European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 18, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Columns Tom Teepen politics culprit behind protect Flag Stampede just How in the Devil did the rash idea of under is a the Bill of rights Cone to be a supposedly conservative to sit orc Abler Alle Are not tailing Here of whether liberals or conservatives Honor the Flag. Nearly and americans do. For it ears however. The night has been trying to male off a rth it leading Many of us appalled at the cynical Effort to Kimmish the Flag and narrow its cad by reducing it to a Mere doctrinal Ensign the absurd Stampede to a protect Quot the Flag a Ith a constitutional amendment is the mad end product of the dangerous game of capture the Flag that conservatives Haye been playing for years grabbing off the stars and stapes As their own and using their supposedly Superior love of it to disenfranchise any political Point of View left of William Mckinley. The desecration of the Flag by rude partisanship reached its Nadir m the presidential Campaign of George Bush whose grotesque Flag waving was meant to suggest that his opponent. Michael s. Dukakis. Must somehow be less than a or Loyal american. Do you suppose that the mad men in dark places who calculated the Bush Campaign just might have had it in mind that using patriotism to Divide rather than to unite us was a risk free Way of undermining an opponent whose parents had been born abroad and whose name sounded a foreign Quot to a lot of the nations Joneses and Johnsons you bet its not Asef there a some Flaz buying movement menacing the country. Tre incidents have been oddball moments. The actions of the Street fringe or of Radical show offs. Stop and think about it Are we really a really a going to let them your face theatrics of a handful of publicity seeking goofs one us to the extreme step of compromising the Bui of rights for the first time in our history i guess i was taught wrong. My parents Flora Lewis tree speech his amendment. A atop  den6 Caio Bush and i pen<3 Dole. Left me with the idea that the crowning achievement of our founding fathers a the us. Constitution a was one of the most exquisite political instruments Ever wrought from Humankind s political tumults that its Bill of rights stands 25 an unassailable fortress against transient passions that might otherwise rip away freedoms whose exercise a majority finds unpleasant at the moment. I Learned at my fathers knee a reverence Tor the civil liberties that our splendid heritage has earned Down to us. I was taught Pride in the freedoms those liberties assured. It was instilled in me that in my own time i would Bear no grander or happier responsibility than the stewardship of those liberties. I have always thought that it would be the Honor of my generation to deliver to its children a Freedom enlarged by our management not pinched by our peeves. And i had always thought that this attitude was profoundly conservative. Now. However. I see my president my senators most of my representatives in Congress Rushing to declare against the Bill of rights. And i hear them claiming that this insult to the founding fathers is somehow the conservative position. I am sorry or. Jefferson. And or. Madison. Or. Mason. Or. Hamilton and or. Franklin. I am sorry but it looks very much As though my generation is about to fail you it s nothing personal you understand. Just politics. Quot Teevens Estore the a2srts cer Sattich = or Caj pages j Cox news serves France holds key to refolding survival of nato for France this is the year of de Gaulle a memorial with Subtle gallic undertones of change to adjust to a new shape of Europe the emphasis is on re Rilzia. Erand eur and. Just below the surface. Nato. _ elaborate displays have been arranged for monday the 50th anniversary of the Quot Appeal of june  when de Gaulle broadcast from London that patriotic frenchmen would continue the fight alongside Britain. This year is also the 100th anniversary or the hero s birth and the 20th of his death so there has been an outpouring of tribute analysis and proud remembrance. De Gaulle succeeded in restoring his country a shattered self esteem in part by making France the Burr of the Western world. His heritage entered French politics As a sacred command none More so than the policy of a a Independent  proclaimed when he pulled France out of natos military organisation in 1966. President Francois Mitterrand declared again last month that France would t go Back. But a difference has crept in a a a. So Long As the military Structure remains what it is  As pome minister Michel Ricard noted afterwards. Fudging to presage a reversal is also Pariot de Gaulle s heritage As when the general told French colonists fighting algerian Independence a i have understood  muted debate and Praise of de Gaulle s capacity to a adapt to circumstances Quot signal a reconsideration of Paris Alliance policy now. France holds the key to the new problems of refolding nato so that it can survive wed beyond the collapsing Warsaw pact encompass a United Germany without discrimination and help Moscow accept what it cannot prevent the nato Summit meeting next month is to review the Alliance s Mission and doctrine As the soviet threat recedes. France is among the allies most determined that the Alliance continue to exist. It accepts none of the soviet suggestions for a a new european Security system a not dissolving alliances not German neutrality and certainly not the a French Model for Germany a National military outside Allied command. The logical solution is for France to join the command. The main obstacle is the political oath of exclusive National control of defense although French experts have Long conceded in private that it is an illusion relying on . Support and contradicted by All sorts of practical involvement with nato. It was even revealed last year without cries of horror or betrayal Here that the United states played a critical role in helping France build its nuclear a Force de  the Keystone of its a Independent Quot defense. There Are Many signs that Public insistence on the old policy is As superficial As american opinion against recognizing communist China proved to be when president Nixon defied conventional shibboleths and flew to Beijing. Instead of outrage the reaction after decades was a at last former prime minister Jacques Chirac Leader of the Neo gaullist party has tested the Waters most boldly. He has put the right twist on the approach. De Gaube was rejecting american a domination Quot he said recently a a waiting arrangement for the Day when Europe would at last be Able to take its Fate in  the time has come he said for France to take a a direct part in the defense of the continent. He even suggested melding France s tactical nuclear weapons into the Alliance and possibly forging a strategic Nudera agreement with Britain. But he made Clear that this a  must not exclude the United states. Chirac proposed a a parallel european and american military commands an awkward idea. When the United states draw s Down its forces in Europe there is no reason Why it should t accept a French supreme commander that is the Way 10 go. Like so much else that seemed impossible a year ago. It is becoming feasible. An alternative to remodelling the Alliance is the a balk animation Quot of Western Europe growing German nationalism dilution of the european Community and a reversion to the catastrophic prewar situation in Europe. Many others Are thinking along these lines. A dissolving alliances May sound peaceable but it is More Likely to mean renewal of the idea of National military forces than common Security. The French will still be prickly. They Don t like the idea of a predominantly political nato for fear it would give Washington too much say in european Community policy or Force european support for . Decisions elsewhere. But invoking de Gaulle Means they re moving. Toe United states in planning natos future should look for ways to bring France Back. 1 York crass the Opi Biaas expressed in the columns and cartoons of re its Page represent those of the authors and Are is so Way to be considered As reprise ads the news of the stars and stripes or the United states Gote Wii