Show ' 2D - Standard-Examin-er Sunday Aug 5 1990 Urgent for Utahns to be prepared for military reductions There is a new urgency for all of us to intensify our efforts to preserv e and strengthen our local economy Otherwise we could be in for hard times President Bush’s concession that he will heed a Congressional call for a reduced Pentagon budget by backing a 25 percent cut in the armed forces by the end of 1995 is a call for action We must meet three critical challenges: First assure Hill Air Force Base a healthy future by doing everything possible to support the base’s existing missions and attract new ones looking for a home as other bases are trimmed or entirely shut down Second provide similar support for Defense Depot Ogden and third mount an effective campaign to sell Utah as a great place to locate new business and expand existing operations making our economy less reliant on the whims of Congress and the Department I of Defense Bush has left little doubt that the nation’s defense forces are going to be dramatically slashed His proposed $307 billion defense budget for 1991 is already under bombardment by Congress The House Armed Service Committee on Wednesday knocked $24 billion out of Bush’s proposal leaving the Pentagon with $283 billion In a speech in Colorado on Thursday the president responded to the House’s meat hook approach by conceding to go along with a cut of 25 percent in defense spending But Bush also served notice he intends to lobby to keep the 2 Stealth bomber program intact and to prevent efforts to gut the Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile system — the latter strategically important to Hill Air B-- Force Base rr 11 The president also went on the offensive over the slashing of his Strategic Defense Initiative or Star Wars program an outrageously expensive effort that should be the knife first to fall under the budget-cuttin- g A further impetus for Utahns to get into the business of preparing for losses of military contracts and jobs is Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney’s hint that more changes could be in store such as further base closings deactivation of 1 1 Air Force tactical fighter wings four interceptor squadrons and 450 squadrons five fighter-bombII nuclear missiles Bush’s stance of a week ago has considerably changed He said then that he recognized some build-dow- n of the armed forces was inevitable but he cautioned against a “fire sale” in defense Thursday’s announcement by the president should trigger a loud alarm bell for Utahns Substantial cuts at local military installations would be extremely painful They can only be mitigated if there is the will and initiative among Utah’s elected and community leaders to take decisive action and join in the fight for our military installations and other economic developments to ensure stable growth and prosperity for the future Min-utem- er r? U r I ' an Lyrics go beyond freedom of speech When a US District Court judge in Florida ruled that the 2 Live Crew rap group’s recent album should not be constitutionally protected as free speech at first blush the specter of censorship reared up with all its dreary consequences and discussions on First Amendment rights Reading the lyrics stuns the senses changes perspective Simply put: How far does freedom of expression go before it is not allowed under the umbrella of the US Constitution? It is dangerous to the point of disaster to attempt to decide which expression merits the protection of the Constitution and which does not To do so would set in motion a treacherous course of censorship Yet as a review in the New York Times book section about the Salman Rushdie affair: “The liberal instinct is to proclaim freedom of speech as an absolute right But that position is not sustainable in practice We are not free to We are not free to destroy other people’s reputations ” shout abuse or obscenities at people in the street Perhaps we should not be free either to shout the kind of abuse and obscenities currently being absorbed by the two million Americans who have purchased 2 Live crew’s current album and listened to those disgusting lyrics in “As Nasty as They Want to Be” Since at least hundreds of thousands of American young people are among those listening to this album we see an obligation to invoke a plea for restraints about its contents They go beyond conventional issues of free speech They preach degradation of women and children They extol violence and rape It is a blasphemy against all who have striven through the centuries to exalt the human race There is absolutely no redeeming artistic value in this album and its gutter language When will the pendulum begin its swing back away from unthinkable license? What does it take to shock Americans into effective protest? with the Constitution on flag burning was rijiiic : Tinkering as would be beneath the dignity of American so because of an exploitative rap group Ari 'informed Arperican public appalled by the erosion of human values will make the difference Is oil worth price of American lives? WASHINGTON — It is a nightmarish question that has haunted presidents for 40 years: Do you send American men (and now women) to fight a land war in the Middle East to protect the flow of oil? George Bush has brushed the edge of the dilemma Now a megalomaniacal enigma named Saddam Hussein a man whose greed is matched by his weaponry' may push Bush into the ultimate nightmare: When is oil worth wholesale expenditure of American lives? Bush could dodge that bullet when Saddam sent Iraqi tanks jets and troops rumbling acrftss Kuwait It was a lightning replay of the Nazi blitzkreig of 1940 “We’re not discussing intervention” Bush said “I’m not contemplating such action” He had no military cards to play Iraq squashed Kuwait with 120000 troops 350 tanks Bush had the aircraft carrier Independence several days away plus 2000 Marines in the Mediterranean You don’t send Peter Pan against Goliath Bush didn't even rattle a saber He did normal stuff — ban Iraq oil imports freeze its assets in the US lash its “naked aggression” Not even Capitol Hill firebrands his prudence “Now isn’t the time to talk about military the action' said Sen Sam Nunn D-Hill's defense guru “We wouldn’t want to get into a ground war in that area” Even while Bush was applauded for finessing the crisis (goodbye Kuwait) the real nightmare loomed: What does a president do ’ second- -guessed Sandy Grady if Saddam Hussein his appetite whetted savs “He’s shrewd crafty always calculating in- vades Saudi Arabia? Sen David Boren head of the Intelligence Committee had no doubt about the scenario if Iraqi tanks roll 250 miles across flat desert to claim Saudi Arabia’s oil “I think it would be a direct threat to the security of this country” said Boren flatly That script nagged Washington “Saudi n Arabia might be next” said Sen Lloyd “Saddam Hussein would have a stranglehold on the West’s oil” Would Bush go to war to save Saudi Arabian oil? There’s the riddle After all Bush wouldn’t be taking on Panama or Grenada Iraq has 12 million troops more tanks than Rommel and Montgomery fielded in World War II 530 combat aircraft Retired Adm William Crowe calls moving in US forces “a prolonged effort” What should worry Bush is that Saddam Hussein is a mercurial egoist whose Kuwait ’strike caught US intelligence “No surprises” Sure the CIA said correctBut Sen John McCain ly “Not one Washington expert predicted it” Reading Saddam’s mind is the Washington game: Will he gamble lives to become master of the Arab world and king daddy of Middle East oil? “We’re dealing with one of the madmen of the 20th century” said Sen A1 Gore Other pels demonize Saddam as “The la Ben-tse- as flat-foot- ed iz D-Te- nn odds” Beyond psychobabble what's certain is that Saddam has chemical weapons and ballistic missiles and could own nukes in two years Terrible toys Bush knows Saddam’s flattening of Kuwait created enough trouble: Oil markets berserk Gas prices in the US sure to zoom Recession especially in the Northeast and Midwest deepening into 1991 All a minor prelude to worldwide tumult if Saudi Arabia tumbles “Saddam would control 25 percent of this country’s oil imports with a choke hold on the world” Boren said Would Bush employ US troops on the desolate sands of Saudi Arabia to save the oil that fuels America’s factories airliners and highway traffic? Jimmy Carter (thinking of the Soviet Union) threw down the US gauntlet 10 years ago: “Any attempt by an outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be an assault on vital interests of the United States repelled by any means necessary including military force” Will George Bush draw the same line in the sand? Could he engage Europeans Japanese and the Soviets to join forces? How many gallons of oil are worth American lives? Nightmare questions man calls Bush’s bluff if a Baghdad mad- - Knight Ridder Newspapers Seidman trying to clean up S&L mess imaui utiumaii) nrijuiixvji vn the bald blunt chairman of the Resolution Trust Corp the elegant name for the savings and loan bailout described his job to a rapt audience at the International Platform Association as “undertaker tax collector and garbage man — any one of those is all right but ” together Nonetheless he appears to be willing to soldier on despite that for months the White House has been hinting that his departure is imminent His crime? From the first he has insisted that the bailout will cost money and once suggested that a fee from insured depositors might be required Seidman is metaphorically as well as actually on crutches: He lost an argument with a bucking horse in New Mexico But he has many fans especially on Capitol Hill where g is much appreciated He his is a veteran of Washington wars having served in the Ford White House and the people at the White House obviously thought they were getting a team player Alas for them he turned out to be an independent with bristling care for his reputation as an honest man He does not wish to be driven out of town “I don’t know when I will leave” he told a knot of listeners who followed him out of the Mayflower Hotel ballroom and stood for 15 minutes asking him more questions “I’m fed up with these leaks from (Chief of Staff) John Sununu I told him ‘For every leak from you I’m going to stay an extra month’ ” The rush to be rid of him is somewhat baffling since he is the best known and most respected administration player in the S&L quagmire which political analyst Patrick Caddell calls “an economic Vietnam" straight-shootin- V W Butcher of Baghdad” and a “Middle East Hitler” But Boren who's studied CIA profiles Mary McGrory Rep Howard Wolpe an Says Rep Charles Schumer S&L specialist “They should be down on their knees begging him to stay on but instead they are sniping at him” Seidman’s tenure is suffused with the rancor that marks all aspects of the S&L mess The nation’s governors assembled in Mobile Ala got into a furious row over an ad in a local paper that showed former House Speaker Jim Wright and former Democratic Majority Leader Tony Coelho over a caption blaming them for letting “the S&L problem explode into a $325 billion national crisis” Gov Michael That celebrated Dukakis of Massachusetts was the first to rage against “this kind of garbage — we had enough of it in 1988" Some measure of the national rage was visible at the Mayflower where Seidman was asked repeatedly how a furious electorate could punish the malefactors He told them that the mess was pretty much their own fault They had elected people to Congress who insured deposits without regulating banks One man from New Hampshire demanded a list which of course would include large representations from both parties: Democrats insisted on guarantees Republicans on deregulation They applauded when one questioner said fiercely “The thieves and crooks should be forced for the rest of their lives to pay back” Seidman told them ruefully of Texans who have taken their S&L winnings and invested them in homes that cost between $10 million and $12 million which cannot be seized because of a state law that forbids taking a D-N- non-react- A £ man’s home in a judgment or Y thinks Tex- as should be punished for its greed He has introduced a bill that raises the possibility of regional enmities to add to the brew His bill would require the Lone Star State to pay an additional insurance premium of $28 billion His reasoning is that it has cost $21 billion to clean up Lone Star thrifts while virtuous states of the Northeast and Midwest have cost only $13 billion state-charter- ed Texas of course lifted restrictions from and federally insured S&Ls Seidman was asked if the massive amounts being used to scrub the S&Ls did not amount in fact to a “tremendous transfer payment from the North of the country to the South” “In a way it is and in a way it isn’t” said Seidman who has enough conflict on his hands “The money is going to depositors from all over the country some of whom simply gave their money to Merrill Lynch for state-charter- ed deposit” Wolpe says it doesn’t matter where the money came from but where it was spent Texas S&Ls were used as private banks by developers One thoroughly exercised woman from Chicago said she didn’t mind paying taxes to run the country “but what I want to know is why the taxpayers have to pay the tab for people cheating” This is a sentiment that is heard all over the land in the current campaign and it makes incumbents shudder Seidman said none of it would have happened if bureaucrats had read the Bible Proverbs 11:15: “Who insures a stranger wilt surely suffer for it” Universal Press Syndicate high-rolli- |