Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Mon, Jun 15 1992 Date: Mon, 15 Jun 92 05:41:48 EDT Message-ID: 06-15 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update June 15, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Monday morning in USA TODAY: Harassment; Spying. TODAY'S DEBATE - WOMEN IN THE MILITARY: USA TODAY'S OPINION: War is equally hellish for the women and men who fight it. That became disturbingly clear last week when Army Maj. Rhonda Cornum, who was taken prisoner by Iraqis during the Persian Gulf war, revealed she had been sexually assaulted by her guards. Cornum labeled her treatment "an occupational hazard of war," equivalent to the torture male POWs suffered. ... It adds new evidence that the military's awkward attempts to let women near combat but not into it are a flop. Cornum, like 14 U.S. military women killed in the war, held a job defined as non-combat by the military. She was a flight surgeon on a rescue mission. ... Why should she and other women be deprived of the military career opportunities that go with it? ... Since the war, the law has changed, permitting the military to allow women to be combat pilots. That's only fair. Yet the military has not seized that opportunity, nor is there any immediate prospect that women will be allowed into other combat roles. ... The next big step will come by Nov. 15, when the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Military makes its recommendations. The commission must not use Cornum's experience as an excuse to shelter women from the risks of war. Women can judge those risks for themselves. OTHER VIEW: PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY, president of Eagle Forum: Why is anyone surprised at the news that two female U.S. prisoners of war during the gulf war were sexually abused by their Iraqi captors? Anybody with common sense could have predicted that would happen. ... The Pentagon's policies on women absolutely defy common sense and consistency. On the one hand, the military's training procedures to prepare service personnel to endure being a POW, called SERE - survival, evasion, resistance, escape - include a segment to desensitize men to the torture of women by the enemy. Studies have demonstrated that men find it more difficult to hear or witness the simulated torture of women than of other men. At the same time, the military conducts other sessions to train men to be sensitive to women's feelings. ... The U.S. Armed Forces have met the enemy and she (the enemy) is the feminist double standard. The feminists demand special protection against what U.S. GIs say but demand the right to be naked and defenseless against the sexual crimes that foreign troops commit. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON TELLING MORE ABOUT DOWNED SPY PLANES: NASHVILLE, Tenn., Arthur Washington, 52, V.P. of academic affairs: For years, it appeared the only problem we had was the downing of the U-2 plane. Gary Powers was released as the only captured pilot. It was false. People will not trust the government. You start questioning whether you are receiving the truth. MONROEVILLE, Ala., Beth Rush, 33, homemaker: I would like to know as much as possible, but if it had been dangerous in the 1950s for the government to tell us, it shouldn't have. The government has all the inside information. I think our government is trustworthy with military secrets. POINT MUGU, Calif., Larry Westholm, 46, Navy lt. cmdr.: The government should be honest about operations. It could have admitted when Gary Powers was downed that other planes had been downed. The U.S. shouldn't acknowledge all covert operations, but I wonder what all those families were told. MONCLOVA, Ohio, Ben L. Brown, 69, retired pilot: Yes, by all means. I was in the military in World War II. They usually tell families, "He was lost on a weather flight. We're doing everything we can." They send an insurance check and say, "I'm sorry, we still can't find him." It's terrible; they give families a b.s. story. BOULDER, Colo., Katie Wagman, 21, leasing agent: I have a problem with a lot of the secrecy that does not necessarily benefit our government. You need to know more, though, such as whether it would have jeopardized other missions. Your No. 1 policy should not be, "Tell the public everything." Issues & Debate Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM