The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn The Battle Against Lies During the week, I have spent two afternoons at the United Nations—and I have heard more lies than ever before in my life in any...
...The minutes ticked by— 3:05, 3:10, 3:15...
...And then—exactly at 3:25— Prince W'an Waithayakon of Thailand rapped liis gavel...
...So the Assembly session had been postponed...
...But this gave me a chance to drop in on the General Assembly's Special Political Committee to listen to the discussion of a long series of charges lodged against the United States by the USSR...
...American planes have sailed over the border and fired on Russian planes or dropped spies or leaflets on Communist-ruled territory...
...Progress had been made, and it looked more and more as if the Middle Eastern crisis would be settled without sanctions...
...I sincerely believe," he proclaimed, "with a heart full of positive feeling, full of love and good will toward everybody, that it is true to say and to hold that the speech of the President of the United States opened the door to a brightened future for all in the Near East...
...The masters of misstatement are the Russians and the Arabs...
...Meanwhile, the public and the myriad newspapermen, photographers, radio and television men hovered about the great empty space...
...If a reporter from Mars had happened to drop in on this session of the UN, he would soon have been convinced that Israel was a great, ruthless, imperialist power and that the Arab states were all peace-loving, helpless little countries...
...It was rumored that negotiations were under way between Israel and the U.S., Egypt and Canada, the Secretary-General and John Foster Dulles...
...No one seemed to know whether there would really be a session...
...Mahmoud Fawzi of Egypt...
...Amid a great hurrying and scurrying of delegates, the world parliament soon readied itself for business and sat at attention...
...THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn The Battle Against Lies During the week, I have spent two afternoons at the United Nations—and I have heard more lies than ever before in my life in any comparable time...
...A long list of crimes committed by the Israelis in connection with border raids was read by Dr...
...In the meantime, the great bright hall within, dominated by the olive-encircled globe, was strangely empty and still...
...It proved to be a comic repetition of what I had heard at the earlier meeting of the Assembly...
...The Secretary-General reported that progress was being made in negotiations on the withdrawal of Israeli troops...
...The way to conquer lies is with the truth...
...Within a few minutes after the doors opened, the public galleries were packed and multitudes were clamoring on the steps and sidewalks...
...On Monday afternoon, February 26, I returned to the UN Building expecting to hear more about the sanctions sought by the Arabs...
...Malik of Lebanon and Dr...
...Malik referred w.th warm praise to President Eisenhower's address on the Israeli-Egyptian problem...
...The bright future, of course, did not include Israel...
...But Abba Eban had been back and forth across the water, the Secretary General had been tirelessly endeavoring to demonstrate the effectiveness of the United Nations...
...The session of the General Assembly on the birthday of Washington, the man who could not tell a lie, was awaited with tremendous excitement...
...Now and then, an official-looking man with a brief-case approached the rows of seats labeled with the names of the 80 countries...
...Senator Knowland said he did not see how any man could present such stuff "with a straight face...
...It called upon member nations to deny all military, economic or financial assistance to Israel in view of its continued defiance of the UN resolutions calling upon it to withdraw its troops from Egyptian territory...
...Hitler and Mussolini may have been effective contenders in their day, but they are gone...
...Or else our radio beams have carried subversive messages to the protected ears of those beyond the Iron Curtain...
...All that we need is good newspapers, good radio stations, good television—with, of course, sharp, honest, intelligent men in the newspaper offices, radio and television directorships and— God willing—the State Department...
...These are both able men, impressive and powerful speakers...
...In the solemn pronouncement of obvious pretenses, Moscow and Cairo now stand in dual grandeur...
...The document in which the charges are detailed includes 18 complaints dealing with 12 actual or alleged incidents...
...was the ravenous wolf and the Soviet Union was the innocent little lamb...
...Malik...
...Good reporting and straight thinking may be more important than atom bombs...
...I listened all afternoon while Joseph Ullrich of Czechoslovakia outlined the horrible crimes of my country...
...Four times in the course of his address, Dr...
...Then, without paying the least attention to Mr...
...All around the world, they are trying to beat us with lies...
...Hammarskjold's optimism, six Arab and Asian nations introduced a resolution obviously aimed at the destruction of Israel...
...But he mentioned no raids, no murders or robberies committed by the men of any Arab state...
...The addresses in favor of this proposal were made by Dr...
...Only here the U.S...
...Most of them hesitated uncertainly and then sauntered out...
Vol. 40 • March 1957 • No. 10
