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By ROGER GALE cal realities prohibit the launch-
THAT Soth Vietnam ing of direct armed combat
Cambodia have fallen missions from Japanese soil.
cmmunists, and a simi- The Philippines has never
eover in Laos appears allowed the U.S. to launch di-
ent, Washington has ser rect bombing missions from
ubts that it can rely on Clark airbase. This is "a mat-
ctive fighting capability ter of policy" worked out with
sian allies in future hos- the Philippine government, ac-
cording to former assistant sec-
f this one pillar of the retary of state Marshall Green.
doctrine has collapsed, EVEN THAILAND, w h i c h
made the second pillar- allowed the U.S. to carry out
U.S. power on offshore armed combat missions from its
securely in American ,ir ha-, nowforced , r d
hands - more important than
ever. And Washington now sees
Guam as the only base'in the
Western Pacific from which it
can act with relative freedom.
Workers in Okinawa refused
to allowB 1-52 bombers to fly
from Kadena airforce base, and
treaty commitments and politi-
territory, as nwtu t
America to cut back its pres-
ence.
Taiwan, since the U.S.-China
detente, can no longer be real-
istically consideeed a major
U.S. base.
This leaves Guam - a U.S.
colony since 1898-and its neigh-
boring islands in American-ad-
for Pac
The Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by Students at the
University of Michigan -
Saturdiy, May 31, 1975
News Phone: 764-0552
is boar powerless
IT IS INDEED a crowning irony in this post-Watergate
era that a public official volunteering information
which could lead to possible conflict of interest charges
against her cannot find a receptive official ear. Such was
the case last Wednesday when University Regent Sarah
Power (D-Ann Arbor) was denied an opinion from the
State Board of Ethics on whether her husband's business
relationshin with the University constituted a conflict
of interest for her.
Power's husband. Phillip, is a shareholder in the
Observer newsosoer eroip. which publishes a dozen sub-
urban Detroit weeklies and bi-weeklies, some of which
have carried advertisements for course offerings at U-M
Dearborn. Power also holds an interest in a printing and
typesetting comnanv which has done business with the
University from time to time. Power has said the total
cash value of the transactions has never come to more
than $400 a year.
WHEN MRS. POWER wrote to Attorney General Kelley
in February, asking for an opinion on the issue, Kel-
ley referred the matter to the State Board of Ethics, a
body supnosedly empowered to hear only cases Involv-
ing anpointive officials of the state's executive branch.
The Board. only 15 months old, has suffered from
vague jurisdictional ground rules set down by the State
Code of Ethics The debate on the Board centered around
the question of whether a University Regent was a
member of the executive branch, an issue still not fully
resolved in the minds of some Board members.
After a lengthy debate, the Board 5-0 on Wednes-
day to send the case back to the Attorney General's
office.
THERE WAS NO discussion of the specifics of the case,
only the exnlanation that it was a sticky jurisdic-
tional issue which was being prudently deferred to Kel-
ley's office for an oninion. What was obviously intended
to appear as a solid example of judicial restraint has
emerged with all the earmarks of -good old-fashioned
buckpassing.
Compounding this irony is the spectre of interest
conflict haunting the Power family. In .1965, Phillip
Power's father, Eugene, was forced to resign from the
Board of Regents after it was disclosed that he had given
2000 shares of Xerox stock to the University as a gift
while serving as president of University Microfilms, a
Xerox subsidiary.
Power said the entire motive behind asking for a
ruling on his relationship with the University was his
feeling that public officials must behave "absolutely
punctilliously" when they are working in the public
trust. We agree, and only wish that _those in Lansing
responsible for upholding their end of that trust do so
in the future with a little more dispatch.
ministered Micronesia, as the
future keystone of the American
military presence in Asia.
Guam, 2300 miles from Sai-
gon, was seen in World War II
as too remote from Asia to take
any active part in warfare. But
the experience of more than
150 B-52s flying daily 12-hour
round-trip bombing raids over
"The new Micrones-
ian bases, along w i t h
bases in Japan, the
Philippines, Australia
a n d Diego Garcia,
would form a strategic
rinq around Asia man-
ned by sophisticated
surveillance devices."
Indochina proved that if Con-
gress was willing to foot the
astronomical bill, the small 30
mile long island could indeed
play an important part. Al-
though many of the B-52s have
now been withdrawn to home
bases, the strategic importance
of Guam has grown immensely
since the beginning of the war
in Indochina.
SINCE 1969-when the Nixon
doctrine was first enunciated on
Guam-the island has been the
master communications station
in the Pacific, coordinating all
military messages from Japan,
Indochina, the Philippines and
Australia. And there are at least
four H-bomb storage depots
there, including a Polaris sub-
marine base.
But, says John McLucas, Sec-
retary of the U.S. Air Force,
"there is a limit on space and
fauilities on Guam." As a re-
s"lt. U.S. officials have cast
their eves on Tinian, 100 miles
to the north. F. Haydn Williams,
nresident of the U.S. CIA-back-
ed Asia Foundation and the
Nixon Administration's political
reresentative in Micronesia,
annonnced in June 1973 that
Tinian would be turned into a
forward supply base, ammuni-
tion storage depot and a Marine
amnhibious training site.
While attention has been fo-
cused on plans for a $29 million
expansion of the U.S. base on
Diego Garcia, Washington has
announced many details of its
plans for Tinian. Estimated to
cost more than $309 million, the
base wouldhouse up to 13,01
troops and an undisclosed num-
ber of civilian workers.
MICRONESIAN bases fill the
Pentagon's requirements com-
pletely. Bases like Kadena in
Japanese Okinawa are so ex-
posed to public view that they
are a constant problem for the
military. But on Guam, unlike
Okinawa, most bases are shield-
ed by jungle as well as the
standard barbed-wire f e n c e.
Tinian, surrounded by a sheer
cliffline, is even more ideal.
The Pentagon is also looking
for locations without hostile
ponlations like those in Oki-
nawa and, increasingly, even in
such places as Australia, where
military opponents conducted a
three-week "long march" in the
spring of 1974.
Tinian's population is minis-
cule; only 900 men, women and
children. Guam, although it has
a population of 115,000 (includ-
ing the military), has experi-
enced only isolated acts of vio-
lence against the military.
Because a large number of
Guamanians are in the armed
forces - largely because they
have been subject to the draft
-or have relatives who are,
relationsvbetweenthe military
and the civilian community are
still relatively harmonious.
of the U.S. government. All
major policy-making comes, in-
evitably, from the depths of the
Pentagon, which claims to have
pumped $200 million into Guam
last year, making it the main-
stay of the island's economy.
Although Guamhas had an
elected government since 1970,
there are no elections for ex-
ecutive positions on the other
islands. All officials there are
appointed by Washington.
The new Micronesian bases,
along with basds in Japan, the
Philippines, Australia and Diego
Garcia, would form a strategic
ring around Asia manned by
sophisticated electronic surveil-
lance devices. Supply depots on
Tinian and Guam would allow
quick intervention in any Asian
trouble-spots.
i ic strateg
BUT THE most important started the technological wheels
requirement of all is that new turning towards the creation of
bases be built on land owned a new "mini-fleet," a highly
by the U.S. in U.S.-run terri- mobile guerrilla navy.
tories. The Pentagon loes not Tiny hydrofoil boats to patrol
want to deal with leases, re- coastal waters and high-speed,
versions, and joint-use agree- ocean-skimming, surface-effects
ments. Just over 33 per cent of ships, the first of which are
Guam is owned by the U.S. now being test, would allow the
military and another 17 per cent navy to project its power over-
by other American government seas in a new way. New Ma-
agencies. On the other islands rine-laden troops assault ships
in the Marianas, the figure is now being put into service give
an astounding 90 per cent. the Pentagon a quicker inva-
Altogether, over 60 per cent, sion-response time than ever
of Micronesia is in the' hands before.
"This leaves Guam-a U.S. colony since 1898
--and its neighboring islands in American-ad-
ministrated Micronesia as the future keystone
of the American military presence in Asia."
ii-'. - amsim - - ' stasatsei- - -- - ,. - , -,sssit##is~&#ss su"###E
IF THE NEW strategy works
out-and the old guard in the
navy who favour spending mil-
lions of dollars on carrier forces
do not return to power-the
navy and Marines are "going
to get their feet wet again,"
as Marine Commandant Robert
Cushman told Pacific Stars and
Stripes recently. With the navy
roaming the Western Pacific for
long periods of time in their
new ships, there will be an an
creased need for amphibious
training sites. Tinian was sit-
gled out by Cushman as "a
good place to offer a variety
of training . . .
Although Cushman was refer,
ring to the future, a month be-
fore his statement, Marines
from Okinawa's Third Division
'nade their first practice assault
IT WOULD be what one mili-
tary strategist has called an
"interior position," based on
secure American - held island
territories with a greatly lessen-
ed dependence on bases locaed
on he Asian mainland. On his
arc of islands stretching 1,000
miles, new Micronesian bases
would form a secure barrier
across the "mouth" of Asia.
To a large extent, this new
strategy is a creation of the
nAvy - already riding high as
the only service to emerge from
Vietnam relatively unscathed.
Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, re-
tired chief of naval operations,
on flat-topped Tinian. Cod&
named "Quick Jab," it was th
firsttactive military present
on the island since the with
drawal of troops just afte
World War It.
While there, the. Marines er
gagedin alittle public relatios
too, painting government hu
ings and serving free hain
burgers.
Roger Gale, former choir
man of the Political Scienc
department at the Univer
sity of Guam, is a regult
contributor to the Pacifi
News Service.
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