European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 17, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday february 17, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17isms serve Good and bad purposes William f. Buckley the exchanges Between Moscow United nations nato Washington remind us of the endless problem of straightforward speech. The diplomatic farrago communicates the following a the United nations is anxious to baptize natos resolve to move against the serbs by evaluating the nato decision As the implementation of an antecedent . Resolution. A the movers and shakers in our operation the United tates France Britain can task the United nations for specific endorsement of the ultimatum because to put it on the table of the Security Council amounts to a petition for re legitimization and almost certainly China and Russia would exercise their vetos. A Boris Yeltsin denounces the Ultima turn because the a Mirinovsky types would otherwise have reason to replay their favorite. Record to the effect that Washington has taken Over russian foreign policy. A a. A a a a a a a Yeltsin is probably relieved that something is being done that might avoid the mobilization of Muslim Public opinion with the disruptive effect on the Southern tier of states in the old soviet Union. Two generations ago presiden Truman decided that the policy of containment had to meet the korean Challenge. It was literally an Accident no historian to ones knowledge has challenged this that the soviet unions representative was not at his seat in the Security Council the Day the United states called for . Sanction for military action to oppose the North koreans. So the Resolution was passed Gen. Douglas Macarthur was told to mobilize resistance 1.3 million americans were drafted 33,000 . Soldiers lost their lives and All of this was packaged As a a police  the need for euphemism serves Good but also bad purposes. To the extent we wish the world to by Lieve that the ultimatum to Bosnia is a collective rather than a parochial or even a regional act we Are showing some kind of deference to that a opinion of Mankind that Thomas Jefferson appealed to to justify our declaration of Independence from great Britain. To the extent that we Are encouraging the full  american  the world to believe that . Policy will always be seek Plebs scutary confirmation we use euphemisms to mischievous ends. In the tense Days before the Gulf War when Mikhail Gorbachev was nearing the end of the line Moscow was Zig Ging and tagging about threatening the collective Sanction that had been Given to president Bush. Bush had invested heavily in . Support of the resistance to Iraq and if Early in january Days before the War began the soviet Union had pronounced its opposition to going any further Bush would have been out on a limb. Having stressed the unanimity of opposition to what Iraq had done and by Extension the unanimity of support for military action head have been stripped of the pillar on which he poised the correctness of our action. President Clinton was not going to run this risk. Accordingly nato issued its ultimatum without going Back for a reaffirmation by the United nations. It is elementary diplomacy never to submit a Resolution to the United nations without first ascertaining How it is going to respond to it. The whole Structure of diplomatic language bears watching. When Bush told the world and he did this several times that Saddam Hussein was As. As Adolf Hitler he invoked probably the heaviest derogation in diplomatic Intercourse. But in the end it plagued him because history had taught us that one cannot do business with Hitler. The smoke cleared and there was old Hitler right where he had been from the beginning in Baghdad running the show. The derogation is thus depleted in Force. And that too is dangerous. Because what happens in the Public understanding is that Hitler becomes a Little less the definitive evil. If Hussein equals Hitler and after All it turns out that the world can continue to occupy the same planet As Hussein then we have to Metaxo Lomize our demonology. Back in the 1960s, when not quite grown up children began to refer to policemen As pigs and to their fathers As nazis both pigs and nazis lost a Little of their toxic heft. If everybody is a son of a Bitch then a son of a Bitch becomes a pretty routine thing. A neglect of the consequence has the effect of denaturing the cause. What is pretty Well established by now is that to be a War criminal is on the whole pretty Safe. If Hussein Isnit a War criminal who is when Clinton tells us that we Are a a into the bosnian business exactly to the extent that our vital interests Are involved then we do Well to agree that language has got out of hand. Time to give up the search for declarative order. C Universal press Syndicate speaking at a National prayer breakfast in Washington this month Mother Teresa of Calcutta India delivered the most startling and bold proclamation of truth to Power i have heard in my More than 30 professional years in Washington. Before an audience of 3,000 a including president Clinton and his wife vice president a1 Gore and his wife and congressional leaders a the 83-year-old nun who is physically frail but spiritually and rhetorically powerful delivered an address that Cut to the heart of the social ills afflicting America. She said America once known for generosity to the world has become selfish. And she said the greatest proof of that selfishness is abortion. Tying abortion to growing violence and murder in the streets she said a if we accept that a Mother can kill even her own child How can we Tell other people not to kill each other. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love but to use any violence to get what they  _ a at that line most of those in attendance erupted into a standing ovation something that rarely occurs at these sedate events. At that moment Clinton quickly reached for his water Glass and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Gores stared without expression at Mother Teresa. They did not applaud. It was clearly an uncomfortable moment on the dais. She then delivered the knockout punch a Many people Are very very concerned with children in India with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger and so on. Many people Are also concerned about All the violence in this great country of the United states. These concerns Are very Good. A but often these same people Are not concerned with the millions who Are being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. A and this is what is the great Cal Thomas est destroyer of peace today a it be abortion which brings people to such  what abortion destroys peace and causes blindness toward the sick the hungry and the naked abortion leads to wars Between nations a of course it does if life is regarded lightly and its disposal becomes so trivial so clinical and so easy. Why should people or nations regard human life As Noble or dignified if abortion flourishes Why agonize about indiscriminate death in Bosnia when babies Are being killed far More efficiently and out of the sight of television cameras Mother Teresa delivered her address without rhetorical flourishes. She never raised her voice or pounded the lectern. A her Power was in her words and the selfless life she has led. Even Clinton in his remarks that followed acknowledged she was beyond criticism because of the life she has lived in service to others. At the end she pleaded for pregnant women who done to want their children to give them to her a i am willing to accept any child who would be aborted and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child and be loved by the  she said she has placed More than 3,000 children in adoptive Homes from her Calcutta Headquarters alone. She has answered the question a who will care for All of these babies if abortion is again outlawed a now the question is whether a woman contemplating abortion wishes to be selfish or selfless to take life or to give life. C los Angeles timo3 \