European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 26, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes tuesday May 26,198 James Kilpatrick . Should avoid Hasty action Over attack the admonition Dales to at least1843 in the etymology of English Slang but in applies with contemporary mean ing to the attack on the . Navy guided missile frigate Stark let As not go off half cocked. As a Navy Board of inquiry continues its investigation the number of things we know Are far outnumbered by the things we do not know. We know that at least 37 members of the Start s Crew died in the fires and explosions that racked the frigate. We know because the iraqi government has admitted in that the fatal missile or missiles came from an iraqi tighter plane. We know that the Stark was in International Waters Well South of the line hat had been drawn across the persian Gulf to confine hostilities. We also know that the Stark did not return fire. Beyond those elementary facts we know very Little. Was the attack an Accident Iraq says it was and Iraq has apologized for it but prudence suggests that the explanation be put on hold. There is much to indicate though not 10 prove that the iraqi plane had the technological capacity to identify the Stark for what it was. What precisely were the rules of engagement under which the Stark was steaming Pentagon spokesmen in Sist that the frigate had full authority to fire once it knew it was being fired upon but in would Surprise no one familiar with Navy regulations to learn that full authority is not always full authority. Since the Days of lord Nelson orders from an admiralty have been characterized by ambiguity it is a fair surmise that ship captains in zones of bail Igor ii us arc to of nigh themselves on one hand hut not to create International incidents on the other. We know that the Stark had defensive armaments. Why were these nol employed in midweek we heard tentative explanations and these seem plausible. The frigate s officers had no reason to anticipate the attack . Ships in the persian Gulf often Are locked on by iraqi or iranian aircraft. James Reston As a safety precaution the ship s Awe some galling guns normally Are kept in an of Mode. It lakes several minutes for them to be activated. The attack was at night and Only a few seconds elapsed be tween the firing and the Impact. Before he Start s Captain capt. Glenn r. Brindel is pilloried let us Wail upon the evidence the Board of inquiry is headed by rear adm. Grant Sharp. I met the Admir in during a visit to the sixth Fleet i january and was much impressed. He is a seagoing Man soft spoken but with steel in his spine. He will be looking for facts not excuses. The Board s investigation will take time it cannot be hurried. Meanwhile the attack May serve a useful purpose. It reminds us anew of the sacrificial heroism of those who serve in the .Navy, whether in peace or in War. The 37 men who died in the suffocating smoke and flames were in the persian Gulf far from heir loved ones doing their lonely duly in he Long tradition of men who Man ships of the Tine. It is nauseating to hear Pipsqueak voices on Capitol Hill whining that the United slates has no business patrolling the persian Gulf. Even in an age when technology threatens to overwhelm ves Sels that cruise at 35 knots a naval pres ence is vital to our National interest. The sea lanes of the world must be kept open to the Commerce of the world cannot be kept open by mooring our ships in snug harbours at Home. At the very least it seer is to me the administration should insist that our allies notably Japan France an Britain share the risk by a naval pres ence of their own. After All they Are thrones that Benefit most from Middle East Ern Oil. The temptation to vent undiluted out rage is Strong. The Stark had done Noth ing to provoke this attack. Our men Are dead. But before we raise the emotional Hammer to full cock let us draw a Long breath. If retaliation against Iraq is Justi fied suitable punishment can be imposed in time. Ump nil Prass synd it men who conceived Marshall plan remembered if it can put polities aside for a few minutes Europe will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Marshall plan on june 6, but it s not Likely to remember the Little band of valiant men who helped put that european recovery program to Gether. So let s Call the Roll and Tell the Story while Secretary of state George c. Marsha was in Moscow in april 1947 trying unsuccessfully to get the russians to agree to German and austrian peace treaties undersecretary of state William i Clayton sent him a memo saying Europe is steadily deteriorating. Millions of people in the cities Are starving. If things get any worse there will be Marshall returned to Washington on april 28 convinced that Moscow wanted a european collapse and instructed George Kennan one of the last of the marshal plan s surviving architects to produce a proposal within two Kennan delivered in on May 23, sup porting Clayton who estimated that the europeans would need i billion or 17 billion a year for two or thru years. It must be hard even for americans to real ize the apposition 10 such a proposal i amounted to 11 cents out of every Feder Al Dollar and the leaders of Congress could scarcely believe it. I wrote the first detailed account of the Truman administration s proposals in the new York times of May 25,1947, and when sen. Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan read in he called me up and said i must have been misinformed. Congress he insisted would never appropriate that amount of Money to save anybody but Marshall went ahead any Way. Charles e. Chip Bohlen special assistant 10 Marshall was Given the task of writing a speech for him and marshal delivered in a few Days Laler at the har Vard commencement. He stressed thai the initiative for re covery had 10 come from the europeans themselves working together. In response 22 europeans were invited by the foreign secretaries of Britain and France to work out a plan. It is Seldom remembered that while Marshall suspected the soviet Union of conniving at the economic collapse of Europe he agreed that the .s.r. And All other european communist nations should be invited to participate in laying the groundwork for the Marshall plan but All of them refused. The main problem however was not to gel the europeans together but to get the support of Congress particularly of Vandenberg and others who had previously opposed . Intervention in european affairs. Immediately Afler mar shall s Harvard speech. President Truman brought Vandenberg into Al most daily Contact with Dean Acheson and Vacrell Harriman who together with Marshall and other members of the Cabinet launched a nationwide Campaign for Public support. They were greatly helped in this Endeavor by other events in Europe. The communists had created a crisis in Greece and Turkey leading to the Decla ration of the Truman doctrine opposing the spread of communist s struggling democratic government was replaced by a communist regime Moscow put pressure on Finland to join a soviet Alliance and there was fear of a communist Victory inthe italian elections. Growing National concern Over these developments abroad finally led to the passage of the economic re covery act of 1948, which included the Marshall plan. The vote in the Senate led by Vandenberg was 69-17 in the House it was 3 29-74. Nobody could have imagined in 1947 that Western Europe would now be approaching the last decade of the Century with its prewar population fully restored its Standard of living higher than Ever before and even its relations with communist Europe in a state of More hopeful the United states would still be keeping More than 300,000 soldiers be tween the North sea and the Elbe River 42 years after the end of the War and still be spending More on the defense of Europe than Europe spends itself is hard for americans let alone europeans to conceive. Vet he allies today arc quarrelling will Success. The British labor party is trying to change the nuclear balance of Power that has kept the peace for Over two Gen creations. The West German government has been deeply divided Over whether to support or oppose the Reagan plan for reducing nuclear weapons and the . Ambassador in London is making Public speeches in opposition to anti american sentiment. I had a two hour talk with president Francois Mitterrand of France about All this but he was not perplexed. We had merely come to another Fork in the Long Road he suggested there were serious and dangerous problems to be resolved but the Alliance would hold together. People have Short memories he said particularly at election Lime. Kaw York Trinei Nawi 5ork o
