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We’re glad it’s over, but • • •
Iraq should, have to
answer for the
destruction of Kuwait
We are certainly glad that the fighting has stopped in the
Persian Gulf and our troops may soon be coming home.
However, we would like to see some accounting for the de¬
struction of Kuwait and the atrocities inflicted upon its people
at the hands of the Iraqis.
Today there is news from a morgue in Kuwait that must
disturb any decent human being. The story tells of corpses
with empty eye sockets and slashed torsos.
One body showed a deep bum in the chest from a hot iron.
On another, cigarette bums scarred one arm and the toe¬
nails had been ripped off.
Who is answerable for this type of barbarism? Our opin¬
ion is that someone should be held accountable.
We can't fully join in the reverie surrounding the victory
with mental pictures of humans being slowly tortured to death,
an entire country virtually on fire, and deliberate oil slicks a
hundred miles in breadth remaining in the Gulf for years.
We find it ironic that the weekend news also carried the
story of perhaps the last Nazi war criminal about to be brought
to trial, a lieutenant who served as a guard at one of the Jewish
concentration camps.
We are proud that our military performed so beautifully,
proud that our soldiers died only in incredibly low numbers,
proud that the Allies held together so well.
We will not be proud, though, if we adopt a "let’s just end
it and get out of here" attitude and fail to demand that Saddam
Hussein and his henchmen be tried for the war crimes perpe¬
trated on the people of Kuwait.
ML
Yours 0 9 0
Praise for hospital member
Dear Editor.
My grandson, Dustin Thomp¬
son, was recently a patient at Fort
Valley-Peach County Hospital.
While most of the staff was quite
helpful and concerned, 1 am writing
this letter to commend one staff
member in particular, Mr. Tom
Whittington. During our brief stay,
Mr. Whittington did all he could to
make, what could have been a
U.S. Soldier in Saudi Arabia
By James Turner
Last night from 9:00 - 11:00, I
spent out on the 1st guard point
with some of the soldiers. It was 25
degrees. They appreciated seeing
leadership out in the night's cold
with them. I came back and got into
my sleeping bad. Man was it warm.
I got up this morning at 2:30
and spent from 3:00-5:00 a.m. with
the guards on point #3. They
enjoyed my visit as much as I did.
It was a boost for their morale. And
it was satisfying to my heart as a
leader.
The morning was passed doing
peace time administrative matters,
working the many detail rosters and
conducting training.
By noon time, it was about 65
degrees. So off cam the long johns,
sweater and heavy overcoat.
After lunch, came lime to dig
new fighting positions of eight feet
long, four feet wide and six feet
deep. It took almost foi/r hours
because the ground was filled with
rocks and is very hard. Of course, I
helped my soldiers dig the three
fighting positions. They were
counting on me to dig some, if only
for ten minutes. I dug the entire
time. They feel that they expect cer-
? Hfyz jUa&er-'&tibxrae
V THE OFFICIAL LEGAL ORGAN OF PEACH
COUNTY, THE CITY OF FORT VALLEY
AND THE CITY OF BYRON SINCE 1988.
P.O. BOX 1060
FORT VALLEY, GA 31030
912 - 825-2432
Mike Lovvom Editor and General Manager
Hallie Rigdon News Editor
Melissa Smith Bookkeeping, Office Manager
Susan Plummer Advertising Manager
Krista Cantril Advertising Representative
Donald Cornwell Pressman
Eric Zellars Photo/Darkroom Tech.
Stacey Shy Head Typesetting
Dawn Middlebrooks Typesetting Asst.
The Leader-Tribune (USPS No. 307740) is published weekly at 109 Anderson
Avenue, Fort Valley, GA 31030. Subscription rates: $15.90 per year in Peach
County, $21.20 per year elsewhere in Georgia, $26.00 per year out-of-state.
Second-class postage paid at Fort Valley, GA. POSTMASTER shoudl send
address changes to The Leader-Tribune, P.O. Box 1060, Fori Valley, GA 31030.
The Leader-Tribune Wednesday, March 6, 1991
frightful experience for a three-year
old, as pleasant as possible. In talk¬
ing with other parents, I found that
Mr. Whittington extended his ef¬
forts to all the children on his
wing. Thank you, Tom Whitting¬
ton, for taking such good care of
my grandson and helping restore
my faith in human kindness.
Sincerely,
Jean Barr
tain things out of me as a leader -
such as getting dirty and sweaty
with them now and again. I fell that
they deserve it.
The showers were okay. The
water was cold, but at least the
showers are enclosed in a tent,
We had a section meeting at
6:00 p.m. We talked about upcom
ing training, who had what details,
laughed, told a few jokes and I told
them of life in the projects of Fort
Valley. They enjoyed the stories as
much as I enjoyed the reminiscing.
They are off to their tents and
probably asleep by now. It is almost
10:00 p.m. We have a 4:30 a.m.
wake-up. I have two guards on
point #3 from 11:00 p.m, to 1:00
a.m. They want me to come and sit
with them. These three or four
hours of sleep per day is taking my
youth away. But I would have it no
other way.
I've got to go. I want to catch
forty winks before I go into the
cold. Tonight isn’t that bad. It is
about 36 degrees,
If it be the Lord's will and I am
in the umber, I will write again
tomorrow.
Be in Peace!
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If I should die I wake, be sure
my obituary gets in before deadline
That’s going to be the title of my new
book. You know the one... the same one
I’ve been planning to write for about six
years now, the same one that was formerly
titled, "If Cowboys Are So Cool, How Come
So Many Country Songs Are About Hurtin',
Cheatin', Or Leavin'?"
My second book will be about golf, and
will be called, "The Grass Is Always Greener
In The Middle Of The Fairway." This could
be sort of like the joke about starting on your
second million (I'm starting on making my
second million... I gave up on the first).
We're getting off the subject here. The
real subject for today’s lesson, ladies and
gentlemen, is my death, which I am con¬
vinced is forthcoming.
In today's world of cancer and choles
terol, I often wonder exactly what will be my
undoing. I don't smoke, so cancer isn’t at
the top of my list. Cholesterol, though, might
be a major concern, along with stress.
I try not to talk about stress since I made
a perfect score once on one of those maga
zine tests for high-risk, stressful lifestyles.
Cholesterol isn't going to kill me
because of what I am about to tell you.
When I'm in one of my John Wayne
moods, I sometimes wonder if my demise
might not come from an Uzi wielded by a
dope dealer we wrote about or an unseated
local politician who goes off the deep end.
No more wondering, though. I know
what's going to get me and it isn't going to
take long.
Dieting will be my undoing. It's just a
Surely it was the strangest war on record
When I say that i am a student of history, it
is not the "event" history of which I speak.
I'm more a student of "people" history. I
delight in observing people act and react in
situations because it is most often where the
true story lies - for me. Events are obvious,
people are the unknown that reveal cause
and effect, reason and action.
As a novice journalist, I've enjoyed wat¬
ching the more seasoned veterans in the
deserts of Saudi Arabia as they've reacted
to being "controlled” and put into "press
pools" to cover the war. One New York
Times correspondent commented on PBS,
"This is the only time in history that a war
has been fought in and for a country no one
has ever seen; we’re not allowed in Kuwait."
Interesting thought.
At the same time, the strongest reaction
on the homefront is that the press briefings
have been too revealing and bordered on
"aiding and comforting" the enemy. Cor¬
respondents were screaming they couldn't
cover the news and citizens back home felt
too much was revealed. Think about that
one for a while.
Technology was the clear victor in the
Kuwait war. All the high tech machines and
weapons of war that had been untested in
combat got their debut and evidently did
what they were supposed to do. Amazingly,
the gravest concern of upper echelon offi¬
cers was whether or not the troops could op¬
erate these multi-million dollar weapons.
They, too, seemed to pass with flying colors.
Training - repetitive, boring training - paid
off. Casualties remained incredibly low
among the allies.
"Yankee ingenuity" also was evident in the
deserts. The silicon dust of the sand got into
every nook and cranny of everything we
took to Saudi Arabia. What was used to pro¬
bother me. I rarely eat between meals. But,
it's the meals.
Dinner for some is merely a routine. For
me, it has to be an experience. I like to
cook, and am constantly experimenting,
usually with high-calorie results.
Eating can also be stress-related. I
don't smoke and don't drink coffee. Eating
is my outlet.
My schedule doesn't help any either, as
the evening meal usually comes after 8
p.m., often as late as 11.
The diet began this morning with the
scales reading 185. If I survive, I want them
to read 170. It's perfectly all right with me if
some of you start taking odds on whether I
make it.
Getting back to the subject of death,
here's what's going to happen, I am con¬
vinced.
See, my body isn't like most people's.
Mine simply won’t function without certain
essentials, such as barbecue, spaghetti,
shrimp, raw oysters, fried mushrooms,
steak, and all sorts of fish. Eating some
crazy concoction called frozen Dynatrim for
lunch every day is probably going to send
me into respiratory arrest.
As I said, it's a matter of what goes out
first, my body or my mind. If my body goes,
it will simply look like heart failure and ya'II
can read about it and say, "But he was SO
young!"
If my mind goes first, though, let the
headline read, "Crazed newspaper editor
shot in restaurant hijacking attempt."
Mike
Lovvom
Editor
<
question of whether it destroys my body or
my mind first.
I have steadfastly avoided going on a
serious diet for quite a while, thinking that
maybe planning on dieting would somehow
get rid of the extra 15 pounds around my
middle. It didn't,
Then I decided I would exercise and lift
weights, which would enable me to eat as
much and as often as I pleased. Trouble
was, when, on my schedule, is all this exer
cising going to take place? When the eating
continued but the weightlifting never started,
that plan didn't work too well either,
Today (Monday) I took the plunge.
Tomorrow I may be dead, not from starva
tion, but from withdrawal,
When it comes to food, I have virtually
no self-control. Between-meal snacks don't
m
I
Hallie
Rigdon, .
News
Editor
1
tect equipment? Panty hose. They proved to
be the perfect "filter" to keep the unwanted
dust out of many weapons and commun¬
ications systems. Who'd have thought it?
One late night news show had Forest
Sawyer, who’d evidently "escaped" his press
pool, on the road to Kuwait with his team of
technicians. After bringing the initial news
report, the cameraman panned the area to
reveal what it had taken to get the report to
the satellite and on the air live. The ground
was littered with metal trunks from which
yards of heliax and coaxial cable spewed
forth, covered by plastic tarps (it was raining
black rain) and a small 3 foot satellite dish.
Sawyer apologized tor the disarray of the
equipment but said that it was make-shift to
get the report out.
This was a young man's war. Young
pilots, young commanders, young generals.
All of them apparently were quite bright, well
trained, eager and accurate. Logistically this
war will undoubtedly be textbook for
generations to come.
I can't help feeling that war is an odd way
to settle things. This past weekend I was
listening to National Public Radio and heard
college students commenting on the war -
one pro war and one anti war. One girl who
had been a peace activist during the Kuwait
war did not feel that war was ever justified or
that killing human beings resulted in
anything positive for the victor or the
vanquished.
A young man, who supported the war,
made the point that the United States has
finally asserted itself as a super-power and
can go to war when the cause is just and get
the job done. "It has corrected history and
given the United States its proper place," he
said.
In the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's
occupation of Kuwait, oil wells burn, skies
are blackened with the soot and smoke
making the atmosphere hazardous to
human life. He didn’t need chemical
weapons. The Kuwaiti government in exile in
the hotels of western Saudi Arabia never
missed a beat in carrying on the business of
state and will return to their country to
continue business as usual.
Acid rain will further devastate Kuwait,
lung disease and skin disease will increase
in the population and wildlife, or what's left
of it, will be centuries recovering from the
devastation.
Saddam is still in power in Iraq holding
arsenals of biological and chemical
weapons. Peace agreements are being
negotiated for the future of the Arab lands.
The PLO question has not been addressed.
Jordan left our side. The oil cartel will still
dictate what we pay for oil. Red Adair will
profit greatly putting out fires.
The "totalling up" will be left to the
historians and will take another decade.