OPINION Page 6 Wednesday, September 23, 1981 The Michigan Daily al Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan End neutron bomb stockpiling Vol. XCIt, No. 12 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 . 1...,. Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Economics of the draft T MIGHT appear that Americans are safe from the draft these days. The president, after all, has said he doesn't like the idea of peacetime con- scription, and administration officials have echoed the president's words. But appearances can be deceiving, and the draft may not be quite as far away as people think. ;Indeed, last weekend, many of the elegates to a New York conference on military manpower suggested that in- ense national debate on the draft may sume as soon as early next year. The conference, which was spon- sred by a non-profit organization af- Jiated with Columbia University, brought together dozens of persons with considerable expertise in areas jlated to the draft and to the person- el needs of the military. Included mong the delegates were members of Congress and several high-ranking of- 'cers of the armed services. In a statement released at the end of ,he conference, the group said that a " substantial majority" of the 'elegates thought that a return to the Graft was "neither necessary nor dsirable" at the present time. { But several of the delegates suggested that the idea of a return to conscription might be seriously con- ;idered as the Reagan administration 0 Aid to the NA SPEECH to the United Nations Monday, Secretary of State lexander Haig urged Third World pations to develop their free markets, private initiative, and foreign capital. Forget about large increases in aid from rich nations, he said. What the Secretary of State seems to be saying, in effect, is that poor nations should not count on financial support from the United States so they can develop and prosper on their own. In- stead, they should become dependent on the United States, by allowing its large corporations-i.e. foreign capital-to enter their .countries, raping them of resources and profits. Unfortunately, what Haig suggested would benefit neither the United States nor these Third World countries. True, the countries should develop the resources they have at hand-but they desperately need the aid of countries such as the United States to help them develop their technology. They do not, however, need dominating large U.S. corporations bleeding them of these resources. They continues to look for ways in which to trim the federal budget. . Some have hinted that, although the usual justification for a return to con- scription is that such a program would guarantee that the military would have sufficient numbers of qualified persons the draft might come to be viewed by the Reagan administration as something more. A return to the draft might be perceived by the Reagan ad- ministration as a way of reducing the military payroll; you don't have to pay draftees as much as volunteers. Sadly, the idea that the ad- ministration might turn to conscription is not too far-fetched. Reagan has already shown a disturbing inclination toward cutting the budget at the ex- pense of civil liberties. And the president, despite his alleged aversion to the draft, has allowed the Selective Service registration program started under the Carter administration to continue. Proponents of the draft have dozens of reasons-nearly none of which are valid-why the nation needs to return to some form of conscription. But to reduce the discussion of the lives and fiberties of millions of young Americans to a matter of deciding where to cut the budget is particularly insidious. Fhird World The neutron bomb is a peculiarly horrible weapon, not because napalm, antipersonnel bombs or other types of nuclear weapons kill more humanely, but because it so perfectly expresses the moral and political bankruptcy of the prevailing security system. Now, in ac- cordance with a recent decision by the Reagan administration, it is about to be produced and stockpiled in the United States. The very theory under which itis to be in- troduced, however, is both wrong and dangerous. The idea is that a new weapon which kills people, who are expendable, and saves property, which is not, will make its use more likely and hence provide a greater deterrent. Its primary targets are the crews of closely massed tanks, in a "limited nuclear war" which somehow excludes multi- megaton warheads. YET, NOT ONLY is the neutron or "enhan- ced radiation" bomb far from an ideal weapon for its stated purpose-it kills slowly and painfully, not even fast enough to, in- capacitate tank drivers at the moment of ex- plosion-it has horrendous long-term genetic effects. A one-kiloton enhanced radiation warhead releases 150 rads over an area 1.7 kilometers from the explosion and 30 rads at a distance of 2.1 kilometers. Exposure to a mere 14 rads caused lukemia and other severe cancers in the inhabitants of the Mar- shall Islands in 1954; 30 rads' exposure doubles the genetic mutation rate, leaving a legacy of damage extending for generations. The idea that a nuclear war can be con- trolled is itself an illusion. If the Soviets found themselves the targets of neutron bombs, they would, in all likelihood respond with nuclear weapons of their own. Indeed, their strategic doctrine assumes the inevitability of escalation. It takes two to have a limited war, and there is nothing to suggest that the Soviets have any interest in playing by the new rules being developed by the Pentagon. Presently, they have about 3,500 so-called "tactical nuclear weapons" in Europe, most By Richard Barnet of which are the size of the Hiroshima bomb, and 600 of which are above 500 kilotons-more than 25 times the strength of the Hiroshima bomb. A limited nuclear war in Europe is a contradiction in terms. THUS, THE DECISION to produce the neutron bomb reveals contempt for the people who are to be defended, and a tragic willingness to weaken further the fragile remaining restraints against nuclear war. Consider the hazards: More nations are now producing nuclear weapons. More nations, such as Israel, are now so concerned about others acquiring nuclear capacity that they will consider preemptive military action. And the weapons of each superpower are now in- creasingly being targeted by the other, making both more nervous and prone to strike first. It is suicidal to lower the nuclear threshold under such circumstances. To pretend that the weapons are usable and that their use is being seriously entertained makes nuclear war more likely, not less. We should be taking nuclear weapons out of Europe, not preparing to put more in. The neutron bomb is a symbol of weakness and despair because at the very moment in history when it is becoming more clear that nuclear weapons can neither win a war, nor provide lasting security, the United States is confirming its dependence on the nuclear illusion. Not only does the neutron decision show a callous disregard for the future of the human race, but it also reveals a dangerous gap bet- ween American and European perceptions. The Soviet Union will, of course, make political capital out of this gap, but they did not create it. The administration announced the decision in a highly provocative way. ANTICIPATING A negative reaction from across the Atlantic, American officials em- phasized that European attitudes were of lit- tle concern to them. No one would "dictate" our weapons decisions to us. In fact,- Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger,- strongly suggested that the decision was- reached in retaliation for the German failure: to maintain an adequate level of defense spending. Hence, since the weapon is useless militarily in Europe-there is, however, a ghastly potential for its use in the Third World-the public announcement was clearly meant to produce a political effect. The message .is that President Reaganis prepared to deal with anti-nuclear and pacifist sentiment in Europe in the same way he has dealt with Congressional opposition and the air traffic controllers at home: ignore their concerns and roll over them. But the fear of war in Europe is genuine and cannot be assuaged by tough talk from Washington. Europe would be the zone of destruction in a "limited" nuclear war. Europeans, unlike Americans, have had' devastating wars on their own soil within living memory. A security strategy for the West that offers only increasing confrontation and no sure defense can only build anti- military sentiment, and widen the gap bet- ween America and Europe. The Reagan administration has reverted to a new sort of isolationalism, a flaunting of America's power to make unilateral decisions even in the face of strong European op- position. It is a policy of .weakness, not strength, for the great struggles in the world today are political. They cannot be solved by any nation acting alone, and they cannot be solved by military means. A United States that is prepared to isolate itself more and more from its closest allies can be neither strong nor secure. Barnet wrote this article for Pacific News Service. Weasel By Robert Lence ---- - 1 WtASEL T{}15 Boy Scour CAMP SURF- 15 FUN! eM RAVIN& ONI: }6cK v!} 'ri Mir t /' f I Ii FRESOMAN RAVE. You FwFM ?t il+is is coLt.£G Ynu E R-t' Mlutt6l}r t! YOU06 "VIN6 IN Or oRM Tf+IS 1514T- goy 5COUT CAMP ! s fit. Z T14 K IUN>-STANa> wIATfS APF~.N;-D wr STUPia C4SE5 IAV-cYoQ~s INt A$PNoit4AL ftyc. B.OY( 5C0yF CAMP WAr6 MO(M 4 o( YC SP~IM1 HOME ".50oW O~4rT 'W I t A- 6(MIL}. . $ATOJA4,Yo(*-.MINI, is F9$4j5H~t TIi t ..T _13Y 5couc,01 Pr" _ I 40 'DOES TIAT MEAN TONIWTS ;CAMPFIRE is oFF ? / fit t . di - I I Alexander Haig need a stronger, more positive connec- tion with this country. The picture of the large, dominating corporation taking all the profits home only serves to build resentment and hatred toward the United States. The United States can get much far- ther by supporting the people of these countries with its foreign aid, giving them the self-respect that comes from independent development. Haig should realize that one of the components of a strong foreign policy is working with, not against the people within the Third World countries. LETTERS TO THE DAILY: For this he took JT1'11J! ,I I/AI It 1 1~rj ( i l\ dX1i "1 To the Daily: HOW TO DETECT A NON- BEGINNER IN HEBREW 201: A Response to "For This I Took Ivrit?" (Howard Witt, Daily, Sept. 22). Hebrew 201. The course description says "No previous knowledge of Hebrew is assumed". We mean it! In spite of lie detector tests administered to students measuring the increased heart beat and rise in blood pressure as registered students insist that they have never had any Hebrew before and have never even heard of the language, there are among them (usually those on their way to Medical or Law School) some who are not among those who "could never tell a lie." After administering placement tests: two types-one objective given during summer orien- tation and the other, a more traditional test given during registration in the fall (Howard, think of the man/woman hours involved in correcting these tests! not to speak of making them up), we assume that all those who have had previous ex- perience have been appropriately placed, and we also assume that all students in 201 are innocent until proven guilty. On the whole we find that the majority is indeed honest. While two or three in each of the 201 sec- tions have never been exposed to Hebrew, the others indeed know their alphabet and some words in Hebrew; but Howard, this is not a rather than unlearning. There is great advantage to starting as a tabula rasa (no, this last phrase will not be on the first test). Hours are devoted by the Hebrew staff, whose job is to teach Hebrew, to find those culprits who are pulling the wool over our eyes. We have perfected ways of detecting students who have taken Hebrew before with fine techniques which allow us to determine not only the number of years and the type of school at- tended (day school, afternoon school, weekend school), but also approximate geographical location (Boston accent is the worst!). We have retreats and workshops devoted to indoc- trinating innocent and unsuspec- ting teaching assistants in the art of detecting previous Hebrew students. The detection methods are quite sophisticated: we watch for students who fall asleep in class in spite of our dynamic teaching techniques (you can't blame them; after all, how exciting can it be to study the alphabet for the seventh time?) We also watch for those who sneak in words which have not been introduced in class. There are a number of ways to detect students who have had Hebrew, but we cannot reveal all our car- ds as students are always one step ahead of us. On the positive side we devote many hours to students who profess to having Hebrew Anxiety, and are greatly aided by fha~ l~ff fhflnvhlnflf.oca nas in mad. We think his choice of Levi for Louis is a touch of a poet, but we do like Schmuck better, ex- cept that, as he said, we don't mix Hebrew and 'yiddish-Gevaldt! We wish you and all The Michigan Daily readership Shanah Tovah-for those with no Hebrew names and not versed in the ancient-modern Semitic language, it means a Happy New "THluE NEW MEDICINE OUGHT r103e TAKING EFFECT P MTY SOON" -The Hebrew Staff of 201 September 22 Year. If you wish to learn more, enroM in Hebrew 201 next semester.- We loved Howard Witt's article; it made not only our day but also our year. Howard, much luck in Hebrew 201. You owe us another article at the end of 201. 6 0 r y .r r uR ,i x p .r 77 : I A6 e/ / 1 I1 r