European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 27, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pago 10 columns the stars and stripes James j. Kilpatrick private postal service Good idea bad timing when the White House handed out copies of the privatization report last week a reporter at the end of the line voiced a cynical question do we really need another Doorstop i was Good far a Faugh but the report if Only Congress would take it seriously could serve a much better purpose. In Point of fact the report of he president s com Mission on privatization runs to Only 276 pages. Ii does t weigh enough to Stop a door. Its value lies in number of sensible Anil generally modest recommendations Tor transferring certain Federal function to Thep Rivale Scior. A half dozen proposals have id do with the . Postal service and these alone would justify careful consid crat Ion of the report As a whole. The trouble is that in this politically surcharge year neither Congress nor the press is Likely to pay much attention to the commission s finding and recommendations. In the Section dealing with postal serv ices the commission repeatedly emphasizes that shifts toward privatization must take into account the inter ests of the postal warders. The powerful postal unions with roughly 690,000 members can be expected to fight like pit bulls against the proposals anyhow. The Public ought to Lake a closer look. Since1845, the Federal government has maintained a monopoly on the handling of letter Mait. The uses insist that it is doing a Good Job and it Point to surveys hat indicate general Public satisfaction. If it Ain t broke the saying goes Don t fix it. Within the postal service both management and Labo contend that privatization would be a mistake. Private companies it is said would Cream off the Moil profitable services leaving the government with skimmed milk. Mail would be poorly protected foreign mail would be delayed Rural areas would suffer the forwarding of mail following a change of address would present formidable obstacles. Thousands of postal workers perhaps hundreds of thousands would be Laid off in the unite states it is said a postal monopoly is a natural Monopo  it cannot be made More efficient. The commission s report addresses these fears an convincingly puts them to rest. Today s postal service is not a monopoly at All. In 1979 urgent mail was exempted from the statutes prohibiting Privet express with the result that Federal express last Yea carried 178 million pieces of mail. The uses Long ago surrendered in the Nutter of parcel Post the privately owned United parcel service now controls 9u percent of the parcel Market. Thousands of services such Ashe cleaning of Potral buildings and the sorting of bulk mail now arc performed under private contract. The commission recommends that the old private express statutes be repealed but there must be a Grad thanks . The Swift tally organized into an cd Lclive operation despite the Sloppy Start. It worked says film. Pierre Lacostic former head of France s secret service and because it worked you Don t hear that it is working that is True in the sense that the Oil is flowing unimpeded to the Point thai the Price has fallen again. But the War goes on now in its eighth year. The modest efforts Ola largely indifferent world to Stop the carnage Haven t worked at All. Iran has not launched its expected Winter human wave offensive apparently because the Supply of candidates for martyrdom is jetting harder to  hat not been Able id relate the fun Peninsula so now to keep up the momentum and their people willingness to fight each country is lobbing missiles into the other s capital. The iraqis arc using soviet missiles. The iranians Are using chinese and other weapons. In the last 12 Days since a Brief cease fire Brake Down they have exchanged Over 200 missiles and stocks Don t seem to be running out. In the North iranian sponsored kurd seized Terri tory from the iraqi army which responded with Large scale chemical warfare apparently nerve and Mustard gases Iran won t give up its goal of toppling the iraqi regime arid Iraq keeps trying new ways of making things worse so that outside Powers will intervene and Force Iran to quit. Now the chinese arc ready to sell Long Range missiles to saudi Arabia the theory is to deter possible missile at tacks by Iran by showing Hal in has the capacity to Reta Liate. But they Aren t theoretical missiles they arc real ones that can go anywhere in the Middle East. The five permanent members of the United nations Security Council managed to agree on a Reso Lution calling for an end to the War. But they can agree on slopping the provision of arms that keep in going. They act As though it really in t that important As Long As mostly iraqis and iranians Are being killed. The deals of a few Neutral sailors now and then i accepted As part of the situation. Despite the flurry of concern Over shipping in the Gulf last year the War has t really spread and the superpower relation has t been noticeably tilted. So nobody is making a big Issue of this continued outrage. Even the Arab countries and the Gulf defense Council have muted their protests. And where an the indignant demonstrators who denounce violence and intervention in the assorted parts of the world Hal happen to catch their interest the Iran Iraq War in t a convenient Case for those who Are always sure they know whose hat is while and whose is Black. Iraq did Start the War in the Wake of the iranian revolution. It was a terrible tragic mistake. Now in wants out with a return to the statin quo Ante but i cannot impose its wish. Nor can in win. A Victory for revolutionary Iran would be a disaster for the Region probably for the whole islamic world with Impact on All the Powers. So the bloody impasse is allowed to continue be cause the Jowett can t bring themselves to put effective pressure on both sides and the Public can t Dis Cern a shining Champion to support among the villains presumably soviet reluctance to agree to in Irmi embargo on Iran is a Long Range hedge in Hopes of exerting future influence on Tehran and a current worry test Iran with iwo million afghan refugees make soviet plans for withdrawal from Afghanistan More difficult. China has come around to saying i would go along with an embargo if everybody else does hut in is evidently counting on soviet refusal. The rest of the world seems to calculate that kiting the War grind on is less of a risk than the political Coil of sanctions. But the dead and the maimed do  less for Lack of outsiders cheering on cause. The critical cause Here is to Stop the  is time for the Public to raise its voice for religious Leaden political Leaden intellectual leaders to insist thai governments cat aside Ribeir Uncertain calculation and Block the arms supplies. The United nations was never expected to be Able to in pfc peace in disputes Between big Powers. But in is now showing itself paralysed an incompetent at ending fight Between third world coun tries essentially of Tunde the East West Axis. There Are Many issues to be taken up in the new Content of soviet american talks and they Are affected by International opinion. A demand to put Amend to this ceaseless absurd War should be higher on the list