Editorials
Tuesday, October 22, 1996
Bungling of pedophile probe
angers Belgians
BELGIANS are enraged over the government's inept handling of a pedophile ring, as they should have been. They turned out 300,000 strong to march through the streets of Brussels in the climax to a week of demonstrations to demand reforms. It was a heartening response to an appalling scandal.
Four girls were murdered, two others were rescued and several are still missing in connection with a child pornography ring. Two of the victims starved to death in an underground dungeon, nine months after their disappearance.
What infuriated many citizens even more was the suspicion of government incompetence and even complicity in the affair. The pornography ring was allegedly headed by Marc Dutroux, a convicted child rapist, who had been granted early release from prison. The removal of a respected state investigator from the case by Belgium's highest court was the last straw.
Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, who privately met the parents of some of the victims, promised that changes would be made quickly and nothing would be allowed to hinder the investigations. "This is a strong signal which we cannot ignore," Dehaene told reporters. "It is good that people encourage politicians. This movement will speed up (the reforms)."
Change will not be easy to achieve in a judicial system riddled with political patronage. The officials called upon to institute reforms have themselves come up through the patronage system.
But the scandals have aroused the public like nothing else in postwar Belgian history. Like parents everywhere, the Belgians place their children's welfare and protection above all else. They are demanding that government fulfill its responsibilities, and officials will ignore them at their peril.
Nobel prizewinner
WINNING the Nobel Peace Prize seems like a pretty solid credential. Not in the Philippines, where the government has barred Jose Ramos-Horta, a leader of the East Timor independence movement living in exile in Australia, from entering the country.
The exclusion of Ramos-Horta in effect puts the Philippines in the same category of repressive governments as its neighbors, Indonesia and Singapore. The world thought that had changed with the overthrow of Ferdinand Marcos.
Gays in the military
THE first of numerous lawsuits challenging the Clinton administration's "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward homosexuals in the armed forces has been turned away by the U.S. Supreme Court. While the court declined to rule on the merits of the case, its refusal to consider it is a setback for gay rights advocates. The constitutionality of the policy may not be decided until an appellate court ruling opposed to it comes before the high court.
While other cases are pending, the Supreme Court's refusal to consider the constitutionality of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy should not be interpreted as sanctioning practices that violate the policy.
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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor