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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1982)
Trio debates draftfs worth A retired major general, a military sociology professor and a Military Law Reporter matched statistics Friday — The trio, participating in the National Security Conference, debated military manpower, regis tration and the draft The total shortage in army manpower is between 125,000 and 175,000, not including individual ready reserve units, said retired Army Maj Gen Robert Cocktin, now executive director of the Association of the U S Army "We've had a de facto draft by economic disadvantage, rather than sociological disadvan tage as in Vietnam," Cocklin said, explaining that lower class Americans, who also have lower standardized test scores, are now in the military Giving soldiers necessary education during on-duty time cost $20 million among U.S. units in Europe alone last year, he said The quality of soldiers in the military was also hurt when the Congress allowed pay levels to slip, and allowed the Gl Bill to expire in 1976, Cocktin said 1972 was the last year military pay matched pay levels in free enterprise, he said Barry Lynn, editor of the Military Law Reporter and president of Draft Action, said a draft is unnecessary The U S armed forces already are at full strength, he said. "Other countries do not view the U S Army as a paper tiger." A larger Soviet army should not be of major concern because a large percentage of its members are tied up along the Chinese border, in Eastern Europe, or are used for such "imper ialist" actions as the invasion of Afghanistan, Lynn said "The draft has never been the source of the best and the brightest,” he said "I think the fair draft is a figment of the popular imagination " Charles Moskos, a military sociology professor at Northwestern University and author of several books, agreed with Cocklin that the American military is in poor shape but rejected a draft “The left and the right agree that the (good) army has to be bought," he said, citing Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as a supporter of good wages as a means of stopping significant turnover of military personnel "We re moving towards an army in the market model — where soldiers quit or get fired,” he said To entice people into the army in a market situation he said those who have served in the military should get "first crack" at federal college grants and loans, government jobs, and private sector jobs Serving the country should be part of grow ing up in America," Moskos said Security margin...or overkill? Panel debates need for nuclear build-up A heated debate on nuclear war deterrence and world response to U S /USSR strategic policies Saturday concluded the Northwest National Security Conference as a five-man panel discussed MX missiles, first and second-strike capabilities and morality World powers, possessing vast quantities of nu clear armaments, have caused a situation in which ‘the very existence of life on the planet is threatened more by the weapon itself than by any enemy," said Edwin Firmage, a law professor at the University of Utah and noted opponent of the MX missile system An MX missile has 56,000 times the destructive capabilities of the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima, he said Between 300 and 350 nuclear warheads could devastate either superpower, yet there are at least 50,000 nuclear warheads in Jie world today, he said Soviet Pres Leonid Brezhnev has repeatedly called for a freeze on the testing and deployment of nuclear weapons, a proportionate reduction in arms and a rejection of first strikes by the Soviets and the United States but the United States refuses to take such actions, he said Proceeding with a massive arms build-up will be the only way to bring the Soviet Union to disarmament talks, said retired Col William Taylor, currently director of Political-Military Studies at the Georgetown Center for Strategic and International Studies "My view of nuclear weapons is the same as any other sane human being s They are horrible, he said But the Soviet Union will not respond to arms reduction talks unless America is in a far superior nuclear posi tion The Soviet Union "only understands power," Taylor said He disagreed with Firmage. saying the United States has offered to move along a dual track' towards disarmament and that the Soviet Union has said it "will use nuclear arms in a first strike The USSR has been much more willing to discuss disarmament than the United States, said Terry Provance director of the Disarmament and Conversion Campaign of the American Friends Service Commitee and noted peace activist "Throughout the nuclear history, the U S. has not accepted a balance of power The U S has led the Soviet Union and they've played catch up," Provance said The people of Utah and Nevada were justified in opposing the basing of MX missiles in those states — they should be based at sea said John Draim an aerospace engineer and defense analyst “I don't trust the Russians Draim said, adding that the Soviet Union has at least 450 missiles already based at sea The United States essentially is looking in the mirror when it criticizes the Soviet Union for arms build-up and threatening world peace, said Peter Jones, a British journalist active with the Nuclear Free Pacific and European Nuclear Disarmament movements Europeans see similarities between the world situation now and that in 1914 before the start of World War I, Jones said The arms build-up. coupled with 40 years of European '‘peace," mirrors history, he said Do arms, technology decrease stability? Two speakers at Saturday s Northwest National Security Conference presented opposing views of the role of strategic technology in the arms race Charles Schwartz, professor of physics at Berkeley, said military technology needlessly advances the arms race, but John Draim, a retired naval officer, said strategic technology is vital to national security "There is growing instability, not stability, and growing insecurity, not security, with the development of each new weapon," said Schwartz, who favors the complete abolition of nuclear weapons The United States has a tremendous advantage over the Soviet Union in technological development, Schwartz says, and the government aims to maintain this position to dominate in conventional affairs While Schwartz did not accuse the United States of planning a first strike, he said technolgy will be ad vanced until the United States is capable of such an attack to meet its political objectives "The notion that any side could be expected to plan and carry off a first strike is beyond anyone's expecta tions." Schwartz said, but he fears that as military escalation continues both sides might be tempted to strike first to minimize their own destruction Draim, on the other hand, believes the Russians could be planning a first strike saying We have a very dangerous, very determined opponent in the USSR We must either resist or capitulate It's important that we protect our own value system I do not wish to knuckle under the Soviet Union and take their com mands " Draim favors negotiation with the Soviets, but said increased technology will allow the United States to negotiate from a position of superiority "Technology is the expression of the aggregate community will," he said Is it unwise to arm developing nations? The world's becoming a much more dangerous place than it was before says Michael Kiare director of the Institute for Policy Studies international security project Kiare debated Leslie Brown, director of the state department s Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs on the controversy surrounding U S arms assistance to Third World countries Although military aid is often treated as a “subor dinate and peripheral" part of national security, it's as important as nuclear capabilities, Klare said Saturday Third World nations — because of U S military assis tance and arms sales — are becoming quite well equipped, creating “international insecurity," he said Providing arms to Third World countries could result in a local conflict which escalates into a regional conflict — invoking American or Soviet intervention, Klare said This is the “most likely way World War HI would break out " "I think there comes a point when morality plays a part in international affairs, and this is one," Klare said Increased weapons sales will not contribute to stability and peace as Pres Ronald Reagan suggests, he added Both administrations are very much aware of the risks and benefits" of arms supply, said Brown, security assistance officer for the Carter and Reagan adminis trations While military aid is a political, diplomatic affair rather than a moral issue. Brown said human rights are not ignored Military megabucks: too dear a cost? The U S ruling class is intellectually bankrupt; it's been morally bankrupt for a long time," said James Cypher an economics professor at California State University in Fresno, Ca Cypher and Frank Trager, a director of studies for the National Strategy Information Center, discussed the economics of military spending at a Friday session of the Northwest National Security Conference Cypher criticized Pres Ronald Reagan's Adminis tration s baroque militarism;" they spend more and more to get less and less, he said While the military spending of the 1940's and 1950's produced com puters. missiles, and space technology, current military spending produces exotic — but disfunctional — mili tary equipment, he added Cypher particularly lamented aspects of social welfare spending foregone because of military spend ing "Our security costs could cost only 40 to 60 billion dollars, leaving $200 billion to build quite a satisfactory society,” he said "The health and well-being of our people is our national security " On the other hand Trager said $190 billion is not too much to spend for an adequate defense Five percent of the U S gross national product, or 29 cents on the dollar, will go to defense spending this year he said after the Korean War, just before entering the Vietnam conflict, the U S defense budget consti tuted nine percent of the GNP The U S is a basically pacifistic country with core values that we all share, he said adding that if one travels around the non-communist world, one will see that there are nations both for and against the U S. We need a defense system that will secure our core values, Tragersaid. analyzed in lecture The global geo-political intentions of the Soviet Union and the United States’ response to them was scrutinized by former CIA deputy director Ray Cline and Randall Forsberg, director of a defense and disar mament think tank, at the National Security Conference Friday Cline, currently a senior associate at the George town Center for Strategic and International Studies and author on world power trends, said the current Soviet strategy is to use a land-based military to acquire resources the United States would have to protect by going overseas He called the Soviet Union an ‘ old-fashioned empire,” that is much more likely to slowly gain control over a large part of the great land mass of the world — Euro-Asia and Africa — than by attacking North or South America The resources acquired by the Soviets are needed primarily to support the standing military that acquires them. Cline said Soviet dictator Stalin admitted that he wanted to control Eastern Europe and Turkey for potential access to the Middle East's resources, Cline said Adolf Hitler and Napolean Bonaparte both wanted to control Rus sian territory to the Ural Mountains because they also subscribed to the theory that controlling the Euro-Asian areas could mean control of the world, he said Cline said the Soviet Union has been constantly increasing the size of its conventional military forces and acts when there's little or no opposition. Former Pres Jimmy Carter wrongly believed that Soviet intentions could be tempered by improved Soviet-American relations, he said The three purposes of the Soviet conventional military are protection of the homeland, occupation of Eastern Europe and the expansion of communism said Forsberg, founder and director of the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies in Brookline, Mass. The purposes of the occupation of Eastern Europe are to "maintain a buffer zone,” prevent the reunifica tion of Germany and formation of a great European alliance and to support pro-Moscow communist governments, she said Agreeing with Cline. Forsberg said the Soviets' use of forces outside an obvious sphere of influence has been "'cautious,' and the invasion of Afghanistan was an unprecedented use of conventional troops in a previously non-communist country. Stories by Dane Claussen, Katherine Merrill, Mike Anderson and Henry Crumme. Photos by David Corey and Mark Pynes. mm* Terry Provance “The U.S. has not accepted a balance of power. . . (it) has led the Soviet Union. ” The Soviet Union “only understands power. ” William Taylor “I don’t trust the Russians” John Draim Now serving our Luncheon special of a slice of pizza and large salad for $2.95. 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Convenient locations on the Downtown Mall and Valley River Center Home of Keepsake Diamond Rings r&m Cultural Forum Program Committee Presents ‘This Week in the EMU1 March 1-5 Monday ‘ Noon gig in the EMU East Lobby with Mary Campbell Wednesday Jazz gig in the EMU Fishbowl 8-10 p.m. Eclipse Thursday Noon gig in the EMU Skylight with Mike Gailinas Friday No Beer Garden SPRING BREAK IN SKI IN THE SUN! $165 Per Person, Double Occupancy (Sun Valley Lodge, Inn Or Condominiums) PACKAGE INCLUDES: 5 Day Ski Rental (Boots, Skis & Poles) 5 Nights Lodging 5 Days Lift Tickets For Reservations 6* Information Call: 1-800-638-8261 Or In Idaho 1-800-638-4104 For Ski Conditions Call: 1-800-635-4180
