ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: SATURDAY, June 5, 1993                   TAG: 9306070114
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

DON'T GET TRIGGER-HAPPY AGAIN

IF THERE remain any clear-thinking heads in Washington, I suggest they heed the warnings of Benjamin C. Schwarz (May 27 commentary, "Beware the call of righteousness").

Didn't our founders warn against foreign entanglements? And didn't Teddy Roosevelt say speak softly, but carry a big stick? It seems we remain a bit trigger-happy of late - as in Grenada, Panama and the Gulf - where we slaughtered some 100,000 Iraqi troops, and left almost double that number of children dead from health problems, as a result of our overzealous attacks.

All too often, the bystander who attempts to intervene in a dispute between antagonists is the one who winds up with the fat lip, bloody nose and black eyes.

And didn't I read in a recent newspaper article that Russia had sent some $300 million in armaments to the Serbs in direct violation of the U.N. embargo? The world's arms merchants must be itching to see us involved. Shouldn't we "balk" in this instance? Most Europeans are halting, aren't they? GENE EVANS ROANOKE 


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