
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 8, 1991                   TAG: 9102080711
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

U.S. MUST SEEK A LASTING PEACE

IF NO PERMANENT solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem can be accomplished, then a defeat of Saddam Hussein's troops will be just a military victory.

I don't see that the Bush administration has been or is interested in the long-range goal of a permanent peace in the Gulf region. As long as Bush does not overcome his obsession to beat upon Iraq's troops and to kick Saddam's ass, as Bush put it, the effort of a half-million young men and women to bring a lasting peace to the region will be in vain, and nothing will be accomplished but keeping the price of oil down.

Only if we are able to bring a lasting peace can we also claim to have won the war. And only after we have dealt as effectively with our domestic wars, including the crippling economic, financial, social and educational problems that beset this nation, can we claim superpower status in the new world order. If this nation is neither willing nor able to tackle these problems, the defeat of the Iraqis will be a Pyrrhic victory. HENRY W. TIELEMAN RINER

by CNB