European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 3, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday May 3, 1q91 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary Tom Baumbush dwells on War instead of current issues kurdish Relief drags on with Bleak images of refugee Camps. Middle East peace talks again seem stalled. The recession Isnit ending it must be time for another War Flashback. President Bush has found that he can liven up any event fan the embers of his postwar popularity divert attention from More mundane matters by simply reminiscing a bit about a Well you know what. A a a a a a. A a. A today we Salute with special Pride and appreciation our courageous military personnel a Bush declared on monday. A speech to a group of desert storm veterans an address to congressional leaders no the president inserted that patriotic line in an otherwise routine proclamation honouring a Law Day u.s.a., 1991.�?� he closed the link in the next sentence a yet in addition to our armed forces Many other americans work daily to uphold the Rule of  pure and simple it was a Bush War Flashback a an example of the extent to which the president weaves observations on the persian Gulf War into everyday appearances and statements. Its not the haunting troubling sort of Flashback that Vietnam evoked but a deliberate conjuring of Clear Cut victories a of Pride in country of stars and stripes. No matter that White House officials have spent most of their time lately Fielding questions about Chiel of staff John Sununu a travel habits on military aircraft. A a a a a a a a a no matter that the administrations bid for no strings authority to negotiate a free Trade pact with Mexico is in serious trouble on Capitol Hill. Or that Bush a Domestic proposals a on education housing crime and Energy j?efu6�,es Tooa thes iraqi fiasco a Are All bogged Down in Congress. Or that there has been Little on the presidents daily Agenda recently. There a always time for one More War Flashback. A a we re almost through another weekend Here the War is Over a Bush blurted at a Bass fishing tournament a few weekends Back. A what a great Day this has been a some others a a your recent Success in the Gulf has renewed americans belief in themselves a Bush told the american business conference in a speech on private Enterprise and competitiveness. A a i know that you were in Strong support of operation desert storm a he told the associated general contractors. A a a people All Over the country Are finding a new sense of Confidence in our Young men and women. You can see it in the faces of every single Soldier and Sailor every airman and Marine that served in the persian Gulf a he told teen age basketball players at a a Point of Light volunteerism ceremony. A a broadcasters did their part to support the Brave men and women a he told the National association of broadcasters. And Bush told a banquet for National science fair winners that the Success of Patriot missiles in Downing iraqi scud mis Silas demonstrated the importance of studying science in school. Those were examples of How the president brings up the War in speeches and events having nothing to do with foreign or defense policy. Needless to say hardly a week goes by without an event or two deliberately designed to focus attention on the War. There was last weeks stroll in the Rose Garden with Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf the desert storm commander before cameras and reporters for instance. Or the trip to the National Security Agency at nearby fort Meade my. Aides and advisers say Bush plans to get As much mileage from the War Effort As possible and sees nothing wrong with calling attention to it. A what desert storm did was to give the president enhanced stature in Peoples minds a Jadd Charles Black a Republican political consultant. Even though Bush a popularity has dipped front 90 percent after the War ended recent polls show that his approval rating is still in the 70s. The War is even finding its Way into Bush a anecdotes and jokes. Recently he told a group of students in a ceremony if West Virginia honouring the teacher of the year �?�1 heard a Story. About a boy who a been watching Nve almost every Day on television Back during the troubled Days of the War in the Gulf making statements to the press a he said the boy asked Rae Ellen Mckee the teacher of the year Winner if she really was going to the White House to meet the president when she nodded yes the boy according to Bush a replied a lie does no to need you he can already  c Tho asocial of press a William f. Buckley a women s activist i i Pel left controversial Mark Harriet Pilpel died last week and the notices divulged her age. A few years ago debating against her and her feminist partners about something Ortr ther  do with women a rights i amused myself by quoting from her curriculum Vitae which unlike those of the male participants ignored any mention of when she was born. She Rose to the lectern and smiled that smile that disarmed generations of adversaries and said that she was too smart to be manipulated by so typical an act of male chauvinism. A a a a a she looked Jate-50ish, and when several years ago Hert husband died she remarried. But i did notice on one of her repeated appearances on a firing line a few weeks ago  defended every extremity in the civil liberties Catalon a Little Hunchback an Hump behind her neck and she was using a Cane. No wonder. She was 82. Pilpel was a renowned lawyer and activist and for All that she stressed unisex in respect of everything from bomber pilots to legislators she could never have been mistaken for other than what she was an intensely feminine woman of quite singular Beauty. Although she was As Sharp in debate As any Oxford Union killer she managed a benevolent emanation that 1 like to think after 20 years of carpet bombing exchanges with her genuinely reflected her character. She was a lovable woman and i loved her. Which dramatized the Impact of the memorial services held for her in new York City. The room was packed the audience very heavily jewish a she was very proud one of her eulogist pronounced of being jewish though there was not a single mention of Yahweh which must have disappointed the Hal dozen Young men there wearing Yar mules. Several of her sometime Law partners spoke of her As did a son and a grandson. The reflections were eloquent affectionate and deeply respectful. But if there was a single thematic unifier in the event other than the singular talents and Grace of the deceased it was the fight Harriet Pilpel had waged for so Long for abortion fights. One eulogist Quot a said that As a Young woman graduated from Vassar College and Columbia Law school she had plighted he professional troth to two causes the fire her own individual Freedom to do As she chose the it second her absolute commitment to women so reproductive  others took up the theme. They seemed to be saying that although she would always be remembered by those who knew her for her captivating personal presence she would be known by history for her contributions to abortion rights. A. A. A \. A a. A / a the occasion drove Home the infinitely sad polarization Between the choices and the lifers. If it had been said of Pilpel that she lived her life fighting for the right to free speech and expression those who believe in free speech while bemoaning the excesses to which it is often taken would plausibly and without giving offence applaud such a career. But whereas free speech Means for some the right to read a Ulysses a abortion rights Means the right to kill undeveloped human beings.  the trouble with abortion rights is abortion. It is not possible to distinguish Between the two if one defends the right to destroy the fetus the destroyed fetus is the result of the exercise of that right. The american civil liberties Union 10 years ago defended the right of Neo nazis to Parade in Skokie 111. The Acle was making an abstract Point about free expression of opinion. What it would certainly not do is celebrate Neo nazism. Professor Alan Dershowitz appearing on a firing line with his client Harry Reems hastily made note that although he was defending the right of marry Reems to Star in a deep Throat a and of the producers to make the film and circulate it he wished it known that he himself had never seen a deep Throat and never would. But to defend the reproductive rights so called of women it is absolutely necessary to celebrate the act of arc infant cide and this is not easy for fellow americans to do. For some americans it quite simply impossible to do. For the majority of americans it is Only contingently permissible to do the great majority of americans the poll reveals believe that a woman ought to have the right to abort but they believe also that a woman who aborts chooses a for whatever reason a a tragic alternative. Even As though there Are often overwhelming reasons for doing so the exercise of any right to suicide can be at once understandable and tragic. Over All of which Pilpel would have smiled in her persistent crusade to affirm the right of women which requires the silencing of any suggestion of a right of the unborn child. _. Cd Universal press Syndicate