4 OPINION Page 4 Tuesday, February 18, 1986 The Michigan Daily I Eie tigan man Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan U.S. reacts inflexibly Vol. XCVI, No.98 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board Happy daze ALTHOUGH the Cold War men- tality proved to be damaging for the U.S. in the 1950's, it is resurging with renewed vigor in the 1980's. During the '50's, one of America's most famous civil liber- ty attorneys, Joseph Rauh, defen- ded Lillian Hellman when she refused to identify other writers as Communists during the McCarthy era. Today, Rauh has a similar case regarding the "communist threat." He was recently hired to represent nine Canadians who are suing the C.I.A. for suffering ren- dered when they were made the unknowing subjects of brain- washing experiments. Throughout the 1940's, inspired by early Cold War sentiment and fear of Commmunist insurgency, the CIA believed that the Soviets and the Chinese had taken the lead in mind control and brainwashing. The CIA responded to this unfoun- 1ded fear by implementing a $25 million, 25-year-long program to study behavioral control. The project was called MKULTRA. Under MKULTRA, money was funnelled through a private foun- dation to finance 149 research projects at universities and other institutions in the United States, Canada, and some Western European countries. Now, 30 years later, the nine Canadians are suing the CIA for $1 million each for seriously disrupting their lives. A highly respected Canadian psychiatrist, Dr. Ewen Cameron, prformed the experiments in the late '50's and early 60's at the Allen y Memorial Institute. Cameron used LSD and massive electric shocks to wipe out unwanted behaviors and memories of his patients. Tape M recorded messages, which he referred to as "psychic driving," indoctrinated his subjects, creating new behaviors and distorted self- images. Finally, prolonged and drug-induced sleep erased all memory of the experience. The victims initially went to the Allen Memorial Institiute for a variety of reasons. Two were suf- fering from postpartum depression; one was anxious, and another had a physical complaint that his doctor believed was psychosomatic. A woman doctor became a subject when she came in for an interview to receive a fellowship and was told she was too nervous. Each subject paid exhor- bitant fees for the ineffective treatment, which had deleterious effects: amnesia, anxiety, depression, and inability to read,. concentrate or keep a job. None of the victims realized what experiments had been carried out on them until the '70's, when the CIA released some of its records on the experiments after a request from author John Miller. Miller used the Freedom of Information Act in order to obtain the CIA documents and to do research for his book The Search for the Man- churian Candidate. In 1973, acting against its own regulations, the CIA attempted to destroy the records on MKULTRA. Only a handful of documents survived. Various television stations and publications picked up the story, and the nine Canadians recognized the reason for their personality By Michele Viswanathan and Jeremy Firestone Europeans hailed the surprising announ- cement by Secretary Gorbachev of a proposal for the elimination of nuclear weapons as "sensational" and "courageous." In sharp contrast, the Reagan Ad- ministration approached the proposal with "cautious curiosity," looking for ways to turn it down. On February 11, the U.S. flatly rejected the Soviet proposal for an agreement barring the spread of chemical weapons. Yet, oddly enough, the Ad- ministration has failed to provide any sub- stantive objections to the proposal. The most intriguing aspect of the new Gorbachev disarmament proposal is its ap- proach to verification. Gorbachev has agreed to verification going beyond "national technical means" - satellite sur- veillance - to on-site inspections, the method demanded by Americans and traditionally resisted by Soviets. Con- sequently, the U.S. can no longer take refuge in charges of Soviet cheating as an obstacle to serious arms control negotiations. Mr. Gorbachev has also proposed to eliminate Soviet and American medium- range missiles in Europe without accoun- ting for British and French missiles. THis action represents a significant shift in the policy of the Soviets who in the past have in- sisted on keeping enough SS-20's to counter the British and French arsenals. Moreover, Gorbachev did not limit his demonstration of good will to nuclear arms. He also proposed negotiated reductions of both Soviet and American conventional forces in Europe. In light of the fact that the stock- pile of nuclear armaments in the U.S. already exceeds by many times the power necessary to annihilate civilization, the Administration's refusal to recognize the good will explicit in the Soviet proposal and to enter into bilateral arms control negotiations is a travesty. Some critics may argue that the Kremlin has called for universal disarmament in declarations which are nothing more than propaganda exercises. Curiously, these same people fail to notice that Reagan has been grandly proposing a "space shield" to deliver humanity from the terrible fear of nuclear war. Propaganda? Perhaps, in light of the enormous technological uncer- tainties in building Star Wars, as the Challenger tragedy has already revealed, and the belief by most esperts that Star Wars will only protect missiles and not populations. Tragically, the administration has relen- tlessly pursued its Star Wars plan and ignored Soviet calls for arms control agreements without being forced to respond to the issue of crisis stability. As the U.S. pours billions of dollars into weapons development under SDI, it undermines the existing balance of nuclear forces in the world. In the face of a dangerous build-up by the U.S., other countries may resort to pre-emptive strikes out of the feeling that they have nothing left to lose. Furthermore, it is startling that no one has questioned Reagan's blatantly false assertion that Star Wars involves "non- nuclear technology." This assertion direc- tly contradicts scientific facts that demon- strate that nuclear explosions trigger the X- ray lasers which form the crux of Star Wars technology. Although Star Wars has been termed a "defensive system," it is quite clear that a supposedly protective cosmic shield leads to U.S. confidence that it can launch a first strike attack and survive retalitory measures. While Reagan claims that Star Wars technology will be shared with all nations, it seems highly unlikely that the U.S. will share its "defense system" with the not-to-be-trusted Soviets. Gorbachev has also extended the Sobiet unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing (initially from Aug. 6, 1985 - Jan. 1, 1986) for another 90 days. As a ban on testing new weapons could lead to genuine arms reduc- tions, why does the Administration flatly reject the opportunity? The Administration first claimed that Moscow broke the last test moratorium in 1961. False. Eisenhower en- ded the 1958 moratorium. The Ad- ministration has also charged that the Soviets conducted a sport of testing imme- diately before declaring the moratorium thus gaining an advantage over the U.S. But the U.S., with 765 tests, has a considerable lead over the Soviet Union's 564. Why does the Administration doggedly pursue an expensive space shield which threatens to upset the balance of nuclear forces in the world? Moreover, why does the government refuse to commence talks with Moscow despite the new Soviet flexibility on traditional stumbling blocks? Perhaps an examination of the enourmous campaign contributions of defense contrac- tors wil provide an answer. In the past six years, armsmakers' campaign con- tributions to members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and Appropriations Defense subcommittees have reached $5.3 million. As Reagan began his arms build-up, the Political Action Committees (PACs) of the 20 largerst military contractors increased their cam- paign gifts by 225 percent. Little wonder that the government has stuck so tenaciously to the Star Wars project. After all, for all those millions of dollars, the military-industrial complex usually wants something other than good government. But perhaps even this crude economic analysis falls short of the underlying reason behind the administration's deep commit- ment to the arms race. It is clear that U.S. military superiority is essential to insure that American intervention in foreign coun- tries can be carried out with impunity under the American "nuclear umbrella." The U.S. needs the Star Wars fantasy not to protect the people but to maintain a suf- ficiently intimidating posture so that American policies of intervention and sub- version of foreign governments can be carried out without undue concern. Yet those who favor an imperialistic stance by the U.S., clothed in the euphemism of "ac- ting in our self-interest," forget one thing: there has never been a weapon in human history which has not been used. And like it or not, their chances of survival in a nuclear holocaust are no better than ours. The National Lawyers Guild and the Lawyers Alliance for Nuclear Arms Control are sponsoring a rally for arms control on February 18 from 4-7 p.m. at the Federal Building on Liberty at Fifth. changes distress. (2/9/82) and severe mental Detroit Free Press, Viswanathan and Firestone the National Lawyers Guild. represent The purpose of the CIA ex- periments was ultimately to learn how to crack the mental defenses of enemy agents, and to enable spies and other soldiers to carry out dangerous missions and special assignments against their will. Success would have given the CIA unlimited powers. The Canadians' grievance again- st the CIA looks like the proverbial 'tip of the iceberg.' The Allen In- stitute alone used at least one hun- dred human guinea pigs. Since several other American and European institutions also received money from MKULTRA, the possibility exists for widespread abuse. Because of the covert nature of the CIA, it is uncertain whether the full extent of the damage will ever come to light. It is clear that the Cold War bred an irrational fanaticism that does not belong in any government policy. When the trial starts, more evidence will surely come out on MKULTRA which will attest to the horror and insanity of the con- tinuing Cold War mentality. Chassy . { __ 1 4 ' 'I. o .i. 'I, 1111 j.iI , ( Ii , . - i A5 Thf NATiv S TovWoPS IP T$El 6OD I JlL~JTVAL1JVO --0 + i1\ ' h' t ri (U1 4 A ~ MAU OI N M INK UGLi no more : -.G * .: ; : ' ki V ui THE ADMINISTRATION'S ten- tative decision to put a lounge in the UGLi is a commendable response to student concerns. The area where the newspapers and xeroxing machines are will be transformed to have chairs and vending machines, perhaps as early as next fall. Before the University installed computers in the UGLi in 1984, students had a lounge in which to relax and refresh themselves. The lounge made it unnecessary to go quo in the UGLi. In addition to safety, there are a number of good reasons to support the lounge. First, short of martial law, it would be impossible to regulate all aspects of student life so that all students could study peacefully at home or in the library, especially since the housing situation is overcrowded. Since there are so many students studying at the UGLi, it is not sur- prising that many talk to each other and disrupt studies. Even students who do "research" at a LETTERS: Mandela deserves honorary degree To the Daily: Nineteen-sixty was a turning point for the ANC, the resistance movement, and Nelson Mandela. That year, in Sharpesville, on March 21st, police opened fire on a group of unarmed, peaceful protestors, killing 67 and woun- ding nearly 200. Most, many of them children and their mothers, were shot in the back as they tried to flee. Nationwide protests hskP-1,, .,a idthe n.reivr anmrn- the Nobel Peace Prize and one- time president of the ANC, said at the 1964 trial in which Nelson Mandela and 7 other ANC leaders were sentenced to life imprison- ment, "...in the face of the un- compromising white refusal to abandon a policy which denies the African and other oppressed South Africans their rightful heritage-freedom-no one can blame brave, just men for onn-r cr ..notnn ..y - nc o to remain in the Transkei homeland. Each time he has refused, responding that the South African regime must first renounce violence, dismantle apartheid, and free all political prisoners. During his trial he said, "I have fought against white domination and... black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in ...,. h nh all - n n n . .i ves*n im .:.,i eloquently and inspiring others to accomplish deeds they onc imagined impossible. White supremacists in South Africa fear Nelson Mandela and what he symbolizes. In South Africa it is illegal to print his pic- ture or to print and discuss his ideas. Nevertheless, his presence continues to cast a shadow over Apartheid that each day grows longer and darker. By honoring Nelson Mandela with a