Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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War American troops finally attack to 'liberate'Kuwaiti monarchy American planes moved in, probably to be followed by ground forces. All the talk about whether or not we should attack is now meaningless. We have done it, and the only thing to squabble about is if we should persist with a ground invasion of Kuwait. With the light casualties we have absorbed so far (no loss of life is "light." but - ? ?o ' the losses were fewer than expected), perhaps a ground attack is not needed. If we do attack with infantry and armor, casualties will not remain low. Even after the intense allied air strikes, Iraqi forces in Kuwait will still be capable of putting up a tremendous fight. The best we can hope for is a quick resolution. It is believed America and her allies enjoy total air superiority, and further attacks against Iraq can be made at Bush's leisure. It's also assumed Iraq's chemical and nuclear stockpiles have been destroyed, so the urgency of attacking has been removed. With any loss of American life, it is unfortunate the country we are in the process of liberating does not have a more sterling humanitarian record. Kuwait was a monarchy, after all, with no public representation whatsoever. When the smoke clears days, weeks or months from now, the U.N. should insist that a representative democracy be installed in Kuwait. The United States would lose face if it did all of this work just to put the Emir of Kuwait back on his gilded throne. The sad logic of international relations says Kuwait can be defended whereas democratic movements in the Soviet Union and China can be repressed with no threat of United States punitive action. One good thing about this crisis is that it shows who are real friends are. The United States has some good friends in Europe and the Middle East. This conflict will improve relations with some Araoic countries we nave long oeen nostile witn, sucn as Syria, which is another positive development. In the heat of battle, Britain and Saudi Arabia have proven to be both exceptionally good allies. Both fought right along side American forces with great competence. Britain should be remembered as the only European country that consistently backs United States foreign policy decisions, and risks their own troops in the process. Turkey has also given diplomatic and military support to the U.S. and on Thursday was debating declaring war on Iraq. On the debit side, Japan is a lousy ally. The Japanese did almost nothing to help the allied cause even though they get 80 percent of their oil from the Persian Gulf. The Japanese are using the old "our constitution won't let us" dodge to avoid sending troops. Japan is quite capable of changing their constitution. The only thing there should be no controversy about is that our American troops are highly competent, well-trained and brave. Protesting the war is one thing, but no American should question the character of the individual soldier in this conflict. The U.S. troops have done a great job. *e#r mv ttiOKTcctwm /ma//" \ '* * \ i^niiPA f.'ffiVL.IIIo CPS ApOLOfries Tb /nATT 6&oe*JiM& The Gamecock News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249 Kathy Blackwell robyn Thompson Editor in Chief Managing Editor jennifer jablonski david bowden Copy Desk Chief Viewpoint Editor Lucy Soto Kathy Heberger News Editor Carolina Life Editor Steve Johnson renee Meyer Sports Editor Photography Editor Aaron Sheinin Tige Watts Assistant News Editor Assistant News Editor Octavia Wright Patrick Villegas Assistant Carolina Life Editor Assistant Sports Editor Chris Silvestri Julie Bouchillon Assistant Copy Desk Chief Assistant Photography Editor Eric Glenn Darkroom Lab Technician Ed Bonza Erik Collins Director of Student Media Faculty Adviser Laura S. Day ray Burgos Production Manager Assistant Production Manager Renee Gibson Kyle Berry Advertising Manager Assistant Advertising Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, professional title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any circumstance. Right to die si As human beings, we all have certain inalienable rights: the right to learn, the right to love, the right to live. But the world seems divided about whether we can choose one very basic life function: the right to die. I found myself sick this week as I read a story in The State about Nancy Cruzan. Bedridden in the Missouri Rehabilitation Center, the young woman was being kept alive only by a feeding tube and machines. After a long legal battle her family finally received permission to disconnect the tubes. But wait, you're getting the wrong idea. This is not what sickened me. What I found an outrage was the response of a group of right-to-life protesters. They felt it was their prerogative to try to gain access to Cruzan's room under the premise of bringing \ her flowers, so they could attempt to force the feeding tube back into her body. They were not Cruzan's family, they were not her friends, they were not even from the same state. Still, they appointed themselves to be her personal savior. Gorbachev re Over the past year there has been great hope for the success of the changes taking place in the Soviet Union. As far as the U.S. was concerned, the Cold War was over and the bright dawn of cooperation with its former nemesis was on the horizon. Communism had proven itself to be a complete flop and the Soviets were finally willing to admit it. Unfortunately, the deaths of 14 Lithuanians and the injuries of hundreds of others are ample evidence the USSR is not quite willing to leave its heavy-handed tactics behind. Gorbachev was even talking about restricting freedom of the press in the Soviet Union, espe, cially in the Baltics. Kind of blows peristroika and glasnost to hell, doesn't it? The Gulf Crisis, now a war, has overshadowed these events. This is very unfortunate for the Baltic- people who have wanted independence from the Soviet Union since World War II. It is apparent Gorbachev has bitten off more than he can chew as president of the USSR. His quest for power as a means to implement change has resulted in putting the Soviet people back where they are used to being ? j LETTERS TO TH n i a i prevent B Bush must be another $1 # _ dies to the morally right to ,er- ? J ~ And sud To the editor: firm again: President Bush's letter to stu- should. But dents (Wednesday, Jan. 16) mud- so iong ag( dies the questions raised by Iraq's liberate Ku invasion of Kuwait. He writes, wjtb ? "No horror could make this a more bons b obvious conflict of good vs. evil. human by The man who USP.H rhpmiral u/Qr. < . wnom tsusn fare on his own people . . . now The p^i oversees public hangings of dis- pi0iting mc senters. And daily his troops com- u/? nf?pH j mil atrocities..." stands firml And he warns us Hussein will regardlei soon develop a nuclear arsenal. us at ^ m, But he conveniendy fails to note not have t0 that Iraq's invasion of Kuwait did asks us t0) not reveal these facts ? we knew obligations, them years ago. AS t^e j For a decade, though, we ig- can ass, nored Hussein's barbarism and pies on wh subsidized his growing strength. rest ^ Our support was so firm that three founded an days before Hussein invaded Ku- principles ? wait, the administration was lobbying Congress to cease its plan to they deserve WMKT lould never b( Shelley Magee a tl y si V I find it impossible to believe for a second young Nancy Cruzan would have wanted their s' help. What I do believe is she would have a flOTP.p/1 whnlp-hpartf/llv with hp.r familv's <1p.r.i sion. In fact, she probably would have been the s' one to ask for it, had she been capable. P Try to imagine yourself a young, vital indivi- C1 dual suddenly incapable of bodily function. You ^ cannot eat, move or even breathe without the aid of a machine. You are unable to do any of sa the things that throughout your life have pa brought you all the joy and pleasure that make be it worth living. be Add to this the fact that the miserable exis- th; tence you are now reduced to is costing your thi verses clock in ^V' DENNIS SHEALY * f lil vi ' pi oppressed, at the bottom of the rung. ha This area of the world has been invaded and suppressed by one group or another throughout history. However, the Soviet Union has ab- nc sorbed ethnic groups that would have really in< been better left alone. mi The events of the past year finally gave these ^r? people hope for peace and possibly the chance C( for independence. Gorbachev in one fell swoop Hoc HachpH tKaon TJa m o KA A + A %? >+ W1 IIOO uuoitvu liwpvo. 11V V/iaillld IK? U1U IIUL ' give the order for the troops to fire into the toi crowd. If he did not issue the command, then is why didn't he reprimand whoever it was that ar did give the order to fire or why didn't he withdraw the troops and try to make amends for this E; travesty? nc To add to the Baltic's pull for independence ca and the trouble in Armenia and Azerbaijan, in IE EDITOR ush from providing tently. If not, then we she billion in farm subsi- sent Bush's manipulating I man he now compares justify the latest cause. Peter T. I denly we must stand English graduate i st him. Certainly, we we should have done Pl*pciflprif fl o. Meanwhile, to help x 1 wait we ally ourselves npl ppfl\/p \71i md appease Iran ? na- HjClCvil* C v I' raq, long considered in- To the editor: Amnesty International, President Bush opened h cites. "If armed men invaded a 1 dent deceives us by ex- this country, killed those irality to suit the day. Way, stole what they wan i foreign policy that then announced that the ho y against brutal nations now theirs ? no one wou ss of what they do for tate about what must be doi oment. Then we would He quotes Amnesty Inter, ignore history, as Bush on "widespread t to uphold our moral re . . . imposition of the del alty and die extrajudicial ex ^resident writes, "we of hundreds of unarmed c are that... the princi- including children." ich this nation and the Yet both of these examp i civilized world are tain to Indian occupation o 5 preserved." If these mir, Chinese annexation ol ire so important, then Turkish control of Kurdisl to be followed consis- Israeli occupation of Palest IE MEWS FROM LITHUANIA?* i subverted trained family thousands of dollars a day. But ince you are still "alive" they come to visit you 11 the time. There is no comfort in that either, tough, because they can't communicate with ou and sitting and grieving over the empty tell of a person unfortunately cannot help you. /hat would you want them to do? Right-to-lifers protest that disconnecting life jpport is morally wrong. Some even go as far s saying it is murder. How ran it hp mm-Hpr to Miiove life support systems from a person who tows no signs of ever recovering? These peole are in essence already dead. Without artifial means, they are not capable of living on leir own. In such cases nature has already seen fit to y it's time to give up. If we cannot help a ttient recover, where is the logic in forcing a >dy to function long after the life has already sen sucked from it? Find me the morality in at kind of suffering for both the patient and zk families. Baltic states oris Yeltsin, the president of the Russian '.derated Socialist Republic, is talking about dependence for Russia. Gorbachev needs to realize he is the presi;nt of a union made of peoples that neither :e each other nor liked being part of the Soet Union. Maybe he should just let these peoe be. If they want independence, let them ive it. I realize Gorbachev is thinking about the ecotmic and military considerations this sort of lependence movement would entail. Still, he list also realize he pave these nennle a tastp r?f sedom and they don't seem willing to eat the >ld War leftovers he is trying to serve them. Gorbachev, let these people be free and deal th them as independent nations. Try to work *ether, because no one is faring too well as it . It would be much worse if they start fighting nongst themselves. The world may have its eyes on the Middle ist, but blatant disregard for human rights will >t go unnoticed. Gorbachev had best move irefully because the world happens to be feedg his country right now. ? * )uld re- south Lebanon, among others, them to Shall we uphold our principles, waging war against these nations, lackey or do we stop with small, impoverstudent ished Third World countries like Iraq? 100 Bush argues that America would Ld-d not be credible if it didn't carry through on our threat of war. No, tW America lacks credibility to the world for our selective application is letter- mora^ty: *ra(l must withdraw immediately but we are infinitely tome in . . T ,, , * in their PaUent Wlth Israels brutality in ted and P^stine and sympathetic of their security needs that legalize torture Id hcsi- and sh??ting of children. ie ? We are not credible because we national f?how the logic of violence: peace o r t u - through war; prosperity through ith pen- destruction; two negatives make a ecution positive; the end justifies the ivilians means; victory excuses much. An eye for an eye making the whole les per- world blind" f Kash- A kinder, gentler America? c r. , That's more of a farce than "no t Tibet, new taxes. , . _ __ an and John R. Hanson ine and USC graduate