Editorials
Tuesday, November 3, 1998

Pearl City standoff
raises questions

THE police can't be faulted for shooting Wayman Kaua to end a 22-hour standoff in Pearl City Friday. Kaua had fired a number of shots from his rifle and had it pointed at his wife's neck when he emerged from the home. As far as we can tell, prospects for a peaceful resolution had been exhausted. His wife said that he wanted the police to kill him.

The disclosure that the gunman had engaged in another armed confrontation with police eight years ago in Ewa Beach points up the difficulty of handling violence-prone people.

Released from prison on parole in August 1997, Kaua found a job and was being treated for substance abuse. But he was laid off at work, and his problems grew after that. He reverted to drug use, which led to his testing positive for "ice." Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to arrest him, he fled and the armed confrontation with police followed.

Kaua appeared to be making a good-faith effort to rebuild his life but fell into despair when he lost his job and could not pay his bills. Could more have been done to help him, such as counseling or vocational training? In view of his previous record, should more effort have been put into trying to keep him from resorting to violence?

We do not suggest that the authorities were negligent. Perhaps everything that could be done by the parole officers was done. But a review of the record might indicate ways that the handling of such people could be improved.

There is also the matter of Kaua acquiring a rifle, which made the standoff far more dangerous. This is part of the price we pay for the widespread availability of firearms.

In February 1996, a similar standoff on Sand Island led to the fatal shooting of John Miranda. The body of Miranda's female companion was subsequently found, apparently killed by him. In the latest incident, Wayman Kaua was shot in the face and remains on a respirator at Queen's Medical Center. The only other injury was a superficial wound sustained by his wife.

Other standoffs have ended without injury or death, but the possibility of many casualties is real. If there is something we can do to prevent these situations from developing, let's do it. And when they happen, let's support the police officers who have to deal with these desperate people.

Inspections in Iraq

WESTERN reluctance in recent months to follow through on threats of military intervention in Serbia and Iraq has prompted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to renege again on his agreement to allow United Nations weapons inspections. Hussein's brazen demand that the U.N. Security Council begin lifting sanctions in return for his allowing resumption of inspections must be answered boldly, with military force if necessary, to restore U.N. credibility.

Iraq's rubber-stamp parliament has added to the tension by voting unanimously in support of Saddam's order to end cooperation with the arms inspectors. It also demanded that the Security Council fire Richard Butler, the chairman of the U.N. Special Commission in charge of scrapping Iraq's chemical and biological weapons, who has repeatedly defied attempts to intimidate him. These demands must be rejected unequivocally.

The U.N. has limited Iraq's sale of oil, most trade deals and air travel since Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The Security Council has vowed not to lift the sanctions until weapons inspections have certified that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have been eliminated.

Iraq agreed to the inspections, but it has balked at several turns, testing U.N. resolve. Saddam may have interpreted as lack of resolve the belated application of pressure by the West on Serbia to withdraw its forces from Kosovo following the slaughter of ethnic Albanians there.

He may have been emboldened further by the August resignation of Scott Ritter, the longest-serving American inspector in Iraq, who charged that his efforts had been stymied by the Security Council and the Clinton administration. It was disclosed that the U.S. and Britain privately urged that surprise inspections be halted so they could avoid a confrontation that would expose disunity on the Security Council on the Iraqi issue.

However, in the current incident, the Security Council seems to have closed ranks, unanimously condemning Iraq's move. It demanded that Baghdad end its non-cooperation "immediately and unconditionally." Russia, which has opposed moves against Iraq in the past, urged Baghdad to reconsider.

If Saddam has concluded that the U.N. seeks to avoid confrontation at any cost, he must be shown otherwise. Anything less than a full continuation of weapons inspections would encourage Saddam to rebuild his arsenal of chemical and biological weapons and renew his aggression.

Biotechnology at UH

THE University of Hawaii's efforts to attain leadership in marine sciences have taken a big step forward with the receipt of a $12.4 million grant for a Marine Bioengineering Center. The National Science Foundation selected UH, in partnership with the University of California at Berkeley, for one of five biotechnology research centers.

The UH center will be the only one of the five dedicated to marine bioproducts engineering, research and education. University officials expect that the work will lead to billions of dollars in new marine products in food, health and industry.

Marine biotechnology is still a small industry, but UH research vice president Alan Teramura said the intention is "to really make this a significant component of our society." It's an exciting prospect that could significantly strengthen the university's scientific standing.

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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