European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 03, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes Anthony Lew Sithon Bush discovering merits of old peace strategy the last summer of his life John f. Rich on at lower military Levels. _ v,w.,� a nip no xxx it a tin i can Kyls cd i cd at americans were up la a by and if v0u Are Viky 600p an help my in the Las Kennedy discovered that americans were eager for what he called a strategy of was the theme of his great speech at american University on june 10, 1963.his Call was for the United states and the soviet Union to break the Cycle i which suspicion on one Side Breeds suspicion on the other and new weapons Kennedy thought the theme might be politically dangerous. But the Public responded enthusiastically and around the country he talked about ways to make Bush May be about to make a similar believe his initiative in Europe his move to join Mikhail Gorbachev in trying to reduce the level of East West confrontation will evoke As warm a response in this country As anything Bush has Ever done. But the initiative May have consequences far More profound than a political hit for George Bush. If nato and the Warsaw pact proceed Down the negotiating path now marked out for them the forces that have shaped much of american political and economic life for the last 40 years will be world War ii. The United states has maintained a huge military establish ment something entirely new in Ameri can history and built successive generations of fearsome weapons. The purpose was to contain the soviet now Bush said after this week s nato Summit meeting it is time to move beyond the Era of in effect the president was telling our allies and us that Gorbachev was in Good Faith in proposing last month that Nat and Warsaw pact forces in Europe be reduced to the same lower was rejecting the views of officials in his administration who do not believe i Gorbachev s Good Faith or who think he will not survive for course the soviet Union remains a great military Power. The United Stales is nut about to forget that reality. But he real possibility opens up no that the Competition of interests can be car William Safire Rich o at the Prospect of change will quickly raise questions about planned military arc already deep doubts about expensive new weapons systems about stealth bombers that Cost $600 million apiece. Those doubts will grow in the pub Lic and in Congress. Consider Bush s decision both to build new Midge than missiles and to put existing my missiles on Railroad for r. Jeffrey Smith of the Washington Post depicted the imagined scenario in a recent Story from great Falls Mont on receiving warning of a soviet nuclear attack a select group of air Force officers would jump into the cabs of up to 500 trucks near Here. And scatter Down highways and Back country roads. With midget Man nuclear missiles in roughly the same moment 25 unmarked trains roaming the nation s rail ways. Would pull quickly onto sidings and each prepare to launch two my mis Siles with a total Force greater than the Hiroshima bomb that killed 145,000 the idea that need to spend billion son two Mobile missile systems always strained credulity. It was a Washington Way out of a Choice Between rival plans do both. Now the scenario seems so far fetched that Many will Sec no need to do that example and arc looking at inc Prospect of a declining Mili tary budget. That in turn raises great so Cial the political forces with vested interests in building new weapons the Mill tary Industrial scion Livic Complex permit a rational adjustment win this country be Able to shift its spending on research and development now predominantly military to civilian areas can break our dependence on Mil itary spending to sustain the Economy the superpowers have a Long negotiating Way to go before they reach a rational among people on both sides the conviction is growing that would do an ifv0 vep/600panpheepmyapvice and i move y0u mi6ht come 10 be accepted in the wrap say ar6 wulistenin6tome?" belter to spend less on arming against each other and More on such common needs As the environment and education." Are Bolh devoting massive sums of Money to weapons Kennedy said a american univ Cisily that could be Bel Ler a cooled to combating ignorance Pov erty and disease All inhabit this same Small planet. We All breathe in same air. We All cherish our children s future. And Are All c new Yoh times Brilliant moves Bush but How do verify have a foreign policy. It took a few months to work Oul and contains at Icalone Large Hole but americans can be proud of the Way their president used a nato Alliance impasse to change the focus of superpower negotiations. The focus had been on nuclear arms reductions As the soviets wanted but if agreed to reduce nukes first their conventional Sorc Ngoh would have guaranteed the military superiority for years. In a Cal Bil of diplomatic Jujitsu president Bush use the Force of West German fear of Short Range nukes on their Home ground to focus on the oppo Rumly for much faster Progress on reducing the threat of soviet Lanks and troops. He underscored this need for Speed with inc Promise not the Threal of reducing . Forces in Europe by 30,000 if inc soviets made steeper cuts Down to conventional suddenly first things were Pul first pressure is on Mikhail s. Gorbachev even from the germans to hurry up on balanced Force reduction. Only then when it s Safe do Dicker about removing the Short Range nukes and not even then to Zero bul Down to just enough arrows in the quiver Lokeel a would be attacker honest. Beyond that. Bush was Able to develop his theme of policy beyond contain Mcnol to a sustained Rollback of the soviet Empire. Though he dared not mention the Cap live Bailies Yalcs the president s Call in his Mainz speech to let Europe be whole and free and to part inc Iron cur Tain surely resonated in Poland and Hungary. He imparted a new sense of outward Mission Lonato s High crts strictly defensive Alliance. To Gorbachev s bid for a common european Home metaphor for a Soviel German in Leonle with the americans out Bush upped the Alclo a larger Home a Home where Wesl meals East a democratic Home the Commonwealth of free in other words try a free system because yours has failed. Bush will be remembered As the postwar presiden who declared inc . To be a european Power permanently As he began to pull our troops out. The trick was to leave not in petulance you denuded our forces and Don t Bear your own share of the defense Burden so goodbye bul in orderliness and inc Sovi ets will All March Oul Logcher in phases so bid Europe an Farewell. Most impressive was the president s grasp of the theme in his pudding. A close Reading of his Brussels press conference reveals Bush to be the first . Presi Dent since Richard Nixon to be in full Intelli Clural com Mand of his National Security policy. His answers demonstrate he really understand this stuff he was nol panicked by inc stunts and intimidation coming from Moscow As so Many were and he is comfortable Wilh inc plan spawned by his four month review and its 10-Day kicker. Doves like to say they arc cautiously optimistic but Hawks can take heart at Bush s optimistic caution. The Hole in his policy big enough to drive a Lank through is verification. The so vices even now arc lying on a grand scale about he size of i hair forces. And it s Fine to say troops will be demobilized bul who s to make certain icy do no become part of paramilitary labor battalions where is the demand for on site inspection of place where dual use equipment is stored Many of us would feel much safer Wilh info table de Rowny Bush s Chi farms negotiator running those talks Here is an example of the Bald faced mendacity our conventional arms negotiators will face. Gorbachev professing absolute Candor has just revealed to the soviet Peoples the truth about his arms spending. He says in is 9 percent of their Gross National product compare Wilh 6 percent of ours 3 percent of the europeans. That is false. Even our joint economic committee which swallows whole the ultraconservative estimates of the Cia Puis soviet arms expenditures at double that Rale. can count their tanks and planes and know what each one costs the economists and strategists who have been closest to accuracy in the past place the real soviet rate at an unsustainable 25 percent which accounts for Moscow s present urge to Cut costs. Like his foreign minister s heavy handed threat Toa Brogal inc inf treaty Gorbachev s obvious deception Aboul the size of his arms budget should temper some of the present bids were enticing upping the Ante As Bush has done urging inc soviets to nil our bid is a skillful and even inspiring Way of meeting them. Now he and will discover what devils Lurk in the details. C new Yolk times
