European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 12, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday june 12, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary William Safi ethere s no reason to rain on Victory parades listen up. You quagmires who opposed the persian Gulf War. And now deride the costly parades in Washington and new York As a Macho militaristic it pay attention democrats who followed Sam Nunn and disjointed chiefs of staff Over the Cliff to silly Sanction land and now fret about political manipulators turning a National Victory into a political Winner. And take heed right Wing global cops of yesteryear who tried to ignite a Prairie fire of isolationism and now Pale at the Prospect of lower festooned american tanks rolling up our avenues and snatching the Mantle of super patriotism. The message to All you can relax. The Celebration is not Over your defeat. The lag waving and the Lumpy throats Are not about the glories of militarism or the Wisdom of the White House or the satisfactions of intervention. Even so you Sav. These parades Are expressions of overweening Pride in our ability to pulverize a second rate Power. Wont All the organized cheering at our muscularity a disguised As a support for our troops Quot a hide our failure to finish of Saddam Hussein or to save the Brave kurd and shiites who answered our Call to oust him. Not All Pride Ove Weens. From the. Mid a ftps to the mid-�?T80s, we slogged through the Slough of self doubt. We most a War to Vietnam and lost a president to watergate and lost Faith in our know How when the choppers collided at desert one. The Prospect of continue Leslie h. Gelb decline debilitated a Peoples will. Then the tide turned. The soviet Union was forced to expose its internal decay. The world was faced with a different regional thread a an aggressive dictator reaching for a nuclear equalizer a and the United states clobbered him. feel better about ourselves and our system. Is this unnatural no. Is it dangerous Only if we allow it to make us arrogant or our leaders afflicted with hubris. Quot. Quot. A a a a ,. A a a a a a a a a. That is not happening. President Bush erred tragically at the verge of Victory. Me knows it he was rightly and roundly criticized for putting cockamamie geopolitical calculation a about iraqi sovereignty ahead of his moral responsibility he has been trying to Patch it Over by offering Protection to refugees. These Are not the actions of a Caesar or an arrogant Power on the contrary they Are the acts of a Leader of a nation that will not stand for Dishonour especially when televised. What then is the strange Fervour coursing through our veins As we watch the bands go by and we wave at the troops on the tanks if Pride is too troublesome a word with All its Affinity for the adjectives a false Quot and a overweening Quot let us turn to a compound much More in Vogue self esteem. The response to the parades stimulus is a surge of legitimate National self esteem. Consider what we have done that justifies that is Terii. We recognized a threat before it was at our own throats we debated what action to take and brought it to a vote in. The Senate and we entrusted the destruction of threat to our armed forces. Which performed As Well As we hoped. I lad doves not demonstrated had the Loyal opposition. Which preferred lesser sanctions not opposed had the Media not provided prognostications that made us fearful of great costs had the president not Felt it necessary to give our National interest in self Protection the gloss of collective defense a then the self esteem that we feel today would not have been earned. It Ain t just what we did it s the Way that we did it. Arguing and wondering among ourselves leading the single super powered world surprised at our Success and eager to recoup our failure a that a the american character at its Best. A a a. And that is Why pacifist. Partisan or isolationist resentment at the Celebration . Sure some Are tailing in love with the latest implements of War. And some republicans Are. Trying to milk the Good feeling. Brush All that aside each of us a misguided or misgiving right or wrong or a combination thereof has a piece of this Welcome Home to constructive Confidence. Honor the heroes respect the dissenters experience the kinship criticize some part of the policy Salute the Flag. Anyone who has taken part in the action and the passion has a place in this Parade. A c Union Siil Pross Syndicate palestinians shape pieces for peace Puzzle along the paths of the labyrinth into which arabs and israelis have led the Bush administration some tantalizing morsels have been Quot dropped by the weakest of All the potential negotiating parties. A \ a. A a. These morsels represent great risk for those who deposited them and perhaps genuine Promise for Middle East peace talks should the . Find a Way to jump Start the process. The morsels could help explain the real thinking behind prime minister Shamire a recent secret letter to president Bush in which he effectively rejected a .-proposed peace conference they also could shed Light on recent meetings Between syrian and Plo leaders blood rivals who have preferred killing each other to conversing and who now May be combining talents to kill prospects for negotiations. The morsel droppers were Faisal a Husseini and his delegation of West. Bank palestinian leaders whose people have been shattered and adrift since the defeat of their hero Saddam Hussein. They presented two morsels to Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii during his recent visits to Jerusalem. One was undertaking to focus prospective talks with Israel on interim measures specifically on self government for the West Bank and Gaza strip rather than on the ultimate goal of palestinian statehood. This is a significant Concession to Israel which proclaims its willingness to accept palestinian autonomy but not statehood. A the second morsel was an indication that the local palestinians would participate in the talks As part of a combined team with Jordan. In effect they said they would join with King Hussein if there were no other Choice. Israeli hard liners have always found the idea of a joint delegation More palatable than a separate palestinian group. It tends to weaken palestinian claims to an Independent identity. These Are the morsels. But they seem to be part of a growing pattern of local palestinian self assertiveness perhaps a willingness to take their own destiny into their own hands. This Independence May operation Mem Sohta a. Now be possible because Yasser Arafat a Plo is badly weakened and alone the result of having supported the wrong Side in the persian Gull War and the failure of the palestinian uprising against Israel. It is of course Likely that Arafat still Calls the shots for Husseini a group. But local palestinian leaders have been proclaiming the need for a local and popularly elected Congress to Deal with a Day to Day. Affairs and have been complaining that palestinians Are being terrorized More by the uprising than by israeli soldiers. The Plo is not mentioned in these statements. An israeli government interested in negotiations and palestinian autonomy As a step toward peace would Welcome these signs. But a government like Shamire a which appears to View autonomy As a fatal move onto a Slippery slope thut leads Only to palestinian statehood seems to find Husseini a morsels and flexibility quite disquieting this disquiet might explain Why Shamire a letter to Bush rejected several perfectly reasonable procedural compromises to get peace talks under Way. Shamir would not agree that the United nations be represented at the conference by an observer or that the conference reconvene every six months subject to israeli approval. He argued that these measures would permit a ganging up against Israel. President Assad of Syria and Arafat seem to find the Prospect of peace talks even More appalling. Their representatives have been conspiring and proclaiming. Traditional hard line palestinian stands. Nor can they be Happy with the seeming Independence of Husseini and his palestinian delegation nor with the Prospect of that delegation joining hands at peace talks with Jordan. Middle East leaders who seek peace risk losing Power and life itself. Could it be that out of despair local palestinians have found the self Confidence to take those risks. To the new York Tiric a
