Limited nuclear wa
-I ""
By JON STEWART
A TWO-YEAR-OLD effort to reshape America's
strategic nuclear forces to cope with the
possibility of limited nuclear war has now forced
to the surface the first real debate of the early
sixties.
That debate, now being aired in Congress, re-
cently hit the headlines with a Boeing Aerospace
study unmasking a menacing new Soviet capacity
to weather nuclear war. The debate stems from a
basic shift in Pentagon thinking that places new
credibility on the chances of waging, and even
surviving, a nuclear confrontation.
According to interviews with experts in and out
of government, the civil defense debate is a neces-
sary adjunct to a massive, multi-billion dollar ef-
fort to retool U.S. strategic forces around a new
definition of "flexible response," giving new em-
phasis to the concept of limited nuclear war.
The limited nuclear war emphasis, championed
by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger for
the last two years, is a product of growing con-
cern in the Pentagon that the Soviet Union may
achieve nuclear superiority in the next decade.
If the Soviets come to believe that they could
destroy enough of our strategic force in a first
strike, while retaining enough nuclear missiles to
hold the U. S. population hostage, it could give
the Soviets increased leverage - usually called
nuclear blackmail in crisis conditions.
To counter such a possibility, Schlesinger and
others have promoted development of a two-
pronged strategy of limited nuclear war. First,
they urge deployment of highly accurate, high
yield, mobile Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
(ICBMs) that could knock out the Soviets' hard-
ened ICBM silos. Second, they want an effective
civil defense program that would drastically limit
U. S. casualties in a limited nuclear war fought
against each side's military forces.
The new emphasis is gradually replacing the
notion of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), a
policy based on the premise that once a nuclear
weapon is fired by either side, both sides would
be consumed in nuclear holocaust no matter which
had more weapons.
To implement the new strategy, civilian and
military advocates are waging a public relations
campaign to convince Congress and the public
that, given an effective civil defense program,
Americans could survive a limited nuclear war
with "acceptable" levels of destruction.
Advocating the strategy outside the government
is the prestigious Committee on the Present Dan-
ger, made up of such anti-Soviet hardliners as
former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze,
former Secretary of State Dean Rusk, former Navy
Chief Elmo Zumwalt and former Undersecretary
of State Eugene Rostow.
Inside the government, advocates include Sec-
retary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary -of
the Air Firce Thomas C. Reed and Air Force
Chief of Staff Gen. David C.~Jones.
Critics of the limited nuclear war/civil defense
strategy argue that it will destabilize the current
"balance of terror" by escalating the arms build-
up on both sides. They also contend it will prevent
meaningful progress in the upcoming SALT II
talks, scuttle whatever has been accomplished by
four years of U. S. - Soviet detente and usher in
a return to the Cold War. ,
Further, critics say that once a nuclear war is
unleashed, however limited the intentions, it will
inevitably escalate to all-out retaliatory attacks
killing tens or hundreds of millions of civilians on
both sides. Though both Nitze and Schlesinger are
Carter advisers, the president-elect expressed such
doubts during the campaign.
If the limited nuclear war strategy were to win
executive backing, however, it would still require
congressional approval for new and enormously
expensive weapons system, including:
- the B-1 bomber, described by Air Force Gen.
William Evans as the only plane that "in' the
r: Pentagon
event of a limited nuclear war" could "penetrate viets are spen
hostile territory, strike against assigned targets, defense (comj
and come home to do it all over again"; have an activ
the MX, the next generation of ICBM, now en- ployes and are
visioned as a mobile force with greater accuracy stand nuclear
than the current stationary - and thus vulner- These studie
able-Minuteman III, and designed to counter the of Soviet civil
four new Soviet ICBMs now being deployed; 1974 the U.S.S
* the MK 12A, a new higher-yield warhead for the evacuate maj
Minuteman missiles, designed to blast through re- szruction of ur
cently hardened underground Soviet ICBM silos, industry pers
Each of the weapons systems is designed spe- Soviet indus
cifically to meet the needs of waging and surviving countryside, si
a limited nuclear war. ulation center
The debate on civil defense began more than Professor L
two years ago. Alarmed by the 1974 appointment the University
of the highly regarded General Altunan to head the civil defenseI
Soviet civil defense program, Defense Secretary casualties tos
Schlesinger set in motion a series of studies to clear exchang
determine the size and effectiveness of both the So- levels of "acc
viet program and our own, which under the Pen- A 1974 Nati
tagon's Oefense Civil Preparedness Agency had figure at less
been generally dormant since the early sixties. hypothesized t
According to John Davis, director of the Agen- gets with two-
cy, the earlier reliance on urban fall-out shelters 45 percent oft
has now been scuttled in favor of mass evacua- given the pres
tions of target areas, plans for which Davis claims The studye
will be available by 1985. A joint study by the CIA reduced to jus
and Defense Intelligence Agency , now nearing a $35 billion
completion is reportedly stalled over major differ- evacuate cities
ences of opinion, according to a congressional The Boeing
source. of the Soviet p
A parallel National Security Study Memoran- tack. It claim
dum being prepared for the President has reached ing" is suffici'
the general conclusion that "we shouldn't be do- survive with n
ing much more than what we're doing already," equipment, thr
a source familiar with the project told PNS. He cent of the ma
said the report is "ambiguous" on many points, rication facilit
but concludes that "the Soviets probably don't tries.
have as effective a program as they claim." Boeing-as7
But Pentagon advocates of a stepped-up civil man ICBMs -
defense cite other studies indicating that the So- defense debat
pla
iding roughly $1 billio
pared to $82 million
ve civil defense forc
e "hardening" key in
blast assault.
es, based on translat
defense manuals, r
S.R. has developed d
or cities and has u
ban shelters for key1
onnel.
try is also dispersed
cattering important t
S.
eon Goure, a civil d
of Miami, estimates
program is now cap
seven to 12 million p
e - well within both
eptable damage."
onal Security Counc
than five per cent.
:hat if Russia hit U.
thirds of its ICBMsi
the U. S. population
sent civil defense pr
estimated that casu
st five percent if the'
civil defense progra
s and construct effec
study asserted that u
opulation could survi
ned that Soviet ind
ent to withstand a U
more than 50 percent
ree-fourths of its fou
achine shops, 80 perc
ies and 80 percent o
manufacturer of the
- has a clear inter
e and a strong adve
ns with glee
n a year on civil panded program.
in the U. S.), On the other side of the debate, Sidney Drell, a
e of 72,000 em- Stanford University professor and consultant to
dustries to with- the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, ar-
gues that such claims "have no basis in fact."
ions of hundreds In a rece't articles in Scientific American, Drell
eport that since contends that all estimates of Soviet civil defense
letailed plans to spending and effectiveness are nothing more than
undertaken con- elaborate guesswork - mostly based on Soviet
government and civil defense manuals.
"Manuals are not a civil defense program,"
throughout the Drell told PNS. "One has got to look at whether
targets and pop- there's a realistic basis for carrying out an opera-
tional plan under the manuals, and according to the
efense expert at expatriates from Russia who've been interviewed
that the Soviet here there is no basis for believing there is."
able of limiting He notes that Moscow's mass evacuation plan
persons in a nu- has an inherent flaw that could drastically alter
Soviet and U.S. the casualty estimates: "Seven months out of the
year if you evacuate people from Moscbw they'll
il study put the go out and freeze to death."
In contrast. it "I think the present civil defense program in
S. civilian tar- this country is a sensible one," Drell, says.
in a first strike, Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), an ex-Pentagon sys-
would be killed, temns analyst and another critic of the limited
ogram. nuclear war civil defense concept, agrees that
alties could be there is "an enormous gap between the rhetoric
U. S. undertook about Soviet civil defense efforts and their actual
am designed to capabilities."
tive shelters. Aspin notes that if Soviet planners read Ameri-
up to 98 percent can civil defense manuals, which show shelter'
ve a nuclear at- capacity for some 227 million persons, they "might
ustrial "harden- conclide that we are trying to develop a 'war
J. S. attack and winning capability' too."
of its industrial In an interview. Ed Schallert, an Aspin aide,
nderies, 90 per- dismissed the "scare stories and exaggerated
ent of steel fab- cliims" of the Pentagon and the Committee on the
f aircraft indus- Present Danger "as a convenient rationale for the
Air Force to sell its programs."
U. S. Minute- -
'est in the civil Jon Stewart is a PNS editor who covers military
ocate of an ex- and foreign affairs.
Ile 5irti an Daxig
Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Ml 48109.
Tuesday, November 23, 1976
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan'
U obligated to solve
tieket line problems
WITH THE INEVITABLE Rose Bowl
ticket lines flowing out of the
Union, it is time to consider the wis.-
dom of Michigan students in their
never ending quest to be first in ev-
erything.
We see students lining up hours-
sometimes overnight - in advance
for. crisp tickets, weeks in advance
for basketball tickets, a year in ad-
vance for football tickets. What were
once mere inconveniences have
turned into projects that might well
challenge the organizational skills of
Bo Schembechler.
Many students complain, and right-'
ly so. But they look for scapegoats.
They blame the administration, the
Athletic Department - anyone and
everyone in a position of authority.
But how can the students complain
when they bring most of their trou-
bles on themselves? If nobody lined
up for tickets until two or three days
before sale, a lot of unnecessary
waiting would be eliminated. The
senseless extra hours, therefore, are
actually the students' fault.
Of course most oft the problems
here could be solved by a compre-
hensive University policy, and that
is what will' probably have to hap-
pen; the cuttliroat competitive na-
ture of so many students will almost
certainly prevent any "gentleman's
(gentleperson's?) agreements about
lines..
Yes, it will have to be the Univer-
sity that solves things. But before
college America starts blaming their
parents for the "rat race" and ultra-
competitiveness, maybe they'd better
take 'a long look at themselves.
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Jim Tobin, Barb Zahs, Tim
Schick, Bill Turque, Jeff Ristine,
Jenny Miller
rape articles
To The Daily:
WE COMMEND you for your
most sensitive treatment of the
article "Rape Victims Tell Their
Stories."
But most of all, we wish to
extend our heartfelt thanks to
the two women of Oxford Hous-
ing who shared the story of their
ordeals with all women.
It is no exaggeration to say
that rape is a woman's most
dreaded fear, yet how many of
us are conscious of the number
of times each day that we put
ourselves into just that situa-
tion.
Much as we wish it were
otherwise, the fact is that it is
a treacherous world for women
and we must be constantly alert.
As former residents of Oxford
Housing, we look back and re-
member how many times we
courteddanger by coming home
alone from the library late at
night, taking false comfort in
the fact that the streetlights
were on and we were in a resi-
dential area.
Even though we no longer
live in Oxford, the lesson is well
taken.
Again, we wish to extend our
sincere gratitude to the two wo-
men who consented to tell their
stories. We empathize with
them and hope they will sur-
vive the experience relatively
unscathed.
It's frightening to think it
could have been us.
K. Spiegel Kiedrowski
S. J. Eldredge
U. L. Danvinich
November 22m
To The Daily:
IN VIEW of the gravity of
the current surge of rapes and
attacks of women in Ann Arbor,
Letters
it is commendable that the Uni-
versity has taken such quick
action in implementing the ;
Night Owl Bus Service for stu-
dents living in University Hous-
ing. However, there are a great
number of students who live in1
off-campus housing who are
also in need of protection. Most
of these houses and apartments
are located in a few concen-
trated areas, so designing an
effective bus route would not
4be difficult.
The University owes the same
concern and protection to off-
campus dwelling students as it
demonstrates to those who live
on campus. They've taken a
step in the right direction; I
urge them to continue and to
expand this service for the pro-
tection of all University women.
Anne Hoffman
November 22
geo article
To The Daily:
THE NOVEMBER 11, 1976
Daily carried a lead article by
two Daily staffers attempting
to analyze theGEO defeat. The
article has provoked a good
deal of indignation within the
Washtenaw County labor move-
ment. The article viewed the
GEO defeat as essentially the
fault of GEO members: "Ap-
parently GSA's were no longer
willing to fightmfor the rights
of women and minorities or for
the quality of undergraduate
education. They were not even
willing to fight for a more just
contract for themselves ... most
GSA's, like many others on this
campus, have lost the will to
fight." What utter nonsense!
The article contains its own
refutation. It traces out in gory
detail how the GEO leadership
betrayed GEO members and
to,
the
sound trade union tactics by
handing over to University man-
agement every demand worth
fighting for - without a fight!
According to the article, "at
meeting after meeting its mem-,
bership instructed them (the
GEO bargainers) not to move
on the major issues - affirma-
tive action, non-discrimination
in hiring, limits on class size
and economics." On the other
side, "the administration was
content to wait for a cold day
in hell before consenting to the
union's demands." Management
was out to break GEO by prov-
ing to GSA's that their union
was helpless and could gain
them nothing.
Given the rank-and-file mili-
tance and management's union-
busting, what should the GEO
leadership have done? Obvious-
lv a course of tame "respec-
tability" and constant capitula-
tion - the course actually chos-
en by the leadership - was ex-
actly wrong. By surrendering
nrincipled demands without a
fight, the leadership simply de-
moralized the membership and
won nothing but contempt from
management. As the GEO lead-
ers softened the union's position,
management hardened theirs.
The GEO leadership should
have kept their strongest prin-
cipled demands on the table to
the end, so that GEO members
could choose between the clear
alternatives - either strike for
something worthwhile or capitu-
late entirely. GEO members
never got to make this choice.
No, GSA's did not "sell out"
their principled demands. The
GEO leadership had already
done that before the strike vote.
With the most important de-
mands abandoned by leaders
too afraid to fight, it is little
wonder that the GEO member-
ship reduced the strike question
to economic arithmetic and de-
Daily
cided a strike couldn't win.
In order. to save their union
from destruction, GEO mem-
bers will have to remove their
present no-fight leadership and
develop militant leadership to
replace it. GEO members will
have to keep direction of the
next negotiations and strike in
their own hands. But the GEO
struggle cannot win so long as
it remains isolated within the
boundaries of the present un-
ion. Forsyth and Fleming are
backed up by Milliken. Milli-
ken is backed up by Ford/Car-
ter. And Ford /Carter are back-
ed up by the entire U.S. ruling
class.
In order, to win, GEO must
link up with other organized
and unorganized workers on
campus, at this time through
the medium of the All-Campus
Labor Council. University work-
ers must build alliances with
University students and Hospi-
tal patients, and, above all,
must work to integrate our
struggle here into the general
labor movement. But only on
the basis of full; conscious class
struggle against 'the corporate
owners and their government
can working people take real
control of society. The trade
union struggle must be general-
'ized and given a political direc-
tion through a workers' party
based on the trade unions. This
party must fight for a workers'
government, which will take
control of the forces of produc-
tion for the benefit of all work-
ing people.
Clericals for a
Democratic Union
November 21
CRISP-hig
To The Daily:
THIS BUSINESS of standing
in line to get CRISP tickets has
gotten out of hand: the reason
that the University instituted
the present system was to elim-
inate as much as possible the
idiotic custom of standing in
line for interminable hours. It's
not fair to people who perceive
the absurdi% of the overnight
wait in the bitter cold to shut
them out of classes.
Let's try other methods of
determining who gets to register
when: A three legged race: all
students shall lineup with a
partner down on Ferry Field
with their middle two legs
strapped together. The first
group to 1221 Angell gets the
best times, and so on.
Money Stakes: Richest stu-
dent gets to register first.
A Fight to the Death: Group
all the students in the stadium
and fly a plane overhead, drop-
ping, random CRISP tickets.
Good exercise and highly Dar-
winian.
I also find it very interesting
that the first person in any line
gets to make the policy for that
line. I would therefore like to
take advantage of this public
forum and announce the forma-
tion of the line for 1979 senior
football tickets. I am first, and
will buy as many tickets as I
' please. The rest of the people
who line up weeks in advance
will be behind me. Gosh, I hope
they don't change the policy on
me, for that would be most un-
fortunate.
Eric Zorn
November 19
Letters should be typel
and limited to 400 words.
The Daily reserves the
right to edit letters for
length and grammar.
Force
Editorial Page: Rob Meachum,
Stevens, Andy Glazer
Tom
Arts Page: Lois Josimovich
Photo Technician: Brad. Benjamin
Battling the
Marijuana Air
By HIGH TIMES NEWS SERVICE
FLYING LOW to keep a nation's heads
high, pilots of what High Times
magazine calls the "Marijuana Air
Force" (MAF) daily risk prison and
death over the Mexican border to keep
America supplied with grass.
It's estimated that up to 85 per cent
of the marijuana entering the U.S. now
gets in by plane. The preponderance of
these flights has escalated into a full-
scale air war between the smugglers,
the Customs Bureau and the Drug En-
forcement Administration (DEA).
For some idea of the extent of the
traffic, note that during 1975 Customs
confiscated 130 planes full of Mexican
weed. In the first six months of 1976,
142 grass-laden planes crashed on their
homecoming flights while flying low to
avoid radar.'
Jacques Kiere of the DEA's El Paso
Intelligence Center conservatively esti-
mates that at least 150 herb-filled nlanes
And Customs .is using part of its $30
million annual Mexican-air-war budget
to buy RPVs - remote-piloted vehicles
developed for the war in Vietnam, which
the U.S. also lost..
Customs is also using the facilities
of the North American Air Defense Sys-
tem (NORAD) and the Air Defense
Command (ADCOM) to track the dope
planes. Since 1974, according to High
Times, at least 18 Customs agents have
been staffing the NORAD/ADCOM radar
system, designed to warn of enemy nu-
clear attack. Suspicious planes found on
the radar are then tracked by Customs
craft and occasionally by the Air Force.
* * * .
pRESIDENT-ELECT Jimmy Carter is
holding himself "personally respon-
sible for thorough investigation and cor-
rection of the defects in the Drug En-
forcement Administration," according to
High Times magazine, which interview-
criminalization and head of Georgia's
drug abuse programs when Carter was
governor. (Note: Dr. Bourne is sched-
uled to address the NORML conference
as an aide to the president-elect in Wash-
ington on December 11.)
As for specific drug policies of the
Carter administration, Vice-President-
elect Walter Mondale is slated to head
a task force on drug traffic. According,
to his aides, Mondale also favors a
housecleaning of the DEA, which has
been accused of harboring extensive
corruption.
* * -
WERE ALL THE world's major re-
ligions originally inspired by the
ingestion of magic mushrooms?
Best-selling novelist Tom Robbins re-
ports in the December issue of High
Times that this may indeed be the case,
Robbins chronicles a variety of investi-
gations concluding that the mushroom
Allegro, a 51-year-old professor of an-
cient written languages and ,member of
the original Dead Sea Scrolls team. Al-
legro shook the theological community
four years ago by announcing that he
had discovered that the Jewish and
Christian religions were founded by
mushroom-worshiping cults. Allegro's
claim that the Old and New Testaments
are rife with mushroom-coded metaphors
and terminology is based on his research
into Sumerian, the oldest known writ-
ten language.
Hinduism was also affected by amani-
ta muscaria. The Rig Veda, a religious
Hindu text, is a book of 114 hymns in
praise of soma, the legendary divine
plant which is supposed to create a
godlike state in the mind of the user.
Aldous Huxley first. theorized that soma
was a mushroom. Then Professor R.
Gordon Wasson positively established
that soma was amanita muscaria.
MX'/X\1 A'.AMWi\U"