~1agSiigau a{ Seventy-Sixth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BYS TUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MCIMTGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS 9- - --Imq WmsAr there OiioUP &UO, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MicH. NEws PHONE: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily ex press the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. 3ATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1967 NIGHT EDITOR: JENNIFER RHEA Congress Quashes Hopes For Draft Reform FEW MONTHS AGO, the country was bright with hopes that the archaic, nefficient and unjust Selective Service System that has been in effect since World War II would at last be reformed. After the most perfunctory treatment m the floor, a conference committee has worked out and the Senate has pass- ed a slightly reactionary version of the Jniversal Trainng and Service Act. Final Iouse passage is certain and the military iraft will be extended in more-or-less its present form for four years. The hopes of the reformers have been utterly smashed. THE ONLY REFORM written into the bill by Congress is a policy of taking youngest men first. While this would be a audatory step when coupled with other changes, attached to the present bill it >nly serves to aggravate injustices. Against the advice of the National Commission on Selective Service, a num- ber of leading educators and the wishes >f many students, the new bill extends student deferments. backwards in the field of conscientious objection. The bill specifically restricts CO status to conventional religious rea- sons. In recent years, the courts have been liberalizing the meaning of the Se- lective Service Act to allow conscientious objection on the basis of individual moral grounds. Congress has taken the treat- ment of conscientious objectors back to its pre-World War I brutality. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will view with dismay this particular feature of the new act. There are still two bright features to the measure. One is that it has, in effect, dissolved the abominable role of the uni- versities as handmaidens to the draft. Students will be deferred regardless of how the colleges feel about it and the colleges will no longer feel compelled to dutifully administer draft tests and send rankings and transcripts to draft boards either in accordance with or against the wishes of their students. Another promising feature relevant to this area was that Sen. Philip A. Hart (D-Mich), who has often appeared to be not the most independent and courageous if~~~~~~~~f A1,,j~kj~L _____ AR L- ~' h ~'RED -- J7h e~ v-Twe ~' NOBODY BUYS IT ANY MOR1 *- The Arrogance Of American Purity Letters to the Editor In the past, there was at least some member or the seae, tuis a star pretense-although it was seldom more the floor against the bill and the than pretense-of basing student defer- whelming majority of his colleagu ments on merit. Students were deferred both sides of the aisle. only if they obtained standing in the top of their college classes. Under the THE REFORMERS who had such I new law, any and all college students hopes for the new draft law c will be deferred. Since, for the most part, reckoned without the silent but awE colleges are open ~only to students who political power of middle class can pay, and since any student who has America. The draft was not extend the money can find a college somewhere, its present form, not because most this policy of deferment is the most gressmen are overly fond of it, bu blatant form of economic discrimina- cause they did not have the guts to tion. America's battles will continue to be the boat. rich men's wars and poor men's fights In fact, Congress, whose membei moaning about losing their power t MOST PEOPLE concerned with the executive branch of government, gat draft felt that if Congress did noth- impression of not really giving a ing else, it would clean up the snake pit about what sort of bill it passed. of local draft boards and put the entire True, extensive hearings were system under some sort of unified cen- but the bill was rushed across the tral control. Congress paid at best only of the House like a personal relie lip service to the concept of uniform The House gave its original versi control in the conference committee bill. the bill after less than five minu The national Selective Service System can debate. The Senate was little b "recommend" uniform standards but it although it may be excused since i cannot make them mandatory, which is to faced with more important matter say there will be no uniform standards. the campaign financing filibuster A draft lottery, far and away the fair- the anti-flag burning bill. The acti est means of choosing who shall go and Congress in the entire matter have who shall not, was rejected outright by a mockery of justice, the Consti Congress. President Johnson asked for the and the legislative process. authority to institute a lottery and Con- gress flatly denied him that authority. The new bill also takes a massive step -STEPHEN WILDSTR Israel: On the Road to Disaster? nd on over- es on bright learly esome white led in con- t be- rock rs are to the ve the damn held, floor f act. on of tes of better, t was s like and ons of made tution ars. OM Vietnamese Student Nguyen Thanh Trang, in the letter to the University of Mary- land daily paper reprinted by Tran Van Dinh in his column in your June 16 issue, has hit the nail on the head. He sees the U.S. need to keep its present economic sys- tem going by priming the pump through colossal military expendi- tures as the main reason for the war in Vietnam, all pious U.S. gov- ernment allegations to the con- trary notwithstanding. But all that is not the whole truth. As Carl Oglesby (resident at the University of Michigan sev- eral years ago) points out in his (and Richard Shaull's) brilliant book Containment and Change," another reason is our need to iso- late South Vietnam from North Vietnam and mainland China so that South Vietnam's rubber and rice will be marketed by us and available to Japan. The alterna- tive-Vietnamese control of her rubber and rice and trade between. her and China and Japan not controlled by us-we will do every- thing in our power to prevent. For that would foster a regional eco- nomic system in Asia not depend- ent on the U.S., and not at the mercy of U.S. businessmen seek- ing higher profits in impoverished countries abroad than they can make in the affluent society at home, and above all seeking an outlet abroad for the overproduc- tion of the U.S. economy which we havenot yet found a way to use to alleviate poverty at home. IT IS COLD comfort, but I hope Nguyen Thanh Trang is aware that a considerable and increasing number of Americans-and not only American students-are deep- ly ashamed of, and sickened by, U.S. military activity in Vietnam. How willingly the U.S. joined a few years ago in deliberations about German guilt for World War II. Perhaps the present U.S. in- volvement in Vietnam, disastrous for Vietnam in all ways and dis- astrous morally though not, alas, economically for the U.S., is a punishment visited upon us for the sin which has beset Americans from the beginning of our his- tory-namely self-righteousness. -J. A. Bailey Department of Near Eastern 'Languages and Literatures Rallv Controversy I wish to reply to the potshots called "homage") taken at Ju- daism by Mr. Soudek and the perhaps correct but inconsistent ire of Miss Dick regarding the Is- rael Rally. First, Mr. Soudek's remarks were both unclever and unfair. He as- serts that "(Judaism) has turned an objective professor into a my- popic (sic) rally maker." Here Mr. Soudek confuses being objective with having no opinion. This is a great and not uncommon error. Objectivity is a way of arriving at opinion, not the absence of opin- ion. A philosopher, like anyone else, is entitled, having arrived at an opinion, to voice it. Indeed, if the issue is an important moral one, he has the duty to do so (we are assured by the anti-war peo- pie). To assume, as Mr. Soudek does, that Prof. Kaplan's pro-Is- rael view is biased and a function of his being a Jew is as unfair as calling every Gentile who takes Semite (although both of these an anti-Israel position an anti- are possible). Does Prof. Kaplan have to come out against Israel to demonstrate his "objectivity?" I am sure that if he did that, Mr. Soudek would have found him "unbiased" since his view and Mr. Soudek's would then agree. But this is not objectivity. TO MISS DICK, although I do not support the treatment of her or the Arab speaker at the rally, I merely wish to point out that rallies are not usually conducive to opposing viewpoints. In specif- ically "liberal" functions, how would the following people fare: l) a Klansman at a civil rights rally, or 2) a "hawk" at an anti- war rally? Indeed, the treatment of the pro-administration (and even neutral) factions at our fa- mous Vietnam teach-in were hard- ly "polite." Rallies are not sem- inars. They are loud shows of support for opinions previously ar- rived at. And their participants are not at the moment emphasiz- ing their rationality. This is true (however unfortunately) of rallies for Israel, for civil rights, for SDS -or anything else. If someone of the opposition tries to get the floor, he is. asking for trouble, and Miss Dick should know it. If she con- demns the actions at the Israel rally (as well she may) she must denounce all rallies for the same reasons. And her comparison of actions at the rally and Israeli military tactics was ill-consider- ed and juvenile. There is a great propensity for indignantly calling -°"objective" what we agree with and "biased" what we do not agree with. The letters above mentioned are ex- amples of the pomposity which is the hobgoblin of both extremes of the political spectrum. --Joel Hencken, '69 By HOWARD MOFFETT Collegiate Press Service SAIGON-We have been taught that our history, beginning with the Puritan fathers, has been deeply influenced by the early Americans view of themselves as a morally pure and righteous peo- ple-by contrast with the deca- dent, corrupt sons of Europe. I didn't really appreciate what this meant until I had been in Vietnam for several months. What finally brought the idea home-and left me depressed and scared-was a series of interviews with Army and Air Force chap- lains. There are over 400 American chaplains in Vietnam. All are vol- unteers. I interviewed 13. Almost to a man, their consciences were aggressively clear about the moral rationale for the U.S. military commitment. That might be expected of chap- lains. But what surprised and de- pressed me were the glowing terms they used to describe what is bas- ically an agonizing, dirty business of making many people suffer in order to prove a political point. In their view of the world, Ameri- cans are still the standard bear- ers of morality in the battle against evil. Cotton Mather would have recognized his descendants instantly. On the basis of these chaplains' interviews, a disinterested observ- er would have to characterize the American approach to war as (a) saintly and (b) child-like, Con-' sider the following four assump- tions: 1) We are here to save the Viet- namese people from the evils of Communism. This theme was sounded by at least 10 of the 13 chaplains. The following quotes are representative, and in my opinion the complete contexts would not change their import: "The Viet Cong are misguided zealots who have been given the wrong information all their lives. What would you believe if you had been taught all your life that Americans are the aggressors? "- Chaplain Ross C. Wright, Conserv- ative Baptist from Los Angeles. "I see China as an emotionally disturbed society." - This from Chaplain Jack Keene, United Pres- byterian, who believes the U.S. has an obligation to protect South Vietnam from foreign domination. "I'm not so concerned about the democratic process, but I think the clergy should be on the side of right. Maybe the majority of the Vietnamese people do support the Viet Cong, but if so. they do it out of ignorance and fear It's like our American race riots. The police at Watts weren't very popular, but they were right." - OrvillekMcCormack, Assemblies of God, Oklahoma City. McCormack, an Air Force chap- lain, says some of the men who come back from bombing missions break down and cry over mistakes they have made in hitting the wrong village or striking.innocent civilians. He concludes, "But to compare these accidents with cold- blooded Viet Cong atrocities is to compare a man who has had a car accident with a killer who goes downtown and machine guns 20 people .. . . GI Joe is a healer, not a killer. We're not here to kill people but to keep them from being killed, not to conquer but to free, not to take but -to give our lives in order that they might have . 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for 'his friend'." Lest the lighthearted laugh too loud, it should be said that there is some ground for the attitudes of most of these men, some truth in what they say. But when all is said and done, in many parts of this country saving the Vietna- mese from the evils of Commu- nism boils down to saving them from themselves-whether or not they are Communists. The Viet Cong may be zealots, but few Vietnamese would call them misguided. Personal freedom and human dignity may be more important than life to Americans. but Saigon and Washington are asking many Vietnamese to trade their lives for a freedom and dig- nity they never had. China may be an emotionally disturbed socie- ty, but at the moment-many Viet- namese are more frightened of the United States. McCormack's comparison be- comes a little fuzzy when we re- call that the policy of widespread bombing is itself no accident, and his eloquent statement of Ameri- can intentions might not sound quite so convincing to Vietnamese widows and orphans. Christianity has always thought of itself as fighting to aid the oppressed, but even in America there have al- ways been those who didn't see it qiethat way; can we blame a Vietnamese Buddhist for not get- ting the point? 2 We n. d..hIA 1. . cerely wanting to help the Viet- namese people. Most American of- ficials in Vietnam like to talk about how America is helping the Vietnamese. The chaplains were no exception; they referred most frequently to the military's civic action programs. It is true, there are a staggering number of hopelessly altruistic Americans running around Viet- nam. By old colonial standards, they are shedding much blood and many tears with little to show for it in the way of dollar profits. GI's build orphanages, support poor families, put hundreds of kids through school, hand out chocolate bars the length and breadth of Vietnam, and often make considerable personal sacri- fices in the process. But with child-like naivete and almost total ignorance of what a century of colonialism has taught the Vietnamese. they expect to be thanked. 3) The Viet Cong should not use sneaky tricks to kill Amer- can soldiers. The thought cari- catured here runs just below the surface of many American conver- sations. The implication is that war ought to be played by the rules. as defined in the U.S. Code of Chivalry. Chaplain Wright, with quiet in- dignation, told of a Viet Cong mine that had inflicted five cas- ualties on a 1st Air Cavalry Di- vision unit the week before. A whole platoon had walked over the mine without touching it off. but somehow one of the last men unwittingly detonated it. The chaplain told the story as if the Viet Cong had deliberately lulled the Americans into a false sense of security and then attacked from behind. He also showed me - in the midst of an explanation of how people at home have a distorted view because the press never tells about Viet Congatrocities-a UPI story of a Viet Cong atrocity. A young American captain had been killed trying to. clean out an enemy cave in the Central High- lands. A North Vietnamese soldier had come out of the cave, pushing a, woman and child in front of him. Not wanting to hit the hu- man shields, the American low- ered his gun, whereupon the North Vietnamese shot him point blank in the head. It was a dirty thing to do, and I like it no better than the young American's mother would. But to suggest that it wasn't fair, and that the North Vietnamese sol- dier was an evil ogre because he took unfair advantage, is to make war into a child's game. (Tit for tat: within minutes the cave had been blown with explosives and one GI estimated over 100 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese were buried alive inside.) 4) The Vietnamese should be more responsive to our benevolent but firm approach to pacification. I depart from the chaplains' script at this point to discuss the Amer- ican way of pacification, which refers to making hostile peasants friendly. The Marines have been pacify- ing villages in I Corps (Central Vietnam) for a year and a half now, and their example has been followed by many other American units engaged in civic action pro- grams. The basic formula is to move into a village, maintain or- der by intensive patrolling and hunt down any stray guerrillas with the left hand, while setting up medical aid programs, build- ing dams and spillways, and giv- ing out candy, soap and tooth- paste with the right. Often the GI's make friends, especially among the kids. But observers who live in I Corps say the hard facts are that most of these villages are less pacified than when the Leathernecks landed. The lessons we learn from the American experience in Vietnam will be largely conditioned by our view of ourselves. If the foregoing is at all to the point, it suggests there a lot of psychological cob- webs that will have to be cleared away first. Some may object that the chap- lains' views are not representative. Chaplains, after all,- would be bound to come up with moral reasons for a war. But the pro- tests of many civilian clergy sug- gest that the issue is not so sim- ple. (Indeed, they raise the in- teresting question of how a single church inspired by one Lord can produce such different answers to such fundamental problems.) Furthermore, the language of the chaplains is the language of many-not all, but many-Amer- ican officers and enlisted men who have -served in Vietnam. (Would you believe the language of Dean Rusk?) These are the 4 E IF WE HEED the lessons of our own his- tory, cocky, little Israel may be headed for disaster. There are striking parallels between the adamant posture of the vic- torious Israelis and the United States' actions in Korea. Seventeen years ago, against his bet- ter judgment, President Truman allowed 'himself to be convinced by General Doug- las MacArthur to order U.S. troops (under the auspices of the United Nations) across the 38th parallel into Communist North Korea. MacArthur repeatedly assured Truman that under no circumstances would the Chinese enter the conflict on the side of the North Koreans. The Daily is a member of the Associated Press and Collegiate Press Service. Summer subscription rate: $2.00 per term by carrier ($2.50 by mail); $4.00 for entire summer ($4.50 by mail). Daily except Monday during regular academic school year. Daily except Sunday and Monday during regular summer session. Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan. 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48104. Summer Business Staff SAMUEL OFFEN..............Business Manager ED NEUBAUER..............Advertising Manager STEVE ELMAN..... ......... circulation Manager ASSOCIATE ADVERTISING MANAGERS: Erica Keeps, Marilyn Parker, Naomi Goldberg. Within weeks over 800,000 Red Chinese volunteers massed and attacked UN forc- es just north of Tokchon in North Ko- rea. The Communists were not about to surrender what they felt to be part of their sphere of influence. The United States, swept up in a victory complex dur- ing the summer of 1950, was then forced to conduct a painfuland expensive three year conflict in Korea. THE SOVIET UNION tends to feel for the Arab nationalists as the Chinese felt for the North Koreans; the Middle East, while non Communist, falls under the Soviets' sphere of influence. But Is- rael, fully impressed with her quick vic- tory, has been victimized by a marked role-reversal in her foreign policy out- look. Whereas only 10 days ago Premier Levi Eshkol disclaimed any desire for territorial expansion, Minister of De- fense Moshe Dayan, Israel's "Desert Fox," has since repeatedly stated that under no circumstances would . the Is- raelis part with Old Jerusalem, and may even be forced to retain control of Sinai and. all of Jordan west of the Jordan River for "security" purposes. The Soviet Union may be compelled to react. Already under pressure within the Communist bloc for its inaction in South- east, Asia, it can ill afford to sit by idly in the Middle East. Increasing pressure is being heaped upon the Russians, so much so that Premier Kosygin is person- ally attending an emergency meeting of ....c.. .p:'.......,x......J... ...... . . . ..... .. .. . .... Social Upheaval in Mexico "HERMOSILLO, Mexico (RP- Federal troops controlled this city; the capital of Sonora state, Thursday after three days of street fighting caused by politi- cal disagreements left at least one person dead. "The troops took over without resistance at the University of Sonora, where students have beenron strike 63 days demand- ing the removal of state gov- ernor Luis Eneinas Johnson. "About 400 paratroopers and 800 infantrymen were posed at government buildings, utility plants and offices after martial law was declared in the state." -Detroit Free Press May 19, 1967 By HENRY B. GOSTONY Daily Guest Writer There's a revolution going on in Mexico today that no one knows about. It involves students, peasants, government workers and almost everyone in the country. I just returned from that coun- try last month and it takes a whil +o aliz what.is gning on. cars of government officials were stolen and burned, newspapers were bombed, students killed, buildings destroyed and martial law declared. IT ALL STARTED two months ago when to3e government in Mex- ico City declared Faustino Felix Serena, the winner of a primary election held todetermine the PRI candidate for governor of Sonora (of which Hermosillo is the capital) for the August elec- tions. He had finished a poor third. This was too much for the ideal- istic students of the University of Sonora, in Hermosillo. When they staged a hunger strike in the town square Felix Serena's private body guards-some call it an army - opened fire and killed several of them. The student body then unanimously voted to leave class in protest. Their example was fol- lowed by every public elementary school, grade school and high school in Sonora. For two months not one child attended public school. Their par- enough to be caught off universi- ty property. FINALLY, on May 17 President Dias Ordaz ordered 1200 troops to regain control of the city. Their first act was to enter and secure the university, an act permitted under the Mexican Constitution only in times of revolution. But the strike continues and 5000 uni- versity students will probably lose all credit for the school year. Many people, including Consu- late General Barney Taylor, be- lieve that the trouble has only be- gun. And it seems that unless the Mexican government makes con- cessions to a people now demand- ing some voice in their govern- ment, the people once again will take matters into their own hands. For five days I lived with these students and accompanied them in their "work." To me it is obvious that as long as Mexico continues to produces uch dedicated, self- less, highly idealistic people her situation can only change fore the better. Having attended two American universities, the University of I