European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 18, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes monday August is 1986 columns Tom Wicker Reagan showing ignorance in s. African Issue the Senate has Casl a Vole for the Ful Urc in its approval or limited sanctions against the afrikaner regime in South Africa bin not because that ruthless and determined government is Likely to do anything useful in response. A Garcal Deal of misinformation and posturing not least by president Reagan surrounds this difficult Issue. The particular sanctions in the Senate Bill Proba Bly will not. For example Hurt South african Blacks As Reagan contends and even if they did Many Blacks and Black organizations there still would Welcome them just As two de ads ago american Blacks were willing to risk the loss of jobs and personal Security in heir tight for  rights. Nor is the african National Congress the Only Black South african organization thai favors sanctions As Reagan in his ignorance so often claims. And the Anc it not a communist or communist front organization though the president frequently libels it with the charge. Reagan s comments about the Anc have been so  misleading us 10 seem almost deliberate so. And have evoked a Well deserved rebuke from Mal Colm Fraser inc former prime minister of Australia who now Heads the Commonwealth eminent persons group on Southern Africa. Even congressionally Appam a sanctions May not be Able to undo inc damage Reagan keeps doing. He cannot seem to grasp the fad i hut Black political Power in South Africa is As inevitable As numbers can make it a Black majority of about 22 million people against a White minority of five million and Hal divided among afrikaners and English. One Way or another peacefully or by violence. Sooner or later under whatever checks and balances the Black majority will Rule in South Africa. Thai being the Case for reasons of future strategic and political interest As Well As Western democratic values it is profoundly necessary for that majority to perceive the West As devoted to its cause and willing to take Strong heps in its support. That s Ivy the sanctions Bill is necessary. If the past is a guide the sanctions themselves will probably be no More effective than those the West once imposed on Fred Hiatt the old whits regime in Rhodesia now Zimbabwe. They will have Little Impact on the policies of a deter mined self righteous and Well armed afrikaner government. Sanctions May damage the surrounding Black nations that Art dependent on South Africa Tor transport and other services but they Are willing to risk it. What consequences sanctions May have within South Africa remains to be seen it s possible for example that this show of Western support May intensity Black insistence on an end to apartheid which would heighten the violence of the afrikaner response. But congressionally approved sanctions will Demon Strate that on the South african Issue Ronald Reagan does not speak for the people of the United stain the great majority of whom in simple concern for Justice do support the Black majority and wish la see a great wrong righted. Without such a show of support limited As it must be and without much Prospect of effect ing real change South african Blacks would Hare Little Choice but to conclude As Fraser put it that they Are on their own As far As the West is  that would Lead More surely than anything else to the Long and bloody guerrilla War that everyone except perhaps the most ruthless cements often afrikaner Community seek to avoid. And that in turn would be Likely to produce the Ami Western even pro soviet Black government Reagan so greatly fears but in his ignorance and myopia in fact encourage difference Between the Field and the Pentagon we watched from the control lower of the air Craft Carrier Independence As Navy pilots tried for the first time in their Young lives to land their 20-ton machines aboard a tossing ship at night. Suddenly an f-14 tomcat veered toward us at 130 Miles per Nur and then apparently just missing the Tower roared Back into the darkness. The Carrier s air traffic controller known to All As the air Boss did t flinch. A Mon. To Ujj Man c Man let s Chase the line up  he admonished into his radio calling the Young Pilot s attention to the while Stripe on the deck where Fie was supposed to land. Then chuckling he added i be got a couple of new York Post reporters Here who be hit the  we were not quite cowering on the floor. But Nei ther i admit were we composed enough to bother correcting the air Boss also known As cmdr. Doug Las Bradl on our place of employment the Washington Post. I confess now to that momentary shakiness be cause after three years i am leaving the military beat. It seems a Good time then to confess to something else too the Way i Hod underestimated the compe tence common sense and remarkable Grace under pressure of people like the air Boss the . Sailors soldiers fliers and marines in the Field who so frequently outshine their leaders in the Pentagon. The brass in Washington likes to complain that the military is increasingly at the mercy of reporters con Gressional staffers Ana others with no military experience. Am a Case Nudy As an upper Middle class har Vard bound High school senior in 1972,1 never consid ered volunteering nor did a single one of my friends. My first Day on the beat i would have been hard put to Tell a colonel from a Corporal. So my ventures to army bases in Germany fighter Pilot schools in Nevada and cruisers and earners in the Atlantic have provided the Basic training i escaped As a Young adult. The lesson has rarely varied the Young officers training to fight our wars tend to be resourceful hard working hard headed self sacrificing smart and not at All Bloodthirsty. Sadly the corridors of the Pentagon have yielded a different lesson there seems to be tar less integrity and sacrifice among the program managers who Are supposed to be equipping the fighters and the policy makers who decide when their Liv will be put at risk. Many of the warriors i met during these three years have like me never been in combat so any judgments about them must be provisional. Still 1 would Trust most of them to stay Cool under fire to look out for their buddies to think calmly and do the right thing. What transforms these people when they reach Washington Why that is. Do so Many Public attain officers in Washington specialize in delay and obfuscation Why do those who Tell the truth about the military s prob lems get punished and those who go along get ahead Why do procurement officers year after year approve higher than commercial rates of profit for military suppliers of shoddy goods Why do colonels and Gener als who would be commanding hundreds in the Field without hesitation refuse to accept responsibility for their behaviour at the Pentagon spending their time passing memos and the blame one answer certainly is that some of the Best Mili tary men and women do everything they can to avoid a Lour in Washington often at some Cost to their careers. Many who do reach the Pentagon joined the Mili tary because they Are interested in combat not Public relations business management or government relations. They did t sign up for desk duty to manage weapons programs or lobby Congress and they Aren t very Good at those activities. Second there Are far too Many colonels and generals than honest work for them to do. According to one study by Thomas Lawson there s a general or Admiral for every 2,000 other officers and troops compared to 1 per 6,000 at the end of world War i and one per 3,000 in 1951. The Navy Lias about one Admiral for every two ships. As a result Generali in the Pentagon spend much of their time approving each other s memos which Young captains carry Back and Forth. Third Many officers joined the military because they relish a life where the rules Are Clear and the choices few. This is not to say that their jobs do not Call Tat creativity innovation and Quick reactions have always been key to Battlefield Success. But the goals Are Evi Dent the career paths set the hierarchies visible to ail. In the Pentagon officers become part of one More bureaucracy in a City where the rules Are leu straight Forward. They Deal with defense contractors who May value profit higher than protecting soldiers lives they watch their civilian Bosses position themselves for lucrative Post Pentagon careers. It is not surprising if in Tome cases the moral Compass installed at West Point or Annapolis begins to spin. Officers May have been taught thai the military is ultimately accountable to the people it protects. But the bureaucracy in the Pentagon frequently act us a Barrier Between the Public Ana the truth not i a con Duit a huckster not an informer. During my three years 1 have watched officials from Weinberger of Down overstate soviet strength under state . Presence in Honduras mis stale the record of failing weapons. Nor is it surprising that Pentagon desk jockeys think first about protecting their flanks they see Weinberger und his aides treating s 1,400 Coffee pots and $400 hammers As Public relations problems to be managed rather than symptoms of a process gone haywire that they have failed to Reform. Congress is blamed the press is blamed the system survives. The troops in the Field who endure Long hours months of separation from their families and other privations would seem to deserve better representation at Headquarters. Boo Fly i Tryo Ariu a tit at Ion Post