European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 02, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Helen Thomas asian tuesday april 2, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary crisis is Ove r it ainu to Over till the fat lady sings and it appears in the persian Gulf that May he a Long time in coming. The Allied War against Iraq opened up a Pandora a Box of troubles and its Only the beginning. It appears a . Presence in the area will be a longtime commitment. Sensing iraqis weakness the Long suffering kurd and shiites Are read to move a head on their Oigt i Agenda. Clearly the United states had no master plan for Deal in with the internal iraqi uprisings resulting Fronia Saddam Hussein on the ropes after years of his cruel dictatorship. The War devastated Iraq taking it Back to the pre Industrial period according to a . Mission report. The bombardment of Baghdad was a near apocalyptic a the. Report said. V commenting on the conclusions White House press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater told reporters americans Are feeling a no guilty As a result of the destruction wreaked by the relentless bombing. Humanitarian Aid in terms of food Medicine and potable water will be provided to fend off starvation and disease if possible. But How much when and where has not been determined. President Bush May have in mind a new world order in terms of curbing aggression and establishing stability in the Gulf Region but he has a Long Way to go. Its difficult to imagine that Saddam will Long survive politically and Rise up again out of the ashes he apparently is willing to take the country Down but there is concern that Iraq will be carved up. Iran May extract its revenge for eight years of War. Other neighbors Are equally hostile particularly syrians Hafez Assad. A a a a a a there is an element of desperation in Saddam a moves to hold his totally discredited government together. Promising democratic elections in a year or so. Reshuffling his Cabinet to make a close shiite associate prime minister wont Cut it. The United states is trying to figure out the lesser of two evils. It would not want a Radical shiite. Iran to dominate the Gulf with a piece of bankrupted Iraq to Boot. Nor would it want the be canonization of Iraq with warring factions inside the country. American officials insist the United states wants to preserve the territorial integrity of Iraq. But Fitzwater stresses that Bush has said he will not Deal with. Iraq while Saddam is still in Power. Nor will the president seek any taxpayers Money to the president s refusal to acknowledge the Defeated iraqi Leader is shared by the Arab members of the coalition who feel they were betrayed by Saddam. A a meanwhile even though Kuwait is liberated now its troubles Are monumental. The Emir of Kuwait had to James j. Kilpatrick dump his entire Cabinet to have a new beginning. Kuwaitis who stayed behind and took part in the re distance appear ready to assert More voice in the government and the pressure is on the Royal family to undertake reforms before it is too late. Bush had hoped to tour the Gulf in a triumphal visit in april but that now appears to be a bit soon. not travel to the Region until May. But he wants to go when he can still savor the Success of the War and not become too preoccupied in the headaches of the postwar world. The president has been told the instability in the Region does not lend itself to a highly publicized visit. He would have to go to Kuwait which is in no shape to receive visitors. He also would travel to saudi Arabia Syria and Israel. In that respect Bush could not go empty handed to the Middle East he would have to have a new peace plan now that Secretary of state James Baker Iii has sounded out the parties. The Arab israeli Issue has been intractable for years. But administration officials rightly or wrongly believe the time is Ripe to move off dead Center in seeking solution. ,. A a biting the Bullet or peacetime is going to take some doing on Bush a part and the word is that he does not want to go to the Middle East until he can close a Deal. A. United press International a a a a a a �50 years has t lessened lure of Printer s Ink Charleston . A it is no bad thing i submit to Mark major anniversaries As they come along. I am marking one now and ask your indulgence in a sentimental journey. A in March of 1941, As a senior in Missouri a school of journalism i Learned that i had accumulated sufficient credit for graduation. There seemed to be no Point in hanging around Columbia to. Time to earn a living. _ because i am a southerner As distinguished from a midwesterner and because i am Day people As distinguished from night people i wanted to work on an afternoon newspaper in the South. So i wrote letters of application to the Atlanta journal the new Orleans item and the Richmond news Leader. Those letters of application arouse some embarrassment. Ahem i was 20 years old and looked to be about 14. In an Effort to assure prospective employers of my maturity i modestly noted that i was a was familiar with the streets of Paris As i am with those of new this was the truth. , in fact quite True i had never set foot in either Paris or new York. In any event i cast my bait and on tuesday March 25, a Telegram came from Charle Hamilton City editor of the news Leader it read a would you be interested in Job As general reporter starting $35-a week a on winged feet i fled to the Western Union office. With trembling hand i drafted my reply a will arrive monday. Kilpatrick.�?�. So it All began. I took a Wabash train to St. Louis then a a amp of by Way of Louisville to Richmond and on the morning of sunday the 30th i arrived at the old main Street station. I showered in the Railroad Myca got into my Best herringbone Brown suit a it had a double breasted Vest a and walked to the newspaper office on fourth Street. The building was closed but the heavenly scent of printers Ink Hung in the Balmy air. Bliss what Bliss and the next morning i presented myself to Hamilton and went to work. 1. He greeted me with a querulous inquiry a where did you learn to read All i asked was whether you would be interested in a i could not have been an impressive Prospect even in the suit with the double breasted Vest. I weighed barely 130 pounds. I audibly wheezed. The Aura of untried youth Hung palpably around me. A fresh haircut had emphasized my Loving cup ears. I was very wet behind them Chance. Those were Happy Days. the custom at the time to on what was termed this was t a a rewrite by the standards of new York or Chicago. We rewrote obituaries from the morning times dispatch but otherwise we mostly took dictation on our two piece telephones from reporters who were out on their beats. Soon i was graduated to a beat of my own covering business news and the fed Leral courts. Ham thought i had the makings of a feature writer. He would wander Over to my desk bearing a clipping that had amused him. develop a local Angle be funny Kilpatrick a no assignment is More to be funny on command. A. A a my closest Friend was another Novice on rewrite Stan Kennon. On a sunday morning eight months after i came to work we decided on impulse to drive Down to Duke University. An old. Friend from the University a cellist would be playing in a performance of handels a Messiah a. We went to Dukes great gothic Chapel for the afternoon concert. Afterwards in the deepening Twilight lugging Mary a but Ham took a cello we Slart Ted across the Campus. A Quot us to a a in. Newsboy came running toward us hawking an extra edition of the Durham her a a Sun. sunday dec 7. The japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. Stan and i rushed Back to Richmond and sought to enlist As flying cadets. He made it. I did no to. Chronic bronchial asthma did me in he died As a Bombardier Quot Over Hamburg. ,. I stayed at Home and wrote the weekly servicemen a news. And As other reporters drifted off to War i covered police hospitals fires City Hall the state general Assembly the governors office and the Virginia supreme court. I was variously drama critic movie reviewer business editor even outdoors editor. A every Man a Tiger a said ham1iton, a or the ensuing 50 years have passed As lightly As the blowing leaves of March. New papering never has lost its enchantment. To cover the world from a press Box is a privilege Given to Only a few of us. To know the key players to write against a deadline and to see ones work in print an hour later hot off the press is a thrill that imbues a lifetime. Half a Century later i still smell the printers Ink of 1941,1 reckon i always will a Universal press Syndicate a
