European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 4, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns William Safire Europe allies per led by Poison Gas profiteers it to at j 1 i j 1 i it can it be that the Good germans Are at it again claiming to know nothing about the participation of some of their countrymen in a Power maniac s plan for his own final solution for six months Western intelligence agencies have been sharing pictures and recordings that suggest a Poison Gas factory is being built by Libya s Moa mar Gad Afy with the help of at least two West German companies. Six weeks ago in a White House meeting with his old companion of Pitburg Chancellor Helmut Kohl president Reagan called this danger directly and officially to the attention of the Federal Republic. An investigation was promised but no sense of urgency has been shown. I suspect that a German Whitewash will try to show that other nations have also contributed to the libyan facility and that the Plant can also produce fertilize for invited inspectors. Kohl s cover up brigade is searching for a single widget component made in America so the report can read everybody s at  one might think that this generation of Ger mans aware of the guilt of their fathers in the gassing of millions of innocents not so Long ago would be particularly sensitive to the Prospect of complicity in the murder by Gas of civilians by a terrorist state today. But apparently too Many Good germans just Don twant to know about it. That excuse of ignorance never had Validity and has even less now. News of the Poison Gas Plant 40 Miles South of Tripoli has been bruised about in the world Jim Fain press for months. Last week after a suggestion in this space that the . And Israel begin joint preparation to take out the threat Reagan was asked publicly if that possibility was being considered he pointedly refused to Rule tout. Because the Gad Afy pharmaceutical Plant is the Only one in the world ringed by anti aircraft defences several newspapers then speculated on the use of cruise missiles. On sunday Stephen Engelberg and Michael Gordon of the new York times broke the Story in stunning detail. West German participation in the design and construction of the vast chemical Plant at rata in Libya was revealed along with facts about French Aid in refuelling bombers that would make possible the Quick delivery of Poison Gas bombs to Tel Aviv residents who Are descendants of those forced to breathe Cyclone at Auschwitz. Sputtering denials were dutifully reported. Just As dictator Gad Afy claimed his chemical Complex was for making Medicine a West German corporate offi Cial claimed his libyan contract was for plastic bags. State terrorism using Poison Gas always has a cover Story in the face of hard evidence of the recent death of thousands of kurd by Poison Gas the killer who runs Iraq blandly insists it never happened. Some Western europeans can be expected to blame the potential victims this is All a jewish plot to deny honest profit to German manufacturers or an Ameri can plot to provide an excuse for anti Arab adventurism. The moral reaction from West germans with con sciences including journalists is to demand the whole truth quickly. Who broke what Laws and what govern ment officials turned a Blind Eye Why did Bonn higher  procrastinate for six months take the scandal deeper does Export Loving for eign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher approve of the Way West German missile experts Are providing third world nations with the technical Means to build delivery systems for Gas bombs does Kohl consider it Legal and moral for Bonn to permit certain of its Well connected nationals to help terrorize the world those unreachable by conscience should consider the Boomerang effect of letting West German citizens help build and deliver mass murder weapons. Some kurd seeking vertical vengeance for the extermination of their families May look beyond Saddam Hussein some Black defenders of Chad who see their country fall under a libyan Gas attack May look beyond Gad Afy and if Mustard Gas created with the help of businessmen near Munich Ever Rains on Jerusa Lem some unreasonable relatives of victims both Arab and israeli May retaliate beyond Tripoli. That s Why Auschwitz in the Sand Calls for prompt obliteration after appropriate warning by leaflet. Poison Gas sometimes blows Back on its perpetrators far behind the lines. That s a practical reason for Western european governments to crack Down on Poison Gas profiteers who not Only threaten innocents abroad but ultimately endanger their own people. New York times news service Bush should place the homeless above politics i Etc 1 1 i i air the nose pressed against the Glass belonged to a hollow cheeked Man with holes for eyes. He watched while i polished off a $23 piece of fish in new York s grand Central Oyster bar. It was i suppose his lunch too. Night or Day he and his cohorts crowd grand Central catching naps wherever they can squat. They abound in Washington too. Many sleep during the bitter cold Over outdoor heat grates. President Reagan believes they enjoy the night air. Their number swells each year As Pov erty bites deeper and the safety net shrinks. No one knows How Many. At least 750,000 on a Given night perhaps 1,500,000 Over a year. The mentally ill discharged onto the streets by the Hospi tals remain a Large segment As do Booz ers and drug addicts but now at least one fourth Are families with children. The working poor fill Many shelters. Their suffering occupies the same streets As Donald Trump and his helicopter stretch Limo crowd whose purses and hedonistic appetites have been fattened by eight years of Reagan Raj. The Gap is now so wide that rent costs half the Low income families More than 50 percent of their income. Subsidized housing is disappearing so fast that unless Federal policy changes most of what s left will be gone by 2000. If there s an army of homeless now think what will happen when the inevitable re cession arrives. President elect George Bush says this is a National  he would like to think that we would address it with sensitivity and  right on George. A lot of us would like to think so. Ten of 13 experts named to study the health needs of the homeless for the National Academy of sciences got so worked up they rebelled against the bloodless prose their charter imposed. They wrote a separate report describing the situation As an  they cried out for crash programs to Rescue the 100,000 american children homeless i i f my every night. Yet there is Little Prospect Bush will do More than hand off this inconvenient problem to his thousand Points of Light. The runaway Reagan defense budget has him Strai jacketed. He vowed not to raise taxes and is facing huge emergencies in nuclear weapons plants bankrupt Sav Ings and Loans and Pentagon toxic waste dumps. The general accounting office says these needs alone will run $125 Bil lion. That does t touch backed up deficiencies in education environment an health care. Post election polls show most Ameri cans want to get cracking on such mat ters that they voted for Bush not be cause they wanted to continue Reagan s dehumanizing of the poor but because Bush convinced them Michael Dukakis was soft on crime and defense. Eight years of Reagan s gild the Nch and beggar the poor tax and social welfare policies have created a semipermanent under class and Given us a third world look of poverty wealth. We trip Over the unsightly homeless on our Way to dinner in expensive restaurants. To ease the problem we ought to re Instate subsidies for Low income housing raise the minimum wage Issue vouchers for homeless families with children and beef up the food stamp program. The american people would support something of that kind but Bush won t propose it. In his win at any Cost Campaign he promised us the Moon As a free hours d oeuvre. He knew he could t de liver but has t yet figured out How to renege without blowing it for 92. Cox news service