European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pass 10 the stars and stripes sunday january 11,1987 comic me Flora Lewisk twi supplying arms now the Way to buy friends  ii a  Tok aftermath of world War i Here was a against the merchants of death who made fortunes Selling arms and encouraging wars to use them up. Making Money is now an important Factor for governments in the world arms Trade but the politics of trying to win friends and influence people not to speak of buying Back hostages has overtaken it. As Andrew Pierre put it in his Book the global politics of arms sales written four years ago and More topical than Ever arms sales arc foreign policy writ  they have become a test of International affection he Way o court a ruling elite and show Loyal support especially in the third world. The Good ies with which to turn foreign Heads arc Boom booms now not the trinkets and Bonbons of old. This is not particularly new. Pierre shows that the trend developed after widespread decolonization in the 1960s and accelerated in the 1970s, but now i seems to be Lakin for granted As a reasonable Way to try to make the world work by suppliers and As the measure of Good will by recipients. President carte made a Stab at reversing the trend but with Only limited Success the Transfer of arms actually increased during his presidency though he imposed stricter guidelines to improve coherence with other policy goals and made sure everybody involved knew that he was keeping a close watch on the deals. In fiscal 1979, Pierre says Carter reviewed 88 out of a total of 126 significant  efforts 10 enlist allies foundered on their insistence that first the soviet Union should agree on negotiated re Strainu. Those negotiations Brake Down in turn because of intramural quarrels inthe american bureaucracy and ultimately with the suspension of practically All  talks after the Krem Lin s invasion of Afghanistan. Carter s experience highlighted the difficulties and showed that even wit the Best intentions there s no easy Way to quench the demand and Supply of William f. Buckley Pun intotowwprwahosw3e weapons worldwide. Bui president Rea Gan came to office with a decision not Only to rearm the uni cd states Bulo use arms transfers As an essential element of the . Global defense posture and an indispensable component of for eign policy As Pierre says. A while House policy statement of july 9, 1981, concluded we will Deal with the world Asil is rather than is we would like Illo be after arguing an in creased need to ship weapons so As to bolster american interests without directly committing More american Mili tary forces abroad. Now foreign military Aid alone which does t include commercial transactions not financed by the taxpayers steadily runs almost As nigh As foreign economic assistance. In fiscal 1986 there was $8 billion in economic Aid including $1.6 billion in food for peace which helps Cul agricultural surpluses and $6.2 Bil lion in military Aid. The figures for 1987 Are $8.2 billion in economic Aid including $1.5 billion in food and $6.2 billion in military Aid 1988 s reduced budget request is for $7,8 billion in economic Aid of which $1.4 billion is for food ands3,8 billion for military assist acc soviet figures arc not available but Moscow is known to be far readier to ship weapons than to finance development. Even after most of the liberation wars that it supported around the world had ended soviet weapons were still flowing abroad Ai increasing  that Washington and Moscow Are edging up to serious talks again which will have to include regional is sues preferably sooner rather than later in is time o think of another approach to restraining arms transfers. It is hard butt in t impossible. They have come to be above All a political tool. Politics can find a belter Way to favor friends and show concern a nun torn Timas Why ban donations for embassy functions the state department has advanced its War against political appointments by one More step namely its ban on private contributions to individual embassies for the purpose of general entertainment. The proximate cause of this Tian was ambassador Faith Whittlesey our representative to Switzerland the political genesis of the Story in t the kind of thing you read in state department releases or front Page stories about the venality is of Whit Locsey. There is a conflict Between career ambassadors and political ambassadors. Thai ought not to Surprise any one if you join the foreign service your statistical chances of becoming an ambassador Are about 2 per cent. This figure enlarges or diminishes depending on How Many ambassadors the president elects from the private sector. There is a predilection for ambassadors from the private sector in critical posts for a perfectly understandable reason namely that a president is attracted to persons of his persuasion. Although most foreign service officers Are professional j who do the bidding of the Secretary of state and of the president inevitably there is a diner. Ence Between the kind of heart that goes into a pro Gram that is mentally a part of that special Casy Days it rhythm of the lifelong bureaucrat and the Pizazz associated with the policies of a president who feels an a flatus to bring about important changes in Public sentiment and understanding. Whiles by on top of being an Able administrator a lawyer and a shrewd politician is an Earnest believer in the program of Ronald Reagan so that when she arrived in Switzerland a few years ago she set out to sell the president s program to persuade people of the correctness of our policies in Central America on the strategic defense initiative and on disarmament. When conservative luminaries from Washington arrive in Switzerland she likes to bring important Swiss citizens to lunch or to dinner thereby exposing them to analyses of the administration s policies As expressed by intimates of the administration. But How do you pay the Bill for that kind of expense not through the representational allowance authorized by Congress which although they have improved since the Days of the late rep. John Rooney who thought that foreign entertainment that went beyond one banana and one Mars bar was profligate Are simply below the level one expects from representatives of the wealthiest country in the world. One solution to the problem is the obvious one appoint Only Rich people As ambassadors. The trouble Wuh that is that an awful lot of Rich people Are very dumb and so that solution is of limited use. The Sec Ond solution used by Whittlesey and others is to encourage private donations end rosily for the purpose of entertainment abroad. Accordingly 180,000 was donated for Swiss enter lain enl funds and the next thing we knew we had a front Page Story in the Washington Post alleging  was playing fast and Loose with the rules. The Justice department examined the facts and the question of whether a special counsel should be appointed. Edwin Meese established via professional investigators that a everything Whittlesey had collected had been deposited in the special stale department fund reserved for that purpose b everything she had spent had been approved by the administrators of that fund and c no favors had been Given of an improper kind. Her clearance was comprehensive. But working against whittles by Are two forces one of them galactic the other merely torrential the sea son s Phenomena. The first is the disposition of the stale department bureaucracy to make things hard for political appointees. The second is the disposition of All of Washington to make things hard for Ronald Reagan by passing this new regulation choking off utterly innocent spontaneous Means by which friends of ambassadors and of their country might enhance the influence of a few ambassadors we encourage a Lazy Public disposition to believe that Whill Lesey we caught up doing something improper never mind that she was cleared on All counts. We Are left with the alternative mentioned above become Rich so thai when you go abroad you can entertain at the expected level. It. Gen. James m. Gavin was appointed ambassador to France by presi Dent Kennedy but after a Short while he sent in Hii resignation. Terribly sorry he said but i just Plain can t afford  one of these Days Mit or Carnegie tech or the smithsonian will Breed us an animal smart enough to Tell us Why in should be against the Rule to donate funds to enhance the effectiveness of agents of someone the people elected As chief executor of Ameri Ca s foreign policy. C uni Kenai Pribis a Cai