European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 17, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Commentary violent America is no a spi crisis Cal Thomas How predictable. After the carnage on the Long Island rail Road commuter train last week politicians called for More Laws to address the growing incidence of crimes against innocent humanity. A Congress and the 50 state Legislatures pass More Laws every year than used to be passed in the lifetime of an average citizen. Each anti crime Bill is styled As tougher than previous ones a yet crime increases and people Are More afraid. The Lawless do not respect Laws. If they did crime would have declined by now in the legislative and rhetorical Avalanche. Amazingly some liberals and conservatives Are starting to sing the same tune on the causes of crime and societal collapse. Though they done to agree on the treatment they concur on the diagnoses. Television producer and political activist Norman Lear addressed the National press club last week and a lot of what he said could have come from Bill Bennett or Dan Quayle. A at no time in my life a said the 71-year-old Lear a has our culture been so estranged from spiritual values. Our problems lie beyond the reach of politics  Lear blamed materialism and a a numbers oriented culture based on what we can grasp and count. We have lost touch with the Best of humanity a the inner  Charles Colson Richard Nixon a Tough on crime a Hatchet Man a is in Harmony with Lear when he writes of the most terrifying thing that can happen to a society the death of conscience in its Young  # a crime is a Mirror not just of a Community a families a writes Colson a but it keeps going and going and going it for also of its moral state. _ a a society cannot Long survive if the demands of human dignity Are not written on our  the Clinton administrations initial response to the Long. Island commuter train massacre was More Money for More police and More gun control Laws. But Colson correctly notes a no number of police can enforce order no threat of punishment can Ere ate it. A crime and violence frustrate every political answer because there can be no solution apart from character and  no government program can solve americans Core problem which is As Lear put it a a hunger for connectedness.�?�. Our problems Are not economic and political. They Are moral and spiritual a and must be addressed on that level if real solutions Are to be found. Both president and mrs. Clinton have been experimenting with the rhetoric of the spirit in recent months. Even if they Are not right about very thing they and Lear Are on to something that All of us know to be True we Are missing the link of virtue that holds a nation together. It is not a crisis in government a it is a crisis in us. Virtue morals respect for Law and other people Are not concepts that Are caught like a Strain of flu. They Are not acquired by human nature. In fact they must be taught even imposed. Today tragically our culture steeped in the deviant and the base seems to create sick souls who Kidnap and kill cell Dren in California and Missouri and mow Down innocent commuters in new York. E loan go a it hmm Clinton should ovoid Butcher from russian cargo planes have been picking up Ruck Chassis in North Korea and delivering to Syna. They arc special Chassis used As Mobile launchers or scud missiles targeted at Israel. For months the United states and Israel have kept the Transfer secret rom their Public. It was too embarrassing after All the warm talk from Washington and Jerusalem about now the russians and syrians would now help bring peace to the Mideast. On sunday the Story broke in rhe new York times by Mihael r. Gordon. The Chassis Are helpful to Syria but will not change the military picture in the Middle East. Next month however another special delivery can change the political picture to Syria s enormous advantage a the delivery from Washington of the president of the United states. To coax Syria Back to the negotiating table with Israel the United states has agreed that silent Clinton will meet in Europe with Hafez Assad. Assad is the longtime president of Syria. He is also a longtime per son Butcher a the perpetrator of massacres that Haye killed thousands of his own people a under his Rule the arrest torture and execution of dissidents have been made government Poy Lebanon was gobbled up and colonized and 10 Mideast error to organizations Are rained for and carry out  against foreign targets a including american. For these actions and More Syria is on the  terrorist list. When president Bush visited with this Man in 1992, Bill Clinton richly denounced appeasement of Syria. So did the  Yitzhak Rabin israelis prime minister believes a Clinton Assad meeting could persuade Syria to we a Deal with Israel if the current israeli mess with Yas . Rosenthal ser Arafat is patched up. The Clinton administration cannot be More cautious about Mideast peace arrangements than Israel when Rabin is willing to take the risks. So it May be expected to do everything it can to bring about the agreements _ everything decent and within . Interests. But by this time the United states should have Learned that it is neither decent nor within its interests to build up Mideast dictatorships in arms or political stature. In Iran and Iraq the United states found it was building , for terrorism or War. There is no evidence that Assad pays off appease men. He collects political military or economic advantages in Advance Banks them and does what he then decides Best solidifies his hold on Power. The deserts Are littered with the Bones of Western Arab and israeli diplomats who thought they were smarter than this fellow. He is not Only smarter but also can kill anybody at Home who raises a voice against whatever he decides to do. But what harm does it do if a president lends the dignity of his office to a big time killer what difference does it make if Washington allows Kuwait to Transfer american planes to Syria despite the ban on such transfers to terrorist nations a Why none at All if you do not think America has an interest in promoting democracy and fighting state terrorism. None if you do not think Clintonia democratic idealism is corrupted to the Point of mockery by siding up to one of the More vicious tyrants. None if you feel As do Rabin and some other american allies that involving human rights in International deals is sentimental Slop. And none if you feel that syrian complicity in the Downing of pan am 103 in 1988 must be covered up. Despite Western attempts to Whitewash Syria Cia specialists who were on the Case from the beginning believe palestinian terrorists operating out of Syria painstakingly planned to bomb an american plane and when their group was infiltrated handed the Job Over to their libyan friends. Quot ass isow fount to  but vat of Rutcho As a candidate Clinton promised the relatives of the pan am dead that he would not accept a cover up but would answer All their questions about syrian and iranian involvement. He has not. It is a bit late now for credibility Isnit it you done to first Chat with a mass murderer for your own purposes and then announce he was innocent All along. It is not too late to Call off the visit with this evil Man Clinton does not belong with him. If peace a a possible Between Syria and Israel it will not be brought a Day sooner by allowing the demeaning of the american presidency. Cythe new York Timet