Show flu gait £akf Sribtmr Sunday November 13 1988 Section A Tribune Editorials 1® Page Letters Common Currier Jenninger Talk Clumsily Tries Justifying the Unjustifiable Germany's Nazi pist and its hideous atrocities aimed at exterminating Eu- rope’s Jews can be explained They can never be justified Philipp Jenninger's inept attempt to explain has properly and appropriately cost him his job as president of the West German parliament the Bundestag Triggering understandable outrage among many Germans and others around the world his speech has been properly construed as an effort at justification Beading excerpts of Herr Jen-ninger- ’s speech dispassionately and at considerable physical distance from Bonn and a half century removed from the events it is easy to perceive his attempt He was trying but failed utterly to describe economic and social circumstances in the Germany of the along with the mind set of the ordinary German citizen of 1938 that made Adolf Hitler his Nazi confederates and their actions politically acceptable The 50th anniversay of Kristallnacht — start of the Holocaust that eventually claimed the lives of six million Jews — was not the time for anyone especially not a prominent West German politician to deliver an ingratiating scholarly dissertation on the evoulution of Nazi Germany Such a talk might have been suitable for a university class examining the evolution of European political systems but that was not the occasion addressed by Herr Jenninger and his deliberately framed commentary He was rather on the platform of the Bundestag West Germany’s parliamentary center where he could have at least represented the German people's testimony against ever permitting a recurrance mid-193- of barbarous human and civil rights denial Reaction to the speech now condemned worldwide as an appalling failure of judgment and taste illustrates a strong taboo that has persisted in West Germany since the end of World War II: one doesn't resurrect in public ghosts in a nation that faces the permanent task of making amends to the Jews Jenninger's speech a bland explanation of Third Reich populism wa3 emphatically out of place on a day of remembrance for the victims of Nazi atrocities It failed miserably as an atsorrow and tempt to express post-wa- r atonement for the sins of the Nazis The 50 or so members of the Bundestag who walked out along with those who remained but demonstrated their obvious embarassment and revulsion with the speech illustrate how close to the surface German distress about the horrors of the Holocaust remain It is a subject today’s West German avoids in conversation with visitors Even when asked directly about those events West Germans prefer not to dwell on them responses tend to be contrite but terse almost evasive Onj gets the impression that the Holocaust and all the days of Hitler and his Nazis are persisting and painful memories for a people deeply proud of their otherwise civilized history Germans haven’t forgotten their Nazi past They did not have to be nor did they deserve to be reminded of it by an insensitive and prominent politician and most particularly not on the anniversary of the day when the evil that was the hallmark of Nazi Germany commenced anti-Semiti- c Cut Medical Costs Dr John C Nelson president-elec- t of the Utah Medical Association made a novel suggestion for helping resolve the nation’s health care problems: Physicians could reduce fees It’s high time physicians came to grips with the rising costs of medical care Some 37 million Americans lack health insurance and 53 more have inadequate coverage Most of these people cannot afford the insurance because they lack the kind of jobs that provide adequate health coverage In a recent forum on the subject Dr Nelson Congressman Wayne Owens and State Rep LaMont Richard Lake City agreed that employers should offer better benefits Rep Owens would require employers to extend insurance to all employees on a costsharing basis Rep Richards proposed that employees be given the option of health insurance instead of taxable wage increases What they didn't emphasize strenuously enough is that skyrocketing insurance rates propelled by astronomical health care costs are making it increasingly difficult for all employers to offer proper health benefits and employees to take advantage of them After absorbing premium increases as high as 30 percent this year American corporalt tions are spending approximately $2200 for each employee's health benefits They're expecting another 22 percent increase in the coming year These costs are being passed onto insured employees who are forced to pay higher deductibles give up their choice of physicians andor endure seemingly senseless bureacratic exercises designed to limit prices The major problem of course is that medical costs are surging ahead at two and three times the inflation rate Many reasons have been cited for the trend from the federal government’s refusal to fully reimburse physicians and hospitals for care of Medicaid patients to the tendency of patients to live longer and demand more expensive treatment or to sue for malpractice Even so it’s plain to see from medical bills these days that physicians and hospitals are charging unreasonable sums for their services While a visit with the physician can cost as little as $35 a series of heart tests (treadmill electrocardioand cholesgram blood pressure terol count) administered by everyone but the doctor will amount to several hundred dollars Surgery involving more than a few hours in the hospital rises into the thousands It's encouraging that a physician of Dr Nelson's stature would concede the need for reform Of course health care providers — physicians and hospitals — can't solve the nation's health care crisis by themselves Government patients and the insurance industry each must cooperate in controlling medical costs so that everyone can afford basic services Unless the providers participate more fully in the process however they probably won’t be able to sustain the medical’ system's free market much longer five-minu- te out-patie- nt X-ra- y Best Defense Against Khmer Rouge Funding Cambodia Resistance Is Essential By Mark Perry and William Scott Malone Special to The Washington Post WASHINGTON — A $35 million corruption scandal involving Thai military officers nearly derailed funding last summer for the Reagan administration’s covert program to assist rebels in Cambodia The scandal surfaced last spring when Central Intelligence Agency officers in Thailand involved in running the covert program uncovered evidence that Thai military officers and perhaps businessmen had skimmed e promoney from the US gram which totaled $12 million in fiscal 1988 The CIA then informed the Senate Intelligence Committee which sent a team of auditors to Thailand to review the program The auditors reported back to the committee on July 12 about “corruption which had been uncovered’’ in the Cambodia aid program according to a late July document prepared by the State Department and made available by a source in the executive branch The theft of US funds appears to have totaled about $35 million according to intelligence sources The corruption problem emerged at a delicate time when the Reagan administration was hoping to expand US support for the resistance forces that are fighting Vietnamese troops in Cambodia The goal of the program isn’t simply to drive out the Vietnamese but alternative to help develop a to the communist Khmer Rouge — so that if the Vietnamese eventually withdraw their troops in a negotiated settlement of the war the Khmer Rouge won’t simply fill the vacuum with another bloody dictatorship There had been bipartisan congressional support for the Cambodia program until the money scandal surfaced Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee were so disturbed by the evidence of corruption that “one group wished to terminate (the) program in view of the magnitude of misappropriated funds" according to the July State Department document The document noted however that “a second group was prepared to continue the program but with strict periodic review” e The latter group won and the US program has been authorized for fiscal 1989 at $8 million sources say The July covert-assistanc- covert-assistanc- State Department document explained: "(Senate intelligence Committee Chairman Davidl Boren who supported Option B managed to fend off pressure to end the program and finally succeeded in creating a consensus around its continuation albeit with continuing (Senate Intelligence Committee oversight” (A spokesman for the Senate Intelligence Committee declined to comment on any aspect of this story) The $8 million authorization for this fiscal year represents a cut from last year's $12 million level and is less than administration officials had wanted But the House and Senate Intelligence panels did agree to “front load” the money in the first quarter of fiscal ’89 so that the Cambodian resistance will get over $3 million or nearly half the total by the end of this year chairman of Rep Stephen Solarz the House subcommittee on Asian affairs said in a telephone interview recently that the scandal in Thailand had threatened an otherwise popular program "What happened was an outrage not only because it involved corrupt diversions and activities but because it threatened to undermine support for a movement that may be essential for the survival of Cambodia as an independent nation" Solarz said “My impression based on discussions in Bangkok is that steps have been taken to prevent similar corruption and diversions in the program" Solarz added (Solarz is the principal sponsor of an additional overt program to support the resistance which provided about $3 million last year and is expected to increase to as much as $5 million in fiscal ’89) Mark Perry’s book on the Joint Chiefs of Mill be published by Houghton Mifflin next March Scott Malone is an documentary producer for PBS Television’s “Frontline" Staff “Four Stars” The Cambodia covert-aiprogram which began in 1982 or 1983 has probably been the least controversial — and least known — of the Reagan administration's secret operations to confront Soviet-backeproxy forces in the Third World Under the program the CIA works through the Thai government to disaid and training for the nonburse communist Cambodian resistance fighters The program is backed by US allies in Southeast Asia who are members of the ASEAN alliance and some ASEAN members have joined the US in providing funds for the covert effort Until the corruption scandal was uncovered the US approach had simply been to provide money to the Thais and tell them what to buy This loose arrangement kept the United States from becoming too deeply involved in the program but it also opened the door to profiteering in Bangkok Since the scandal emerged the CIA is said to have established new auditing and administrative procedures to make sure that US money is spent as intended The US ambassador in Bangkok Daniel A O'Donohue has also discussed the corruption d d non-leth- problem with Thai government officials according to intelligence documents The Thais are said to have expressed regret and changed some of the personnel who were involved in distributing the covert assistance to the Cambodian rebels By last month the Senate Intelligence Committee auditors saw “solid evidence of effective new monitoring procedures” that would prevent a recurrence of the corruption scanintellidal according to a gence document One deadline driving the administration's efforts to boost funding for the program was the visit to the White House Oct 1 1 by Prince Norodom Sihanouk the former ruler of Cambodia and titular leader of the resistance Siwar hanouk is attempting to end the nine-yea- r by three resistance groups against the Vietnamese-backed government of Hun Sen in Phnom Penh According to intelligence documents Sihanouk will meet with Hun Sen on Nov 5 in Paris and again in January The Reagan administration spent the weeks before Sihanouk’s visit trying to get the maximum aid possible In late September Morton Abramowitz assistant secretary of state for intelligence sent a message to Ambassador O'Donohue in Bangkok asking for a breakdown of how the resistance would spend $31 million in US covert aid during the first quarter of fiscal 1989 if Congress would ” agree to the approach the administration favored O'Donohue responded with a memo prepared by CIA officers in Bangkok The memo noted that the $31 million figure would be the minimum necessary to provide such items as field equipuniforms food and ment for the resistance under a planned expansion by year end to 35000 men from 25000 One reason the administration has fought so resistance hard to expand the is that officials believe the war in Cambodia Vietnam prodmay be nearing an ded by the Soviet Union appears serious about negotiating a phased withdrawal of its troops from Cambodia Vietnamese officials have stated publicly their intention to withdraw 50000 troops from Cambodia by the end of this vear and the remaining 50000 to 70000 by March 1990 The nightmare for US officials is that if the Vietnamese withdrew tomorrow the Khmer Rouge — with about 35000 troops — would be the strongest political and military force in Cambodia That In turn could mean a return to the sort of bloody Khmer Rouge rule that led to the deaths of an estimated 2 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979 “front-loading- non-leth- end-gam- e Save Elephants Too The enormous human concern recently lavished on three California grey whales trapped by polar ice could be just as legitimately shifted to an entire species of equally magnificent proportion threatened by even graver peril Unless people everywhere get sufficiently personally worried the world's elephant populations could disappear According to current counts Africa's wild elephant herds have been diminished from a 13 million total of individuals in 1979 to a frightfully low aggregate of 700000 Hunting is responsible and counter efforts are not working Various African governments have joined campaigns to preserve their wild elephants and the United State Congress last September added the African Elephant Conservation Act to this country's Endangered Species Act It s all in the interests of controlling the amount of elephant slaughter but well intended official policv even when accompanied by policing ('alls short Tusk ivory remains unfortunately m high demand on the global commercial market So much so that poachers and unscrupulous middlemen are rnoie than willing to defy enforcement of con servation laws Studies indicate that on the world market almost itU percent of products made nun elephant turn is illegal I t Moreover this accounts for the butchering of 89000 elephants many juveniles eliminated from the available breeding stock The US African Elephant Conservation Act became essential because this country's customers lamentably feed the ivory demand It's estimated five million pieces of finished ivory were imported by the United States in one year 1986 Ivory harvesting and selling isn't banned but the trade is supposed to be controlled through quotas African countries adhering to quota management including hunting restrictions as well as effective poaching control are Zimbabwe Malaw i and Botswana Ivory products from elsewhere in Africa could be suspect buying them might be contributing to elephant extinction long before anyone expects such an ecologic disaster and tragedy Ample reason mobilized and encouraged international labor to eventually rescue two whales from certain death in arctic waters Every bit as much distress should be channeled toward the impending fate of the Earth's dwindling fret- roaming elephant herds Nature could have been blamed had the whales rescue failed Only heedless human avarice ran be faulted if one of Nature's more magnificent creatures the elephant vanishes - Democracy Moving Toward Theocracy? Israel’s Future Depends on Jewish Factions Constance Hilliard Dallas Morning News "Who is a Jew" is a provocative theological question that has haunted Jewry even before modern Israel was born The latest Israeli elections which brought to H)litical respectability the parties that won 19 seats in the Israeli Knesset has renewed public debate on that one question The answer may ultimately determine the acceptance of American Conservative and Reform Jews in Israel But there were other issues as well that dominated the platforms of the Israeli religious right They ranged from debate surrounding legal observance of the Sabbath to the proper social role of women in Israeli society to the pivotal issue of whether Israel will retain its identity as a secular democratic state or evolve into an autocratic Jewish theocracy Rut why should theological considerations eclipse the search for peace that has in the past year preoccupied Washington and much of the world"’ Because If Israel is ever to find peace with its Arab neighbors it will only come after this beleaguered young nation has found peaci w itb Itself Iromcalh the 11 month long I’ab’stuiian By 20th-centur- ultra-orthodo- uprising in the occupied territories which has left 315 Arabs and 10 Jews dead has in many ways accelerated that fragile process of Israeli introspection Observers of the Israeli elections who had predicted that the paralyzing Labor-Likuimpasse might be broken were right in their prognosis and yet genuinely surprised at the electoral results Neither party anticipated the strength of the bloc whose aggressive campaigning included the bestowing of blessings or curses on impressionable voters and offended the sensibilities of both major blocs ultra-orthodo- e Constance Hilliard is a Dallas Morning News editorial staff ariter and columnist As for what this new political turn may mean to the security of the Jewish state the indications are at first glance fairly disquieting Should Likud form a government w ith the religious right which is the most likely see nano Israel w ill in all likelihood take an even more hard line stance toward rioting Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza Jewish set lenient s in the occupied temtories a majoT point of Arab lraeli tension will continue to ! proliferate and hatreds between Arab and Jew will escalate as casualties continue to climb There is of course a special irony in all this because of the sometimes striking cultural similarity between Arabs and the Sephardic Jews of Middle Eastern origin who populate Israel's right-winparties Their characteristically swarthy complexions make them physically indistinguishable from one another as do the exotic and lilting quarter tones of their folk music dietary prohibitions and insistence on female modesty And it is these Oriental Jews — today viewed as the more militant intolerant and dogmatic — who in the end must make their peace with the Arabs fellow Semites among whom they have lived (and suffered discrimination from) for millenniums It is more likely than ever that Jews of European origin whose liberal traditions rlash with the newly prevailing status quo w ill continue to leave Israel in growing numbers They will be taking along with them tbir rationalist W extern style of life — attri butes which have traditionally made it that much easier for Americans to identity- with Israel s national aspirations sec-ula- |