The War Syndicate

...In an interview with Newsweek magazine, the Shah of Iran gave the following inventory of his military hardware: "We have 80 Phantoms which cost about $2.5 million each, and another 100 coming in that will cost $5 million each that will give us a fighter-bomber force of well over 300...

...The White House has also supported this move, yet Congress has thus far remained firm...

...While the major powers have turned our planet into a ticking time-bomb through their production and deployment of tens of thousands of massive nuclear weapons, they have also turned it into a virtual arsenal of conventional weapons beyond anything even remotely conceivable 30 years ago...

...Here, as elsewhere, the U.S...

...have agreed that some of the fabrication and assembly of the aircraft will be done in one or more of the European countries...

...Imported weapons r.eached a peak of $120 million in 1965, with South Africa concentrating on building its own military industry in succeeding years...

...However, the trend has begun to change over the past few years with the sale of U.S...

...Ambassador is Richard Helms, former director of the CIA...

...The U.S...

...Food FOR THE wonLn MARTIN M. McLAUGHLIN A serious, even somber conference in Rome The World Food Conference, which closed ceremonially in the cavernous marble and glass Palazzo dai Congressi on the outskirts of Rome as midnight approached on November 16, may have been the most widely reported, as well as the most important, international conference in recent times...

...The other largest buyers of U.S...

...arms sales for 1974 will exceed $8 billion...

...cut both economic aid and trade...

...It's clear that few poets today agree on what Christmas means...

...in Indochina resulted in a massive supply of the most sophisticated weapons...

...Yet there are several senses in which that can be said about I MARTIN M. MCLAUGHLIN, a former AID o~cial, is a Senior Fellow at the Overseas Development Council in Washington...

...However, with all of the promises, the U.S...

...policy toward the Chilean military establishment...

...In a recent news conference, President Ford confirmed this view by stating that the Pentagon budget will continue to rise over the coming years...

...The modern poet may not be George Herbert shepherding his thoughts, words and deeds, singing to a sun whose beams he wishes would twine with his breast, "till beams sing and music shine" ("Christmas...

...This is "peace with honor...

...And when we put our ears to the paling-post The music that came out was magical...

...military aid from 1950 to 1969...

...dropped nearly 3.5 times the total bomb tonnage dropped in World War II and almost 12 times the Korean War total Since the ceasefire was signed in January of 1973, the mammoth supply of weapons has continued to both South Vietnam and Cambodia...

...Nearly 1200 journalists were on hand for the eleven-clay event, testifying to the remarkable interest that the problem of world hunger has generated, particularly in the developed world, during the past year...

...The 1973 figure is more than the entire world spent annually on defense in the early 1930s...

...From 1965 through 1972, the U.S...

...weapons in the Middle East are Saudi Arabia and Israel...

...military hardware increasing over 200 percent from $44.5 million in 196970 to $144.5 million in 1971-72...

...however, military aid continued with millions of dollars going to the same group of generals who conducted the bloody coup, This policy coincided with the $8 million Kissinger-approved CIA program to destroy the democratically elected regime of Allende by subsidizing national strikes...

...took an active role and within two years the CIA organized a military coup which deposed Mossadeq and reinstated the Shah to power...

...His articles have appeared in Challenge, Catholic World and other magazines...

...1. It is becoming a cllch6 nowadays to say that an event was a good thing merely because it was held...

...That will give us a tank force of about 1,700...

...Yet men of good will and all faiths, or no faith, still respond to Christmas in their poetry...

...Most of the African nations receive the majority of their weapons free of charge in the form of military aid from the major powers...

...Christmas, by its nature, requires attention, whether from the skeptical or faithful...

...Such a ban could mark a first step in transforming our own society into one which places life and human values as its first interest and priority...

...Africa and Asia: On the African continent, the country of South Africa is by far the largest military spender with a defense budget averaging about $300 million annually over past years...

...Not Milton hastening his Muse to beat "star-led wizards" to the child "And lay (thy humble ode) lowly at His Bless'd feet" ("Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity...

...This is an indication of what is fully at stake in this arms deal...

...Longterm sales estimates are conservatively set at 3,000, which, with maintenance contracts and supplies, could total $20 billion for the overall program...

...arms salesmen...

...In general, the Conference was a serious, even somber affair...

...officials give a short-term sales projection of 1,500 for this type of aircraft, including 350 to the consortium, 500 to what are termed third-category countries both inside and outside of NATO, and 650 to the U.S...

...Of the countries in which direct outside intervention did not occur, the largest recipient is Taiwan with $3 billion in U.S...

...This meeting also forecast a Defense Department budget of $106 billion in 1980, agreeing closely with the $110 billion estimate by the Brookings Institute...

...Sales over the past five years show another dramatic increase, from $1.4 billion in 1970 to $2.5 billion in 1971, $3.9 billion in 1972, and nearly $5 billion in 1973...

...Delegates from those areas spoke poignantly of the human disaster that they have already witnessed and expect to face even more massively in the near future...

...Nevertheless, on at least two occasions in 1971 and 1973, former President Nixon was able to utilize a provision of the Foreign Military Sales Act and waive restrictions which authorized the sale of F-5E supersonic fighters to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Chile...

...The selection will be made sometime in mid-January by the U.S...

...Iran has already indicated a purchase of 250, and 800 are projected for Western European countries...

...will sell Chile more supersonic aircraft, including 18 additional F-5E fighters manufactured by Northrop, and 30 A-37Bs produced by Cessna...

...As Father Theodore Hesburgh, President of the University of Notre Dame and chairman of the Board of Overseas Development Council, said in a November 22 press conference in Washington, the hungry people of the world--as well as those of us who need to be informed about this human catastrophe--owe a special vote of thanks for the kind of education the press had been doing the last six months, particularly at the World Food Conference...

...We've ordered 700 choppers, including 200 gunships plus 18 large Chinooks and 18 ASW (antisubmarine) Sikorskys . . . We're also buying 800 Chieftain tanks from Britain which will cost us another $480 million and meanwhile we're modernizing 400 M-47 tanks that we have...

...government responded with immediate aid which has eventually reached one billion dollars...

...All, of course, given in the pursuit of self-interest in both economic and political pursuits...

...The greatest challenge now facing every concerned person is to enjoin the arms race and to take whatever steps are necessary to transform the United Nations into the representative world institution we must have to achieve disarmament, peace and a coordinated attack on the severe global problems of hunger, environmental depletion, poverty and human exploitation...

...over this sale...

...The largest buyer is-Iran which in 1973 purchased $2 billion in U.S...

...In the first ~ear of the ceasefire more than 50,000 combat deaths were recorded and an estimated 15,000 civilians killed...

...The end result is Chile today: a vast prison in which no form of political freedom is allowed, and where the torture and murder of political prisoners is state policy...

...While William Stafford remembers the "Christmas Mother made paper/presents . . . and (we hung up tumbleweed for a tree" as part of "The Rescued Year," an evocation of childhood that calms him until "in the quiet I hold no need, no hurry...

...Total U.S...

...weapons to other countries, beginning with the 1975 Defense Department budget...

...This is what Kenneth Patchen does in "I Have Lighted the Candles, Mary," when in a "bitter world" he sees "the cold, swollen face of war lean in the window...

...Early in the Kennedy Administration the U.S...

...As an added I DOUGLAS MATTERN, a long-time peace activist, is chairman of the World Citizens League...

...Assessment and implementation of its results, however, will take time, effort and a review of priorities...

...began to shift emphasis from giving weapons away as military aid tooutright sales as a means to help counter the increasing deficit in the balance of payments...

...The total cost will exceed $70 million...

...This is currently the largest single arms deal on the international market, yet only part of the annual multibillion-dollar armament business...

...arms sales to the Middle East for fiscal 1974 totaled a staggering $5.9 billion...

...Throughout their visit in this country the members of the consortium were given the red carpet treatment with all of the trimmings...

...Acting as a consortium, the representatives are shopping for an aircraft to replace their aging Lockheed F-104G fighters built in the early 1960s...

...This is also true for the Asian countries where billions of dollars in military hardware have been channeled into Korea, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam...

...The 1250 representatives of the 130-odd countries who made up the official delegations, the 150 UN representatives, and the 300 NGO observers were genuinely concerned about the human tragedy which the Conference was designed to prevent in the future and relieve in the present...

...The increase coincides with the continuing escalation of the arms race, the new arms agreement with the USSR notwithstanding...

...is proposing the winning selection in competition between General Dynamic's single-engine YF-16 jet fighter, and Northrop's twin-engine YF-17, nicknamed the Cobra...

...It should also be understood that of the approximately 60 wars waged since World War II, 95 percent have been fought in the underdeveloped areas of the world--and all with imported weapons...

...Amnesty International has estimated that Iranian iails hold some 20,000 political prisoners...

...For He is a kingdom in the hearts of men...

...Not even Clare, creating in his song a "refuge" for Christmas' ancient rites...

...Each aircraft will cost $4.5 million...

...Congressional policy toward Latin America prohibited by law the supply of -massive weapons anywhere near the amount received by Middle and Far Eastern countries...

...This is the year in which the popular Mohammed Mossadeq became Prime Minister on a platform to nationalize the Iranian oil fields which, at that time, were owned by the British...

...There is really no alternative other than a disaster beyond our historical comprehension...

...In the meantime, at the beginning of this post-Conference period, three fundamental questions need immediate attention: 1) What did the Conference achieve...

...Arms Control and Disarmament Agency has determined that military spending by the underdeveloped countries is growing at a rate twice that of their economic growth...

...As might be expected, the first act of the Shah was to assign commercial rights of Iran oil to British and American companies...

...And as is so often the case with countries receiving long-term U.S...

...Commonweal: 26J So fierce is the competition over this sale that France has even offered to help clear the pollution from the Rhine river and to increase its food purchase from the Netherlands, as well as appealing to European unity...

...is by far the largest supplier of weapons, followed by the Soviet Union, Britain, France, West Germany, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Canada, and China (except for the first four named, not necessarily in that order...

...A damning indictment on our entire system of values is the $250 billion the nations expend every year on weapons and other military programs, while a majority of humanity exists under deplorable conditions of poverty and hunger...

...Experts estimate that 500 million people Commonweal: 265 now suffer from severe malnutrition, with thousands dying each week from hunger in Africa, Asia and Latin America...

...Middle East: The Middle East, including the Persian Gulf area, has proven to...

...Military hardware manufactured by U.S...

...In fact President Ford publicly sanctioned the Chile operation during one of his press conferences...

...had run a military and police training program in Iran since 1943, its influence was not dominant until 195i...

...This change is reflected in the figures which show that in fiscal year 1953 the U.S...

...In fact, the new agreement actually sanctions current escalations by allowing such massive long-term weapons programs as the Trident submarine missile system, the B-1 bomber, and full deployment of multiple warheads on over 1300 missiles to proceed as previously scheduled...

...Although the U.S...

...This included counterinsurgency schools attended by thousands of military and police personnel from throughout Latin America...

...The U.S...

...Latin America: For decades U.S...

...inducement over this sale, the representatives were actually invited to participate with the USAF in the final evaluation of the aircraft...

...It is also anticipated that within a few years the country will have the capacity to manufacture an atom bomb...

...And although the U.S...

...Air Force...

...Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Shahs, allows no honest political opposition to exist, and the secret police, named SAVAK, are estimated to number up to 50,000 agents...

...YF-16 or YF-17 jet fighter as expected, Iran may have the third-largest air force in the word...

...Iran has also long been a major base for CIA activities in the Middle East, and it is no coincidence that the current U.S...

...Air Force...

...He will wait until time, in the shape of a train, reverses and runs back into itself, to replenish the present with the past as his words have done in the poem...

...Projections for the immediate years ahead indicate a continuing increase in both the production and sale of weapons...

...Richard Viloette, sales negotiations director for the Defense Security Assistance Agency reported to a House subcommittee that U.S...

...Direct intervention by the U.S...

...There is a determined effort by Defense Department officials and the arms industry to force a change in the 20 December 1974:264 ceiling limit, partially due to a fear of losing the arms market, as in the years between 1969 and 1972 Latin America expended $1.2 billion on European arms while U.S...

...Both France and the U.S...

...be a gold mine for U.S...

...arms...

...The amount of bombs alone is staggering...

...arms by Iran will reach $9 billion--all in a country where the per capita income is a mere $500 annually...

...Nevertheless, one must assume our government considers the pol!cy a success, as Chile is now reopened to U.S...

...press gives only minor coverage, the war continues to rage at an appalling rate...

...Reflecting the observations of the hundreds of reporters present, including American radio and television stations, coverage in this country, especially in those segments of the press that regularly deal with international affairs, was truly phenomenal...

...sales amounted to $335 million...

...American companies now represented in Iran are such military manufacturers as Northrop Corporation, Hughes Aircraft Co., Westinghouse, Computer Sciences Corporation, Bell Helicopter, Honeywell Inc., McDonnel-Douglas, General Electric, and Motorola...

...policy has centered on methods of counterinsurgency rather than conventional warfare...

...By fiscal year 1968 grant aid in weapons had dropped to $466 million while the sale of weapons reached $1.5 billion...

...The four-nation consortium also visited France and Sweden, the major competitors with the U.S...

...After their stay in Washington, D.C., the representatives were flown to Edwards Air Force Base in California to witness flight demonstrations of the two aircraft...

...effort is so intense that many European officials have openly complained of the Americans' "all-out, hard-sell tactics...

...all with little benefit to the majority of the country's 32 million citizens, 70 percent of whom are illiterate...

...And only recently the Ford Administration announced the U.S...

...And one immediate and crucial goal in this country, aside from achieving a dramatic reduction of the Pentagon budget, is to support a move now in Congress to aim at curtailing the flow of U.S...

...The poet speaks to h/s wife ("the taste of tears is in her mouth") and to Christ's mother, revealing that Christmas may have been betrayed by the world, but must be kept alive in it...

...With the tremendous increase in oil revenues over past years, the Shah has expended billions for military hardware in an effort to become one of the ten leading military powers...

...Estimates indicate that within a few yeaars the total purchase of U.S...

...3) What should be the U.S...

...the World Food Conference...

...During the years when Salvador Allende was President of Chile, the U.S...

...With thepurchase of the U.S...

...is expected to gain the contract due to its greater political leverage, including the threat to pullsome U.S...

...Otherwise, Patchen implies, we (and poetry with us surely) risk madness: They are blowing out the candles, Mary . . . The world is a thing gone mad tonight...

...And it could force poets to perform miracles...

...As he regards Christmas the modern poet may find it still necessary to speak of the child as a locus of men's hopes and fears, a miraculous source of poetry in a prosaic world...

...According to the FAO assessment document prepared for the Conference, nearly half a billion people (460 million) living in those countries are malnourished or facing starvation now...

...The U.S...

...However, it must be noted that the blame lies with the national governments who have all the representation and power within the UN, and who simply use it to further their own narrow self-interest and national ideologies, and of course the ultimate blame can be placed on the citizens of these nations through their apathy or actual support of current international power politics and the subsequent arms race, exploitation, and balance of terror...

...Further, the role of the United Nations in this area is a sad commentary on the inability of this world organizationmas now constituted--to deal effectively with serious pohtieal and peacekeeping problems...

...The U.S...

...The educational value was underlined by the work of 20 December 1974:266...

...has expressed a willingness to establish a large supply and maintenance center for these aircraft in one of the European countries as part of the USAF worldwide logistics network...

...Sweden is offering their new Saab-seania Viggen jet fighter, and France the Mirage F1/M53 built by Dassault-Breguet...

...companies now being peddled in this area include a wide range of jet fighter bombers, advance helicopter gunships, tanks and missiles...

...It may be that Christmas is in poetry because we can't do without it and neither can poetry...

...gave away $1.9 billion in arms and sold $230 million...

...troops out of NATO...

...When Mossadeq actually seized the refineries, the U.S...

...aid, Iran is a police state...

...That awareness was accentuated by the visible and dramatic increase of starvation and malnutrition in the "hunger highway" that spans the world along the equator including parts of Central America, the Sahelian zone of Africa, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and the populous countries of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh...

...In our world it's probably worth recalling that what one's words do can offer us a source of miracle...

...An ally in this quest for change is Nelson Rockefeller whose family has extensive economic holdings in Latin America...

...O hold him tenderly, dear Mother...

...Christmas is, after all, John tells us, a form of poetry, the Word's coming to life...

...In fiscal 1974, the total reached $3.5 billion...

...The U.S...

...As the first worldwide intergovernmental conference on this problem, it commanded considerable attention on its own...

...2) What needs to be done next...

...During this period U.S...

...role...

...Just a few weeks ago at the 1974 Electronic Industries Association which met in Beverly Hills, California, it was predicted that defense electronics alone will increase 33 percent between 1975 and I980 to about $16.7 billion...

...business interests...

...This additional sale to Chile falls in line with past U.S...

...II I THE WAR SYNDICATE DOUGLAS MATTERN In a season of p e a c e , a report on the armaments r a c e During September of 1974, representatives from four NATO countries--Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway--arrived in the United States to discuss what Europeans have called the arms deal of the century...