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Weaponry Patriot missile works very well, but should not revive SDI system The Persian Gulf war has battle-tested a variety of Americai technology. One of the biggest successes is the Patriot surface-to air missile, the first missile in the history of warfare to shoo uown an enemy missile in ingni. It is no exaggeration to say that the Patriot has saved mam American, Saudi and Israeli lives since it became operational ir the Gulf. The Patriot is one example of American technology per forming as planned. The Patriot is a spin-off from the now-comatose Strategic De fense Initiative program, better known as Star Wars. SDI was in tended to destroy a large percentage of incoming Soviet interconti nental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in the event of a nuclear war using anti-missile missiles such as the Patriot and space-basec laser satellites. NBC News reports conservatives in Congress are now trying tc get more funding for the SDI because of this early success witl the Patriot. The effectiveness of the Patriot should not mean tha SDI should return from the dead. The system was largely abandoned because it is a colossa waste of money. Conservative estimates for an operational SD run at $1 trillion. That is the majority of one year's entire federa budget. Even this system would block only 50 percent of Soviet mis siles, meaning thousands of warheads would still get through gi ven a total nuclear exchange. One doesn't have to be an expert ir nuclear warfare to realize America would be annihilated in a nu clear war with or without a defensive shield. A vast number of American scientists have spoken out agains the Star Wars program. As astronomer Carl Sagan points out, the easiest way for the Soviets to defeat the SDI system is to built more missiles and overload the system. A new push for Star Wars funding would only harm improvec Soviet-American relations and start a new arms race, as the So viets develop countermeasures. From the Soviet perspective, SDi can be seen as an American attempt to gain a first-strike capability. The point to be remembered is the effectiveness of the Patrio missile against outdated missiles fired sporadically from a third rate military power is not the same as blocking thousands of mis siles fired at once from a first-rate nuclear power. Star Wan should stay in the movies. 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. .A /f 1M ; \ i ' Hussein has r So far this war has been sort of a dilemma to me, and perhaps I'm not alone. All this hoopla about blood for oil never rested quite true with 5 me, but still I wasn't convinced that our presence in the Gulf was justified. I consider myself an educated individual. 1 keep up with the papers and the news. But no matter how hard I tried I always drew the conclusion that my understanding of why we were really there was fuzzy at best. Were we protecting a "raped" country? Were we protecting oui oil interests? Was the president trying to coax along the economic prosperity known as a fringe benefit of war during this time ol recession? Maybe. We really can't say for certain which of these possibilities sent our boys to Saudi Arabia. Whether any of these causes are worth the cost of human lives is a moral question that each of us has to answer for ourselves. So far this question has left us as a nation divided. Iraq's treatment of American POW's struck a chord with me. I may not have known why we went there in the first place, but after seeing that kind of brutality I'm convinced we belong : i, rrrnr c D o *T*I 1 1 I w I I ItTrr irrrniiiirrn inniirrr- in * " - ' -* Kins flawed, *?*? !" CJ ' UlllU ou - not heroic wT^l Asian civ To the editor: civilizatio I am respopding to Octavia civilizatioi Wright's article from the Jan. 21 erally of Gamecock. She, like many African "equal"? Americans, couches her rhetoric in The onl a party line (the NAACP's) which is that son blames most, if not all, social ills tinuous \ of that minority on whites. than other And as usual, as per the party corded cu line, she has predicted an apo- of those c calypse if something is not done to tively i remedy the plight of blacks here, democrac and in South Africa. Such a gener- Concer alization is not only absurd, but economic impossible. ally hard First of all, the utterance of No,'" is King's name brings, for me, mixed issue, or emotions. King was a womanizer blame th (see Abernathy's book F.B.I.) like American Kennedy, and again like him, tion is ab: generated a cult following. King Charle also plagiarized large hunks of his Herstein dissertation; black scholars work- the most ing at Boston University discov- cial scie ered this. there are < A r?.1? i_ i ? i . Avpaii lium uic puipie anu nuw- uciwccu ery extended metaphors of nature help expl King uses to make his social state- economii ments, the bulk of the man's think- (New Yon ing is in biblical paradigms. The Herstei paradigms are often generalizations that "as s< and idealizations reflecting Near tocratic, i Eastern tribalisms at least half a would coi millenium old. the econo To apply these static idealisms, produce c such as "we will live as one, side This p< by side" etc., to the complex, plur- a report 1 alistic society we live in is folly. of Scienc Perhaps that is the reason "the America, movement (civil rights) was unable overemph to complete a top goal, which was tion in e to restructure American values." blacks an "American values" are proble- racial dif aJ matic. And "genuine equality"? suits" (Ne allied America Shelley Magee I __ there now. A few days ago I would have told you that couldn't really stand behind our involvement ii the Middle East. In my mind, I can't justif; both troops and civilians dying for a cause can't quite define. But this same sentiment lei me to want as much support for those men ove there as this nation can muster. The most im portant thing is that they come home soon am safely. Even those people who cannot support a wa will not hesitate to stand behind the safety o our troops. This started as a conflict of interes with the U.S. government. Guess what, Iraq' I'm willing to bet you just pissed off about 20( million Americans, myself included. Seeing the tapes of those pilots, all of whon ? HE EDITOR i cultures constituting the T(-) st;n fl Hisnir percent of this country ment) of course ^ \re the achievements of 0f environment versu civilization vis-a-vis iooms. But to blar ilization vis-a-vis Indian groups social ills on ' >n vis-a-vis SubSaharan mination" is a blind n (African culture is gen- resulting in the stat( a Mediterranean variety) America today. Spir y generalization possible English grad ne civilizations have convritten histories longer s. And perhaps those re- Pr^VCrS I iltures enable immigrants J cultures to function effec- IV|f* q11 Hf n a high capitalist dll I-**y ning the "growing mass To the editor: oppression," and "it's re- I just picked up a c fr\r hlarlre tr? 'Tuet Qav dav'c Clnmprnrlr and < this really a civil rights line on the front pa? a cultural one? Again, to Chapel holding servic e condition of African in Gulf." Not only is is totally on discrimina- inaccurate, it seems surd. the opposite intent of s Murray and Richard The hour is called are working on "one of Peace and Those in D explosive questions a so- First, we are hopinj ntist can ask: whether for an end to violem differences in intelligence and war in the Middle blacks and whites that not a pro-American-p< lain differences in their Second, while we : and social standing" for service people ir k Times, Nov. 30, 1990). Gulf, we are also pi n, in a 1971 study, found those in danger. This xiety became more meri- praying for troops an _ 1 T/~V- ?11 r.nti/%no II1U1VlUUdls WIU1 low 1V./S a" lianutia iucju igregate on the bottom of and all those facing mic scale, intermarry and Middle East. Be sure iffspring with low IQs." love one people more ist year Hernstein blasted Third, while the UJ )y the National Academy Chaplains and Relig es on the state of black lors at the present h "He said the report had composed of Christia lasized racial discrimina- persons, the context ( explaining the status of prayer and meditatioi d had ignored 'intractable and international. Terences' in IQ test re- All major religio w York Times 30, 1990). Islam are concerned % i with hrntolitv 1 were obviously cowed and forced to make statements, some of whom were badly beaten, made me see red. It also made me see white and blue. As Americans, one thing we cannot stand to see is our own people mistreated. Somewhere in the heart of all of us, there is a feeling of patriotism that bonds Americans together. Iraq's I cruel abuse of our troops makes something ini side snap. y j The U.S. has treated Iraqi POWs as profes3 sional soldiers. They are receiving meals, news r and more than humane treatment. Iraq's disregard for even minimally acceptable standards -j for American POW conditions should be viewed as an invitation for futher and more severe action from U.S. forces in the Gulf. f They say, "Do unto others as you would have t them do unto you." Well, we've seen what they ? do to others. It's time for them to face the ) music. Iraq just made the war personal with a whole 1 v^uunuj \jl oiigiy /\inci lv^oiib. p ted measure- All are welcome. The service is for old question all those who desire peace and/or s inheritance have a special concern for particune all of a lar service people or civilians in 'racial discri- danger. ness perhaps ^ ^ev* Tom Wall ; of African United Methodist Campus Minister os Papleacos A a luate student AllieriCil ITIUSt neant show support To the editor: War and basketball have a great deal in common. A basketball team practices on a strict schedule. :opy of Mon- They prepare to face another team, saw the head- sometimes a better team, someje: "Rutledge times worse. But they always prac:es for troops tice to play the hardest game they the headline can. to represent No matter what happened in ' the services, practice, or how "on" they were, "Prayers tor basketball games are won because anger." of team unity. Wars, like basketg and praying ball, are won with unity, too. ;e, bloodshed No matter how we felt before i East. This is this war started ? whether we Dlicy rally. were for or against it ? now is not are praying the time to debate. The President 1 the Persian has sent in the troops, he has aying for all called up the reserves and the means we are bombs are flying. Nothing we can d civilians of do or say will change what is hapding Iraq ? pening in the Middle East. But we danger in the CAN control what is happening in uoa aoes not our own country, than another. The United States is in this war >C Council of to stay. We can unify to support ious Counse- our troops and our president, or we appens to be can divide our country by attendn and Jewish ing demonstrations which provoke }f the time of instability, n is interfaith We are making history. Let's not repeat our mistakes, ns including Michele Marple about peace. English junior