European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 28, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes monday november 28,1988 William f. Buckley or. Opposition of . Times is a vote for Tower talk of John Tower As Secre tary of defense cheers Tower Les who acknowledge gratefully his years of service in behalf of Lough defense. There is of course opposition and in deserves attention whether or Tower has been accepted or rejected by the Lime these words appear. The new York times As Ever an Alem Bic of Liberal analysis titles its Lead editorial better choices than John Tower arid we Are off to the races or. Tower s career suggests he would be another advocate of higher spending just when the Pentagon needs a Champion of Reform this sentence is just Plain inscrutable. It sets up re form As the antonym of higher spend ing. Out How can we know that this is so if indeed in were so then presumably the abolition of the department of defense would be he ultimate Reform. We assume the times editors Don t really moan to say that but if they mean to say less than that what criteria arc they using to decide at what Point Reform ends and recklessness begins " president Reagan and his defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger drove up military outlays hastily and relentlessly. They restored military morale and increased the readiness of forces but at enormous Cost in waste fraud and management overload it is unquestionably the Case that there was waste fraud and management overload. There is waste fraud and management overload in the new York City school system. Of to Are always deplorable and Al most always an aspect of How much Money is spent. It you Are going to spend $300 billion in one year you Are going to have waste fraud and manage ment overload. The difference Between such bureaucracies As Are designed to Leach children and those others do . Rosenthal signed to deter the soviet aggressive machine is that you cannot Lake chances in he one Field whereas the other permits oscillations in performance. ,.if a Bridge s dependability is suddenly sup Cal you take emergency action. Either you close it Down or you buttress it redundantly. That was the situation faced by Reagan Weinberger in 1981, polls in the Campaign showed that most americans favor culling or hold ing he line on the $300 billion Penta gon  in the history of unreal soned thought this one has got to stand out. The editors might As Well have written polls in the Campaign showed that most americans favor holding the line at $10,000 for a heart  suppose that the polls had showed that most americans favored holding the line to $100 billion the function of the department of defense is first to deter the soviet Union s strategic nuclear  then to give muscle to our Imperial obligations. The Cost of doing this is an aspect of he nature and resources of he Chal Lenger. To have a Clear Reading of this requires intensive application beyond the resources of the typical voter who needs to accept the judgment of this or the other political contender George Bush ran on the continuing need to maintain a Strong department of defens Michael Dukakis Tan on his Long opposition to military Tonova Lions. Dukakis lost. Then during the 80s there were exaggerated fears of soviet strength. Now with much More information about the soviet Economy and military capabilities expert and Citi Zens have reached a sounder  it s he inordinate fear of communism Jimmy Carter s fatuous words spoken at notre Dame in 1977 All Over again but to prove that our fear of soviet strength were exaggerated is the equivalent of proving that John s Reso Lution taken on new year s eve 1980 to Stop smoking Slop boozing Start exercising and Start gelling More sleep had nothing to do with his current state of health. Directly opposite the editorial in question appears an essay by Nicholas Eicr slant a visiting scholar at the american Enterprise Institute. After deep exploration of soviet defense expenditures he writes the Caspian Gnu numbers. Suggest that soviet defense spending could easily reach 25 percent of total output thai would be he equivalent in terms of . Gnu of our spending not $300 billion per year but four times that $1.2 trillion per year. Are we nuts to be concerned about a huge expansionist totalitarian Power facing economic starvation but spending one Quarter of its entire production on aggressive military hard Ware three cheers for Tower. Raoul a Ehberg mystery e the other Day i mentioned to a Friend a journalist that 1 was going to take part in a meeting in new York about Raoul Wallenberg. He looked at me in astonishment. Wallenberg the Man has been missing for what. 40 years More Ever since the end of world War ii. Nobody lives that Long in a russian prison what is there to talk about anymore i suppose i looked As astonished As he. 1 old him that the Wallenberg Story kept popping up in my mind because one Story or another in the news re minded me of him. We agreed that people have different interests. That night at the meeting of the Raoul Wallen Berg committee of the United states there were lawyers and Bankers and teachers writers some men from Wall Street doctors retailers clergymen about Iso people in All including a member or con Gress and a Diplomat representing King Carl Xvi Gustaf of Sweden i. There were new yorkers and men and women from Colorado Idaho California and Michigan who belonged to the american group one of 13 Wallenberg committees no tic around the world. The same Day there was a Story on he from Page of every newspaper that called the name of Wallen Berg into the minds of thousands of americans who read it. The Story said that Mikhail Gorbachev would visit the United slates in december. In 1944, Raoul Wallenberg a 32-year-old swede was asked by american representatives to go to Budapest there to risk his life every Day by trying to snatch hungarian jews from the nazis. German sol Diers and hungarian fascists were rounding them up to Send to Slaughter Camps. Wallenberg came from a Good family and had a Tine education but there was nothing about him that spoke of the Man he was to become in Budapest a Man who by Force of his own will did Rescue thousands of jews.  Only diplomatic status a Little Money contributed by american jews and a stunningly indomitable will he hid jews in houses from which he Hung swedish flags. He marched into knots of nazi kid nappers crying Ich bin Wallenberg As if that would make them fall Back. Sometimes in did. Hundreds of thousands of hungarian jews were murdered by the germans. Wallenberg saved thou   " to them and to their sons and daughters and to. Millions of people around the world for whom the holocaust is eternal Wallenberg is an almost Mysti Cal reminder of what one decent Brave person can do Jusine. .,.,. ,. In january 1945, he russians entered Budapest. Wallenberg went to meet them and disappeared. For years the russians said they had no idea where he was.-. In 1957, Andrei a Gromyko then a Deputy for eign minister and later president of the soviet Union said yes Wallenberg had been imprisoned Bui had died in a soviet jail in 1947 and that there were no documents or witnesses remaining. From Hal Day to this the soviet government has added no further information. So for three decades no real news. Hut the Wallenberg movement is As alive As Ever for two reasons. One is Hope. Nobody wants to say v in is gone there Are Many who cling hard to the belief he is alive and meticulously try to track Down reports Hal he has been seen in one soviet prison or another. The other far stronger is he determination not. To do to Wallenberg what he refused to do to the jews Hungary turn away. For the people in every part of the world Wallent Berg becomes pan of every Story Hal has to do with Brave men and women willing to sacrifice life or Liberty for others Andrei Sakharov visits the United slates and his very presence somehow freshens the name of Wal Lenberg and the  . Senate honors a polish jew called Raphael Lemkin almost 30 years after his death in new York. It puts into Law the genocide convention to which he devoted his life. Thought association Wallenberg and Lemkin fought murder each in his own Way. Now there is a Wallenberg Story of another kind Gorbachev s visit. Will he finally fulfil the Hopes that he would uncover and reveal the full Story of Raoul Wallenberg or allow an International commission to try the responsibility to reply belongs to Gorbachev the responsibility to ask the question belongs to those who meet with him president Reagan and president elect Bush will have the Chance. So will the american press Public questions requiring Public answers an Opportunity for journalists and a far greater one Torf the Leader of the soviet Union. The opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on his Page represent those of the authors and ire in no  to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United Stales government