European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 6, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday january 6,1988 Tom Wicker Moscow s concern May change . Role in Gulf a growing International determination to Slop a regional War that actually endangers world peace is reflected in the soviet Union s abandonment of its opposition id sanctions against Lfan Moscow s about face could permit Soviel participation in an arms embargo against Iran. That revolutionary islamic nation has refused 10 accept a , Resolution for a cease fire in its Long and bloody War with Iraq. The new soviet stance also May rile the conflict Between Congress and president Reagan Over the con Duel of foreign affairs to could make Congress More eager to demand and Reagan less Likely to concede a Votuc in his persian Gulf policy under the mandate of the so called War Powers Resolution. Either As their Price for joining an embargo or at part of their bargaining position the russians have proposed a multinational . Flee to protect Gulf shipping with the United states to withdraw its naval forces from their current protective Mission. The Rea Gan administration is opposed to a , Fleet fearing that it would increase Moscow s influence in the Gulf. He sides inc administration s policy using the Navy to protect tankers flying the . Flag though they Are ships of Kuwait Iraq s ally has proved reasonably successful. Not Only have most of inc Wisl trn allies in some manner joined the Effort some Tig nitric ally but most of the Julf Stales after initial Hesi tation Are providing logistical assistance. Now with the russians proposing thai the United nations do what inc . Navy hasten doing Rea Gan May Well fear Hal Congress might seize upon the War Powers Resolution to bring Home american ships and personnel while turning Over responsibility in the Eulf to the United nations a lot of americans Proba Bly would Hack such a congressional move not Only in Hopes of haying out of a faraway War but in support of a More effective United nations. Los. Ships and personnel after All arc in real and daily danger and congressional concern about that Dan Ger is Well warranted. Just recently iranian speedboats fired near a Navy helicopter. . Helicopters have at tacked iranian mine layers killing iranian seamen they have sunk an iranian patrol boat and damaged others and . Warships blasted an iranian Oil platform in the Central Gulf after a silkworm missile had been tired into a a flagged kuwaiti Tanker. Recent events suggest that lhcu.s7involvcmcnl May even be expanded. The Pentagon tacitly admitting the problem has awarded hazardous duty pay to personnel serving in the Gulf terming them More subject 10 hostile fire or imminent  and the larger danger of course is that these random encounters might bring the United Anthony Lewis of in Ltd 6y King Fatur syndic id 1/ Gas War states into open warfare with Iran. Still Reagan has not obeyed the War Powers Reso Lution which requires the president to report to con Gress within 48 hours when . Forces an sent into hostilities or if they Are deployed where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances if Reagan were to follow that Man Date As the Gulf War seems obviously to require . Forces would have to be withdrawn within 60 Days 90 if he were to certify an unavoidable necessity unless Congress adopted a Resolution positively approving their deployment in the Gulf. Reagan like his predecessors regards inc Resolution As an unconstitutional invasion Ornis Powers. His advisers also Are reported to fear Hal if the report were made As required the 1 . Ships believing encouraged to vote to withdraw i hem after 60 or 90 Days. So the president has ignored the Resolution. Up to now however Reagan probably would have had Little to fear from Congress. Given the cautious Success la far of his re flagging policy the reluctance of members to thwart the president in his role As commander in chief of inc armed forces and the Polit ical difficulty of appearing Loback Down under fire particularly from the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini Congress would have been far More Likely to approve than end the . That May still be inc political reality and Moscow s talk of a . Fleet in the Gulf May be Only a smoke screen to conceal us Retreat on the Issue of an arms embargo against Iran. If the russians prove to be serious however Congress might begin to demand that Reagan obey the War Powers Resolution. That Proba Bly would expose the Resolution More clearly As an iranians would begin attacking by an that Congress would thereby be empty weapon against a president s Power to commit n hem after 60 or 90 and keep . Troops just about anywhere he wants. Yolk to Tim new Servic changing political realities involving human rights after the Helsinki conference of 1975 reached its accords on human rights a handful of Brave russians Farmed a group to report on soviet compliance. They paid dearly for their Cour age. The organizers of the Moscow i ice sink watch As they called it. Were All eventually imprisoned Helsinki watch committees now exist in countries around the country and 13 have formed an International federation. Three weeks from now at inc invitation of inc soviet government the federation will Send representatives to Mosow to talk with soviet officials about human rights. The soviet invitation is a signal of something important that has happened in International life. The Issue of human rights has come to Mailer politically. Governments thai abuse their own Citi Zens have to reckon with the possibility thai they will be called to account in the world and will pay a Price that brutality in one country should arouse concern elsewhere is hardly a new development. Americans were aroused by the turkish massacre of armenians in 1911. And Gladstone campaigned in Britain on inc bulgarian Issue As Early As the 1870s. What is new is inc developing sense Hal there arc International Legal Stan Dards of humanity Laid Down in a net work of treaties and agreements of which the Helsinki accords Are one example. Those agreements make in harder and harder for governments to make the traditional claim Hal anyone who com Plains about iter abuses is interfering in their internal affairs. The changing political realities on human rights arc illustrated not just in Moscow but in Washington. In the 1970s the reluctance of president Nixon and Secretary of state Kissinger to press human rights abroad led Congress to write standards into foreign Aid and other legislation. Now those standards Are an indelible part of the system the Reagan administration began with undisguised hostility to the whole idea of International human rights. President Reagan embraced Jeane Kirkpa Rick s idea Hal the , is better off keeping right Wing tyrants in office than risking communism in any change. He tried unsuccessfully to appoint an assistant Secretary of slate for human rights who opposed the Job s function. Reagan effectively abandoned the Kirkpatrick thesis when he ended american support for the Philli Pine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Today the administration criticizes not Only communist governments but such right Wing tyrannies As the chilean regime. It spoke out when israeli forces killed palestinians protesting in the occupied Terri topics there is still a certain reluctance in the administration to Call governments to account when in has a political stake in them. Human rights groups charged recently Hal the administration was soft on China s repression in Tibet and on governments in such countries As tur key Honduras and Indonesia. The assistant Secretary for human rights Richard Schifler called thai criticism absurd and said the United states cannot remake foreign societies of course it cannot. But it can speak out As it did not for example As the Mili tary rulers in Haiti gradually Shroit cd freedoms before they called off the planned election. In is sad that Schifter and others in the administration bristle to defensively when the private human rights organizations urge them to do More. What people in office can do is always subject to Polit ical limits and outsider May not fully understand that. But the goading Rale of the private groups is essential they have really raised the world s consciousness on inc evils of torture and other inhuman cities. Indeed the history of the human rights move Mcnol in these last years shows what a difference individuals can make. Amnesty International has saved countless political prisoners from Tor Mcnol and death. Those Brave russians who founded Helsinki watch lit a Bea con that could nol be extinguished. Americans in their safely May no appreciate the risks undertaken by individuals who Volunteer to Monitor human rights abuses on the front line. Fifteen Soviel Helsinki Walch members Are still in prisons or psychiatric hospitals he federation s delegation will try to visa them later Thil month. In Chile inc Pino Chet dictatorship has harassed inc Catho Lic Church s human rights or Tamulion by detentions prosecutions and threats. Human rights watch a coalition of  groups thai monitors conditions in Asia Lalin America and Europe recently reported on the persecution of human rights monitors. Ten were killed Between december 1986 and 1987, and nearly 500 others persecuted in 39 countries. Their compensation in Only inc know ledge that they make a difference