European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 28, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Inside stripes n Gray Market cars could Cost bundle Page 3 q coast guard chief asks panel not to Cut deeply Page 5 q women s week activities planned Page 9 the Sims and Sira ipes authorized unofficial publication for Thi . Armed forces vol. 44. No. 315 Friday february 28, 1986 in  of i d 8693 a Reagan defends Dod budget democrats say deficits imperil nation. Washington a president Reagan declared wednesday thai it would be reckless dangerous and wrong for Congress to reduce his $320 billion military budget request saying cuts could fatally Compromise our negotiating position with the soviets. Military spending cuts would be backsliding of the most irresponsible kind he said in a nationally broadcast speech. Democrats in reaction were critical and even republicans said the budget was sure to be reduced. Trying to reverse dwindling Public and congressional support Tor his 5-year-old defense buildup Reagan argued that american Power is the indispensable Clement in a peaceful  Congress already has undercut our negotiators at the arms talks in Geneva Switzerland by Banning tests of anti satellite weapons and unilaterally giving the soviets a Concession they could not win at the bargaining table the president said. In a bluntly worded address from the Oval office Rea Gan said to Cut defense now is not cheap and it s not  just As we Are sitting Down at the bargaining table with the soviet Union let s not throw America s Trump card away Reagan said. The House majority Leader Jim Wright a Texas gave his party s response to Reagan s address. He said the president s defense budget must be Cut to protect the nation from another danger huge deficits. We think the deficits themselves pose a danger to our National Security Wright said in remarks prepared for broadcast after the president s speech. Sen. Charles Grassly a Iowa after Reading the presi Dent s speech said his Appeal won t Fly. At the grass roots people do not think they arc getting their Money s Worth. The defense budget is  Grassley noted that by the Pentagon s own figures the defense department has $62.5 billion in a obligated funds or Money that Congress has appropriated but which the Pentagon has t yet spent. Wright said if Congress approves the 11.9 percent boost in authorized military spending that Reagan seeks for the fiscal year beginning oct. 1, we d be spending almost four times As much on the military by the end of this decade As the nation spent during the height of the Vietnam  Wright criticized glaring waste such As $400 Ham mers and $7,600 Coffee pots and said even the Pentagon see budget on Page 28 Greendyke removed As Neucom surgeon by Clint Swift and Judy Sarasohn staff writers air Force maj. Gen. Or William h. Greendyke has been relieved of his duties As the european come surgeon because defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger has lost Confidence in his ability to carry out department policy a Pentagon spokesman said thursday. Those policies had been fully addressed by the Secretary and in the Secre tary s View general Greendyke was not prepared to carry them out Pentagon spokesman Robert Sims said. I can confirm that general Greendyke is in receipt of official military orders As signing him As special assistant to the . Air Force surgeon general Sims said. Greendyke was directed to report by feb. 28 to boiling fab near Washington. The associated press reported that unnamed Pentagon sources said Weinberger asked Gen. Bernard Rogers the com Mander of . Forces in Europe to re assign Greendyke. However Sims said Weinberger Only advised Rogers that he had requested the air Force to reassign Greendyke. Greendyke was unavailable for com ment said it. Col. Robert a. Brus a Neucom spokesman. Army maj. Gen. Or Frank f. Led Ford jr., 7th medical come commander will step in As acting Neucom command surgeon Sims said. Greendyke has been the full time Neucom surgeon since feb. I. He previously served As Neucom surgeon on part Lime duty while he also was com Mand surgeon of the . Air forces in Europe. The full time Neucom command sur Geon s Post was created in part because of criticism Over How the military handled casualties from the 1983 bombing of the Marine Headquarters in Beirut Lebanon. Weinberger and or. William Mayer assistant Secretary of defense for health affairs pushed for the creation of the Post to improve military medical readiness and to continued on Page 28 Nasa official rejected warning that shuttle was unsafe to Fly Washington a the official who decided to launch challenger told an investigating commission thursday he rejected an unsafe to Fly warning from the space plane s manufacturer because it was not an objection to  the panel was clearly disturbed . Arnold Aldrich the no. 2 Man in the space shuttle program said he considered an objection on the morn ing of the Jan. 28 liftoff by Rockwell International that ice on pad 39b made conditions not Safe to  but he told the presidential commission i would think it was More than reasonable that if someone were Mill concerned this was a very bad judgment or bad action they would Call me. I left every Opportunity for that to happen in the time Between the 9 . Objection and the 11 38 . Launch. No such Call came. That however did t satisfy the presidential com Mission s chairman William Rogers. If the decision making process is such that the prime contractor thinks he objected and says Testi fies under oath that they took a position that it was unsafe to launch and you say that was not our under standing that shows a serious deficiency in the pro Cess Rogers said. Rockwell s testimony about its concerns that ice could damage the challenger made it the second major contractor to express reservations about the cold before the launch which Cost the lives of seven astronauts and destroyed one of four shuttles in America s Fleet. Earlier in the week engineers from Morton Thi Okol which manufactures the shuttle s Booster rockets said they argued against the launch because they feared see shuttle on Page 28 Sally ride astronaut Sally ride. On panel probing shuttle disaster Aquino begins freeing prisoners meets with Habib Manila Philippines up president Corazon Aquino embarking on the task of National reconciliation began releasing political prisoners held by the regime of Ferdinand Marcos and met thursday with . Presiden tial envoy Philip Habib. Aquino ordered the release of 39 prisoners including three human rights lawyers arrested last year and an alleged member of the Central committee of the outlawed communist party of the Philippines. Nine of those named were subsequently freed at the Bilutan army stockade. Trade Union Leader Danilo Garcia arrested on july 22, 1984, slapped himself several times outside the stockade and said it s too Good to be True. I must be  also released were leaders of the Light a fire move ment believed to be responsible for a series of terrorist bombings in 1979. Others left behind with raised clenched fists Sang a protest song asking filipinos to remember Freedom fight ers behind barbed wires. In an interview on Abc television Aquino said the releases were in line with a Campaign Promise to free political prisoners. I said they would have to renounce violence and that they would have to pledge allegiance she said. This is the time we have to heal All wounds and to work together so that we can get our country going  Aquino press spokesman Rene Saguisag said he hoped to announce the release of hundreds More by saturday. According to military records he said there arc some 450 political prisoners in the country. Saguisag said any general amnesty would have to be recognized by parliament but the idea for now is to see Aquino on Page 28