European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 21, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns Wicker the stars and stripes monday april 21, 1986 . May ultimately pay High Price for Libya raid. Outburst of retaliatory actions particularly he murders of three hostages near Beirut apparently by Arab extremists suggest How High the ultimate Cost of president Reagan s bombing raid on Libya May go. An attempt to blow up an israeli Airliner the fire bombing of a . Compound in Tunisia the evacuation of embassy personnel from Khartoum such Epi socks May Well be Only the beginning. Already relations with the european allies have been strained the second Reagan Gorbachev Summit meeting has been endangered and the russians May be readying some kind of Relief expedition through or Over the Mediterranean to Libya. News about Libya also crowded off the front Page Thoj parliamentary tangle in the House of represent Tiv its where Aid Reagan wants for anti sandinista con tras has been left dangling after Republican Maneu vers designed to produce another vote next month. The Issac now depends upon whether the republicans can get 218 signatures a majority of the House on a discharge petition to bring to the floor a Senate passed Resolution for $70 million in military and $30 million in non lethal Aid. On the face of it Public approval of the raids on Libya la percent in a new York times lbs poll and an upsurge of support for Reagan s handling of foreign affairs from 51 percent to 76 after the bombing attacks ought to translate into More votes in the House for Aid to the contras. On the other hand the sight of . Forces in action in the Mediterranean May give americans Sec once thoughts about too much involvement in Central an Erica. More retaliatory efforts could cause deterioration in re Jinan s Public backing. But one of the most notable aspects of. The poll was that even among the 43 percent we feared the bombing would bring on More terrorism or Var a majority still approved the raids. On the eve of the attacks on Libya however jul Dili Miller of the new York times reported from Europe that Allied governments generally believed such attacks so could not be attempted unless they could reasonably be expected to bring Down the khad Afy regime. And despite Margarct Thatcher s permission for some of the attack ing planes to be launched from British airfields a times of Condon poll reported Strong opposition by the British Public with Only 25 percent approving her decision. Worse for a prime minister already in political trouble George will so him plot to join me int my Arab brother the Effort to seek destroy the american Devil for other reasons dissatisfaction with Thatcher s Job performance Rose to a startling 68 percent. The murder of two British citizens near Beirut and the attempt on the Al Al plane in London can Only deepen her difficulties. So the government that most strongly supported Reagan s military action May be in serious political trouble As a result. With 65 percent of the americans responding to the times lbs poll sharply critical of the other allies for their failure to Back the bombing raids a serious rift seems to have been opened Between european govern ments and the United states. If the expected soviet american Summit meeting should now be called off that rift could Widen europeans generally believe More strongly in such meetings than the Reagan administration. Further attacks on Libya if Reagan should deem them necessary could also deepen the differences be tween allies. And the fact that Many americans apparently wanted to strike at khad Afy whether or not an attack would bring Down his regime or cause him to restrain his terrorist tactics is cautionary. The sentiment is understand Kable the provocations have been Many and terrible. But even in a moment of euphoria americans Happy to have hit khad Afy hard might Well remember that the Berlin nightclub bombing followed the recent action in the Gulf of Sidra and the killings in Lebanon Are a Sharp reminder that even bloodier retaliation perhaps in the United states itself might follow. This country moreover is a great Power Libya de spite its soviet weapons and its Leader s Chest thumping is Small and weak. Time and history May prove Reagan s raids to have been necessary even fruitful. But even if they do violence and death Are Seldom cause for Cele bration and neither is the spectacle of a big Power at tacking a Small one whatever the justification. That s Why it s reassuring that much of the Public support for Reagan s raids appears to have been conditioned on americans belief that he had first taken All possible Steps to avoid direct attacks on Libya ample warnings economic sanctions the naval Challenge in the Gulf of Sidra. Any other course in the future would be unworthy of a great nation. C new York times right mindedness masquerading As moral action on the count of three campers everybody sing we Are the River of Hope that runs through the a Ley of fear a River of syrup is about to run through America s living rooms ruining the rugs. It is As you Are sentenced to learn the official song of kinds across America another example of right mindedness masquerading As moral action. About six million people 1,320 per mile Are supposed to Shell out $10 apiece More if they want Thoj to shirt for the privilege of joining hands in a transcontinental Chain on May 25. This is supposed to raise $100 million for the hungry and  that sum is equal to eight tenths of one percent of one an i poverty program food Stamps. The spoilsport who provided that deflating figure is Mickey Kaus a los Angeles writer who says hands across America is another example like live Aid and farm Aid and others of  that s a kind of non politics that harnesses the Power of entertainment tonight and the corporate tax deduction for worthy  Oca cola Mcdonald a Citicorp and other corporation s old enough to know better Are supposed to por y up about $30 million to cover expenses. Madonna no less has blessed the project so now the Only problems Are logistical such As getting 1,128,400 peo ple to line up across Arizona and new Mexico at mid afternoon in May. Kaus calculates that will require the services of tvo of every three persons who live anywhere near the Chain s route. Kaus thinks celebrities express the idea that prob lems Are the result of politicians failures of will and thai solutions result from consciousness raising spec techs like  the organizers stress the aim of inducing  but at 4 p.m., May 25, when 12 million sweaty Palms Are being dried and people Are dispersing what momentum will awareness have imparted to what form of social betterment such manufactured awareness is evanescent. The nor Mal banal political processes so disdained by practitioners of celebrities is what matters. Fortunately another exercise of right mindedness the great peace Parade has petered out 3,115 Miles Short of its 3,235-mile goal. Otherwise May 25 the Day of landholding would have produced what Kaus Calls compassion  the peace March was supposed to Send 5,000 peace sol Diers from los Angeles to Washington. Fewer than 1,000 made it 120 Miles East of los Angeles then quit. Imagine failure in spite of a paid staff of 113 and the support of Paul Newman and barbra Strei Sand. Such events Are the equivalent of easter parades for people who want to dress up their consciences and take them for a stroll so other people can see How pretty they Are. This is not even sensitivity training for politicians it is moral exhibitionism and it i nothing new. Irving Kristol reviewing a new Book about new York intellectuals recalls the Days in the 1930s and 1940s when the 50 or so thinkers loosely associated with partisan review would hotly dispute whether they should support the Bourgeois governments of Britain and France against nazi Germany. When the soviet Union invaded Finland these thinkers argued about whether Given that the soviet Union was a deeply flawed workers state but Finland was an unregenerate Bourgeois state they these 50 thinkers mine you should Call upon finnish workers to Welcome the soviet army. Kristol says having the right position was what counted not talking  America has gone off the boil so such events As hands Are not billed As protests. Rather they Are affirmations or  those words Are de signer labels designed to make meaningful the right mindedness of  activist is an indicative word because it suggests that the Mere fact of activity irrespective of consequences is morally grave. The most popular form of right mindedness now involves child mongering. Samatha Smith was used for that As was recently Katya Locheva i 1, the soviet  she was sent Here to please people whose political thinking begins and ends with a biological fact russians and americans Are just folks therefore therefore presumably the things that Divide us things like philosophies Are superficial. But someone forgot to Tell the kids in Brooklyn. When Katya visited a school there a soviet television Crew asked some of the students what russian cities they could name. Moscow said some. Leningrad said others. Basche Warner 12, said Gorki where Sakharov is isolated and tormented. The other children giggled mischievously about Basche s reply the new Yor times reported. Basche s splendid impudence has sort of subverted the mood of the sing along campers but let s Perser vere or. R this Earth that smells so Sweet cradles us All in. Its great  if you can say cradled in a heartbeat without giggling listen up six million people like you Are needed at 3 p.m., May 25. C Washington Post