European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 14, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes monday september 14,1987 columns Flora Lewis critics1 ski alternative deserves cons deaf on some major critics of Percsi Dent Reagan s Star wars program have come up with a proposal of their own Tor strategic defense research. It makes sense and bolsters their claim that they Aren t just opposed to ski be cause it s a Reagan obsession or because they love the bomb but for scientific technical and budgetary reasons. From the beginning informed opponents have said they favor continuing research which was going on without fanfare before Reagan s startling 1983 speech both because it would make a difference if reliable defense proves pos sible and because there needs to be a hedge against a soviet breakthrough. But the arguments until now focused on what was wrong with the fantasy that a crash Effort could make nuclear weapons impotent and  the alternative . Strategic defense program drawn up for the Union of concerned scientists moves the debate Forward by suggesting what can and should be done. It would Cost about $5 billion in the next two years in contrast with the administration s request for $ 13 billion. Further it would stay within the anti ballistic missile treaty As interpreted by everyone except Reagan apologists re serve decisions on commitment to a time when they can be made on sound knowl Edge and enhance the possibility of Cut Ting arsenals of intercontinental missiles. By paying full attention to coun term Casuras the russians could take if the United states does deploy elements of a missile defense in space and which the United states could take if the rus sians deploy it would help insure against costly mistakes that would leave the world even More dangerous. The heart of the proposal is to concen trate on essential Basic research rather than plunge ahead with engineering an demonstrations with inadequate scientific foundation. The report also stresses work on techno Logies that could defend . Missiles in the foreseeable future Long before anyone Cantell whether it would Ever be possible to erect a nationwide shield. While such program would by no Means kill ski Leav ing All options open it could bring Moscow to accept the so percent reduction of Strate Gic missiles that would Crown Reagan s negotiating record. The study is technical looking at each part of the ski program and Analuz ing what is promising and what is waste Ful. Its authors Michael Brower and Peter Clausen Call it illustrative not a  but they support their definition of what would constitute a sound strategic defense program instead of what they Call ski s floundering unfocused and distorted priorities with detail and Lucid reasoning. Driven by the desire to have some thing to show before the end of Reagan s term ski is putting its eggs in fewer and fewer heavily funded baskets they explain though in important areas it is too Early to choose which approaches might work Best. They urge research on sensors and systems into which future weapons could fit rather than on the weapons themselves that might provide spectacular demonstrations but be use less without a coherent context. Such research could prove worthwhile even if space defences Are never deployed because the ideas could work for other parts of american defense plan Ning. Negotiation with the russians on amending the abm treaty should cleanup ambiguities in the language and new questions deriving from technological Advance since the treaty was written. This could remove the major obstacle to the Long Range missile reductions on which Mikhail Gorbachev and Reagan agreed in Reykjavik. All involved but the president himself have acknowledged that there in t even a Hope of effective defense unless the offence is limited. Otherwise there would be a new race for More and More of everything ask inform Ndeye Lui i Iuie Auu mul i Vcci tiling Wii More upsetting than the huge increase the number of warheads resulting fro president Kennedy s misguided decision to go for Mir s As the answer to Early soviet missile defense programs. There int much Hope that Reagan will consider this sensible alternative proposal. He is too emotionally committed to his vision to make a comparative analysis. But the Campaign is starting now. Presidential candidates who Are interested in offering a search for a much better defense bet than Star wars would do Well to study this constructive report. A new York tows Newi service William f. Buckley or. Liberals taking up anti government rhetoric it will be a Long time before the role of the Reagan administration is finally evaluated by the Crite Rion that has animated much of conservatism s Spiri Tual Energy during this Century namely scepticism of big government. We at once acknowledge that Reagan has depreciated the idea of government As everyman s Chapur pne through life and that he has not really succeeded in reducing government merely the rate at which government had been growing since the inauguration of John f. Kennedy. And so one yearns for those Lovely old obbligato on the theme of government the Placebo government the Hiseler government the fraud government the in competent. The kind of thing that made . Mencken and Albert Jay Nock and William Graham Sumner yes even he so very musical so very much of the time. Well Here is an interesting Datum. A Little of the anti governmental scepticism is working its Way into the rhetoric of the liberals of not All of them obviously but Here and there a Little Peacock. Consider Fred Reed a Washington editor of Harp Erv Magazine writing in the july Issue. Now under stand the Guy is a Liberal but in his iconoclastic fantasy he starts out making fun of the pretensions of read Antic politicos. And ends by doing very much the same thing to people on his own Side. What began it All is a fancy dress picnic of some sort to which he was mistakenly invited. The guests were a mixture of somewhat important people and a few very important people by which is meant that had they vanished without Trace nobody would Ever have  the author then nicely tips his hand by one of those High wire exaggerations that nevertheless leave the Reader tingling with the fun of it All. This is a curious aspect of importance that it varies inversely with the damage that would follow upon one s loss when the plumbers strike chaos results but if the National Security Council ceased to come to work nothing would  Reed recites an encounter or two with a dressed up guest. Next to me stood an enormous Pink Rabbit who perhaps devised economic policy for the nation clutching a Heineken and chatting with the Lone Ranger who doubtless hailed from the state depart ment which would explain a lot. In the foreground silhouetted against a writhing sea of Varico lored ears antennae tentacles feathers and further Heineken bottles was what appeared to be a male prostitute from the Plummer Days of the Weimar Republic. Certain recent administrations have been Able to achieve the Overall effect without costumes " and on and on we go through the lady who was dressed As an inflatable boat and worried about the Ducky afghans. And then suddenly a Little turn " Don t you think the my is crucial i heard some one say at the bar. " Why came the sump uary response. We Haven t even used the missiles we be got yet " the author s ears Are Well trained because he As Sumes such a remark must have come from the Mouth of the Washington times John Lofton who must have shown up dressed As the old testament. The remark was original with John Lofton i think but in any event epitomized a certain outlaw brashness of the current occupiers of  now listen. No Democrat would have ventured such a a ominously Fey thought. The reason is probably that the democrats must genuflect to so Many solemnities As to make mental movement difficult and a decent insanity virtually impossible. They must rever ence the poor and the Black while going to great lengths to avoid them curtsy to the old the Brown and the female pretend insouciance with regard to Money while accumulating As much of it As possible eschew elitism while furiously practising it and condemn any foreign policy More virile than the International distribution of powdered milk although come to think of it they Are against powdered milk. Theirs is a hard Row to  that passage is like a fresh Spring of water Halfway through death Valley. The right Wing stereo Type is often sheer caricature at the hands of the Liber Al and just every now and then the reverse is so. But when liberals go after themselves these Are signs of riotous Good health. Of How the old verities revive us. Jefferson government can Only do something for the people in pro portion As it can do something to the people. John Adams the government turns every contingency into an excuse for enhancing Power in itself. Wilson the history of liberalism is the history of Man s Effort to restrain the growth of government. Mencken govern ment is the enemy of All decent Well disposed and industrious men. Exaggerations to be sure. But unlike junk thought wonderfully nutritious. C Universal press Syndicate