European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 28, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes columns 1 Howard Kleinberg Iran victims not worthy of humane treatment try As i May i cannot Muster the compassion to participate in any form of Relief assistance for the victims of Iran a earthquake. There is no doubt that thousands of the victims never have had anything to do with Iran a policies toward the United states. However i cannot remove from my mind the picture of hundreds of thousands of iranian civilians dutifully marching in the streets their fists clenched in anger and raging against the . I keep telling myself that politics have no place in humane efforts but the iranians themselves give lie to that conviction. It was astonishing last weekend to hear Iran announce it would accept emergency Relief from any nation a except Israel and South Africa. It is Iran then that introduces politics to emergency Relief. How hypocritical of the iranian government to refuse humane assistance from nearby Israel when it Wasny to to at Long ago that it was accepting israeli participation in receiving military hardware from the Reagan administration. Then israeli planes secretly were allowed to land in Iran a to unload instruments of War sent by Reagan. How can those of us who normally have a penchant for humane assistance even to our adversaries do so in this Case when the regime we Are dealing with sadistically toys with our emotions Over the hostages does the word a a humane exist in the language spoken within Iran a Borders where was humane treatment when the iranian government kept 52 americans hostage for 444 Days despite the pleadings of their families for Relief from the ordeal can we Ever forget the video of that Christmas when the hostages were seen struggling with their emotions As they tried to celebrate the deeply spiritual season under inhumane circumstances where is humane treatment for Terry Anderson the Man has never seen his daughter does no to know his father died. Where is humane treatment for other hostages especially those who Are beaten regularly kept in chains in Small rooms blindfolded arrogantly Iran always has led us to believe that it could turn on and off the hostage situations. We have been told by them in effect that hostages a human beings a Are to be bartered for Money and weapons. What was humane about the hanging of it. Col. William Higgins or the morbid videotape his executioners released of it did Iran condemn that inhumane atrocious act by one of its Vassal terrorist groups hardly. What of the horror that has continually visited the family of hostage Joseph Cicippio which has had to endure on again off again death sentences As he despairs in the cruel hands of an Iran supported terrorist group can i relate All this to some unfortunate earthquake stricken iranian family near the Caspian sea yes i can. I can relate to it by looking into the eyes of the wives and children of past and present hostages. I can relate to it by recalling the ordeal of the embassy hostages and of those horrible taunting crowds in the streets of Tehran and other cities a probably some in the Region just stricken. The invectives still ring in my ears. While the . May have made foreign policy mistakes in the past regarding Iran How much longer do some of our people have to suffer either directly in Iran a hands or in the hands of those Iran boasts it can control they Are on the outer Edge of society. They March to a different tune. Their fundamentalist fanaticism has positioned the . As satanic and the israelis As the mortal enemy in a jihad a a holy War. Iran by its own Laws and practices has declared life to be cheap. It fed hundreds of thousands of its Man boys to the front in a senseless War of attrition with Iraq and has sent huge numbers to death by execution for crimes that Are relatively minor including that of thinking differently. Call me mean spirited Call me vengeful it matters not. My conscience is Clear. You get humane treatment when you show that you too Are humane. I work from the old Book an Eye for Ait Eye. C Cox news service Flora Lewis soviets must be brought not bought into Europe the european Community is off and running after nearly a generation of a stagnation a to use Mikhail Gorbachev sword for an unproductive Era. The momentum began with the single act in 1987, after Gorbachev a arrival to Power but before any clarity about the Impact of his changes. Even then there was a sense of a race against time of whether the Community could coalesce into an effective Power before its magnetism brought so Many applicants that it would dissolve into a Mere club of nations. Last year the collapse of the soviet Empire and the inevitable reunification of Germany threatened to leave Western Europe on the slow track. But the very threat especially the question of whither a big new Germany acted As a Spur. Now the Community is catching up. Even Britain a recalcitrant Margaret Thatcher has implicitly conceded that she can to Stop the Rush to a european its still taboo to Call it a United states of Europe Jean Monnet a vision when he promoted the common Market two generations ago. But president Mitterrand of France now says flatly that the goal is with the push for political and economic Union by 1993, including foreign policy Security policy currency and a Central Bank Europe is moving from the stage of americans Continental Congress toward a constitutional convention. Its breathtaking even though its coming in technical stages that Jack the soaring rhetoric of americans founding fathers. The europeans will have to write their preamble after they be haggled Over the articles and clauses of their future Constitution. But that a the Way they re going. Disintegration of the East has been a major influence. Distinct internal factors in East and West created the conditions for this new tide of history but they have reinforced each other. There seven a risk of tidal wave. West Germany a Chancellor Helmut Kohl seems to be carried away. There a no question of his dedication to integration in the european Community and nato to make a a european Germany and not a a German Europe a As his foreign minister Hans die Trich Genscher puts it. But he has embraced the idea that reunification requires him and his allies to be Mikhail Gorbachev a safety net in the soviet leaders High wire dance to economic Reform. Kohls argument supported by Mitterrand is that Gorbachev a will to Reform made everything else possible so he should be rewarded and supported lest a failure put All the gains into question. Mitterrand Calls it a Chicken and egg question arguing that the reforms wont work without Western help so the West would defeat its own interest by telling Gorbachev to Reform first and collect later. This is a highly dubious proposition on Many counts including the simple notion that a pledge of widespread Western Aid would bring Gorbachev Safe transit across his perils. Even if the sentiment appeals there is Little idea How Western Aid could be absorbed on the scale that Kohl insists is necessary. Soviet economists who Are reformers say their system Isnit yet capable of productively digesting huge inflows of capital. The profound economic and special changes needed by the soviets Are certain to be painful. But it will do them no service to help postpone the hard decisions. Its understandable that Gorbachev appealed to Kohl for sympathy As the Keirnan Chancellor informed his european partners. And As he saw with surprising Candor its understandable and reasonable that Kohl decided Bonn should pay up to win Moscow a support for a Germany in nato. But delay is now Gorbachev a main enemy. He be encouraged to Waffle any Longe a the Aid Issue will come up at the seven nation Summ meeting in Houston next month and pres Dent will be right to Side with Thatcher against throw s Money at the soviet morass until there is better e Dence that it can be properly used. The soviets must not be excluded from Europe neither can they be bought in. Conditions for was Europe on Aid to make sure investment wants must apply to Moscow. And every Success in is Europe will add Hope impetus and Opportunity soviets. Nobody outside Moscow can assure Gorbachev a Success let alone the transformation of w Viet Union. The construction of a solid Wester rope is the Best Assurance that the continent revert to the self destructive fragments of its pay the Way to give heart and example to the East n can move. C the new York times
