THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, May 6, 2010

9

by John J. Metzler

Syndicated Columnist

U N I T E D NATIONS —

“Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right… but around the world there are governments a n d t h o s e wielding power who find many

ways to obstruct it,” warned UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon proclaiming World Press Free- dom Day. Thus when Vincente Botin, a

veteran Spanish TV news reporter based in Cuba, separately briefed UN correspondents, the message was all the more poignant. Botin, whose four year stint in Havana working for Spain’s TV Espanola, spoke of the ongoing pressures from the Cuban dictatorship and the continuing attacks against

CUBA CENSORS AND STIFLES MEDIA

the free press.

Botin stated that according to

the media watchdog group Re- porters Without Borders, that Cuba holds the dubious distinc- tion of jailing the second larg- est number of journalists in the world today, followed only by the People’s Republic of China. He added that even as a foreign cor- respondent, being forced to walk a thin line of “self-censorship” and “face a tricky balancing act as to what we can say.” Over the past few years, three foreign correspondents were kicked out of Cuba, and that is why “we have to write between the lines and use metaphor to convey the story.” Importantly Botin stated that

since the communist controlled island considers itself in a “state of war,” that press surveillance is intense. Citing Reporters Without Borders, he stated that

A VIETNAM WAR LESSON

WASHING-

by Oliver North

Syndicated Columnist

TON -- Just be- fore first light Apri l 30, 35 years ago this week, a U.S. Marine CH-46 helicopter from HMM-165, call sign “Lady Ace 09,” landed on the roof of the

American Embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam, to pick up Am- bassador Graham Martin. Mo- ments later, a message -- clas- sified “secret” by the National Security Agency -- was flashed to the Oval Office informing the president, “Lady Ace 09 has the ambassador and his immediate staff on board.” Over the next several hours,

dozens more messages were transmitted to the commander in chief, detailing virtually in real time herculean efforts to evacuate the remaining Americans from the city as North Vietnamese army, or NVA, regulars closed in on our last diplomatic, military and intel- ligence missions in the Republic of Vietnam. The now-declassified Operation Frequent Wind inter- cepts in the Gerald R. Ford Presi-

dential Library read like a novel. Nineteen minutes after the

first transmission: “Lady Ace 09 reports feet wet. ... Lady Ace 13 reports outbound with 16 USA. ... Lady Ace 10 going in for landing.” Two of the cables describe CS tear gas that nearly blinded the pilots. A half-hour into the evacuation: “Lady Ace 14 is on the roof. He reports small-arms fire on the northeast corner of the build- ing in a small clump of trees at ground level. Lady Ace is loading at this time.” Then, three minutes later: “Spectre reports numerous firefights all around the building. Swift 33 inbound feet dry. Lady Ace 14 reports off with 21 pax.” The abbreviation “pax” is military- speak for passengers. At 7:53 a.m., the final helicopter

off the embassy roof -- a Marine CH-46 from HMM-164, call sign “Swift 22” -- brought out Maj. James Kean, the Marine Security Guard commander, and the last 10 of his Marines. Less than four hours later, NVA armor and in- fantry captured the presidential palace in Saigon. This week, Lady Ace 09, freshly

painted in Vietnam-era markings, was commemorated at the Fly-

See NORTH on 27

by Thomas Sowell

Syndicated Columnist

twenty state security agents are assigned to monitor each foreign correspondent. “Freedom of media is at risk

anywhere the independence of thinking is under pressure,” stated a Spanish delegate at a separate UN committee hearing. “All UN member states make their commitment to respect fundamental freedoms, to guar-

antee full respect for freedom of expression, and access to information, and to ensure the unhindered movements of press representatives The EU consid- ers it of paramount importance that these commitments are fully adhered to.” Thus I questioned Botin wheth- er the Spanish government,

See METZLER on 16

FILTERING HISTORY

Many years

ago, I was sur- prised to receive a letter from an old friend, say- ing that she had been told that I refused to see campus visitors from Africa. At the time,

I was so bogged down with work that I had agreed to see only one visitor to the Stanford campus-- and it so happens that he was from Africa. He just happened to come along when I had a little breathing room from the work I was doing in my office. I pointed out to my friend that

whoever said what she heard might just as well have said that I refused to go sky-diving with blacks-- which was true, because I refused to go sky-diving with anybody, whether black, white, Asian or whatever. The kind of thinking that pro-

duced a passing misconception about me has, unfortunately, produced much bigger, much longer lasting, much more sys- tematic and more poisonous dis- tortions about the United States of America. Slavery is a classic example.

The history of slavery across the centuries and in many countries around the world is a painful his- tory to read-- not only in terms of how slaves have been treated, but because of what that says about the whole human species-- be- cause slaves and enslavers alike have been of every race, religion and nationality. If the history of slavery ought to teach us anything, it is that

human beings cannot be trusted with unbridled power over other human beings-- no matter what color or creed any of them are. The history of ancient despotism and modern totalitarianism prac- tically shouts that same message from the blood-stained pages of history. But that is not the message that

is being taught in our schools and colleges, or dramatized on television and in the movies. The message that is pounded home again and again is that white people enslaved black people. It is true, just as it is true that

I don’t go sky-diving with blacks. But it is also false in its implica- tions for the same reason. Just as Europeans enslaved Africans, North Africans enslaved Europe- ans-- more Europeans than there were Africans enslaved in the United States and in the 13 colo- nies from which it was formed. The treatment of white galley slaves was even worse than the treatment of black slaves picking cotton. But there are no mov- ies or television dramas about it comparable to “Roots,” and our schools and colleges don’t pound it into the heads of students. The inhumanity of human be-

ings toward other human beings is not a new story, much less a local story. There is no need to hide it, because there are lessons we can learn from it. But there is also no need to distort it, so that sins of the whole human species around the world are presented as special defects of “our society” or the sins of a particular race. If American society and West-

ern civilization are different from other societies and civilization,

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