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cr Editorial Freedom
All ur.dsd editorials ere the opinion cf the editor. Letters znd
cz'::r.3 represent the opinions of others.
E":-tt Wamock, Editor
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So
far this summer. I have
avoided writing about impeachment
because I fed most people have seen
enough editorials written about the
subject to last them through the next
three presidents. Once in a while,
just every so often, I change my
mind. This time happens to be one of
those occasions.
After all, college paper or not,
every editor has to take a stand on
important issues; so I'll say this
ence: if Nixon continues to flaunt
the power of the Supreme Court, he
should be impeached.
Contrary to what many people
think of the presidency, the
executive is elected to serve the
people for a four-year tern of office,
elected to serve the citizens of the.
United States in the way he sees fit.
This is the one of greatest
achievements of the American
constitution.
In many other countries, the
executive is elected to follow the
whims of citizens and the legislature.
When a president- is elected in
America, he is given the power to
follow through on his own initiative
until he achieves the goals he has set.
In doing this, we give the president
the power to make unpopular, but
necessary decisions.
For example, 1 find it hard to
believe Lyndon Johnson would have
worked so hard to push unpopular
civil rights legislation through the
in
IS 1 9
another
S jS s m
Well, Old Blue Eyes is back, and
the way things are going in
Australia, it looks as though he's
going to stay there.
Harry Reasoner, while making his
nightly comment on the ABC News,
said there is sometimes a story in the
journalism trade that earns the name
"natural" when it pops up. I bow to
the knowledge of experience.
Frank Sinatra, on tour through
the playful country-continent of
Australia, seems to have insulted
and offended everybody but the
kangaroos. He started off by calling
journalists "hookers" and
Bob Jasinkiewicz
Ever get the feeling you're standing on the sidelines
watching the game go by?
And you're raging inside because you can't get in, you
can't play, and you're losing just by watching?
And you can't even tell what the game is without a
scorecard?
Take a good hard look at the news, another hard look at
v hat's going on around you, and then try to convince
yourself that things aren't getting worse, they're just taking a
break until they get better.
And time won't outrun the pack, it'll just set the pace while
the pack takes a break to make up its mind.
Maybe you weren't old enough to remember the social
revolution of the 1960s when, with the violence and chaos,
arose birthpangs of ideas that might have closed the gap
between time and reality. The baby giant was wiping away
the placenta cf its past.
Maybt you were, and are just sticking around for the
dzzih gasp. '
If your eyes ere on the sunrise of a new day, then you're
mining the- shadows creeping up your back because your
eyes are on a sunrise that's a product not a cause of the
shadows on your back, the shadows:
Cf people eating dog food while their leaders dine on
luxuries flown to Moscow because the world is being saved
for the people eating dog food.
Cf public officials facing treasonable charges of
underlining a political system, the same officials in charge
cf th: i:r.e system they are accused of undermining passing
juJrrr.t on themselves, lightly, while the people see them as
a cau:e and not a symptom of their troubles, and turn away
to look for the sunrise of a new leadership when they haven't
ev:n cctisn the old shadows off their backs.
Cf p:cp!s eating dog food (again) while farmers destroy
millions cf chicks (as they have other commodities in the
t) to iZ2 if they can influence the pries of roasting hens.
Friday, July 12, 1974
CD
11 11 JU
O
A
riiTrrrnis
congress if he had proceeded under
the constant threat of removal from
office. ,
But the constitution does not
grant unlimited powers to the
president; there is a limit to how
unpopular a decision can be. A
president, or. any other member of
the federal government, realizes that
he .may be removed from office at
anytime through the process of
impeachment and conviction.
Nixon probably believes he is
doing the best thing in service of the
citizens of the United States; he
probably believes the presidency is
in dire danger from the Congress; he
probably believes the best thing to
do is to stonewall the entire issue of
the Watergate break-in.
But the more I see, hear and read
about the whole issue, 1 become
convinced that he is wrong.
Americans have an amazingly
large capacity to forgive, but they
cannot forgive until they are sure
where fault lies. Nixon has
seemingly made it his conviction to
make sure the American people
never do learn who is to blame.
Nixon may be covering up for his
friends or himself; it doesn't matter.
If the Supreme Court decides that
Nixon must turn over the necessary
information the Congress wants,
then under the law of the United
States, he must do so, or face certain
impeachment.
yes
OjJO
"parasites" who had never done a
day of work in their lives, then
finished up by punching and shoving
a few television 'crews.
The trade unions enjoyed that so
much, they said they would never let
Sinatra leave the country until he
apologized to the Australian Unions
he offended. Sinatra has told them
to stuff it.
The Australians have countered
by not refueling his jet, or servicing
his hotel suite.
One thing you gotta say about
Sinatra, he never does anything half
way.
has
b
The new buses are here. They came from Atlanta.
Things happened to them down there that Chapel Hill
could never even imagine. They can take anything
Chapel Hill can dish but.
Through a very fortunate series of events, two
students (of the world) managed to acquire an
exclusive interview with a bus, a new Chapel Hill police
car, a street and a knit hat.
First, the knit hat.
Reporter. Well, what do you think of the new bus
invasion? Knit Hat: I don't know what you're talking about.
Reporter: Aren't you concerned with the good
fortune of the city?
Knit Hat: You call this a city? I don't see any
buildings.
Reporter. OK, thank you ...
Knit Hat: Listen, I grew up in Belks, which is a tough
place for a knit hat. Too many golf hats and helmets.
As you can tell, the knit hat was a bit confused over
the buses. However, in an attempt to clear up our
confusion, we (as good roving journalists are prone to
do) sought a more reputable source of inquiry. In other
words, we hit the streets.
Reporter: What do you think about the new buses in
Chapel Hill?
Operator?
j
Honestly now, folks...we stamp
our feet, we beg, we cry, we cringe,
we scream, but nobody out there is
answering.
We'd like to say, "keep those cards
and letters comin in," but we can't
until somebody writes something.
This is a college newspaper. We
try to serve the students, faculty and
citizens of this area, but sometimes
we're not quite sure what you all
want.
It's been said that in the
profession of journalism, the highest
accolade is silence. Whoever said it,
I'm sure they were just kidding.
Not that we like to get roasted in
our own paper all the time or
anything like that, but we do
welcome criticism, ideas,
suggestions, 'and even maybe just
once in a while, a compliment.
So next time you're awake late at
1
Jim Pate
a Tl
Is
jMirsu niLV nmi jLeoamomi: umm
J
Editor's Note: Jim Pate, a UNC student,
spent two weeks touring the Middle East
during June. This story and the five to follow
are some of the interviews and recollections
he has of those experiences.
Aleftari El-D aye is a lawyer, columnist for
the Assiassa, a Lebanese weekly, and a part
time guide. By previous arrangement, he was
to meet Bob Terrell, an Associate Editor for
the Asheville Citizen, and me to show us
through Lebanon.
The three of us left Beirut June 24 driving
.Peoples
And through the shadows you begin to wonder whether we
put more value on prices than on values, before we raise the
price of dog food.
Of time running out on the world's resources, while
instead of rationing them, we raise their prices so that those
who wasted them before can continue to waste. And we
fertilize the earth with our garbage that will soon be our
resources.
Of a price spiral that makes it cheaper to buy beer than
milk, to remain in ignorance than to get an education, to die
than to get adequate health care. While public officials vote
down increases in health and" education programs as
inflationary, but not in their salaries, which aren't.
Of leaders who tell you things are getting better in direct
proportion to the degree things are getting worse.
Of leaders who proclaim you have more freedom indirect
proportion to the degree you're getting less.
And it's always the freedom to do something, like walk the
streets at night without a curfew, vote for the candidate of
"your" choice, or take part in acquiring the food and things
of the world's most bounteous land.
But it's never freedom from anything, like muggers and
rapists who are also without a curfew, the candidate of
"your" choice who forgets your interests but not his own the
moment he takes office, or the exorbitant prices charged for
the food and things of a bounteous land.
As well as freedom from poverty, sickness,
unemployment, or ignorance.
The games people play, and play and play before the sun
rises
And the shadows wait another day.
To paraphrase the late Grantland Rice, when the game is
finally over, and the last out is made, then let the great
Scorekeeper record the result as
Games I, People 0.
And it really didn't matter how you played the game.
4, fj
mses
Street: Dirty and obnoxious, just like you punks.
Reporter: Why are you insulting us? We believe in
equal rights for streets and right on red. Besides that,
when my wingtips click across your sweet surface
singing that aluminum love song based on two
thousand years of indisputable animal intelligence, do
you really suffer?
Street: Talk, talk, talk. There's just too much of it.
Go away, here comes a police car.
'
Talk about coincidences. Talk about logic. Well,
let's just talk about coincidences. The Police Car.
Surely, it could clear things up. Maybe.
Reporter: Tell us, please sir, (we can be diplomatic
when we want to be) what do you think when you hear
the word "bus."
Police car: Drugs. Kids. Jail. Parole. Anything that
pops in my mind. What are you driving at?
Reporter. No, that's not what we had in mind. We
want to know what you think of all these buses that will
invade us in a month.
Police car: I got a job to do fellahs. See you boys
later.
Reporters (in unison): not if we see you first.
At this point, we became totally and cosmically
A.V.
iily,
JUL u
night, J.ohnny Carson's off the air
and you can't stomach the CBS Late
Movie, get out a pen and the back of
some brown paper bag and write or
scrawl a letter to the editor. And just
in case you didn't know, it's The Tar
Heely Carolina Union, UNC.
(UIf Glar rMsd
Valerie Jordan.. Managing Editor
Jim Grimsley... Asst. Man. Editor
Jean Swallow. ...Associate Editor
Joe! Brinkiey News Editor
Jim Thomas Sports Editor
CD Gaines Features Editor
Welter Cciton. Wire Editor
mi
TT Tl
to Zahlah, directly east. Aleftari was to meet
a busload of sweet little old Baptist ladies
there and shepherd them over the ruins of
Balabaak. This sounded like a poor way to
find out about the war but I trusted
everything to Terrell.
As we crossed the mountains to Zahlah,
Aleftari briefly explained his law practice.
"The practice of law in Lebanon is more
difficult than in your country. I have to
follow a case from beginning to end, all on
my own. Lebanese courts assume a man to
be guilty until proven innocent."
"But our laws are much more flexible in
their interpretation. They are like written
codes. There is no common law in Lebanon.
13efendants are heard by a Board of Judges,
instead of a jury."
Aleftari told us of one of his clients, a
Syrian boy who was charged as an accessory
to the fact of smuggling arms. Even though
innocent, he has been in jail for 1 1 months.
The Prosecutor General acquitted him
but the plaintiff appealed the decision. So
the boy is still in jail, despite the fact that no
investigation has turned up evidence against
him."
He went on to point out that anyone
accused of a crime carrying a penalty of over
three years cannot get bail. This is more
stringent if the accused is a foreigner.
"We suffer from the length of time a case
takes ... I know of one case that has been
awaiting trial for 10 years."
We switched to the front of an air
conditioned bus in Zahlah, joining the
Baptists. The conversation gradually
changed to politics. Between talking with his
group, Aleftari tried to explain the most
recent conflict through the Arab eyes.
"Arab nations want the U.S. to assist them
in a peaceful Mid-East settlement. Arabs feel
Nixon is the first lerican President to
approach us with g- une sincerity about
peace ... Kissinger it 1 man of great
principle. Nixon had n ecurity problem in
the Arab countries. It was Israel where they
feared so much for his life."
Aleftari covered for the Assiassa Nixon's
arrival in Cairo. "Sadat invited Nixon to ride
in his open convertible instead of Nixon's
armored car. Two million people gre;ted
Nixon. This is amazing because most of
Cairo were away at summer resorts in
Alexandria. He was given a great salute and
American flags were everywhere. People
shouted, 'Keep it up Nixon and 'We trust
Nixon.'"
The bus speakers began to crackle, "On
o to r
ttiew
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Ron b t5Riwh QDn ,
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your left, ladies, you see the monastery
where French-Jesuit monks have grown
grapes and made wine since 1857. The big
dome in the center is their observatory. They
drink the wine and see the stars. There is no
business like monkey business!"
Looking into the near future, he told us,
"Observers believe this is the beginning of a
new era between Arab nations and the U.S.,
based on mutual respect and mutual
understanding of the strategies and interests
of both sides."
Aleftari feels that steps will be taken
toward . a peaceful solution to the Arab
Israeli problems, "based on equity and
justice." He pointed out that, above all,
Nixon's visit and his hearty welcome in
Egypt are proof of the desire and need of the
Arabs to have a real friendship with the
Americans . . . "taking a lesson from past
misunderstandings and then avoiding
them." -
Nixon's visit was the first official one by an
American President to the Arab world.
"Arabs believe this new era is to put an end
to the monopoly enjoyed by Israel of
American relations, all at the expense of the
Arabs. We want to share the friendship of
America with Israel. We want to have
correct relations and not have America
looking at the situation only through the
Israeli eye," he said.
American-Arab relations are not new
relations. They have existed for more than a
century. The Mid-East conflict has caused
most of the misunderstanding between the
Arabs and the U.S.
Aleftari's eyes assumed a powerful gaze,
his face glowing as he confided, "You can see
something new, a new feeling, a new
tendency, new horizons. The Arab now.
talking with Americans, 'has no
psychological complex. He feels he's on even
terms. That doesn't mean it's at the expense
cf the Russians or anyone else. The Arabs
feel free to talk to whomever they want and
feel an independence from the superpowers.
"The Russians are launching a defamation
campaign in Egypt and other Arab countries
against Sadat, calling him an American
agent. Sadat is recognized leader of the Arab
world.. People call him 'man of wisdom and
respect him deeply. Nassar is still our
spiritual leader, though... a martyr of the
Arab nations."
Terrell and I saw Nassar's picture
everywhere we went throughout Lebanon,
and later Syria. They were painted on
sloganed walls, on highway billboards, and
posters.
"Sadat is following in the steps of Nassar.
convinced that unless we talked to a BUS, we would
never get a full grasp on the complex issue of BUSES
IN CHAPEL HILL. We could have wasted time
talking to some trees or mail boxes, but we wanted to
spare ourselves any more trouble. So we negotiated a
very difficult journey to the glass depot where the new
buses are symmetrically and secretly parked.
Bus No. 468 proved a talkative, if not twisted,
source.
Reporter. How do you like your new home?
Bus 468: Just dandy, my wheels spin like candy; my
clutch is tight, my seats are clean; I'm allright, you
know what 1 mean?
Reporter. 1 probably know what you mean, but I'll
never be surc.l hear they're going to charge people to
ride you.
Bus 468: Really? And they can't come up with any
better accomodations than this semi-prison camp. In
Atlanta, we had air-conditioned garages.
Reporter: Ycu realize that you're going to be
travelling the same route day after day, don't you?
Bus 463: So, what else is new? Look at your shoes
and wonder.
Reporter: Huh?
The bus refused to answer any further questions. We
left that place. It was too real.
71
sukdi peace
The Communists are trying to make trouble
for Sadat. They are exploiting Nassar by
explaining him in a Marxist way. Sadat is
portrayed by the Russians as trying to get rid
of everything Nassar did, in order to deprive
Sadat of the popularity of the Arab masses.
They have tried to turn a political plan into a
strategy," he said.
This is evidenced by the cooling of Soviet
Arab ties. The Soviets are displeased with
the Arab leader over his recent warmth
toward the President.
Aleftari continued, "Sadat underwent a
big battle against the Marxists in Egypt, who
pretend to be Nassarists. Sadat exposed
them, however, and the Arab people
understand that."
Realizing this sounded a little one-sided, 1
asked him, "Do you have any connections
with the government?"
"No, but for two years 1 wrote a series of
articles exposing how the Communists are
trying to undermine Sadat before he gets any
stronger. Russia now is playing a game
officially agaisnt Egypt through the
Communist party in Iraq, the Marxist
element of the ruling part in Iraq, and
through the Marxists in Libya, who pretend
to be Nassarists. Lebanon is the scene of the
battle because the newspapers of both sides
are here."
We finally arrived at Balabaak and I asked
Aleftari for a personal summary.
"Relations will continue to improve
between the Arab and American nations. It's
not easy, but it's started and it's not going to
stop. This does not set too well with Israel.
She is creating an atmosphere of trouble in
Lebanon by homing the refugee campus.
The Israelis want to convince the Arabs that
the U.S. is not in its move towards new Arab
American relations . . . But the Arabs are not
stupid. They will not let Israel destroy the
chances for new relations.
"In the Arab world, we are free. Just look
at our students now. When they choose to
study, they choose America or Europe, not
Russia or the Eastern Bloc countries. It runs
10-1."
Aleftari wined and dined us that night on
fresh Arab bread and a Lebanese shish-ka-bob,
apricot jam, yogurt cream, olives,
French wine, local beer and Turkish coffee.
He agreed to guide us into Syria and to
Palestinian campus in southern Lebanon.
While we slept that night, terrorists from
one of these campus slipped into the Israeli
sea resort of Nahariya. They killed a mother
and two small children before being shot to
death by the Israeli border miiita. We would
see the hellacious part yet.
(Next week: the journey in Syria.)