European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 20, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Ellen Goodman was Panama a Good enough War for women these Are the images of women and War that flow North from Panama City a woman the wife of an american sol Dier is threatened by Noriega s troops. President Bush his voice quivering with emotion lists her experience the tear of her sexual assault among the reasons for the invasion called just  a nameless woman is found dead in the City streets. She got in harm s Way and is added to the civilian body count of panamanians that May total just a few Hun dred or perhaps a few thousand. Both of these Are familiar female figurines from any Battle zone. The defenceless woman who is a pretext for War. The inno cent woman who is the victim of War. Now comes a third image not nearly As common. She is a Soldier not a nurse not an ambulance Driver but a fighter in a Hel met and fatigues. Need it be said that this is the one that rouses and holds our Atten Tion the Issue of women in combat is Back in the news. In Panama capt. Linda Bray is lauded As a War heroine one Day the first woman to Lead american troops into Battle. The next Day. The Battle is re scripted and the leading female role diminished. It is a Story too hot to hold still. In Washington. Rep. Pat Schroeder writes a Bill to adopt a Pentagon s group s suggestion that the army test women in combat roles. Across the country people argue about whether women Are up to the Job and More dramatically whether the country is ready to see them coming Home in body bags. But what about those of us who believe in fighting for women s Equality but Are queasy at this Battleground what about those who believe women can do it but wonder if they should Are we supposed to be Gung to for the equal right to fight and die is there a Chance to get at some deeper set of values in the past decade women looking for adventure and Opportunity have joined the Volunteer army. Just like men. The two tier Structure has Kep them from promotion but it is harder to draw a line Between combat and non combat roles these Days. In word and deed the military women in Panama have dispelled the favorite notions of sexists and Many feminists alike that women Are either intrinsically weaker or More peace Loving. So a Strong argument can be made to let individuals prove themselves. You Don t just work to help women Advance in the jobs that you yourself would want to hold says Schroeder. Yet As she adds this Issue is hard because it s no my number one goal in life to get women into combat. If i could redesign the world i d redesign it so no one would be in  women go into combat do we get closer or further away from that larger goal do we simply double the Cannon fodder without increasing the advocates for peace and do we end up with the equal right to tight wars before women have the equal right to decide whether that War should be fought i Don t ask these questions lightly. I seems to me that even when women did t fight they have always had a role in War. Women were there to wave men goodbye and kiss them hello to cheer them on care for and mourn them. They provided the Home front the mythology and the next generation for War. Somehow or other we believed War was civilized because the fairer sex did t tight. War was moral because men did it to protect their mothers and wives and daughters. War was glorified As a Way to prove manhood. In the scaring movie born on the fourth of  Young Ron Kovic s mythology was nurtured by around and in reaction to women. He saw himself As a hero reflected in the eyes of the women who twirled the Batons at parades and urged him on at Home. It became part of his character until his spine was shattered by a  deep gaps Between men and women s lives allowed Many leaders to be Cavalier about men s lives. The world has been after All profoundly wasteful of its Young  i came a Long Way around and not without qualms to relieving that women should be allowed to try out for combat and if tit allowed to fight. Not Only inthe name of equal Opportunity but out of the Hope that we can learn to value men  americans ready to Sec women come Home in body bags i Hope not. But new risks and roles May Force us to ask deeper question Why Are we ready to see men come Home in body bags and More profoundly it must Lead us to insist that operation just cause is More than a perverse name. In the end this must be said any War that in t Worth a woman s life in t Worth a Man s life. Washington Post writers group William f. Buckley or. . Must be More sensitive to latin America earlier this month Brent scowcroft and Lawrence Eagle Burger went to some lengths to soothe latin american Public opinion on a number of questions Paramount among them whether the United states is Likely to invade Nicaragua. To which the offi Cial answer is so help me god no there is the objection after All that we invaded Panama because Gen. Manuel Noriega defied the democratic verdict of the nation s voters. Since it is entirely possible that Nicaragua under the Sandinia tas will do exactly the same thing it s wondered Why the United states would t also be prompted to act there. To which our official answer official answers Are wonderful is that Panama is  right. So is Nicaragua unique Only More so in that unlike Panama. Nicaragua is trying to subvert democracy among her neighbors and is an Arm of the ongoing communist Enterprise. But never mind Panama is unique you know like Tierra Del fungo is unique which is also True. Observers of the latin american scene particularly those who know something of the latin american temperament must be careful to swivel hip their Way through the slalom course of diplomacy. Here Are the Givens in the situation latins arc a proud people much scarred by a Lon history of imperialism. Over 300 years they played a role in latin America with respect to Spain that is not much different from the role americans played vis a vis great Britain. In the 19lh and 20th centuries the United states got into the imperialist act . In Cuba Mexico and Nicaragua. Latin americans arc not very Good at democracy. Bolivia recently endured its 92nd coup d eat. They Are both emphatic on the Virtues of democracy and nonchalant about its practice. They do not Welcome american intervention in their political proceedings even though they put great emphasis on the importance of democracy. The United slates is the dominant Power in the hemisphere and needs to accept responsibilities that no other hemispheric Power can possibly accept. We have not been very Good at discharging these responsibilities since the collapse of the Monroe doctrine which was the doing of John Fitzgerald Kennedy whence agreed to let Fidel Castro stay on presiding Over a soviet satellite. We got rid of Grenada on / executive Blitz Krieg. If president Reagan had asked Congress for per Mission he d probably have failed to get it even a Congress has failed to Grant Power to take decisive action in Nicaragua which might have been taken through the contras and never needed direct . Mili tary intervention. X invasion of fun us my a Colombia of Day but ifs Given the above . Policy has to decide a what Are our absolutely essential interests. And then b How we can secure those interests without inflaming opposition from latin America in general and from individual leaders in particular the storm Over our drug flotilla raises these questions pointedly. Our position is that Colombia is the main choke Point through which peruvian bolivian and colombian cocaine flows into the United states. We have done a great Deal to help the government of Colombia fight the extraordinary Power of the drug Cartel which has pitched Colombia into something very much like a civil War directly challenging the authority of the elected government. But in handling the talk Over the drug Block Ade we failed to swivel our diplomatic hip announcing that something very much like the flotilla Dis patched to conquer Okinawa was going Down to Park outside colombian Waters to Monitor airborne and seaborne traffic headed for the . Addiction Market. The disposition to use our Navy to curb colombian drug exports is entirely consistent with Colombia s be the 60� official efforts to tamp Down the drug Trade. But the idea of a huge naval Force perched outside their Waters was much too much for colombian Pride and the reaction was a Sharp negative. Ultimately opposition led to the return of All the ships including the earner John f. Kennedy which was to be the Centrepiece of the operation. What to do under the circumstances clutch into the oleaginous Mode of course Senor Presidente Senor Ministro Senor Emba Jador we have absolutely no intention of sending Down the Fleet to the extent that it affronts you it was All a great mistake the Way the signal went out. What we want is a joint naval exercise the .Navy together with the colombian Navy correction the colombian Navy together with the . Navy to Combine our military and moral forces to Battle the enemy of the colombian and american people. That kind of thing. The same Mode by which everything is accomplished in Oriental diplomacy where Zigzag conversation is the Way in which straight lines Are drawn. Class dismissed. Una Trul porn syn Aciu