European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes wednesday july 30,1986 William Buckley was Reagan right to Send troops to Bolivia the question of whether the president is justified in sending troops to Bolivia to help dismantle that nation s cocaine Industry is in two parts the tint has to do with the legality of the action. There Are two Bills one ancient by american standards 1878the other recent 1973which respectively Tor bid the us of the military for Law enforcement and forbid he use of the military abroad where there is a danger of fighting unless Congress gives its approval. Reagan has acted on the grounds of National Security. Some Philadelphia lawyer in the White House gave him that one. You see it is a matter of our National Security that one of our allies Bolivia faces pcs labile nation because of the corruption of politicians and police brought on by the lucrative Coke Industry. If that mandate were general the administration should be Able to argue without any trouble that we can tend the marines to any country in the world with which we arc Allied in order to stabilize the regime there. Much More plausible is the shelter Given by Congress in 1981, permitting the limited use of the military to shield us from the dope runners. Reagan is not going to lose this one in court. True the usual people the american civil liberties Union it Al Are contemplating a lawsuit but the constitutionality of he War Powers act has itself never been tested and Stuart Taylor or. Of the new York times Stales in his rundown on the Issue that some of the president s critics conceded that the probability that any court would Rute them illegal approaches Zero,." moreover the argument that the use of the military for Law enforcement is inherently dangerous is not entirely convincing. It s True that in Basic training you Don t gel taught to Tell the enemy he has the right to keep silent and to consult a lawyer. But such training could be added to the curriculum of military units going abroad without any problem. Moreover there s something that satisfies the innate sense of husbandry in using our Navy to help our coast guard defend our shores from contraband if indeed we intend to pursue the policy of trying to nip the drug in the Bud. But Here surely is the ultimate futility of our strategy. We know that illegal drugs of almost every kind Are Selling on the Street Corners of America for less than they were Selling for a Tew years ago which is testimony to our failure to keep the drugs out. Suppose just suppose that our army units in Bolivia succeed in greatly reducing the Reservoir of cocaine available for Sale in America. What would happen observation no. 1 any change in the Supply would prove temporary by the operation of the same Law that Tom Wicker res Beans of South wrig4, Here we Are in Bozuwa. Makes wage and Price controls ineffective pressure at one end of the balloon will swell another end of the balloon. Raids on mexican marijuana Fields a few years ago introduced Hawaii to the marijuana Busi Ness and Point no. 2 during the interval before the Supply is made up by another country one would expect a Rise in the Price of the drug. The implications of such a Rise Are twofold the drugs continue to be readily available to the upper Middle class. The lower mid dle class and the lower economic class need to exert themselves More energetically to come up with the Money necessary to feed their habit. Thai Means More crime. It would be truly refreshing if the Federal govern ment were going into the question pragmatically using simple data. The drug enforcement administration should Tell us with respect to heroin and cocaine i mow much did it Cost on the Street Comer five years ago 2 How much does it Cost now 3 How much More of it is being consumed now than then 4 How much have we spent in attempting to shrink the vol ume and 5 How Many drug related crimes did we suffer from a. We can find the answers to those questions on our own though the figures Are less accurate than those kept by the Dea. But we know that we Are losing the tight and that As we lose it we continue to endow our own criminal class. Worry As one should As Good neighbor about the Rise of corruption among Law enforcement officials in Bolivia we have reason to worry Al least As much about the corruption of our own peo ple and institutions. One should gel from the Dea one More thing namely some intimation of the National scale by which we might Hope to discourage the potential drug user. There has been a huge diminution in dangerous Nomo sexual sex since the aids epidemic. One might nope for equivalent Progress against drug consumption. What we can t Hope for. Reasonably is that the . Marines in Bolivia or Patagonia Are going to keep the stuff away. A hmm fill pm s Ratcli door to arms control now May be standing ajar a series of disclosures from the administration has described the belated letter president Rea Gan sent to Moscow last week As a positive response to soviet arms control proposals if so it s because a door that seemed to be closed and sealed May now be tipped open. Mikhail Gorbachev seemed to confirm that when he said in Vladivostok on monday that the Reagan Tetter sets one thinking and would be treated with responsibility and  the letter finally gave some indication that Reagan might be willing to negotiate something it s not Clear what having to do with Bis dream of a space based defense against nuclear missiles. But the outlines of what he wants to talk about do not Promise Progress anytime soon. Reagan was countering a proposal by Gorbachev that the anti ballistic missile treaty be continued in Force for perhaps 15 years effectively barring deploy ment of a space based defense for that period in re turn for soviet agreement to substantial cuts in Offen Sive weapons. As described in a number of articles by Leslie Golb of the new York times the president s response off Raj Gorbachev a Choice but to the naked Eye not Musho font the superpowers could stick with the current abm treaty which has no expiration Dale but per. Mils either signatory to withdraw on six months notice thereupon either could deploy new defensive systems. Or they could enter into a new agreement that would prevent the deployment of space based systems for five years and for two More unless mutually agreed upon after seven years both could deploy jointly or the United states could deploy alone. Either Way Reagan apparently made Clear that he intended to proceed with research development and testing far beyond the confine of Laboratory re search that Gorbachev has been insisting upon. The russians can t be seriously expected to agree to any part of this. If for example they were to accept Reagan i condition on development and test ing they actually would be making a Concession to him because the abm treaty on its face does not now permit such Steps toward a space based defense. Moscow does not agree with a novel interpretation of the treaty under which the Reagan administration claims the right to develop and test and the administration has retreated under pressure to the original interpretation which virtually everyone else re Gards As Correct anyway. The seven year proposal in and of itself is mean ingless. No one believes that an american space based defense even if successfully developed could be deployed in less than perhaps id years it. Gen. Abra Bamson the head of the strategic defense initiative program has said As much. And if in bargaining Reagan ultimately proves will ing to extend the ban on deployment to say 10 years or even to the soviet proposed 15 years he still is insisting on deployment at some Point. That insistence was underlined just a Day or two before he dispatched his letter to Moscow when he said again that he would never Trade away space based defense in a negotiated Deal for a reduction in offensive weapons. So is Reagan really offering anything other than a delay in deployment for fewer years Nan the delay technological obstacles will impose anyway and Dur ing which Moscow would Grant to him what it does not now concede the right to development and testing beyond the Laboratory arms control supporters within the administration argue that opening the door however narrowly to any negotiation on space based defense Means that the whole Range of issues concerning such defences inevitably will come under discussion. If Reagan u in sisting on the right to testing for example they say the russians will surely reply by asking what kind of test ing he has in mind which would mean that negotiations on the subject had begun. But if by that kind of reasoning the Reagan letter was a positive response the proposal itself offered Little that he has not been insisting upon All along and nothing As yet indicates that he s ready for or even understands the kinds of compromises and retreats the Long hard give and take that will be necessary to reach an agreement both superpowers can accept. So the door May be ajar at last but that does t necessarily mean anything Ever will get past it