Editorial No place for force Despite a masterful effort by the United States to confuse and complicate the issue, and even to blame Iran itself for the July 3 tragedy, the facts stubbornly refuse to ignored: a U.S. warship, itself intruding within Iran’s internationally-recognized 12- mile limit, destroyed an Iranian civilian airliner six minutes after it took off, killing all 290 aboard, including 66 children. Despite countless contradictory explanations of what the USS Vincennes’ ultra- sophisticated Aegis radar system can and cannot do (it’s called “Star Wars on water”), the fact is the U.S. navy blew Air Iran 655 out of the sky, claiming it appeared to be a much smaller oncoming F-14 fighter aircraft. Despite the fact that IA 655 was flying its regular (five days each week) route, was within its air corridor, was at the proper altitude and was listed in a civilian flight schedule aboard the Vincennes, its was shot down by two heat-seeking missiles. But it wasn’t AI 655 that was in the wrong place. It’s the United States navy that’s in the wrong place. : As the smoke from the U.S. propaganda blitz over its self-proclaimed “right of self-defence” in the Persian Gulf begins lifting, less self-serving and more objective analyses are appearing. President Reagan may have told Congress on July 4 that the “U.S. considers the matter closed,” but it’s far from closed. There will be probes into what actually took place in those few minutes after AI 655 took off, including an investigation by the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organiza- tion (ICAO) which will be able to view the tragedy with far more objectivity than what we've been treated to so far by the U.S. Navy, the Pentagon and the White House. Information is already surfacing that the July 3 disaster is but the latest in a chain of incidents caused by the presence of some 30 U.S. warships in the gulf. Regional air controllers are already telling of other dangerous U.S. naval demands on civil aviation traffic which resulted in close calls. It appears the July 3 tragedy was all but inevitable given the massive U.S. military presence and its trigger-happy policy there. Equally as sickening as is the U.S. cover-up attempt, especially its suggestion that me Iran deliberately martyred its own aircraft, was the display put on in Parliament by Canada’s acting prime minister, John Crosbie, who blindly defended his American friends. Nothing, it seems, will get in the way of the Tory drive to “free” trade. Crosbie rejected Opposition efforts to have the Canadian government ensure an : Tf, independent search for the truth is conducted, even though Canada took the lead in a (mt/=t LINN 1983 for punitive actions against the USSR (even severing civil air links) over the KAL PATILE ftoNouRs - YET ANOTHER SULF YET ANOTHER ca gs Zz IZIZ a | Ieee tragedy. The Tory government’s rubber-stamping of Washington’s line in this case is another example of what's in store for Canadian foreign policy once the “free” trade EDITOR Published weekly at deal takes hold. oa btm ee : Sean Griffin oe East anes Street But the real answer to the tragedy lies in the demilitarization of the Persian Gulf, the ASSISTANT EDITOR RS neg withdrawal of the U.S. and other foreign warships, and a concerted international effort Dan Keeton Phone (604) 251-1186 . to put an end to the long, brutal Iran-Iraq war. Careful attention should be given to n Sis proposals (by the USSR and others) that the dangerous and growing U.S. naval BUSINESS & CIRCULATION MANAGER ered cues ; presence be ended and that it be replaced by UN supervision as the guarantor of peace Mike Proniuk a sigs e Eanaiaae ee in the region. The current situation can only lead to more disasters and to a major military ngela Ken Second class mali escalation. It must not be permitted to continue. Canada should speak up against this A Kenyon reqistration-number. 1560 danger and in support of de-escalation and the search for peace. o one has to tell us that when it comes to policy on Central America, our government is far from perfect. Ottawa’s resumption of aid to the military dictator- ship in Guatemala, and its agricultural aid that helps only the ruling class in El Salva- dor, bears testimony to the reactionary world outlook of the Conservative government. But Canadians are a fair-minded lot, and relatively free of the agoraphobic, ultra-nationalist jingoism that is routinely expressed by the government south of the border. So no government here, no matter how far to the right, has been able to squelch the democratic impulses that yearly make campaigns like Tools for Peace so successful. We thought of that when we received notice that the campaign, run by the Coali- tion for Aid to Nicaragua, raised $250,000 worth of medical, mechanical, agricultural and construction supplies for the people of Nicaragua. Initiated seven years ago in B.C. through a joint effort of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union and Oxfam, the effort last fall and spring raised more than $1 million in donations nation- ally. Specifically, British Columbians in 123 towns and cities donated enough supplies to fill five container loads. Along with a shipment of Canadian wheat, purchased in Vancouver by the Soviet Union, the goods were distributed in Nicaragua’s cap- ital, Managua, during the week of June 410. Many U.S. citizens share the sentiment that makes Canadians so generous. They oppose the Reagan administration’s sup- port for the contra war that keeps Nicara- People and Issues gua poor nine years after it ousted its U.S.-backed dictatorship. They too have been involved in sending goods down to Nicaragua, most recently in an effort called the Veterans Peace Convoy. Sponsored by veterans of the Vietnam War, the convoy consisted of 38 trucks loaded with medical supplies, including artificial limbs for children, baby food and other items. The vehicles themselves were to be left in Nicaragua as part of the aid package. Despite the humanitarian intent of the goods, U.S. customs stopped the convoy last month at the international border crossing in Laredo, Texas, seizing four of the vehicles on the grounds that these could be used for “military purposes” by the Sandinista government. Attempts by _ the convoy volunteers to meet with the U.S. Treasury Department and State Department were unsuccessful, prompt- ing a large demonstration in the streets of Washington, D.C., by part of the conting- ent. Although the convoy is stalled at the border crossing, the publicity generated by the incident has raised some 150 tons of aid, which supporters have managed to ship to Nicaragua — thereby showing that, like its efforts to bring back a puppet government through the universally des- pised contras, the Reagan administra- tion’s efforts to subvert Nicaragua’s democratically elected government are doomed to failure. * * * id for Nicaragua comes in other forms, as well. On the docks of Mos- quito Creek, work proceeds on the fishing vessel that a group of volunteers, headed by UFAWU member Al Brown, are build- ing for the residents of the Nicaraguan fishing village San Juan del Sur. A report in the UFAWU newspaper, The Fisherman, notes that several more contributions have come in for the 17- month-old project. Among the recent donors are John Fryer, president of the National Union of Provincial Govern- ment Employees, and several members of the fishing community. Carlos Borge, a representative of the Sandinista Trade Union Central, dropped by in between sessions of the Canadian Labour Congress conference which he attended. SRR. Same. J eaders may recall a small item in the Tribune recently that showed a remarkable similarity in the behaviour of several area supervisors for the to-be pri- vatized provincial highways maintenance department. It seems employees in several regions were phoned by supervisors urg- ing them to buy shares in private compan- ies set up to bid for the service. The Socred government denied any involvement in the schemes, despite the obvious central orchestration. We thought about that denial when we received a government press release — from the office of now-departed Grace McCarthy — extolling the virtues of the new Employee Share Ownership Program introduced into the legislature June 23. In the release the now ex-economic development minister said the bill offers a tax credit of 20 per cent, to a maximum $2,000, to any employee who invests in the boss’s business. Additionally, the legisla- tion promises employee groups and com- panies employing less that 150 workers a 50-50 cost split in setting up the program, to a maximum $5,000 each. The release is filled with the usual free- enterprise semantics: “Experience in other jurisdictions has shown that employee participation in the business of the com- pany they work for can increase the pro- ductivity, motivation and loyalty of employees.” The ex-minister goes on to note that the program “‘is the result of considerable input from the private sector and from many members of the legisla- ture.” We're sure of that. The legislation is a suitable companion to the government’s privatization program, particularly that of the highways department, where balkaniz- ing the provincial service will, the Socreds hope, abolish union representation. But the departure of McCarthy from Premier Bill Vander Zalm’s inner-circle — following that of Brian Smith’s the previous week — it may be that the Socred government is the body headed for the graveyard. 4 Pacific Tribune, July 13, 1988