European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 29, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday april 29, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 13commentary Aid would be better spent in . A pm �9. A a a a. Carl Rowan foreign i had this Nightmare a few nights ago in which More than 10 million jobless americans 37 million without health insurance vast millions who go to inferior Public schools and the growing battalions of the homeless suddenly declared War on the rest of the United states. It was Only a two Day War because the Bush administration had bombs that were smarter than the deprived schoolchildren. But in defeat the permanent underclass americans got themselves into an elite group those such As the japanese the germans and the former soviets who have lost military or economic wars with Uncle Sam and now live to enjoy it. In my slumber i heard president Bush say that he wanted billions of dollars spent on these vanquished americans because it was not in americans interest to have them Rise up in anger again rejecting democracy opting for some kind of dictatorship. A . Investment in the ill the destitute the ignorant and the hopeless was not Charity he said but an a investment in the  an old celebrated Democrat Robert Strauss was saying that spending billions in hard times on hungry a a castoffs and a a outsiders was a in the Good self interest of my children and my  in my a dream a nobody threw out the cliche that a you done to solve problems by throwing Money at them a which always was used to frustrate the hungry and homeless the uneducated and the Job seekers before their 1992 a declaration of  it was taken As a truism that if you threw enough Money at postwar Japan you could erase the problem of militarism a even if your Money created a problem of japanese economic Ascendancy. It was a Bedrock of nato that if the United states threw billions at the defense of Western Europe we could wipe out the problem of nazi based militarism or historic German expansionism a even if our spending on Germany led to american families going $60,000 in debt each to Bonn Tokyo and other sex enemy beneficiaries of our dollars for peace initiatives. I awakened to realize that there was no revolution of the neediest people in America even though the Prospect was there for America to lose in the Long run to Japan Germany Russia and others because of internal decay caused by greed racism corruption and a seeming inability to be As generous to americans needy As this country has been to its Defeated adversaries. Strauss was talking about the United states protecting his grandchildren by giving at least $3 billion in new Money that the country can barely afford to a Russia that Strauss admits it a a mess a and where thievery corruption and inefficiency Are such that we just might be dumping unprecedented billions into a sinkhole of unknown politics and unforeseen Power centers. In my Nightmare and my waking moments Bush still had not conceived of a War against America by the victims of deprivation and discrimination or its Impact upon the longtime Security of the United states. He still thought the threat was in Odessa Kiev and Moscow and not in Watts Harlem or Houston. I am not an America firster who is ideologically Blind to the Long Range benefits of fostering democracy in the former soviet Union. I am sceptical even without Strauss comment that a the Odds Are not 100 percent that Western Aid will do what its supposed to do. I can accept intellectually efforts by former foes of the old soviet Union to stabilize the Ruble give the average russian a Chicken and a loaf of bread and Hope that democracy will flourish and the cold War will Van ish forever. I done to accept Patrick Buchanan a argument that we with a $400 billion budget deficit this year cannot afford to give $3 billion to $6 billion to the soviet Union. We Are $4 trillion in debt because we have always figured we could afford to do what was in the interest of National survival. My Point is that if we can afford to spend new billions on ephemeral notions about How to pacify foreign foes we can afford to spend billions on programs that Stop the internal rot in America. We can spend wha it takes to ensure that the hungry harassed and hopeless of America never provide the Nightmare of warfare against America just to get into that Circle of the vanquished who Lay claim to so much of our largess. C North american Syndicate Harry g. Summers  arms distorted military s function during the taping of a forthcoming Public television series on Why an army army chief of staff Gen. Gordon r. Sullivan said that for the first time in his career the army no longer has nuclear warheads in its inventory. A we Are out of the nuclear War fighting business a he said. This development puts an end to the so called atomic Era that severely distorted both the political and the military dimensions of american Security. Most damaging was the corrosive effect of nuclear weaponry on the linkage Between the citizenry and the common defense. Some years ago the eminent military historian Michael Howard then the Regis professor of history at Oxford University in England wrote of the effect of such weapons on Public perceptions. No longer was National defense something the citizenry did to protect itself. National defense was something the nuclear a a experts foreign a a experts in the Case of our nato allies a did for you with weapons you could neither control nor understand. The effect was to break the centuries old Bond Between the citizen and the common defense. Patriotism was challenged by hopelessness apathy and in some cases capitulation to the fears of nuclear annihilation. Even democracy and Freedom were not Worth the risk. For them it was a better red than  within the military the effect was equally unsettling. Atomic a nuclear a weapons seemingly rendered All past Battlefield theories strategies and tactics obsolete. Conventional non nuclear War was a thing of the past. The army traditionally americans senior service was left without a Mission. Nuclear weapons delivery systems a air Force Long Range bombers and Navy super carriers a now vied to be our first line of defense. Grasping at straws to justify its existence the army built a strategic army corps around its 82nd airborne div and called itself the nations rapid reaction Force a Mission to which it clings to this very Day. But the army a importance was derided by one of its most prestigious former members president Eisenhower who decreed that the nuclear strategy of a massive retaliation would be the basis for americans defences. When president Kennedy assumed office in 1961, the strategy changed to a flexible  with its Reliance on Short and intermediate Range nuclear weapons the army at last got a piece of the nuclear action. Instead of directing its research and development to Matching soviet advances in conventional artillery it concentrated on nuclear ammunition for its howitzers and the development of medium Range nuclear missiles. Meanwhile the soviet Union finding itself at a nuclear disadvantage in the cuban missile crisis promoted a wars of National liberation to keep the United states occupied while it closed the nuclear Gap. This Low Cost strategy of using surrogate third world guerrilla forces proved surprisingly effective. While the army now supposedly a a counterinsurgency Force a bled itself dry in Vietnam the soviets achieved nuclear parity across the Board. The . Nuclear advantage was now nullified. But this a a advantage in any Case had proved irrelevant in Vietnam As had All the academic social science prattle about counterinsurgency and a a new kind of  the Vietnam War was decided not by nuclear weapons or by guerrillas but by an old fashioned North vietnamese army Cross Border Blitzkrieg of 20-plus divisions with a 5.5-to-l advantage in troops a 2.1-to-l advantage in artillery and a 1.2-to-l advantage in Armor. Conventional War had once More been validated not Only in Vietnam but elsewhere As Well. In none of the wars of the atomic Era had nuclear weapons been the Battlefield determinants their creators had prophesied. As had been True throughout history conventional weapons proved to be decisive. This realization shaped the development of the Post Vietnam military. It also led to a revitalization of the charge in the preamble of the . Constitution that All citizens have a duty to a provide for the common  both conventional weaponry and the will of the american people were evident in the persian Gulf War. And they Are evident in the military now being built for the future. The strategic air come for example has now joined with the Navy a slim submarine launched ballistic missile Fleet to form the new strategic come to continue to deter nuclear War. But the real strategic forces a the forces Able to achieve the political goals of the United states through the use or threatened use of military Force a Are the conventional Active and Reserve forces of the army Navy air Force and Marine corps. A lecture in strategy and distinguished fellow of the army War College. Cot Summers ret is the author of the recently published on strategy ii a critical analysis of the persian quit War c los Angeles times Syndicate