European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 11, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday february 11, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary William f. Buckley  won t happen soon a if Ever out damned spot it appears that the cold War generated something on the order of 27,000 lady Macbeth in the old soviet Union the bloodstain on the hands All but Sineff Ceable. Well not exactly. The latest estimate is that the former soviet Union can disarm its nuclear weapons at the rate of 1,500 per year. Fifteen Hundred per year Russia it Al. Have 27,000 nuclear weapons that we know of and most recently a one time soviet nuclear bureaucrat reveals that there May be As Many As 15 percent to 20 percent More than that figure sitting around which would make it about 32,000. That Means that the nuclear weapons could be immobilized assuming it were the objective to get rid of them entirely in 21 years. We could schedule a Nice Celebration in the year 2013. And the Story in Iraq continues to unfold. Every Day there is evidence of the remarkable sophistication of the Man correctly described by president Bush a year ago As someone the orderly world cannot get on with though Bush has left us no alternative than to get on with him. It Isnit merely that Saddam Hussein was so far advanced toward the development of a nuclear bomb. It is that we have detected Deposit after Deposit of chemical and biological weapons. The destruction of these is no Light affair. If we respect current ecological protocols it could take 10 to 15 years to neutralize these mortal Little cesspools that Are capable of killing human beings by the hundreds of thousands. Well just who created this mess in Iraq the answer is roughly everybody. Recent reports Are that As Many As 13 . Companies sent critical materials to Saddam during the �?T80s, when Saddam was the Nice Guy sort of fighting the Ayatollah. China intelligence sources Tell us is a critical supplier and continues to be. Our economic blockade is indecisive against such imports As enriched uranium. You can get enough of that in a lunch Box to feed a theater nuclear weapon. And Germany. Germany the word is will sell anything to anybody. It would be reassuring to learn that no German firm was a supplier to the soviet Union. What to do first about Russia it Al.? when dealing with a Commonwealth of republics that have 30,000-plus nuclear weapons lying about it is appropriate to formulate a diplomacy that makes their elimination a common Enterprise a i.e., one in which the United states volunteers to help the governments of Russia it Al., even As we invite Russia to help us. Bush has said he does no to want to reduce our inventory to below 4,500, while russian president Boris n. Yeltsin is talking 2,500. But Yeltsin also wants the United states to go to work on our submarine Fleet where we have the advantage Over the russians while they have for Many years had the advantage Over us in weapons on the ground. At the rate at which the weapons Are destroy Able whether Bush wins the next election or does no to it will be a Post Bush Era before the disarmament talks hit the question of whether further reductions below 4,500 2,500, having cultivated disarmament As a joint Enterprise a a a a a shot a or 2,500, Are appropriate. It becomes natural that . Scientists should cooperate with russian scientists in expediting this common Enterprise. It would be Worth the investment to invite russian nuclear technicians who face unemployment but Only in their own country to come to America in massive numbers to help us neutralize our quota. Such an Exchange Well show you ours you show us yours should induce a desirable intimacy and its accompanying stability. Meanwhile we might come up with a formula that would satisfy the Environ struggle to mentalists some sort of temporary coffins to serve As Way stations to nuclear oblivion. It would certainly appear to be the moment to test the deep sea burial techniques advocated by sediment Logist Charles Hollister of the Woods Hole oceanographic Institute. As for Iraq we face the most astonishing Paradox in political military history. Here is a country we Defeated at War. Six months earlier we presided Over an International embargo on All shipments going to and from Iraq. We closed Down its Oil pipelines. We have helicopters buzzing about without interference pressing the mandate of the United nations to explore and to Cope with Sites of strategic weapons. Every Day we find More of the stuff but we have Zero Confidence that we have found it All and the Man who knows where they All Are sits in Baghdad calmly waiting out the distempers of the season so that he can get Back to work. Put it this Way if we can to disarm Iraq can we disarm anybody Ever c Universal Pross Syndicate Anthony Lewis Egypt fears . Military strike against Libya the most acute concern in the egyptian government today is not what outsiders might expect not the algerian crisis Over islamic fundamentalism not the dragging Arab israeli peace process. It is the possibility of a military attack by the United states on Libya. That is the agitated subject that comes up in conversation with officials. The government is worried a alarmed is not too Strong a word a about such an american strike. Over the last months the United states has been turning up the pressure on Libya to deliver up two intelligence agents suspected of planting the bomb that destroyed pan am flight 103 Over Lockerbie Scotland in december 1988. Britain and France joined in the demand. The . Security Council approved a Resolution supporting it. A Resolution to impose sanctions on Libya is expected to follow. If Libya still failed to turn Over the two men an american attack would have a precedent. President Reagan accusing Libya of terrorism ordered a bombing Raia in 1986 that seems to have been an unsuccessful attempt to kill libyan Leader Moa mar Qadhafi. But Why should that so worry the egyptians they Are hardly admirers of Qadhafi and Over the years there has been plenty of tension Between Egypt and Libya. The answer is that egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has devoted much Effort lately to turning Qadhafi to a More moderate path a persuading him to give up the support of terrorist groups such As the Irish Republican army. And Mubarak a efforts have been effective. The Qadhafi government has in fact moderated its rhetoric and its pattern of making trouble. A striking example was its Low posture during the persian Gulf War. More recently Qadhafi has criticized the islamic fundamentalist regime in Sudan which Western experts say is now harbouring terrorist organizations that used to operate from Libya and Lebanon. To Cairo which keeps a wary Eye on its own fundamentalists Sudan is a far More menacing neighbor now than Libya. Given that background a . Attack on Libya would be extremely embarrassing to Mubarak. It would say to egyptians and to other arabs that Mubarak had been unable to restrain the americans despite his 10 years of the closest re lations with the United states. It would be the More awkward because of the crucial role Mubarak played in marshalling the coalition against Saddam. Without egyptian import and a substantial commitment of egyptian forces to the War the whole  of a Broad coalition including significant Arab states might have come apart. Moreover the View in Egypt is that an american attack on Libya would give a tremendous boost to the islamic Tunda mentalist movement across the Arab world. It would confirm the suspicion in Many Arab minds that president Bush a new world order amounts to hitting weak opponents especially arabs. One egyptian said a if they do it it will vindicate Saddam Hussein. It would be an assertion of american dominance on the cheap. The United states has the sheer Power to do what it wants but it cannot prevent the result of furthering islamic  Cairo has tried to head off military action by persuading Qadhafi to accept an International Legal commission on the Lockerbie disaster. It would include american and scottish prosecutors. But the United states rejected the . Egyptian lawyers Point out As do International lawyers in the West that there is no basis in International Law for the demand that Libya turn Over citizens suspected of crimes to another country. The authority for such a demand must rest on an extradition treaty and Libya has none with the United states or Britain. The feeling in Cairo is that an american attack would so Embarrass and expose Mubarak that he would be forced to distance himself from the United states. The egyptian press has been printing increasingly forceful warnings against military action. One Story quoted Mubarak As saying that he had already intervened to prevent a military strike. Are the egyptians unnecessarily concerned is there really a possibility of military action in an american election year with a president in trouble domestically it cannot be excluded. C the new York times the opinions expressed in the columns end cartoons on this pee represent those of the authors end Ere in no Wey to of considered is representing the Plewe of the Sere end stripes or the United states government