OCR Text |
Show . opomiDoini Tuesday, November 3, 1987 Unlock the files The Justice Department recently tracked down a Michigan man accused of committing war crimes, after gaining limited access to the archives of the United Nations War Crimes Commission. Similar access last year prompted Washington to place Austrian President Kurt Waldheim on the watch list of aliens to be excluded from this country because of their brutal Nazi past. Limiting access to these files protects thousands of persons whose dossiers may contain incriminating evidence of their complicity in outrages committed by the Third Reich. Such insulation for Nazi war criminals could be lifted if representatives from the 17 nations that constituted the commission would agree to open the files. The commission, which was disbanded in 1948, accumulated detailed files on more than 40,000 Nazi war criminals, suspects and witnesses. Uns files are kept under lock fortunately, the and key and may be inspected and used only for official United Nations purposes. The U.N. rationale for this secrecy is that wider access to the files could compromise future criminal investigation. A more likely explanation is United Nations concern that the new evidence could embarrass certain nations with a sordid complicity in the Nazi atrocities. For example, the most vigorous opponents of opening the files are France and Poland, which fear a careful examination of the evidence could disclose the extent to which they cooperated with their Nazi conquerers in rounding up Jews and other undesirables for the shipment to the death war-crime- camps. We are reliably informed that the U.N. archives contain nearly 25,000 Class A cases of individuals suspected of committing war crimes. Although many of these suspects are probably dead, many others are doubtless living double fives because of the anonymity granted them by the U.N.s curious policy Ayatollah Khomeini could win the Nobel Peace Prize easily, wanted to... all hed have to do is commit suicide. In brief... If scientists drained Loch Ness and failed to find its famous, mythical monster, people still would Nessie. In the recent concluded believe in n team Deep-scaa Operation with an sonar sweeps spent $1.6 million conducting in but of Scotlands boats armada largest lake, detected only an unusual object thought to be either debris or a large fish. The Loch Ness Monster also has eluded several other elaborate expeditions during the last decade, retaining a mystique that, arguably, is greater than the Abominable Snowman, n, British-America- Bigfoot and extraterrestrials combined. It is incredible that any creature of monstrous proportions, especially one with plesiosaur-typ- e dimensions popularly attributed to Nessie could survive millions of years undiscovered in a lake that is only linked to the North Sea through a canal. The more scientists look in vain for the monster, however, the more adherents Nessie attracts. The big fish that gets away always lures anglers. But its usually a sad day if the fish is caught. Carter's new life It is not easy to be a former president of the United States. The excitement and the power are gone, and there are few opportunities to speak before enthusiastic crowds. Some presidents fade away quietly and write their memoirs. Others such as Lyndon B. Johnson retire bitterly to the ranch. And some, like Richard Nixon, continue to pontificate. Jimmy Carter says yes, there is life after the White House, and he and his wife Rosalynn have created a new career. He teaches at Emory University, manages the Carter Presidential Library and Museum, has been organizing international conferences on the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and is writing several books. In addition, Carter is chairman of Global 2000, a privately funded worldwide organization concerned with malnutrition, hunger and poverty in the Third World. president, Jimmy Carter was a poor politician. He received blame for inflation caused by the Arab oil embargo. And, of course, he was blamed when Iranian extremists captured the American Embassy in Teheran. But he did gain respect from many foreign leaders. Now he spends much time meeting quietly with heads of state in his capacity as chairman of Global 2000. In addition to addressing Third World problems, he serves as an unofficial advisor on conflict As resolutions. Carter has found a positive role for himself, which In the long run he may is unusual for world for more peace and understanding accomplish House. in White the while did he than ( Krprlnted by permission of the Scottsdale (Aril.) Progress. he chucks waggirV On opinions and buff of keeping the files closed. Simple justice demands these persons be investigated and, where appropriate, subjected to the criminal penalties surely due them. Representatives from the 17 countries that made up the commission should come together now and unlock those files. if By CHUCK ZEHNDER Managing editor I wish some of these whining government employees would offer some solutions. I got a little unsigned note this week from someone who disagreed with me when I said the people in this state cant take any more taxes. That person, undoubtedly, was a government employee. First of all, the fact that this person would not sign their name and take responsibility for their beliefs (which were only opposed to what I said, not for anything) tells me something about their convictions. Second, they have nothing to offer the public in the way of solutions or they wouldnt try to hide behind anonymity. People like that cannot be taken seriously. I wish some of you who do have opinions on how to manage the problem of educating our children in this state with the limited financial resources we have would write letters to the editor. We may even ask you if we could run it as a guest column. Instead, in an effort to not offend neigh bors, nothing gets said. You will have to sign your name. Maybe thats the problem. But then if you have a conviction that your opinion is worthy of consideration, you will not fear the public knowing who you are when you express it. Ive said it before, I may not always be right, but Im always certain. And because I have a conviction that the taxpayers in this state can stand no more, I will publicly say so. The evidence seems to bear me out this time as being right, along with certain, as the tax rollback petitions continue to roll along. Now if you have a differing opinion, share it. You may influence others and you may be right and those of us who are certain may swing over to your side. But an opinion that is not shared, is one that is entirely worthless. CW Lady Buff spikers drop South is an actual headline on the Tooele Transcript-Bulleti- n sports page. Buff volley bailers? I thought that was only in nudist colonies. Buff netters finish fourth at state tour is another on the same page. Tooele has naked tennis and volleyball teams? Buff cross country team looks for middle finish reads yet another. I couldnt figure that out and all through ney the stories, the newspaper continued to report the teams as buff. Buff means without clothing. But in Tooele it is just like dino in Carbon County being short for dinosaur. Tooeles mascot is the buffalo. But for an outsider, it does make one wonder, at least for a while. That gave rise to more thoughts about a local mascot different than the dinosaur so we could have funny headlines, too. Now I know everyone got upset about even thinking about a change in mascots, but the Tooele newspaper shows that we could have lots more fun with something else. I mean, a dino is a dino and cannot be confused. Maybe something like the Fremonts. We could do some imaginative things with Free. Im sure there are others that could be fun and some have even been suggested, but theyre a little too much for this newspaper. Any ideas? mike royko Hard times? Try violent times, too Theres something ominous about the first known fatalities of our stock market collapse. During the 1929 crash, the first fatalities were Wall Street types with names like Chauncy or Fairfax who decided that they could not face life without their plump portfolios and weekend homes on Long Island. So they stood on the office window ledge, said Farewell, cruel world, and did what they thought was honorable. They jumped. It wasnt the brightest thing to do, since even life in a soup line is better than being a dead splat on a sidewalk. But at least there was a certain dignity in what they did, in that they blamed themselves. But now the first fatalities were more in keeping with our modern times and state of mind. A disgruntled investor walked into a brokerage office in Miami. He had bought stocks on margin, meaning credit, and couldnt cover his losses. In other words, he had speculated, gone in over his head. So he took a Dirty Harry gun from his briefcase, killed one broker, wounded another, and only then did he shoot and kill himself. Its a tragic story, but it might give us a hint as to the kind of nightmare we might be in for if this market slump turns into as a something more-su-ch severe recession or a depression. This isnt the same kind of society that it was in 1929. The population is different. Attitudes are different. And so are the personal values-- or lack of them. Despite the legend of the Roaring 20s being a time of prosperity, there were many poor people in this country. But they were different than todays poor. For one thing, most of the poor of that period didnt even realize they were poor. In the cities, many were immigrants who thought that if they had a menial job, a roof over their heads, a hot meal on the table and shoes on their feet, they were doing OK. They werent used to much more. Few had cars and didnt expect to ever own them. A streetcar or legs were adequate transportation. They had no instant entertainment on a magic tube in the parlor. Or even a radio. Air conditioning hadnt been invented and dirty clothes were washed by hand and hung on a rope to dry. Those on farms thought they were in good shape, too, if they scratched a living from the land and didnt go to bed hungry. The poor today know they are poor. Theyve been officially full-blo- categorized and have received formal notification of their poorness. Thanks to television and other forms of com- munication, they know what others have and they dont. And they resent what they dont have. Actually compared to the ordinary lower class family of the 20s, todays poor are doing much better. A welfare family today is better fed, better housed and has better medical care than a lowly-pai- d working family of 65 years ago. They have luxuries and en- tertainment that didnt exist then. But thats all relative. The measure is no longer what you have-i- ts what you want and dont have. And if todays poor have to get poorer, they arent going to like it. Nor will those who are somewhere on the next level-t- he almost poor, those who are just getting by, just hanging on. Consider a few thoughts that might cause bad dreams. Recent years have been prosperous. Not for everybody, but for most Americans. Despite Reaganomics, the social safety nets are still there. Yet, more and more people pick up guns and go looking for someone to divest of shooting the victims almost as an afterthought. assets-frequc- ntly Weve become more and more violent. Sometimes for profit. And other times just for something exciting and macho to do. So if in an era of prosperity weve become more violent, if our prisons are stuffed beyond capacity, if the cops and judges cant keep up with volume of crime, what will it be like if times get really hard? Will there be a sense of community, of helping and sharing, as was often the case in the Great Depression? Oh, sure, if we get genuine hard times, the Hells Angel types are going to open soup lines. And the Insane Idiots and Deranged Demons street gangs are going to put down their Saturday Night Specials and begin baking bread for the needy. Yeah, and Ill suddenly grow a full head of hair. I dont want to be an alarmist, but that confused crowd in Washington known as Our Leaders had better begin thinking beyond what the slumping Dow Jones means to next years elections and their corporate contributors. They might start by renting a video movie called Road Warrior. But they shouldnt look at it as a piece of fiction. Think of it as a documentary. One of these days, it could be. |