| Show AA4 JhegaULake Tribune OPINION Sunday December 7 1997 Stephanopoulos Plays the Fool in Promoting Saddam's Assassination CHRIS MATTHEWS "huge winner" "A misplaced moral should not stop the president from talking about assass- "The president would no doubt pay a heavy political price if the operation failed but he would be a huge winner if he succeeded" I have several reactions to this serious public proposal by the most of Clintonites who now represents his party and president on Sunday television For years I have listened with advancing contempt to the armchair warriors of this city and New York whose quickness to advocate the use of violence looms in bold contrast to their own lack of military service This use of a magazine column to commission a killing sets a new standard in such armchair generalship It proves again that people who have never been in a schoo squea-mishne- ination" Stephanopoulos concludes with Frederick Forsyth panache "If we can kill Saddam we WASHINGTON — President Clinton has been advised to assassinate Saddam Hussein Having the Iraqi leader killed celebrated While confessing to certain legal and political obstacles in putting out a contract on Saddam's life Stephanopoulos defends the rectitude of his "Day of the Jackal" proposition "What's unlawful and unpopular with the allies" he notes "is not necessarily immoral" To Clinton's former senior ad- writes in Newsweek magazine would make his longtime boss a would make for both good morals and good politics CHICAGO TRIBUNE SERVICE aide George Stephanopoulos well-know- n should" visor assassinating Saddam lyard fight much less on the field of battle are those most at home with the pseudo-soldie- r idiom of "taking out" the Serbian artillery or in this case pursuing "the assassination option" Or do I misinterpret the Stephanopoulos column? Is he suggesting that President Clinton commission George himself to carry out the hit? This childlike talk of killing Saddam Hussein is the reduction to absurdity of the childlike of him The revolutionary Ba'athists have held power in Iraq for three decades Is there a single reader of this column (besides George Stephanopoulos) who believes a Ba'athist leader would trigger an era of good feeling between our two peoples? Does anyone reading this column agree with Stephanopoulos that ordering — and achieving — the assassination of a foreign leader would enhance the Clinton legacy make the president "a huge winner"? My final verdict connects to our history In the past century and a half those who followed the "assassination option" have claimed Presidents Lincoln Garfield McKinley and Kennedy Assassins came close to killing Teddy Roosevelt Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan I ve wondered as have we all d assassination of the George Stephanopoulos at the mentality and morality of those who advocate assassination Thanks to George Stephanopoulos we now have it in writing Names of Yesterday's Heroes Better Suited for Schools of Yesterday CLARENCE PAGE CHICAGO TRIBUNE SERVICE WASHINGTON — Few people outside of Orleans Parish La took much nolice when the school board decided in 1992 to strip the names of former slave owners off its public schools Nobody much cared for five years until they decided to change the name of an elementary school named after that great Virginia slaveholder George Washington That's when the stuff hit the fan It now is the Dr Charles Richard Drew Elementary School in honor of the black surgeon w ho pioneered blood banks during World War II and opposed racially segregating donated blood That's progress We go from a man who historians say did not hesitate to whip blood from either his soldiers or his slaves whenever he felt they needed it to a man who saved blood and was willing to give it to whoever needed it That in my view is a pretty good message for kids But not everyone sees things my way As soon as word got out that Washington's name was no longer politically correct in New Or- leans the repercussions rattled nationwide hitting the network evening news the radio talk shows and Washington's Sunday morning TV talk shows The New Orleans e quickly got hold of James Rees executive director of Mount Vernon the late general's landmark estate in Virginia He thought the name change was "an absolute outrage" "George Washington lived in a different time and place" Rees said "To lift his life of accomplishment out of context and judge him by our standards today is completely unfair" Well so was slavery So were the people and institutions who supported it Remembering this sad fact does not lift Washington's life out of context Quite the opposite it puts Washington's accomplishments and those of other slaveholders like Thomas Jefferson into context The controversy stems from a policy that opposes any school name that honors "for Times-Picayun- mer slave owners or others who did not respect equal opportunity for all" More than 20 public schools have been renamed since They include Jefferson Davis the president of the Confederate States of America and Robert E Lee Confederate Army commander The former Lee School was renamed for Ronald McNair an astronaut killed in the 1986 Challenger explosion The school formerly named for Confederate Gen PGT Beauregard has been renamed for Thurgood Marshall the country's first black Supreme Court justice And as if to ease the minds of those who suspect some kind of thinly veiled assault against dead white males is afoot the board also took away the name of Marie Couvent a prominent black woman who founded an orphanage but also owned slaves Ultimately we should care less about whose name goes on the school than on what kind of learning goes on inside the school Students need to know that history is complicated They need to learn about history as real people and events warts and all not as fairy tales dreamed up by apologists But when it comes to such niceties as the naming of schools in our communities I see no reason why we African Americans should be called narrow-mindeif we would prefer not to hold in highest esteem those people who held people like us in bondage who bought and sold our ancestors like property and bred them like animals The fact that anyone sounds surprised hurt or outraged that any of us take offense at this notion only shows the depth of some people's ignorance and denial about race and racism History it often has been said is written by the winners The re- hoods change So do interpretations of history So we should naming of schools streets and other public places expresses many significant things Among them are the growing political clout of new groups who are coming of age as full participants in America's dynamic ethnic stew Someday who knows? The Charles Drew School could become the Benito Juarez School or the Roberto Clemente School or something else that honors the ancestry of whatever ethnic group happens to be gaining Neighbor d honor Washington and the other founders for setting up a system that has endured and prospered thanks to their wisdom — and in spite of their flaws Defenders say you should not judge yesterday's heroes by today's standards Fine Then put yesterday's heroes on yesterday's schools Leave today's schools for the heroes whose character and accomplishments can best point the way to a brighter tomorrow Now registering for winter classes i——— —— — m ' " a it':- Saturday December 13 1997 Deer Valley - Blrdseye Run - 1200 Noon t jfTtwwj Fvfr - — trv m mm V f v r e "i II 1'fiii rnintra plans it doesn't uut-ivi- imiw' i a 7495 South State Street Redwood Medical Center S2J West 2100 South SoH Lake Oty Holladay Adult Medicine SI Eart 3900 South Suite B 240 Salt Lake City Westndge Medical Center 3730 West 4700 South West Valley Chy Davis Health Care 2132 North 700 Wert Lofton Holladay Women's Services I (51 East 3900 South Suite 8 2f? 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