Bangor Daily News, Nov. 15
A proposal to move the University of Maine System offices to downtown Bangor is great news for the city and local businesses. Having 120 additional people working downtown and their visitors coming to the UMS offices for meetings will be a boon to businesses that could sorely use more foot traffic. More cups of coffee will be sold, more lunches will be eaten at downtown restaurants, more money will flow to downtown merchants.

The proposal is for the university system offices to move to the upper floors of the W.T. Grant building, once a department store, that now houses Epic Sports on the lower floors. The current UMS offices, in buildings across from Bangor International Airport, will be turned over to the city for redevelopment as part of the city’s business park.

Many details remain to be worked out, but further exploration of this proposal should be heartily endorsed by the UMS board of trustees when it meets Monday and by the Bangor City Council the following week. …

Barring any unforeseen complications, this is a move well worth making.


Jessica shows integrity


The Buffalo (N.Y.) News, Nov. 14
The most satisfying part of the Jessica Lynch story is not the made-for-TV movie of an American girl captured and rescued during war in Iraq, but of a woman unwilling to compromise her integrity. Lynch is not willing to embellish her own actions, even for the military or political right that may want to latch on to what they believe is a perfect example of American heroism to help bolster support for the American effort in Iraq.

Instead, she has publicly denounced a false depiction of herself. …

Some have criticized Lynch for capitalizing on her sudden fame with a book deal. So what? We don’t remember retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf getting much criticism for writing a book about his experiences. …


Stage is set for compromise


Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass., Nov. 19
Teasing out the letter of the state’s marriage law was the easy part. With its decision … the Supreme Judicial Court shifted the gay-marriage issue to the Legislature, where the real cultural battle will be fought.

There is no clear signal that gay activists will win their right to state-sanctioned marriage in that arena. ….

In Massachusetts, the Legislature is already entertaining a constitutional amendment adding a man-woman definition of marriage. …

This is a political landscape made for the Vermont-style civil-union solution. …

We recognize that civil unions are, by definition, separate but not quite equal to civil marriage. …

That said, social mores have changed so fast on this issue that civil-union legislation is seen as a natural compromise in states like Massachusetts – the blue states on the 2000 voting map – where the population is more diverse, more liberal and more willing to recognize that laws must keep up with the changing needs of society.


U.S. must stay the course


Stavanger Aftenblad, Stavanger, Norway, Nov. 15
Bosnia-Herzegovina’s own institutions are slowly starting to work so that the international community can hopefully pull out in a couple of years and leave control to Bosnians.

At the same time, the Americans and British are struggling in Iraq. Can they learn something from Bosnia?

A little, maybe … that it takes a long time and major resources to stabilize and build up a country after war … that it is not sensible to arrange elections too early … that most important is to create security … plus ensure that people’s basic needs are met. Then the nation-building can start.

In Iraq, there is no security yet. In Bosnia, NATO went in and stopped a local war, and, when the peace agreement was signed, the war ended. In Iraq, the Americans and the British went in and started the war, and it is not over. The enemy has not been beaten, and there is no one to sign a peace accord. …

Now, Washington wants to turn over large areas to the Iraqis themselves. That can be the way to go, if the United States does not run from its responsibilities.


A change in strategy?


The Straits Times, Singapore, Nov. 19
South Korea and the United States on Monday reached a fateful decision on American force redeployment away from the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas. … When all is done in five to six years, the U.S. force in South Korea comprising 37,000 troops will be located in bases 100 km from the DMZ …

No mention was made of a force reduction at Mr. Rumsfeld’s meetings with his Korean opposite number. … But sooner rather than later, the two security partners will have to grapple with the issue …

It is inevitable questions will be asked about the U.S. intent in shuffling its forces. After 50 years of a stable security alliance which has held the peace at the world’s most volatile border, why is it moving its soldiers away from the DMZ? Does it imply a change in strategy in managing Pyongyang’s nuclear threat, including a preemptive strike? Is this preparing for missile defenses around the Korean peninsula? The Koreans would not be alone in pondering the moves.