European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 3, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes saturday May 3, 1986 columns George will so what reply to critics of us. Air raid on Libya int if.  military Force democracies often sacrifice efficiency to Purchase legitimacy. It seems especially imperative for Post Vietnam America to be seen to exhaust redundantly the economic and diplomatic alternatives that actually Are nothing of the sort. In 63 months in office Ronald Reagan who came to office with an unearned reputation for recklessness Lias disproved the suspicion that he is eager to use . Mili tary assets. The use of them against Libya Marks another slate in the slow emancipation of the United states from several ser Vitues. One involves the lessons of Viet Nam. Another incl pcs misplaced multilateralism. The lessons of Vietnam according to people who most insistently , Are self evident and unanimous in raising doubts about the morality and Utility of military Force. However the Reagan administration has Many members who believe that one Les son of Vietnam is that violence is not necessarily economize by delaying it or administering it in minute doses. In Vietnam violence was unnecessarily protracted and futile because it was administered in accordance with theories that were too Clever by half. Finely calibrated escalations and pauses were supposed to manipulate and Edu Cate the enemy. But the enemy correctly read the cleverness As irresolution. Today the wrong question is did the raid Leach Moa mar Una Day a lesson .1" Gra Cious. Americans have an agreeable belief in Public education but there should be limits. Americans desire a foreign policy that is didactic or therapeutic instructing or curing difficult regimes. However Rea Gan has wisely applied to the raid the rhetoric of preemptive deflation warning that it was not supposed to solve at a stroke the problem of libyan terrorism. His most important words were these seven if Nec Essary we shall do it  khad Afy s terrorism has been a Success. So far. It has been giving him what he seeks from it pleasure and prominence. Ideally repeated . Military actions should put him in the position of the Pitcher who stood on the Mound 60 feet six inches from the plate and threw the pitch that became Wil lie Mays first Home run. The Pitcher said for the first 60 feet it was a hell of a  khad Afy May still be ahead but the United Stales has just begun to swing at him. Or so one must Hope. He is the problem James Kilpatrick vie interrupt this 0uu&mi to by we a and he probably cannot be tamed or deterred. He must be removed. Libya is less a political than a geological phenomenon it is a military caste floating on a sea of Oil. Devalue the latter and you can destabilize the former. The targets hit by . Bombers were appropriate but inadequate most of their value As targets was symbolic. Military assets such As Barracks and training bases can be easily replaced. Better targets would have been the installations essential to the Oil exports that finance the Contentment of khad Afy s officers. A sword once drawn is not easily sheathed so it is Well to wonder whether the world would not be better off if in 1982, Israel had been encouraged to sweep through Lebanon s Bcka Valley a source of syrian terrorism. Among sources of terror ism Syria is perhaps even worse than Libya. The Long delayed response to libyan terrorism has at least helped with two so what questions. It is said that an attack against khad Afy guarantees him rhetorical support from Arab nations and reveals that the United Stales cannot bring along its allies. To both facts the right response is a question so what an ancillary Benefit of the raid is a demonstration redundant one would have thought that As a political Force the Arab world is a figment of the imaginations of people eager to find reasons for the United states not to respond to terrorism. And the primary Benefit of the raid was the demonstration that the United Stales will not forever use multilateralism As a cover for inaction. It is hard to feel dismay about the fact that the . Raid caused collateral damage to the French embassy in Tripoli. France is with Italy especially conspicuous among the . Allies that practice appeasement of terrorists in order to defied violence toward americans. France has complicated . Self defense by refusing to allow . Aircraft to Fly Over France. In the 1980s, the fifth Republic is free to behave As badly As the third Republic did in the 1930s because the United states is unlike France. It is unlike France not Only in scale but also in kind for which France should be eternally thankful. 1c Wai Winolon poll Atlanta taking sensible approach to prostitution like Many other cities around the nation Atlanta has been having a vexatious problem with prostitution. Last year mayor Andrew Young appointed a com Mittee to recommend what to do about it and last week the committee brought in a remarkably sensible report on a perennially sensitive subject. This was a key recommendation slated More implicitly than explicitly prostitutes in Atlanta should be allowed to work put of escort services bars and hotels As Long As they do so discreetly and stay off the streets. Prostitution should be effectively decriminalized. If prostitutes agree to be tested regularly for sexually transmitted diseases including aids penalties should be reduced or eliminated. The recommendation was drafted initially by Peter Whit Side a business Consul Tant. He explained his thinking to John la cast of the Atlanta journal and Constitution it s a matter of management he said. If you operate out of Well run escort serv ices or you operate out of a bar or from a Beeper and you stay out of Public areas where you re not wanted then basically society does t mind. A lot of High class Call girls operate out of hotels and nobody Ever notices that they re Call girls. They Don t Hurt  Whit Side made one More Point Atlanta now gets no tax Revenue from unregulated prostitution but the licensed escort serv ices pay local taxes and keep the kind of records from which income taxes could be derived. It s a thought. Mayor Young s 14-member task Force considered recommendations from one extreme to the other. Some witnesses wanted an All out crackdown on prostitution accompanied by harsher Laws and sniffer sentences. One proposal was to get Tough with the prostitutes customers and to publicize their names. At the other extreme were proposals totally to legalize prostitution but to confine the Commerce to defined red Light districts. The mayor s committee came Down in a sensibly ambivalent Middle Posi Tion. Prostitution will continue to be against the Law but the Law would be enforced Only against women and against male prostitutes As Well who publicly make a nuisance of themselves. This recommendation attacks the Community prob Lem and leaves the moral Issue for another Day. Let me Vemury the same observation about prostitution that i ventured some years ago about the Mere Possession of Small amounts of marijuana. The principal evil in the business of marijuana lies in the corruption that accompanies vast sums of Money. It is Noi the Young person smoking a joint who presents a Public danger. It s the underworld Kingpin. From what i read in the literature any Young person who gets addicted to marijuana is an absolute idiot but the stuff appears to be less harm Ful by far than cocaine heroin or the hallucinogens my thought is that police have better uses for their limited resources than to spend time and Money on making arrests for Mere Possession. So Loo Wilh prostitution. Bertrand rus sell once remarked that prostitution As it exists in Christian countries is an exceedingly undesirable career but thousands of Young women do not agree Wilh him. The Mayflower Madam in new York had no trouble recruiting women of Beauty and at least some degree of Intelli gence. There in t a City in this nation nor Many Small towns either without some women for hire. Here in Washington the police wearily maintain a running Battle with the 14th Street girls but they recognize that their aim is Only to contain the traffic. They have no Hope of stamping it out completely. Too Many girls not enough cops. The Law has enough to worry about without worrying Over discreet sexual relations Between consenting adults. Brazen Public conduct can t be tolerated of course and police can t be expected to look the other Way while a decent neighbourhood is destroyed. But Atlanta s task Force has the right idea let the ancient Law of sup ply and demand quietly accommodate the oldest profession in the world. Unto Errol prow san Dixoie