WITH HUMANITY AS PAWNS

...essentially a transformed United Nations which has the authority to settle disputes between nations through the framework of world law, and the ability to establish a new economic order...

...The business section of the New York Times recently reported that "the outlook for U.S...

...However, over the yeats the military/industrial complex has grown to a dominant position, with its cancerous growth reaching into nearly every segment of our society...

...would still have about 3,100 surviving warheads-nearly as much as the Soviet arsenal has now...

...This is a requisite to solution of other problems...

...Nevertheless, additional types are constantly being added...

...Top management people constantly shift from large corporations to the Pentagon, and back again...

...Congressman Les Aspin (Dem...

...Overall, the U.S...

...In the Spring 1976 issue of Foreign Policy magazine, Congressman Aspin presents a scenario in which even if the Soviets were somehow able to carry out a devastating attack on the U.S...

...to less than 4,000 for the Soviets...

...One example is the multitude of petitions now circulating around the globe...

...Aside from the pressure of the fight-wing and Dr...

...The need for immediate action can be underlined by the recent comment of William Epstein, former disarmament director of the United Nations: "For the first time in a quarter of a century of working with the problems of the arms race, I am beginning to get scared...

...building a first-strike nuclear force...

...Surrounding the White House and the Pentagon are offices of over 200 companies which produce weapons...

...There is also the Mark 12A nuclear warhead giving the Minuteman III missile greater explosive yield and accuracy...

...The American people must face up to the power of the military/industrial complex, and understand the imperative need for a dramatic change in national priorities and goals...

...who formerly Commonweal: 329 worked as a systems analyst in the Pentagon, has shown that a basic bias in these figures is that they are based on the,U.S, dollar...

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

...moreover, the Pentagon is the only branch of government which has an office directly in the Congressional Office Building...

...York concludes that in addition "genetic problems, which are even more difficult to calculate, would affect many, many more millions of others, not only in this generation, but for centuries to come...

...Soviet military budget goes for strictly defensive purposes for which there is no corresponding outlay in the U.S...

...it is the Pentagon and arms industry which push the arms race that threatens our very survival...

...Over 1,000 former Pentagon officials work for the arms industry, many lobbying full time to oppose efforts to reduce the military budget...

...which destroyed 50 percent of our sea-based missiles, 90 percent of our land-based missiles, and 80 percent of our B-52s, the U.S...

...At the same time the General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted encouraging resolutions, including one calling for an immediate ban on the development of all further weapons of mass destruction...

...military budget is raised in Congress...

...The final two words were superimposed over a photograph of an atomic bomb explosion...

...Moreover, there is the effort by the Pentagon to insure even higher profits for the arms industry through a program called "Profits 76...

...The Russian ruble is not traded on the international currency market and there is no accepted rate of exchange...

...For example, a U.S...

...Buis, who was director of the French armed forces' Center for Superior Military Studies when he retired in 1972, went on to state: "We're watching an old operation that we've seen before...

...General George Buis, head of a French think tank, recently stated: "It's part of an alarmist campaign not reflecting the reality of ongoing American superiority...

...An important and promising development is the UN Conference on Disarmament scheduled for 1978...

...Department of Defense, states that in this situation I0 million casualties would result from cancer and leukemia in countries situated well away from the two main protagonists...

...Congressman Aspin indicates the irony is that if the pay of U.S...

...Strangeloves in our society, we find economics a major factor...

...The much cited $2.8 billion reduction in military spending is not real, but simply the difference between the Carter budget and the even more inflated one proposed by outgoing President Ford...

...He went on to state that in the U.S...

...The Russian budget is falsely bloated when computing rubles into dollars even in such areas as pay scales...

...a beckoning to life and the future from the very depths of humanity...

...had a 9 to 1 lead over the Soviet Union in deliverable nuclear warheads, 1800 to 200...

...At that time the U,S...

...Similar comments are being expressed by arms experts around the globe...

...on military programs...

...Apathy and indifference have allowed the arms race to evolve into a maniacal chess game where profit and power are the prize, and humanity the pawns...

...This lobbying has paid off many times over for the arms industry...

...abstaining...

...WITH HUMANITY AS PAWNS DOUGLAS MATTERN The arms race continues its m cabre esc ation When defending the Fiscal 1976 Pentagon budget, then-Defense Secretary James Schlesinger said: "I offer no apologies . . . . It's a long-hanl budget...

...After World War II this nation was internationally viewed as a liberator and a symbol of hope...

...military industries is more cheerful today than in years...

...Over three decades we have become the leading supporter of right-wing dictatorships around the globe...

...What is important to understand is that we have had deterrence for many years...

...Other Factors Quite obviously, there are other motivations which keep the arms race going...

...What we are witnessing is the old Russian scare I l l I DOUGLAS MATTERN, a long-time peace activist, is chairman of the World Citizens League...

...Experts estimate that somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 million people would be killed on each side in an all-out nuclear war...

...The immediate goal is clear: stop the arms race...

...From many of the statements of the Pentagon, the CIA and our cold-warriors, it would seem that after expending $100,000 per minute on military programs over the past 30 years, and building an 8,000-megaton nuclear destructive force equal to over 600,000 Hiroshimas, the U,S...

...His new position will pay him $180,000 a year...

...Currie had worked for Hughes as a vice-president before his Pentagon position...

...Back in 1960, President Eisenhower warned the American people of this force when he termed it the "military/industrial complex.'" At that time Eisenhower warned that economic and political motivations were taking precedence over strict military needs...

...The recent mammoth budgets, plus what the Pentagon has planned over the coming years, including $197 billion in planned new weapons programs stretching into the mid-1980s, help to focus the present rhetoric concerning U.S...

...We are often shown impressive statistics which purport to prove how the Soviet Union is dramatically outspending the U.S...

...We need only look at our own recent history in the Vietnam war or civil fights...

...The New York Times reports that a recent study by the Energy Research and Development Administration reveals this stockpile consists of 26 basic types of nuclear weapons incorporated into 33 weapons systems...

...But a more important factor to consider is that a major portion of the...

...And now the Fiscal 1978 Defense budget of $120 billion proposed by the Carter administration represents another major increase...

...A recent example is Malcolm R. Currie, who resigned his posi27 May 1977:330 tion as director of defense research and engineering in the Defense Department to join Hughes Aircraft Cornparty as vice president in charge of the missile system for which he was responsible when he was in the Pentagon...

...is about to be overrun by the Soviets...

...Senator Proxmire calls this program the "capstone in a new series of handouts to the military-industrial complex and one of the biggest ripoffs that the taxpayer has ever suffered...

...As Senator Proxmire has noted: "Threats of new Soviet military strength seem to blossom just like the flowers bloom in the spring whenever the defense budget reaches the Appropriations Committee...

...The facts don't back up the statements of alarm . . . . The United States is five to 10 years ahead in each arms system...

...maintains a commanding lead in deliverable nuclear warheads, some 9,000 for the U.S...

...Deterrence is based on the official policy of Mutual Assured Destruction, which has the appropriate acronym of MAD...

...From this comes another 100,000 subcontracts...

...By any rational standard, there can be no number one militarily, not when both sides have enough destructive power to virtually destroy civilization...

...Deterrence is the concept according to which you have so much power that even if your country is attacked first it still has enough to destroy the adversary...

...The statistics are supplied by the CIA and other intelligence sources, and as such are highly suspect in political bias as well as mysterious in the manner they seem to increase when opposition to the U.S...

...In short, the need to justify this extraordinary expenditure...

...However, one thing must be clear: the ultimate solution to the arms race, and the critical environmental and economic problems, can only be achieved through a global approach...

...This includes the B-77 full fusing option nuclear bomb which is particularly designed for delivery at low altitudes and high speed by the B-1 bomber...

...Surely we have enough intelligence and courage to escape the absurd folly to which Russell alluded...

...In addition, there is a new nuclear warhead for the Trident missile and some existing Poseidon missiles...

...The additional weapons of genocide which have been added to our arsenal (and those planned for the future) add nothing to our security, but rather make us and the entire world community le~s secure...

...Over the years we have built a massive high-energy power system which now consumes over 35 percent of the world's resources, and has come to depend on war, or at least mock war in t h e form of an ongoing arms race ,to provide overproduction and waste through weapons obsolescence and replacement...

...Perhaps an outside source is even more valid in assessing the present rhetoric...

...The great challenge is for all concerned people to become involved at all possible levels, for history has conclusively shown that major change takes place only when enough people sufficiently demonstrate they will no longer tolerate a given situation...

...One of these, the StOckholm Appeal, has already been signed by over 300 million people, including 100 million in the Soviet Union...

...actually sells more than all the rest of the world combined, about $40 billion worth of arms since 1965, with current sales nearly averaging $1 billion per month...

...It passed by a 112 to 1 vote, with the U.S...

...We have also been the consistent leader in escalating the arms race, including the deadly business of selling weapons on the ~world market...

...Army recruit receives $83 per month while his counterpart in the Soviet Union receives less than one ruble per week...

...Commonweal: 331...

...The end...

...This brings to mind a satirical booklet written by Bertrand Russell and entitled "The History of the World...

...tactic which has been used so successfully throughout the cold war by the Pentagon and politicians alike...

...The full meaning became clear the following year with another record budget for Fiscal 1977 which topped $100 billion for the first time...

...In terms of total nuclear strength, the U.S...

...Herbert York, former Science Advisor to both the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, and former director of Defense Research and Engineering of the U.S...

...This warhead meets the design for attacking Soviet missiles in their silos and thus lends additional credibility to charges of the U.S...

...The years have shown that regardless of whichever political party is in power, the arms race continues its macabre escalation with our nation at the helm...

...However, with the escalation proceeding to the point where the nations will collectively expend $300 billion on military programs this year (almost equal to the entire income of the poorer half of humanity), more dramatic action is mandatory...

...But facts have never inhibited the use of the Russian scare tactic by its proponents...

...The tragic irony in all these numbers is that the question of which side has the most missiles and warheads is basically meaningless...

...military strength vis-a-vis the Soviet Union...

...Former President Kennedy used it extensively in the 1960 presidential campaign in the form of a missile gap, which in fact never existed...

...In a recent speech, Senator Alan Cranston stated that the people in the U.S...

...military personnel were cut, the Russian budget as presented by the CIA would also he reduced...

...Russia ;s surrounded by hostile neighbors such as China and NATO forces, thus a large expenditure is allocated for such items as antiaircraft guns and troop displacement, such as the 500,000 Russian troops stationed on the Chinese border...

...A new dawn, radiating the light of a progressive world community is possible, but only if enough people have courage to overcome the prevalent cynicism to rise and meet it...

...has an existing stockpile of more than 20,000 nuclear weapons...

...The U.S...

...Both have far more than enough to destroy each other...

...The effects of militarism on our society as manifest in the power of the Pentagon and the arms industry have been devastating...

...Mankind's entire history was covered in one sentence: "Since Eve ate the apple, man has never refrained from any folly of which he was capable...

...and the world are not being told the truth about the current arms buildup...

...Fortunately, there are signs of a new awakening...

...From an annual Pentagon budget which is higher than the gross national product of all but eight countries in the world, the arms industry divides up more 'than 20,000 major contracts...

...In addition, the popular rhetoric by simple minds as to which power is "number one" must be exposed as an inane super-bowl mentality projected into the realm of nuclear politics...