Page Twa THE MICHIGAN DAILY sunday, January 14, 197w PO§e Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY SOUTH VIETNAM Why bombing accidents occur 0 T e 'cehe SHE $AIG N (A') - A Vietnamese radio operator gets "three" mix- ed up with "two." A radarman" slows his target blip to the wrong spot on his computerized screen. An overworked tech- nician miswires a transistor. That's all it takes for a bomb to drop on the wrong target or the wr ng people. What's remark- able is not that it happens but that it doesn't happen more of- ten, If it takes place in S o u t h Vietnam the U.S. Command will report - usually belatedly - a "friendly fire incident," a eu- phemisim for killing or wounding American or South Vietnamese troops or civilians. Such an inci- dent was Monday's mistaken bombing of Da Nang Air Base. in which 10 Americans and a Vietnamese were wounded. Pre- liminary investigation indicated somebody confused the target with the primary reference point - the Da Nang Air Base. Last July, the month of t h e heaviest U.S. air strikes in South Vietnam in 1972, U.S. "friendly fire incidents" killed 19 South Vietnamese soldiers and wound- ed 76. That month there were five accidental bombings in more than 14,400 strikes, or one in School inequality criticized WASHINGTON (P) - A special Senate committee, chaired by Sen. Walter Mondale (D-Minn.), s a i d yesterday an extreme racial and economic segregation of schools in this country is mutilating the spirit of millions of poor and mi- nority children. Schools attempting to remedy the consequences - vastly unequal educational opportunities - a r e hamstrung by their worst money pinch since the depression, t h e committee said. In a 440-page report culminating three years of hearings, the com- mittee called, for a national com- mitment to socio-economic and ra- cial integration beginning in t he earliest grades and for greatly ex- panded federal aid to schools. The committee was unequivocal in its endorsement of racial a n d economic integration, including a cautious use of busing as one tool to achieve it. It also was plain- spoken in saying such integration Is far-fromtoday's reality. The committee cited three prin- cipal, interrelated causes of un- equal education in the U n i t e d States. These are: a severe econo- mic and racial segregation of most students outside of the South; an unfair labeling of students by back- ground rather than by their ability or potential which almost insures their failure; and what the panel called a spectacularly inequitable distribution of. funds which usually guarantees that poor children at- tend poor schools and rich students attend rich ones. The committee recommended a combination of strategies and pro- grams, accompanied by substan- tially increased federal financial underpinning of schools and in- centives to persuade systems to re- examine and reform themselves. JOIN Gilbert & Sullivan Come to a ii MASS MEETING '-' for Princess Ida SUNDAY, JAN.14 8:00P.M.:. G MICHIGAN UNION nearly 2,900. But a U.S. spokes- man said the average was only one in nearly 8,000 strikes for the nine months after the North Vietnamese offensive started on March 30. An air strike can go wrong for any number of reasons. Pilots claim that in most cases of accidental bombing they hit the target they were instructed to hit, someone else fouled up. Only under severely limited cir- cumstances is the pilot of a U.S. tactical jet supposed to attack "targets of opportunity." Al- most always his strike is con- trolled by a radar coordinator, or by a spotter on the ground or in a forward air control (F A C) plane. FAC pilots direct strikes by firing white phosphorus marker rockets and are usually very fa- miliar with their areas. But they have to learn some time. South Vietnamese military of- ficers have a reputation for a spendthrift attitude toward U.S. airpower. In many cases they have preferred to "call in the tac air" and blow an area to pieces rather than risk losing their own men by attacking with ground forces. Vietnamese spotters who ride in helicopter command s h i p s and approve Cobra gunship strik- es are sometimes confused by seeing familiar territory from a bird's-eye perspective. They also are sometimes influenced by air crews eager to shoot something up. Ground troops near a target ignite smoke grenades to mark their own positions. Occasionally North Vietnamese troops nearby are also equipped with s m o k e grenades they have found, bought or captured, confusing the pilots. Ground officers sometimes mis- take their own positions and ra- dio the wrong map coordinates to aircraft, an especially serious problem in the case of c 1 o s e air support. Incorrect directions from the ground were blamed for the strike Aug. 18 in which U.S. Phantom jets hit a church near Que Son, killing 27 civilians and wounding 15. The language barrier also con- tributes to misdirected strikes. Many news correspondents have seen U.S. advisers struggling to communicate with their Vietnam- ese counterparts over where and when a strike should go in. Scratchy radio communications compound the difficulties: EXPERIENCED SKYDIVERS UM SKYDIVING CLUB ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING 16 JAN., 1973-7:30 P.M. 3532 S.A.B. BE THERE "Did he say yes?" "Yeah, I think he said yes." "Okay, let's go get 'em." Bad weather and maneuvers to avoid antiaircraft fire also af- fect accuracy. Close support of troops in contact'with the North Vietnamese increases the risk of hitting friendly troops. "Sometimes a ground c o m- mander will have guys climbing all over him, and he wants that strike right in close," said one pilot. Even in the best of circum- stances of visual bombing it is hard to hit a small target from an airplane traveling a mile every seven to 10 seconds. A one- degree shift in attack angle can mean a difference of 100 feet or more in the spot where the bomb hits. Pilots of Skyraiders, the old prop-driven warhorses used by the South Vietnamese air force, can pretty well guarantee a hit within 30 yards of a given spot. But jets moving between 300 and 600 miles an hour have a las- ger margin of error - especially along their flight path. They like to aim no closer than 200 yards from anything they don't want to hit. A few years ago there was a rash of U.S. helicopter gunships hiting friendly military positions and civilian areas with their rockets. Investigation showed that vibration was breaking the brackets holding the rocket launchers. This caused the pods to slip, and the missiles hit short of their targets. The Michigan Daily, edited and man- aged by students at the University of Michigan. News phone: 764-0562. Second Class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich- igan 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan48104. Published daily Tues- day through Sunday morning Univer- sity year. Subscription rates: $10 by carrier (campus area); $11 local mail (in Mich. or Ohio); $13 non-local mail (other states and foreign). Summer Session published Tuesday! through Saturday morning. Subscrip- tion rates: $5.50 by, carrier (campus area): $6.50 local mall (in Mich. or Ohio); a 50 non-local mail (other states and foreign). Sunday & Monday: Quarter Nights (BEER & WINE) Tuesday: / Price Night Dancing Every Night from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. 341 South Main 769-5960 MOVIE BUFFS & FILM HISTORIANS! DON'T MISS THIS ONE! THE MOST DYNAMIC SPECTACLES OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY BROUGHT TO OUR GIANT THEATRE SCREEN BY THE MOVIES' GREATEST { SHOWMAN This Attraction ALL Only IJLc ii Ujr SEATS! : 0 31/2HRS. b'~I'Hes OFI PURE DELIGHT TECHNiCOLORS THE PARTING OF THE IO SEA The Single isMost Speotblar Seene Evrfe d. ;I A IHELD OVER! X RATED DOORS OPEN 12 NOON An P2IL U II]JA U, CECIL B.DMILE'S .THE TEN COMMANDMENTS RESTON BRYNNER BAXTER ROBINSONDE R PAGET DEREK HAROWICKE- FCH- SCOT ANOERso ONE SHOW Not Continuous 1 P.m. Only with Pete & Tillie! Sat & Sun. at 4TH HIT 5:15, 7 P.M., WEEK! RATED PG DIAL 662-6264 Matthau'.Buraett. *M* - -P - a - arLL~ MI- "A COMEDY THAT WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH i CRY, IT COULD BE THE BIG HIT OF THE NEW SEASON." -Detroit Free Press "AN INTELLIGENT COMEDY WITH SOME OF THE CLEVEREST LINES IN YEARS. THE SURPRISE COMEDY HIT OF THE YEAR." --A.A. News * ,, Ann Arbor' Expects To Build More Bicycle Paths Soon. Where Do You Think These Paths Are Needed Most?' Please Help By, Filling Out This Questionnaire I Turn in or mail to: BIKE PATHS Planning Dept., City Hall 100 Fifth St. Ann Arbor, MI 48108 Or BIKE PATHS Ecology Center 417 Detroit St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 r Reserved S eats MICHIGAN UNION 11-5:30 Sorry, no personal checks DAVID BROMBERG coming JAN. 24, Wed. POWER CENTER $2.50 also now at Union Mon.-Sot. 1. The Ann Arbor Bicycle League has distributed a bike path questionnaire. Have you turned in one of these AABL questionnaires? Yes L] No Q (PLEASE ALSO FILL OUT THIS QUESTIONNAIRE) 2. How old are you? 3. In what area of the city do you live? Campus, central part of town North side, North Campus Q Near west side L Near east side [~ Northwest Q Southwest Q Northeast Q Southeast Q Outside of Ann Arbor L Address: 4. What are your most frequent bicycling destinations? f Put one check mark for: 1st most 2nd most 3rd most U-M central campus Downtown (Central Business District) Ecology Center, Farmer's Market Westside shopping centers (Maple Vill) Eastside shopping centers (Arborland) Park (name) Other 5. Describe the bicycle routes you use most frequently: 6. How often do you use your bicycle? r 1 All the time, year around Q ' All the time during good weather About 4-5 trips per week LI About once per week or less [~ HELLI UPSIDE DOWN 7. What kind of bicycle trips do you make most often? Commute to work To visit friends Commute to school For fun and recreation Shopping & errands .4 8. Do you have favorite routes, or are there problems or suggestions you want to offer? i f II