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Show Monday, June 1, 1981, THE HERALD, Provo, Utat Opinions: What the Herald thinks, what the columnists say and what our readers think Page 15 ALK The Herald Comments Country OwesVeterans Help in Agent Orange A preliminary congressional report this week confirmed what thousands of Vietnam veterans already learned from firsthand encounters with dizziness, cancer, birth defects, skin diseases and psychiatric problems. The report, obtained by the University of Oregon Veterans Association, had been prepared for a subcommittee of the House Health Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. It reveals that Dow Chemical Co., manufacturer of Agent Orange, failed to warn the U.S. Defense Department that the widely used chemical defoliant was dangerous to humans. reels 142-page draft notes at: —The government and chemical companies knew by 1957 that dioxin, an impurity common in Agent Orange caused ‘‘adverse health effects on humans.” —Dow placed warning labels to that effect on Agent Orange sold domestically but failed to label supplies it sold the Defense Department. —The 9 million pounds of Agent Orange used to denude Vietnamesejungles was14 times stronger than the formulation used in the United States. —The government ‘‘failed to test for possible adverse health effects and to take necessary measures against human exposure.’”” —The government actually increased the use of Agent Orange after downplaying or ignoring persistent reports from Vietnam that the herbicide was causing humanhealth problems. —‘'Theultimate delay in the government’s response to protect individuals against the adverse health effects of Agent Orangeexposure... establisheda pattern of government inac- tion and ineptitude.” —The herbicide was “‘used with no special precautionsfor limiting or preventing exposure of ground troops, applicators and-or handlers.” The U.S. Veterans Administration has refused to treat any illness linked to Agent Orangeotherthan a skin disorder. Fifty - two law firms representing Vietnam veteransandtheir families have filed a class action suit against Dow Chemical Co. whichis expectedto go to a jury trial later this year. The suit seeks $4 billion to $40 billion in damages. If the evidence presented for the families in that case is as persuasive as the information contained in the draft report, a substan tial awardin the case could go a long way toward righting the egregious wrong done the thousands of Americans exposed to Agent Orange. This country asked its youngpeople to go to Vietnam and fight a war it wasn’t trying to win. It gave them no properthankyou when they came home It even stood by while they werevillified or ignored. It is far too muchfor the government to turn its back on them nowas thev suffer, through no fault of their own, for exposing themselves to a danger their government was fully awareof yet wouldn't even warn them about Notwithstanding the outcome of the 10-figure damage suit, the government — in this case Congress — needs to honor the implicit contract entered into with the men this country sent to Vietnam Odious and unappreciated as their task was, they did their duty Now Congress must see the governmentlive up to its responsibilities ry Christensen It's Imperative We Support Afghanistan Struggle Editor’s Note: Two U.S. congressman recently traveled to Afghanistan border areas to learn firsthand what is happening in that tiny country’s fight for freedom spas Soviet occupation forces. is is the first of two articles summarizing their reports to Congress. vestigating refugee camps. In remarks chronicled in the Congressional Record, Ritter said “Our national sense of decency and honor demands that we help these brave people whoare dyingfor that which we value and cherish, freedom. By N. LaVERL CHRISTENSEN Scripps League Newspapers Despite catastrophic losses, the Afghanistan people haveproventhat Soviet military mightis not invincible. But they are desperate for help, mainly in the form of weapons‘so wecanfight for our lives and our homeland.” Thus summarized Rep. Donald L. Ritter, R-Pa. who with Rep. Joel Pritchard, R-Wash. reported to the House of Representativeson a factfinding trip to A i border areas along with a three-number State Department contingent in- whole world’s — makeit urgentthat we help them immediately on some effective scale and accompanythis with heavy economicand diplomatic pressure on the Soviet Unionto halt their expansion in Afghanistan.” Recounting the 18-monthstruggle of the Afghan people, Ritter noted that it was Dec. 24, 1979 that Soviet forces invaded the country ‘‘in gross violation of the Helsinki accords of 1975."" As many as 100,000 Soviet troops have been committed, along with isti military i he stated. A ‘‘Soviet puppet,’ Dabrak Karmal wasinstalled prime “Our security — yes, ours and the minister. The lawmakercharged that ‘‘the Soviets have used lethal gasses and poisons in attempts to subjugate the Afghan people, a direct breach of treaties going back to World War I" and of laws adopted by the Geneva Conventions. “They have destroyed livestock and arable land and poisoned wells ... At least 3 million people of Afghanistan's population of 15 million either have died or fled as refugees within or without the country, he asserted. ‘‘Those who yet live and fight ery out for us to elp and they ask only for the means. to defend themselves ... They do not wantus to send anysoldiers. They say ‘Give us the weaponsso that we can fight for our lives and homeland ."”’ ding to the congressman. the Afghans areusing Enfieldrifles. Molotovcocktails, knives and even stones to combat modern ana destructive Soviet war implements. The two U.S. solons met with manyof the Afghan Mujahodin. the freedom fighters . and with Pakistani officials, and Afghan families in the refugee camps. Ritter said the Soviets control urban areas which account for some 15 to 20 percentof the total country “Rural areas are still under the tacit control of Afghan freedom fighters.”’ The Soviets’ most effective weapon, Ritter reported, is the MI24 helicopter gunships which ‘roam up and down the countrysidefiring rockets and dropping bombs. These cause systematic destruction onvil- lages and small cities’’ and force c antless residents to flee as re/ugees The refugee camps — with anywhere from 1.8 million to more than 2 million packedin test cities in the border region with Pakistan — add a tremendous burden to the Pakistan nation already suffering from poverty and internal difficulties Realizing the strategic importanceof this sector of South Central Asia and thevitaloil lifelines along the Arabian Sea andintothe Straits of Hormuz, Ritter and Pritchard visited those border areas. Afghanistan is pivotal to Soviet expansion of powerin both the Persian Gulf and in in Asia — the historic land bridge between east and west, north and south “Securing Afghanistan, an ambition of Russians going back to Czarist times, will be a major step toward Soviet domination in that area and over the Indian Ocean,’ Ritter declared “If the Soviets are allowed to consolidate their hold on Afghanistan. theywill be ina far better position to close the chokepointoftheStraits of Hormuz, the narrow bottleneck through which passes 70 percent of the oil used by Europe and Japan and a major share of our own im ports They are just 350 miles from the straits, less than half an hour for a MIG fighter-bomber and eight hours for their tanks Ritter explained that between those bases in Afghanistan and the straits lied Baluchistan, an area comprised of large chunks of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. “Baluchistan straddles the northern shoreofthestraits andits approaches. For the Soviets, a ‘war of national liberation’ in Baluchistan would further destabilize the region and give the Russions direct overland access to the oil fields, the Arabian Sea, the straits, and give them anotherclient state in the area as a bonus.’ Next: Pritchard's report and congressional reaction M. Stanton Evans Too Many‘Cookes’ Can Spoil Broth of Journalism WASHINGTON — Whenthe Janet Cooke affair exploded at the Washington Post, this column expressed the view that outright fabrications of that type were relatively rare in U.S. journalism. The major problem, I believed, wasnotthe reporting of stories that were false, but failure to cover stories that were true. In weighing the harm inflicted on the nation by the Post, the distortions and omissions of a Karen de Youngreporting from Nicaragua are far more serious than the inventions of a Janet Cooke. . A growingseries of revelationsindicates, however, that inventions like that of Janet Cooke are more commonthat I had supposed. Apparently the inroads of ‘‘new journalism” and the growth of “‘advocacy”’ notions in the, press have eroded journalistic standards and blurred the line between fact and fiction. The resulting episodes of journalistic trumpery must be extremely damaging to the media. Wehave,for instance, the sad example of Michael Daly, a columnist for the New York Daily News, who wrote a cinema verite accountof the fighting in Northern Ireland, which turned out to be more cinema than verite. Daly depicted a horrific scene in which a British soldier cold-bloodedly gunned downanIrish teen-ager — a chroniclealltoo like- ly to inflamestill further passionsin that violent struggle. Various invented and unsubstantiated statements in Daly's story were exposed bythe efforts of the London Daily Mail, which showed that there was no proofof the alleged shooting, that the soidier reportedly involved in it did not exist, etc. An uproar ensued, and Daly submitted his resignation from the New York News. Chalk up another black eye for the ‘new journalism” andits practitioners. In somewhatsimilar fashion, the Christian Science Monitor reports allegations — and so far only that — that someof the TV pictures coming from Northern Ireland have been Feedback Teacher's Excellent Editor, Herald: I want publicly to thank Peter Fawson for being the dedicated teacher he is. The contribution he has made to the shaping of our daughter’s attitudes and activities this year have made such a difference in her life. Her self image has grown immeasurably, she smiles all the time, is industrious in everything because of the confidence and encouragement he has iven her at school. Seven a.m, has found her the first one up in our household every morning this school r, waking on her own, happy to about readying herself to leave for school, It's such a contrast to what we have observed in the past. In any profession, there comes along occasionally that rare person who epitomizes all that such a professional person should be. Heis such a person — such a teacher. As a Room Mother for his third grade class in Spanish Fork this year, I have observed that he is generous in ‘the individual attention be tailors for each child and as parents we thank him and applaud him Thank you, Mr. Fawson, for imrovising and going beyond thetextfoe to bring all extras to your lessons that made them comealive and be personal to the children. ‘Thank you for being a humanitarian and seeing each child as an individual with a heart and feelings and morepotential than might surface in an ordinary environment Sarah loves you and we are so grateful for the efforts you have extended thatelicited that love. Those efforts and projects and special units have made her feel good about herself as she was challenged to excel, She fee ey, e you family atte! er dance Meventa “extra mile’ gesture that was. Our family hopes you wil! be hapyy in your new schoolnext year. ive your students will be. Johanna Flynn as 900 E. } nish Fork ” *f. fe staged. The Monitor quotes reports thatIrish children have been paid by Canadian, French and Australian film crews to hurl rocks and gasoline bombs for picture-taking pr jes — and that moreresponsible journalists had called a meeting in early May to get such unprofessional practices halted. In a less culpable but also questionable vein, we discover from the Wall Street Journal that Pulitzer Prize - winning write-up about the murder of Allard K. Lowenstein contained a good deal of ‘‘new journalism’’ also, This feature purported to reflect the innermost thoughts and feelings of the assassin. On inquiry, however, it turned out that the journalist had not even interviewed Lowenstein’s assailant though writing authoritatively about his private motivations Finally, we have the case of “Cincinnatus,"’ the supposed Vietnam veteran with ‘30 years of military experience” who wrote a scathing critique of the U.S. military, its leadership and its performance in Indochina for a major New York book publisher. ‘Cincinnatus’ was widely played up in the national media, and his views were given a dramatic airing on the NBC-TV “Today’’ shows. Now it turns out that ‘Cincinnatus”’ is also a fake — a former chaplain in the Nebraska and Florida national guards, with noex: perience in Vietnam whatever Originally, the author wanted to sign his own name to the manuscript, but the publisher decreed otherwise, according to the NewYork Times, because ‘his service as a chaplain and lack of experience might harm the book's credibility.” As such hoaxes accumulate, it does begin to appear that problems of invention and overt misrepresentation are spreading. They are a small minority, but they are tremendously damaging to the reputation of the media (c) 1981, Los Angeles Times Syndicate |