DATE=03/12/02

TYPE=U-S EDITORIAL DIGEST

TITLE=TUESDAY'S EDITORIALS

NUMBER=6-125599

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=YES

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: A new Pentagon report advocating the potential use of small nuclear weapons against terrorists and other, non-nuclear adversaries are generating a heated controversy in the American press. Other editorials address last September's terrorist attacks and where the nation has gone since. President Bush's steel tariffs also receive attention, as does the Vice President's trip to the Middle East.

There are other commentaries on Zimbabwe's flawed election; South Africa's grappling with AIDS; and a democracy move in Cuba. Now, here is __________ with a closer look and some quotes in today's U-S Editorial Digest.

TEXT: A new Pentagon report advocating the potential use of small nuclear weapons in a variety of scenarios was recently leaked to The Los Angeles Times. It is stoking a serious debate in the nation and the press. Today's Boston Globe calls this development "dangerous" and "a twisted posture," adding that it:

VOICE: … amounts to a blueprint for undertaking what Joseph Cirincione, director of the Non-Proliferation Center at the Carnegie Endowment, calls "a major expansion of the role of nuclear weapons in U-S military policy." The new posture demands new nuclear weapons, new missions and uses for those weapons, and a readiness to resume nuclear testing.

TEXT: "Reckless folly" is how The New York Times describes the proposal, suggesting that if another nation hatched it, Washington would most likely "label that nation a dangerous rouge state."

VOICE: Mr. Bush needs to send that document back to its authors and ask for a new version less menacing to the security of future American generations. ... In a world where numerous countries are developing nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, it is quite right that America retain a credible nuclear deterrent. Where the Pentagon review goes very wrong is in lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons...

TEXT: Today's Greensburg Tribune-Review in Pennsylvania couldn't disagree more and suggests:

VOICE: The simple fact is that weaponry must keep pace with changing times and circumstances. That the Bush administration clearly is prepared to do so should be cause for great comfort at home but great consternation among liberty's enemies abroad.

TEXT: In Kentucky, The Louisville Courier-Journal, says:

VOICE: What **is** [Editors: italics for emphasis] unnerving about the classified document is its revelation that the Pentagon views nuclear weapons as an important component of military planning, even regarding potential non-nuclear enemies, such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

TEXT: Newsday on New York's Long Island, disagrees. "The Pentagon's new policy shift is a warning, not an attack plan, and is actually … more than a decade … overdue."

The day's other popular topic is Monday's remembrance of September's terrorist attacks on their sixth month anniversary. The Dallas [Texas] Morning News says:

VOICE: …the nation looked backward and forward Monday. It was only natural that the six-month observation of the most deadly attack on American soil prompted so many remembrances. We guide ourselves into the future through understanding the past. … American and the many nations that lost loved ones on September eleventh always will remember when the war began. And why we fight.

TEXT: On the West Coast, the California's Fresno Bee adds that Monday's moving tribute at ground zero:

VOICE: … marks but one early milestone on a long national journey toward achieving greater security, defeating the terrorist threat and exercising this country's enormous power in a way that helps create greater harmony with the rest of the world.

TEXT: Profound changes in the country because of September 11th are chronicled in this Detroit Free Press offering:

VOICE: An America that had roared through the '90s blithely unaware that its powerful confidence was being perceived - - or portrayed - - as arrogance was shaken to its soul by the depths of the hatred revealed.

TEXT: A Time Magazine article quote various federal officials who suggest: "we're as vulnerable today as we were on September 10th or September 12th."

Complementing the twin towers of blue searchlights, launched Monday night as a temporary tribute to those who died, Iowa's DesMoines Register says the nation remains "unbowed" by the attacks.

President George W. Bush's decision to impose protective tariffs against foreign steel continue to draw criticism. Today's Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, cites the stifling effect of pension and health care costs from already retired steel workers. Writes the Dispatch: "… [Mr.] Bush has only postponed Big Steel's day of reckoning. In a global economy, protectionism is self-defeating."

In Minnesota, The Minneapolis Star Tribune agrees, saying that:

VOICE: The 30 percent tariffs President Bush imposed on many steel imports last week won't save many jobs for very long, but they will do huge damage to the nation and … the world economy. [President] Bush was paying off political debts and looking ahead to the November congressional elections.

TEXT: The Middle East is getting increased attention from the Bush White House and in today's editorial columns. Pittsburgh's Post-Gazette says U-S Special Envoy Anthony Zinni's current mission to the Middle East is both timely and necessary … because the United States and the world cannot stand by in the face of continuing high-casualty combat in a world tinderbox.

Focusing on Vice President Dick Cheney's stop in Jordan today (Tuesday), on his ten-nation tour, North New Jersey's [Bergen County] Record writes:

VOICE: Mr. Cheney says he will also discuss the Middle East crisis, [in addition to the U-S war on terrorism, and Iraq] and that is important. The United States must not forget that a key battle in the war on terrorism must be ending the violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

TEXT: The San Francisco Chronicle calls Israel's lifting of Yasser Arafat's travel ban: "…a welcome move, one that rekindles hope for Mid East peace."

Turning to the chaotic elections in Zimbabwe, The Houston [Texas] Chronicle writes: "it's hard to imagine how the national elections … could have been handled with less integrity."

Louisiana's Times-Picayune was displeased with South Africa's continued reluctance to use proven drugs to combat its AIDS epidemic, even after friendly advice from former President Jimmy Carter. The newspaper adds that the African National Congress party's criticism of Mr. Carter "follows a destructive trend" of "arrogance" and obstructionism toward the public health crisis.

In Florida, the Fort Lauderdale's Sun Sentinel praises a democracy movement gaining slow momentum in Cuba. Oswaldo Paya is the man collecting ten-thousand signatures on a petition requesting a ballot referendum demanding expanded freedoms and human rights. The Sun-Sentinel calls the movement "courageous" adding they "deserve the world's recognition and support."

On that hopeful note from Communist Cuba, we conclude this editorial sampling from Tuesday's U-S press.

NEB/ANG/SAB