Editorials
Monday, June 9, 1997THE Navy awarded the decommissioned battleship Missouri to Hawaii but that decision is now in doubt. The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has criticized the procedure used in the selection. Rep. Norman Dicks, D-Wash., has asked the Navy to reopen the competition. Missouri’s loss would be
a blow to HawaiiThe GAO found that Bremerton, Wash., actually won the competition for the Missouri based on the Navy's original criteria. However, two new criteria were added in the final stages, and Hawaii then knocked Bremerton out of the lead. Also in contention were San Francisco and Long Beach, Calif.
The problem cited by the GAO is that the Navy "did not do a good job in communicating its additional requirements to the applicants." It said the applicants weren't told that the new criteria -- public affairs benefit and historical significance -- would be worth 75 percent of the final score and the original criteria only 25 percent. Nor were the applicants told what the new criteria meant. The applicants were given only two weeks to explain how they would meet the criteria, whereas months had been spent in preparation under the original criteria.
The proposed mooring of the Missouri at Pearl Harbor, combined with the sunken battleship Arizona, would create a unique pairing representing the beginning of World War II for the United States and its end. The Japanese surrender, of course, was signed on the deck of the Missouri.
Roy Yee, director of the organization lobbying for the Missouri, said it isn't deterred by the GAO report and is proceeding with plans to move the battleship to Pearl Harbor. It would be a huge disappointment if those plans had to be canceled.
It may not be practical to reopen the competition because the law gives Congress only a few more days to approve or disapprove the Navy's decision. But if they do it over again, we're confident that Hawaii has the strongest case.
THE U.S. policy of imposing sanctions on foreign countries for practices contrary to American policy can produce complications. Washington wanted to sell 28 F-16 fighter jet planes to Pakistan, but the sale was blocked by a law barring military sales because of suspicion that Pakistan was developing nuclear weapons. Foreign arms sales
During the Cold War, arms sales were a means of solidifying relations with countries that might be threatened by Soviet aggression. With the Soviet threat gone, Washington can afford to be more selective about which countries it sells weapons to.
RESEARCHERS in Britain have found that a child is safest when its biological parents are married and least safe when its mother is living with a man other than her husband. The study found that children are 20 to 33 times safer living with their biological married parents than in other family circumstances. Roots of child abuse
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
