan Administration
and those who populate it is for the same
See YOUNG, page 8
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tcr
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