Editorial
Trillion-dollar plan
tainted by confusion
The race to build a sky-based defense system has taken
on a new twist recently. Comments concerning the Strategic
Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars," revealed a disconcerting
confusion on the part of senior U.S. officials and shed light
on the futility of the program as a whole.
Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, during testimony
before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday,
said that the system is worth building no matter how much it
costs, and even if the Soviets are able to develop a cheaper
program to penetrate it.
And even though he addressed the possibility that the
Soviets would attempt to overwhelm the system, he insisted
that their efforts would be unsuccessful. His comments con
flict with official Reagan administration policy which
allows for deployment of the system only if analysis sug
gests that it would cost less than a Soviet counteroffensive
enort.
Published accounts of Reagan’s recent interview with
Soviet journalists revealed that Reagan is at odds with
members of the administration as well. Reagan’s remarks
that a Star Wars system would not be deployed until the
Soviet Union and the United States had completely
eliminated their entire nuclear arsenals sent White House
aides on a mad scramble to clarify what the president ‘’real
ly” meant.
Aides assert that while it is naturally the president's
goal to eliminate nuclear weapons, he didn’t mean to make
deployment of the system contingent on complete unilateral
disarmament. Press Secretary Larry Speakes said that
deployment of the system would overlap efforts to destroy
the weapons, but he also said that if the United States had
the technology, it would deploy the system regardless of
whether or not the Soviets agreed to a complete
disarmament.
Reagan also contradicted himself when he reiterated his
intent to reveal the technology to the Soviets, but also accus
ed the Soviets of harboring a more advanced program.
Both sets of remarks are tinged with irrationality.
Weinberger’s vow to support the program at any cost, even if
the system fails to provide the impenetrable blanket of pro
tection its supporters promise, indicate that he has failed to
consider the program on a practical level.
Reagan’s advocacy of the installation of the program on
ly after nuclear weapons have been eliminated strikes us as
ironic. It is similar to implementing a mousetrap only after
all the mice are dead.
In addition, while his vision of unilateral disarmament
would certainly be welcome, the scenario is unlikely at best.
The threat of a U.S. blanket defense would not prompt the
Soviets to destroy their nuclear weapons, but would simply
encourage them to build their own sky-based defense
system. Assertions by Reagan himself demonstrate that the
Soviets may already be researching a similar system.
The remarks also cast a shadow of doubt on the ad
ministration’s portrayal of a precise and well-orchestrated
program. It is alarming that with respect to a program of this
magnitude and potential impact, the president and defense
secretary appear confused and in disagreement with other
administration officials.
The United States is spending billions of dollars on a
project with a potential trillion-dollar price tag. The essen
tial feasibility of the program has not been demonstrated and
yet officials are arguing long-range uses of the system.
Ultimately, the disagreements are reflections on the overall
madness of the effort to extend the arms race into space.
Letters
Ask inmates
The recent showing of “Ram
bo’ * on campus has renewed the
conflict about the morality of
the Vietnam War and of war in
general. In 1968. I joined the
Marine Corps and went to Viet
nam. More than 15 years later. I
still live with the effects. I now
deeply despise the sort of pro
pagandizing which sends
young men off to fight and die
in some ultimate test of
manhood. Militarism for its
own sake is an example of
humanity at its worst.
Whother Vietnam was a just
cause is only now becoming
clearer to me. In 1978, Aleksan
dr Solzhenitsen spoke to the
graduating class at Harvard
University. In that speech, he
told them, “...the most cruel
mistake (was) the failure to
understand the Vietnam
War.. .members of the U.S.
anti-war movement wound up
being involved in the betrayal of
Far Eastern nations. In a
genocide and in the suffering
imposed on 30 million people
there.' Do those convinced
pacifists hear the moans... ? Or
do they prefer not to hear?”
“Your shortsighted politi
cians who signed the hasty Viet
nam capitulation seemingly
gave America a carefree
breathing pause; however, a
hundredfold Vietnam now
looms over you.” he said.
Is there anything worse than
the massive horror and brutality
of war? Perhaps we should ask
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those living now under the
domination of the Vietnamese,
or the current dissident "in
mates" of Soviet "psychiatric
hospitals" or Siberian labor
camps. The question is. would
we listen to them?
William Moore
Music School
Paper surplus
The editorial (ODE, Oct. 30)
cited the "Commentator" as a
source of waste of IFC funds,
claiming we have three-inch
borders on all our inter-office
memos. This is no longer true.
Now we only use one word per
page. We have to get rid of all
that paper somehow.
Rob Young
Production Manager
Oregon Commentator
Let men help
The proposed ASUO shuttle
program is a commendable idea
for this campus so threatened by
rape. But in her commentary,
(ODE. Oct. 28) Debra Kester
badly shorted other programs
also dedicated to the prevention
of this crime.
Since its inception in January
1984. the Lambda Chi Alpha
escort program has operated six
nights a week, every week,
within the University area. The
continued success of the pro
gram shows that it has already
provided an alternative for
women walking alone on
campus.
The success of the Lambda
Chi program also flies in the
face of Kester's generalization
that male-escort programs have
"had problems with male par
ticipants abusing the systems
and perpetrating crimes against
women.”
In the nearly two years the
Lambda Chi program has run,
there have been no complaints
from women we have escorted
and no "crimes” have been
perpetrated. We have a strict
screening process that requires
each potential escort to undergo
an annual criminal history
check administered by the
Eugene Police Department. Our
program is directly subordinate
and answerable to Campus
Security.
Men suffer from rape too,
when it engenders distrust and
fear among women. While
lambda Chi Alpha welcomes
additional rape-prevention pro
grams to the U of O campus, we
would like to see the continued
means for men to take an active
role in combatting the problem
of violent assault. By slighting
such male programs as lambda
Chi's, Ms. kester and the Shut
tle Van Committee may alienate
many who are sympathetic to
their cause.
Mark Hutcheson
Vice-President
Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity
Petty vendettas
It's not because Adell's got
the Mrs. Folger's Blues. (ODE.
Oct. 30) but that certain IPC
members are overzealous in
their efforts to reallocate funds.
So much so that they overlook
"total compensation" as oppos
ed to the dollars and cents of
pay.
Free coffee as a perk is not on
ly prevalent among firms that
institute welfarism for their staff
in an effort to improve the quali
ty of work life, but it is also part
of their "total compensation."
Mr. Sliter, to stoop so low as
to engage in name calling
. Adell’s croniesis
not only immature, but is in
dicative of ignorance in
management.
Before your next sip of
"espresso," enlighten yourself
to the fact that state employees
at the EMU receive lower-than
market wage rates in the state of
Oregon, and have only commer
cial blends and artificial dairy
creamers provided for them.
But little as it is, the coffee is
still an incentive to remain in
the employ of the EMU.
It is also my hope that the IFC
will not abuse its powers,
and focus on more macro
issues, and not engage in what
seems to be petty personal
vendettas against the EMU ad
ministration. There is much to
gain in an integrative, as oppos
ed to the zero-sum, stance that
the IFC is apparently adopting.
Harold l,eong
Graduate
Human Resource Management