European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 29, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse William f. Buckley or. Tuesday january 29, 1991 the stars and stripes Dage 11 columns allies defending Freedom not Kuwait s Oil the anti War people never really found a doctrine after the argument ran dry that we should continue with the sanctions. Some still hang in there with the cry a we wont die for Oil a but that moral geopolitical analysis is also tending to run dry As the perception widens that a a Oil is simply the convenient Symbol of the kind or worldwide aggression that Saddam Hussein had in mind when he overran Kuwait and dealt with it in ways that reminded old timers of the rape of banking we hanged the japanese general who supervised that operation. A a Oil is or can be As pointed a weapon As bread or water Industrial societies cannot operate without Oil and most americans with any imagination acknowledge that they do not wish to engage in a massive Retreat to Walden Pond where a they can live Beautiful pure and simple lives without phones refrigeration television sets toasters or Nintendo. Perhaps in recognition of How straitened their arguments Are we hear now the personalization the argument about human life. Anna Quindlen of the new York times scoffing at the Low casualty figures in the persian Gulf War says sure it does no to matter that Only six american aviators have been killed a unless one of them is a your father your brother your husband or your and from Arthur Schlesinger jr., no less a a renowned historian a the comment that the Gulf War is a not Worth one human now such formulations As these Are perilously easy to use and Are guaranteed crowd pleases. But they Are really most dreadfully irresponsible. The uses of the argument about a single human life being Worth More than everything else you can think of have the Appeal of causing the listener to think of his wife or her husband or of their baby child causing them to ask the question would i Trade the life of my dear one in Exchange for a return to $18 Oil the answer if not the reasoning process is instantly clarified a or rather made More obscure. And the Only Way to Man with a Little 3-Ycar-old girl and i say a i am the god of Justice and balance and i ask you to choose Between giving up for the rest of your life driving an automobile or losing the life of your what will Vou say yes me too the child will live Tuit the god who gave me the alternative ill stick pins into Tor the rest of my life. The attempt to answer military questions by asking the question How much do you love the kid Over there who just got married the youngest son of proud and devoted parents is a of important calculations that Are necessarily made so to speak in cold blood. Liberty Thomas Jefferson once said needs to be watered regularly by the and patriots. That is Little like saying it in Hollywood Csc but blood of tyrants and a the hew St Azud fight it is by turning the melodrama upside Down and asking the question was it reasonable for Patrick Henry to say a give me Liberty or give me death a but Back up for a moment. There Are 50,000 americans who Are killed every year driving their automobiles. Why does no to Schlesinger say that automobiles should be banned because the pleasure he takes from them a going to americans for democratic action rallies driving to the White House when he had offices there driving Down to Coney Island for an afternoon of fun a Are All very Well but Are they Worth the life of his wife child sister or Jackie. I mean Stop and think of it let us suppose that i am addressing a 30-year-old you can dry out that observation and ask is it or is it not historically the Case that a society needs to defend its freedoms if the answer is that yes this docs need to be done then you accost the second question does the threat to your Freedom begin on the Day that the nazi trooper deposits you in a train to Buchenwald or does it begin a Little bit before that time a say when Hitler took Over the Rhineland and it was still possible to Stop him or for that matter when Hitler seized absolute Power in Germany a few years earlier and became visible to the farsighted As a genuine threat to european peace it Wasny to just Joey who died finally stopping Hitler it was 50 million Joeys. A mature society Alert to timely action against destroyers of the peace makes its bid. It might say to use a round figure a that one fifth of 1 percent of the population is going to die every generation in order to preserve Freedom and sovereignty. That a 500,000 people a a about what we lost in the three wars that spanned a single generation world War ii Korea and Vietnam. It is calculations of that order that Arm us for the casualty figures ahead and it does no to mean that the death of Joey wont be heartbreaking to those who love him. Universal press Syndicate Leslie 6elbwing out to protect right Wing propagandists have discovered How to use the persian Gulf War which Many of them oppose to ride an old Hobby horse Back into the sunlight. Turn on the television look at their columns and learn two new Meta facts a we should Praise the heavens for president Ronald Reagan a strategic defense initiative or Star wars for giving us the Patriot missiles now famous for shooting iraqi scud missiles from saudi and israeli skies. A we have Reagan a fat increases in military spending to thank for winning the War. The first is pure baloney. The second contains a Grain of very misleading truth. Lets begin with the colourful Star wars Patriot tale. The Patriot is not now and never has been part of the strategic defense initiative programs and owes nothing of its Success to Star wars technology. For the truth just Call maj. Peter m. Keating an army spokesman who said in response to a query that the Patriot and ski a Are not even a spinoff of each for emphasis he added the Patriot was originally designed in the Ford administration to shoot Down aircraft. Quite independently of the Star wars bureaucracy and at modest Cost the army changed the computer software and the explosive fuse on the missiles and made the system ready for its present anti missile duty. Yes indeed the Patriot and Star wars Are both intended to intercept missiles. But the similarity ends there. Its like saying that since people and elephants both have ears they can equally enjoy Mozart and the elephants should be encouraged to do so. More troubling than the Patriot tale is the re Agana a winning the War myth. In the first place the War in the Gulf is being fought with conventional weapons not nuclear ones. Nukes were the trademark of the budget fashioned by then defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. Nukes far More than tanks and fighter bombers constituted the thrust of his increases in weapons procurement and research and development. Remember the by bomber cancelled by president Carter and re instituted by Weinberger now $30 billion later the plane is so bad that the air Force rarely flies it. The old b-52s Are doing the heavy bombing work Over Iraq and Kuwait. Above All remember the Star wars fantasy. The Weinberger Reagan team spilled about $20 billion Down the Drain on that scheme to destroy All attacking soviet missiles. It could have Cost $250 billion. Almost All the technological wonders of the Gulf War were begun Well before Reagan. Harold Brown Carters defense Secretary deserves the major credit for the sea launched cruise missiles the stealth bomber and the harm missiles employed so effectively against radar. A one of Weinberger a notable technological contributions was the Navy s a-12 attack plane. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney just cancelled it after Only a few billion dollars was wasted. As for improvements in the readiness of conventional forces the Reagan Weinberger duo merits about half the credit. No one pushed harder than congressional democrats to buy stockpiles of munitions and spare parts. Reagan spent about $1.5 trillion on defense Sev Cral Hundred billion More than Carter had planned. Most was Welt spent and justified. But much of the Quick and Large increases fell victim to mismanagement waste and fraud. Here is How that performance was described in 1988 David Packard Deputy defense Secretary under president Ford and chairman of Reagan a own Blue ribbon commission on defense management. The administration Congress and the defense department Packard said a have created an environment in which honest and efficient military acquisition is impossible to implement. One could do As Good a Job in awarding the major contracts by putting the names of the qualified bidders on the Wall and throwing darts.�?�. Also not to be forgotten Weinberger a Pentagon operation achieved a record number of indictments and convictions for fraud and thievery. If the right wingers new line on defense were simply to justify their past support for All the waste it would be amusing. If it were just the usual Campaign to portray democrats As weak kneed and Lily slivered that would be understandable. But their real aim is to keep military spending around $300 billion after the War ends a and that would prove deadly at the very moment when the nation will need to refocus on Domestic priorities. C new Yore times a the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way do be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government
