THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 13, 1996 TAG: 9609130569
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KIA MORGAN ALLEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 54 lines
Pierre Salinger, a longtime journalist and former presidential press secretary, took a local audience on a global tour of political flashpoints Thursday in a discussion of what he called ``The New World Disorder.''
Terrorism in Saudi Arabia, civil disruptions in China, unemployment in South Africa and other unstable settings are creating new challenges for the United States and the world in the post-Cold War era, he said.
``I think we almost have to look across the world and see where we are going and what we are doing,'' Salinger told about 300 people who gathered for the season's inaugural speech in Old Dominion University's President's Lecture Series.
Salinger, who served as press secretary to President John F. Kennedy and has written and edited for both broadcast and print news outlets, said politicians and the media are failing to inform Americans properly about world events.
``They're not telling the public the full details,'' Salinger, who has also written eight books, said in the hourlong speech.
The country as a whole, he said, lacks an understanding of history and its relevance to current events.
``Not only has this generation lost history, but I believe leaders have lost history,'' he said.
Salinger critized the Bush administration's handling of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, saying the subsequent war was unnecessary and could have been prevented if the United States had worked harder to discourage the invasion.
``For three weeks, troops were on the Gulf border, and the U.S. never sent a message to Saddam Hussein'' until it was too late, Salinger said.
``I'm not criticizing the military for the way they handled it,'' Salinger said. ``People don't understand the consequences the Gulf War had on the Middle East.''
The war, he said, cost the United States $250 billion and left Kuwait in debt. He said the conflict also led to a rise in Islamic fundamentalism.
Salinger also addressed the United States' relations with China.
``They are making more money from us then we are from it,'' he said, noting that the communist nation has an uncertain future.
``What's going to happen to China in the next 10 years?'' he asked.
``If they break down like the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, areas of China would want independence.''
In South Africa, Salinger said, unemployment among the majority black population remains higher than among minority whites. The economic conflicts in the country, which recently ended its long history of apartheid, could lead to civil war, Salinger said.
``Forty-one percent of blacks are unemployed, and 2 percent of whites are unemployed,'' he said. ``This is something rather dangerous.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Pierre Salinger spoke at ODU on Thursday. by CNB