Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-07-19
Sending Troops to Mideost
Called Lesser of Two Evils
BY MICHAEL MOK
star stan Writer

80 49, FHHsN"H
Grave concern over the use
OF troops-tgmpered by faith In
President Eisenhower's wisdom
characterized washington's
reaction 10 the crisis In Leb-
anon.
District residents interviewed
almost unanimously demon
strated q well-informed inter-
est In the Middle East.
This Is In sharp contrast 10
the public response toward
Korea. when many residents
were Indifferent and even
unaware Of the issues involved.
The following brief interviews
are typical:
Mrs. Frances Gilllgan, 1900
block Of Good Hope road Sc,
secretary My first reaction
was one Of shock. didn't know
the situation was that bad. I
guess was sleeping like the
rest Of the world. In my opin-
ion 1t was time we made a
stand. The Arab world may re-
sent us for this action-but
they will respect us more than
II we had backed out. In the
past we did a lot Of talking.
1t was about time for real lead
ership."
Ross NiOsi, 900 block Of Sec
ond street NV. foreign affairs
student at George Washington
Observation-Disclosures there is
o possibility that this will touch
of a third world war. I am
hoping the problem will be re-
solved by the United Nations
Security Council. Mr.. Eisen-
hover sent Marines to main
tain internal peace and secur-
ity. I am only concerned that
our moving troops into the
Middle East may touch of q
powder key of nationalism."
Mrs. Raymond Rynkiewicz,
400 block of Connecticut ave-
nue. NV. housewife.-"The
President has ben requested to
send troops by the government
Of Lebanon. I believe he sent
them to prevent this trouble
from spreading to all the other
countries in that part of the
world. I don't think our &C
tons will start another war
If only because the Commu-
nists aren't ready"
Gale Ais, $500 block Of
North Lexington, Arlington,
salesman.-"I expected this to
happen. I just got out of the
Navy in April and I was in the
9th Fleet. We we're constantly
on the alert all the time was
In the Mediterranean. The
tension over there has been
mounting for a long time now"
Miss Marge Krashkevich,
River House, Arlington, Amer
lean Airlines employe-"At
first I was alarmed but then
decided that it was time for us
to take a definite step. We
had been talking a lot and at
last we acted. hope it doesn't
mean war. but once you take
such a step, you're committed.
I'm glad the President decided
to take the initiative. I think
he did the right thing"
S. J. Barca, Rockville. Md,
trade association worker
There was nothing else the
President could do. Sending
troops was the lesser of two
evils-to regard the explosive
Middle East crisis as private
local squabble would have been
much worse than the overt
action we took. If we hadn't
acted, it would have encouraged
similar coups in other coun-
tries. I've thought to myself
what If the Lebanese Parlia-
ment tells us in one voice:
Americans. Go Home?' We
would have no choice but to
withdraw gracefully"
Janice Cohen. is. $500 block
Of Twentieth street N.W.-"II
didn't know what to think at
first everything happened
so fast. I've been watching
the United Nations meetings
about it on TV and I think the
Russian delegate is doing his
best to mix people up"
Stephen Cohen, IL, same ad-
dress-"At first / thouht that
he president Eisenhower was
wrong, but now I've changed my
mind. If we hadn't gone over
there the Communists would