European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 13, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 the stars and stripes Peter Arnett february 1981 some see Garwood As victim of Marine fru Srafion some say Justice has been but others Sec the prosecution and conviction of Robert Garwood for collaboration As an attempt to exorcise the ghosts of the Vietnam War that have haunted the Marine corps for a and the probable years of Appeal ahead will further spotlight Marine corps Justice in the same Way that the army was Sruti after world War ii for the execution of deserter Eddie the six years they fought in Vietnam arc remembered by marines less for glorious exploits than for grinding the first american troops ashore in one Marine unit after another got bogged Down in bloody the marines Sec their role As that of amphibious assault looking Back proudly to the furious Island Battles of the Pacific in world War but High command Deci Sions forced the marines to bleed freely in Vietnam on exposed Ridge lines and in deep at wars end the marines preferred to forget the Distant Southeast asian noting its existence Only on the reverse Side of the Marine War Monument at Arlington National cemetery and neglecting to men Tion at the Large Marine base of Camp la june in coastal North where Garwood was not one Viet Nam Battle or place name is commemorated on streets and buildings labelled with the famous and obscure memories of world War ii and earlier but what cant be obliterated is the sense of anger and shame Felt by Many Marine officers Over the frustrations of their Viet Nam it was to this environment that 19 years old when he was captured in returned i4 years like the rest of armed the marines in the Vietnam Era saw the Stan Dards of the corps Antiwar sentiment ate into troop morale and discipline drug As saults on officers by enlisted men and other questionable behaviour hastened Marine re solve to get out of the general mood encouraged the de sense department to drop charges against Tom Wicker an earlier group of Vietnam pos accused of collaboration with the and amnesty was extended to marines and others who had fled the country to avoid Vietnam but times have changed and an increasingly conservative America seems to be less forgiving Over in the courtroom where Garwood was the hectic Days of debate and anger Over Viet Nam were never brought the defense seemingly reluctant to stir up the old even conceded the truth of most of the government eyewitness they argued instead that Garwood was insane and did not appreciate the criminality of his for that reason they did not put him on the the defense also was reluctant to delve very deeply into revelations by most of the pow witnesses that had Cooper ated to some degree with their to talk with officers around Cample a Cunt was to be transported Back in time past Vietnam to an Era when they Felt Marine reputation was Gar Wood disgraced the uniform and there is no Choice but to could be the Para phrase of three weeks of it was As though he was the Only Marine in 20 years to seriously violate the Tough code of conduct for military and that other disorders of the Vietnam War had not taken by convicting the 34 year old Indiana they seemed to be saying Marine Honor could be the jury the fireman panel of Vietnam Veteran officers had listened intently through 10 weeks of in eluding the Complex defense Case based on coercive or three eminent psychiatrists testified they were 100 percent certain that emotionally unwell when he entered the Marine did not know he was wrong in wearing a communist carrying a weapon to guard fellow americans and helping in interrogation Garwood still has Many appeals ahead of but his conviction for collaboration and with its possible maximum sen tence of life seems to show that the Marine whatever its re verses in recent still puts More emphasis on what their men do in combat than c the associated press Burger raises More questions than he answers two cheers for chief Justice War Ren who told the american bar association the other Day that defense against crime was As vital to National Secu Rity As the budget of the in its probably of More immediate con Cern to most with no empty blasts about getting Burger said Many other things that needed to be said for that the great Cost of lowering crime rates would be less than the billions in dollars and thou Sands of blighted lives now hostage to nor is this an elitist since crime afflicts the poor and minorities even More than the we need the undoubted deterrence of Swift prompt certain and at some Point finality of and to mount a real attack on crime will demand More Money than we have Ever before devoted to Law enforce As Well As much rethinking of what Law enforcement should on such a Complex and emotional the chief Justice inevitably raised More questions than he provided its True that crime will not disappear if we but abolish but its More important that poverty and inequity and Lack of economic Opportunity Breed particularly when exacerbated by racial Animos As in the United and where so much poverty exists in such proximity to so much the crime Breeding effect is Likely to be the chief justices specific will not be easy to even when their Validity is trial with in weeks of arrest is highly but where Are hard pressed cities like Cleveland and new York to find the Money for the needed police officers and in most such by far the most i columns i comments i cases Are now disposed of by plea bargain ing rather than by Burger also proposed empowering judges to hold arrested persons without bail when a combination of the particular crime and past record makes it Likely that the defendant will commit another crime while awaiting this is of dubious constitutionality it rests on judges Uncertain ability to predict human behaviour and thus poses a High risk of injustice in a system already fraught with it and in the presidents commission on Law enforce ment concluded that there was Only a relatively Small percentage of defendants who present a significant risk of flight or Crimi Nal conduct before the commission also pointed out that the Best Way to Deal with that Small percentage was by speedy the chief Justice might find More support for concentrating on that which most criminal jus Tice authorities rather than for controversial pretrial his argument for limiting the scope of appellate review of criminal convictions to genuine claims of miscarriage of and not a quest for error also rests on judges questionable ability to Tell one from the and while inmate appeals do flood the most Are refused without hearing and with Only cursory consider is this really a major cause of High crime rates unlike Many Burger knows that his if carried would Send Many More people to he also under stands that to Send them to the Over inadequately staffed and policed prisons of America would neg ate his purpose because and More Crin finals come out of these schools of crime and violence than go into his prison Reform proposals Are nevertheless the weakest part of his he wants prisons physically rebuilt to provide a decent setting for mandatory educational and vocational programs designed to change or to cure who would be released with at least a Basic this smacks of the discredited idealism of which Burger is elsewhere even if rebuilt at costs taxpayers Are rarely willing to institutions to Cage humans cannot provide a decent set Ting certainly not maximum Security Little evidence exists that rehabilitation particularly if can be effective or that criminals can be even in the most decent prison let alone the Many that Are profoundly theres even less to suggest that the Public and state legislators Are willing to pay for such and what Good Are the Basic skills Burger wants to give inmates when they return to a society largely unwilling to hire them particularly Blacks or hispanic people with a record of violence and an econ omy with a declining need for lows kill la Bor deterrence of crime particularly speedy trial and certain punishment is vitally How Best to achieve it is a subject on which thoughtful and honorable persons disagree and on which Burger has usefully not the de c new York times