The Economics of Death

...This before virtual annihilation occurred between the main protagonists and all peripheral countries...

...and a hundred bombs on a hundred cities are unthinkable...

...The nationalization of all armament industry should be an eventual goal...

...If only a few hundred nuclear bombs at most will virtually destroy our civilization, why do we have tens of thousands stockpiled and over 7,000 currently targeted...

...Our politicians have a guilty conscience and their reactions are abnormal...

...The Soviet Union, in their attempt to catch-up in this international game of genocide tested their first M1RV earlier this year...

...But they also have a certain freedom unknown in Hungary where the seminary is much more rigidly controlled, or in Slovakia where many priests are not allowed to minister to their people and where the provincial of the Jesuits earns his bread as a day laborer...

...In East Germany, the one Catholic seminary, located at Erfurt, is crowded with some 120 young men studying for the priesthood...

...it must be pursued at many levels, from direct appeal to Congress or organized opposition similar to that manifest in the an.ti-Vietnam war movement...

...and release its energy inside...

...On a more personal level it means the average American family will spend nearly $1,500 on military programs as compared to a little over $200 on education and less than $50 on all environmental programs...

...Each B-1 will carry 40 tons of weapons, be equipped with the most advanced electronics systems for automated warfare, and cost over $50 million...

...In fact humanity has never been less secure than today...

...Even George McGovern fell victim to this chauvinistic madness during the 1972 Presidential campaign when he eventually relented to the hawks and exclaimed that he would never allow America to become the second rated power...

...It would also end the disgraceful scene of scores of highly paid lobbyists representing the arms industry descending on Washington D.C...

...It is now imperative that we direct our vast wealth, resources and talent toward solving our human and environmental problems...

...In the latter case this has evolved into a nearly $15 billion annual business, primarily to third world countries...

...A major myth which must be broken is the belief that the genocidal weapons offer more national security...

...In fact, one of these planes can carry far more destructive power Commonweal: 31 than the combined explosives used by all sides in World War II, or for that matter all the other wars in history...

...This is a drawing of a clock which formerly displayed the time as twelve minutes to midnight, symbolizing the nearness of a possible nuclear holocaust...

...Catholics represent, of course, only a small minority in this nation of almost eighteen million people...

...Public education must center on the simple fact that there can be no major improvements within this society as long as we allow some $80 billion to be spent annually on the military...

...High on the priority list is the Hard Structure Munition (HMS) bomb...

...Arms Control and Disarmament Agency estimated that military expenditures by underdeveloped nations are rising at double the rate of their economic growth...

...I.t has been estimated that the United States is responsible for scattering some $50 ~ |,t~1.L_]..l~Ul rll[llllllli " ' 1 I"'lll!l!i billion worth of armaments around the globe during the past 25 years...

...once again, for the first time since the Reformation, Erfurt has a Catholic bishop to preside in its cathedral church...

...It is clear that the Pentagon is prepared for any future limited wars such as Vietnam with a massive onslaught of destruction even greater than that which caused millions of casualties in Indochina...

...Or simply, why produce more overkill when our capacity is already rated at some 30-40 times every human being on this planet...

...The Communist regime is frankly delighted...

...The world community can no longer be left to the whims of a few national leaders pursuing their absurd nationalistic dreams which generally turn out to be nightmares...

...At Rockwell International, a major contractor for military aircraft, Board Chairman Willard Rockwell, Jr...

...The new B-1 Bomber, which could be used in either nuclear or conventional warfare, is the Air Force's proposed replacement for the B-52 and the FB-111 bombers...

...There are also some 400 long-range bombers (B-52) which also carry the large hydrogen bombs...

...As nearly fifty percent of every tax dollar collected by the federal government is allocated for military expenditures, such a policy is totally incongruous...

...They will never have the numbers and the political power of the Church in Poland...

...Rather than carrying 16 missiles, the Trident will carry 24, with each missile capable of carrying more nuclear warheads than the Poseidon...

...The Pentagon estimated the value of its real and personal property as $214 billion in 1970...

...The U.S...

...The great challenge now facing humanity is to regain control over our destiny...

...Another of the new weapons is the Fuel Air Explosive Weapon...

...bet o] the ]acuity o[ St...

...McGeorge Bandy, former special assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, wrote: "In the real world of real political leaders, whether here or in the Soviet Union, a decision that would bring even one hydrogen bomb on one city of one's own country would be recognized in advance as a catastrophic blunder...

...No wonder we see Greeks and Turks, and so many other peoples, killing each other with American-made weapons...

...Every one of the Poseidon submarines now patrolling the oceans has the capability to destroy over 100 major cities...

...FATHER W1LLARD F . JABUSCH, a previous contributor, is a mem...

...Their lack in equal number is partially made up in larger warheads...

...Each Trident submarine will cost over $1 billion...

...and in eliminating the exploitation by both national governments and multi-national corporations...

...Cost estimates for these bombers, including tankers and other supporting equipment run up to $60 billion...

...They carry warheads hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb...

...Governments, and their leaders, must be bound by the same norms of behavior and law demanded of citizens within the nations...

...Through an annual budget which exceeds the total budget of almost every country in the world, the Pentagon and its industrial arm have achieved a dominant role over American society...

...There is of course the matter of national industry and jobs...

...With the Polaris/ Poseidon program scheduled for completion next year, what would Lockheed do without a new Trident contract.* This is the same situation which exists throughout the military/industrial complex...

...Of our 1,000 land-based Minuteman missiles, 550 have already been converted to the multiple warhead system through mammoth contracts which have moved Boeing into the number-three position in military contractors...

...General Dynamics, another major military aircraft contractor, has a backlog of $2.6 billion, the largest in their history...

...They are, of course, not allowed to 11 October 1974:34...

...Rome has, in effect, recognized the "wall" (built, of course, "to protect the DDR from imperialistic elements") as something real and lasting...

...Nationalization would also more easily facilitate major reconversion programs without producing economic chaos...

...The escalation in the nuclear armament field is matched in the area of conventional arms...

...anticipated gains of 25 percent in sales and 30 percent in earnings in the first quarter and continued improvement throughout the year...

...balance of payments and jobs...

...But with MIRV each individual missile can carry as many as 10 to 14 nuclear warheads, every warhead with its own preselected target and computerized guidance system...

...Since World War II the United States has expended over $1 trillion (one thousand billion )on military programs...

...The full Polaris/ Poseidon fleet has 656 ballistic missiles capable of hitting 5,120 separate targets with a nuclear device several times more powerful than the one which destroyed Hiroshima...

...Even though it is totally meaningless, the patriots desperately want to have one more warhead than the Russians in the pathetic illusion that this makes us number one...

...Equally important is the economic motivation...

...Corporations must be exposed for the huge profits they derive from military contracts, and this includes the obscene policy of planned weapons' obsolescence and modification to insure the contracts keep coming in without pause...

...Former Secretary of State William Rogers stated that if military customers "don't get the planes from us they will get them someplace else...

...As one of East Germany's one thousand priests told me, "Here we live always amid the politics of hysteria...

...This disperses a fuel over a large area which is then ignited with grenades, thus incinerating everything within a large area...

...This would end the odious policy of industrialists and private investors making a profit from war and armaments...

...This requires building world democratic institutions which represent all humanity, and which are capable of establishing world law able to provide lasting peace with both social and economic justice, and effectively deal with the critical global problems of hunger and environmental depletion...

...Altogether, the United States has tens of thousands of nuclear weapons stockpiled, with over 7,000 actually targeted and ready for instant use...

...Its desirability by the military can be summed up in the following statement from Air Force Magazine: "Any future U.S...

...Mary o[ the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois...

...It is also typical of the cruelly distorted priorities and values of our society...

...And former Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard said increased arms sales were necessary for "maintaining an adequate defense posture at a minimum cost...

...Here Martin Luther climbed the soaring staircase and entered the portal beneath the Gothic virgin and apostles...

...Military involvement in limited wars should be based on the early and proper use of airpower with the defended allies providing the bulk or all of the ground forces...

...The change leaves at 16 the number of missiles carried by the submarine...

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

...This fleet consists of 41 submarines, 10 of the older Polaris design and 31 which have been converted to what is termed the Poseidon configuration...

...As might be assumed, the United States is number one in sales and the Soviet Union number two...

...Although the Pentagon recently completed a multi-billion modification of the B-52, they want it replaced with the B-1...

...This system is to be replaced by the Trident program...

...No longer, for exam#e, will the bishop of Bamberg, in West Germany, claim jurisdiction on the other side of the strongly guarded frontier and attempt to govern the parishes there through a local vicar...

...The task before us now, if we would survive, is to shake off our ancient prejudices and build the earth...

...Armaments are big business, whether it is for national supplies or foreign sales...

...Our present situation has best been expressed by the late Teilhard de Chardin: "The age of nations is past...

...By this time the Soviet Union will have nearly 4,000 warheads targeted...

...This is further supported by the Brookings Institute which estimates our military budget will increase to $100 billion by 1978 and $110 billion by 1980...

...ten bombs on ten cities would be a disaster beyond history...

...In 1977 this figure will be increased to over 9,000 under the terms of the SALT I agreement which simply sanctioned the arms race rather than decreasing it...

...This year the military budget is another record, amounting to an expenditure of nearly $250 million per day...

...A.t some $30 billion annually contracted to private business .by the Pentagon, this is one of the pillars of our national economics...

...At 16,000 tons, the Trident submarine would be twice the size of the Polaris...

...Many top experts give a much lower figure...

...Trident I will have a range of 4,500 miles, and a later version (Trident II) a range of 6,000 miles...

...Very, very few politicians have either the courage or wisdom to ~tate the situation as it really exists, preferring to play it safe and accept the Pentagon line...

...THE ECONOMICS OF DEATH DOt_JGLAS MATTERN More overkill for the military In a recent speech dealing with the national economy, President Ford declared that we must reduce federal spending as a means to fight inflation...

...Thomas Moorer, former Chair11 October 1974:32 man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "If we provide the material, our power to persuade ia enhanced...

...True enough...

...But in typical fashion Kissinger neglected to mention that our nation has, through a crash program, already converted over 70 percent of our seabased ballistic missiles to the multiple warhead system, and the majority of our land-based ICBMs...

...While this surely warmed the hearts of the arms manufacturers, it amounted to the same doubletalk that had this country waging a war in Indochina for peace, destroying Vietnamese cities in order to save them, and conducting a criminal bombing policy for national honor...

...every time a military appropriations bill is before Congress...

...In an article appearing in the New Republic Stanley Karnow states that Administration officials currently contend that the arms trade is indispensable to the U.S...

...i i CATHOLICS IN EAST GERMANY WILLARD F. JABUSCH The lot of a small minority The cathedral of Erfurt enjoys one of the most dramatic sites in Europe, balanced on a hilltop above the central "Marktplatz...

...On the flagstones between the splendidly carved choir stalls he prostrated himself as the litany of the saints was sung over him during his priestly ordination...

...In the same speech he also asserted that no significant reduction should be made in the military budget...

...There are also new "smart" bombs which have their own TV guidance system, the 7.5 ton bomb used in Vietnam which flattens everything within 10 city Mocks...

...A primary example is Lockheed Missiles Corporation...

...The great tragedy with this budget is that much of it is designed to pay for massive new genocidal weapon systems...

...We also have 54 Titan missiles which carry monstrous hydrogen warheads far too heavy for conversion to the MIRV system...

...Just the opposite is the case both for this nation and the world community...

...Religious orders are allowed to exist...

...Who knows what will happen next...

...In the political sphere the public deceit surrounding the arms race is incredible, to say the least...

...the Jesuits number about fifty priests and brothers and they have six or seven students living at one of their parishes and also studying at the Erfurt seminary...

...Such a drastic change of priorities will not come easily...

...The time has now been changed to nine minutes to midnight in response to the new escalations of the arms race...

...This weapon will have the capacity to penetrate hard targets (bridges, foundations, dikes, etc...

...which is equipped with multiple warheads (MIRV...

...Most armament experts place the number of nuclear weapons which could be used in an all-out exchange in the neighborhood of 400...

...But this is not enough for the Pentagon...

...It is, in fact, the largest business in the world, operating some 2,500 military bases around the globe, and entering into over 20,000 industrial contracts every year...

...Some 70 million people have already been slain in a long succession of over 60 wars in only the last 60 years...

...But this matters little to the arms manufacturers or our government...

...But just because bishops are now appointed to ancient episcopal cities like Erfurt and Magdeburg does not mean that many of the approximately one million Catholics will have an easier time of it...

...They know well enough that their lot could be better or far worse in neighboring Communist countries...

...Lockheed Missiles and Space Corporation has received a Pentagon contraot of $1,300,000,000 for the first Trident missile...

...Essentially, this means they have been converted to carry the Poseidon missile I DOUGLAS MATTERN, a long-time peace activist, is chairman o[ the World Citizens League...

...This includes the Trident submarine missile system and the new B-1 Bomber...

...The Trident submarine is proposed as a replacement for the Polaris/Poseidon submarine fleet which is not even due for final completion until 1975...

...Earlier this year James Schlesinger, Secretary of Defense, stated that we must increase our armaments in order to have disarmament...

...and most of all by ending unrestricted national sovereignty which allows any government to do whatever it wants, regardless of the barbarism and suffering it brings to other peoples...

...This ineludes rebuilding our cities, providing adequate medical care and a decent standard of living for all Americans, building new transportation systems, developing new energy sources, and so many other programs vital to our future...

...There are "improved" anti-personnel bombs (fragmentation) which have a h~gher kill ratio and which can be released from supersonic aircraft...

...Other than irrational reasons, the answer is both political and economic...

...It would appear there are more priestly vocations per million Catholics in this totalitarian climate than in Chicago or Boston...

...The sale of armaments to the third world countries is a major tragedy...

...Other new weapons in the conventional field include super napalm, and napalm-phosphorus-thermite bombs which disperse over a wide-area and burn a.t a higher temperature...

...But in the real world these figures are basically meaningless, or more accurately, an insane numbers game played at the expense of humanity...

...Together, these two programs will cost well over $100 billion before completion...

...Earlier ,this year Barron's Financial Weekly stated that "barring an unforeseen deepening of the energy crisis, the higher outlays (military) are likely to mean a continuation of defense contractors' earnings gains for the foreseeable future...

...Last year an agreement was reached between the Vatican and East Germany which allows for the establishment (or re-establishment) of Catholic dioceses in return for the Church's recognition of the present boundaries between the German Democratic Republic and West Germany and Poland...

...In this context it is sigCommonweal: 33 nificant to note that the Bulletin o! Atomic Scientists, the magazine created over two decades ago to present the views of well-known scientists on critical issues, has recently changed the famous symbol on its cover...

...Herbert York, former science advisor to both the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations, places the figure as low as 10...

...Secretary of State Henry Kissinger recently told a news media audience that the spread of multiple warheads must be halted due to the very dire consequences...

...The domination of the military and its industrial arms over our society, with its corresponding economics of death, must be ended...

...a continuing perfection of the electronic battlefield which was only in the experimental stage in Vietnam, and much, much more...

...Security and peace for humanity lies in eliminating the domination of the military and weapon-makers in the world community...