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Opinion
Peace isn’t parity
The focus of the SALT II debate should focus on the under
pinnings of the theory of nuclear arms limitation.
The focus should be on Mutual Assured Destruction, a
concept invented by the people who brought us the Vietnam
“body count. ”
The idea is that peace results because nations cannot fight
a nuclear war without suffering mutual annihilation.
It is sometimes referred to as the “Balance of Terror.”
MAD supporters often point to “End of the World” re
sults after an atomic war. Scientific American stated that
such “On the Beach scenarios are utter foolishness.
Somehow, the idea is that nuclear war is best prevented
by parity with the Soviet Union, and endangered by
superiority over it.
That is why past arms control experts hailed the Russian
acquisition of MIRV (Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehi
cles) technology. Multiple-warhead missiles meant parity,
they said.
U. S. technology threatened to upset the balance. Thus, to
keep the destruction mutual, the MAD thinkers have delib
erately built U.S. weapons that cannot threaten Russian
missiles. U.S. sub-launched Poseidon and Trident missiles
are almost useless against Russian missiles safe inside har
dened concrete silos. They are good only for wholesale
slaughter of unprotected civilians.
Civil defense also upsets MAD doctrine. This is because it
can save its people and industry from destruction. The
Office of Technology Assessment and Boeing aircraft pub
lished two reports which affirmed that the United States, by
using Russian techniques already in use, could drastically
reduce the loss of lives and property in the event of nuclear
war.
Leaving the American population helpless is not condu
cive to peace; it is provocative, as would be leaving a wallet
on a Houston park bench.
The U.S. should not make it easy for the USSR to take the
money and run. It should concentrate on both defensive and
offensive nuclear strategic superiority.
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The Battalion
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Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
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MEMBER
Texas Press Association
.» Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Liz Newlin
Managing Editor Andy Williams
Asst. Managing Editor Dillard
Stone
News Editors . .Karen Cornelison and
Michelle Burrowes
Sports Editor Sean Petty
City Editor Roy Bragg
Campus Editor Keith Taylor
Focus Editors Beth Calhoun and
Doug Graham
StaflF Writers Meril Edwards,
Diane Blake, Louie Arthur,
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Cartoonist Doug Graham
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Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
Viewpoint
The Battalion •Texas A&M University
Monday • September 17,1971
Analysis
Discovery of Russian troops in Cuba
could qualify as ‘most mismanaged crisis
MO
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By JIM ANDERSON
United Press International
WASHINGTON — When the definitive
work is written on “How to Mismanage a
Crisis, there surely will be a chapter de
voted to the Carter administration for the
way it has handled the discovery of Soviet
combat forces in Cuba.
It began with Sen. Richard Stone,
D-Fla., who kept telling the State Depart
ment there was such a contingent. On July
27, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance wrote
him that there “had been no significant
increase” in Soviet military capabilities in
Cuba.
Then, the U.S. intelligence community
accidentally discovered Stone was right,
there were 2,000 to 3,000 combat troops in
Cuba.
That was credibility gap No. 1.
After that, there was an elementary
breakdown of communications between
the administration and one of its strongest
supporters on Capitol Hill — Sen. Frank
Church, D-Idaho, chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
When Church was informed about the
troops, he decided a public announcement
was necessary and telephoned Vance to say
he was going to make it. Church thought he
had Vance’s agreement — and although he
did not — the news conference he held put
the issue out in the open.
Alarm ran quickly up the diplomatic
scale. The State Department made an offi
cial announcement about the combat units
and President Carter asked for nationwide
television time to urge everyone to be
calm.
Until then, everyone had been pretty
calm. But the presidential seal of impor
tance on the issue guaranteed big headlines
and lots of publicity.
At that point, Vance tried to snuff the
flames of panic by clamping a lid of secrecy
over his talks with Anatoly Dobrynin, the
veteran Soviet ambassador. He spent hours
with Dobrynin in the privacy of the State
Department dining room, and almost as
much time on Capitol Hill, urging senators
to give quiet diplomacy a chance.
But, while Vance was heading off poten
tial leaks from the Senate, the State De
partment itself was coming up with a
gusher.
One of Vance’s top deputies. Undersec
retary of State David Newsom, held a
background briefing for a group of news
paper reporters last Wednesday. He listed
a series of State Department theories about
the Soviet combat unit. One prominent
idea he mentioned was that the unit was
there as a demonstration or training unit, to
show Cuban troops how a brigade-sized
unit maneuvers.
That theory acknowledged for the first
time that the Soviet party newspaper
Pravda might have been correct in saying
the Russian forces were in Cuba for training
purposes.
At that stage, the crisis — which had
been an American-Soviet confrontatiom
a matter of principle — turned into
legalistic argument. What makes a mill
organization a combat unit. The definiin
could determine whether the Soviet®
are perceived as a threat.
It would be a harmless and educatis
exercise in international politics except!
two things:
—It comes while the administration
showing disarray in other areas, such aid
Middle East negotiations. U.S. credit!
in foreign affairs took another untim
blow.
plex —
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—Some senators, such as Stone:
Church, who were prepared to vote
ratification of the SALT II treaty, nownl
the withdrawal of Soviet troops fromCs
a precondition for their support. Other
committed senators, such asRussellLo^
D-La., have turned against the treat)
One U.S. official said, “SALT may Is.
just gone down the tube.”
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• • ■ i:' tional ar
DICK WE ST
Brown could up chances for nominatm
by changing his name to ‘Alternative
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — A new political
phenomenon has appeared on the Ameri
can scene. All over the country, we are
seeing the formation of groups seeking “a
Democratic alternative.
The latest, and typical of the genre, is the
D.C. Committee for a Democratic Alterna
tive. It joins similar organizations already
created in 19 states.
The committee pledges itself to “work to
provide a viable alternative to President
Carter as the Democratic nominee in
1980. But some analysts believe there is
more to the movement than that.
The suspicion is that the alternative
committees actually are Kennedy fronts
setting up a campaign nucleus in anticipa
tion of the Massachusetts senator formally
entering the race.
But at this point, that is only speculation.
Go to their headquarters, bang on the door
and ask to see Teddy Kennedy, and the
only answer you will get is: “There ain’t
nobody in here*but us alternatives.”
Whatever their motivation, the commit
tees offer a golden opportunity for Gov.
Edmund Brown of California to advance his
candidacy.
The talk is that one reason Brown has not
caught fire as a Carter challenger is because
so many Democrats are waiting to see what
Kennedy does.
It further is speculated that the moment
Kennedy announces, the groups now de
voted to seeking alternatives will im
mediately endorse him.
Very well. What Brown should do with
out delay is go into court and have his
named legally changed to Edmund Alter
native.
Do you see the beauty of that ploy?
First, it would give bodily form to the
alternative movement, incarnating what
now seems mainly some sort of vague long
ing on the part of many Democrats for 1980
options.
In preference polls in which the names
Brown and Carter appeared, there hasn’t
been a great deal of difference in the per
centages. But if the polls offered a choice
between Carter and Alternative, I’ll war
rant there would be a strong swing to the
latter. Brown should exploit that poteni
Seondly, by changing his nametol
mund Alternative, Brown quite lild
would prevent Kennedy from preenipi
the alternative movement.
I mean, an organization that has pula
professed its desire for a lower case alteii
tive could hardly turn its back on an d
case one. To do so would create an imp*
sion of fickleness or perfidy. Kenned),
feel sure, would disassociate himself
any group held in such repute.
In short, the alternative bandwagon!
rolling. Now is Brown’s chance to clii
aboard. If he waits too long, he may I
that President Jimmy Alternative has
ten there first.
T -j--, rp»fTiT-i MSC cafeteria luncher shocked and mad
1 i ii J_ J_ 1j Jtl O to find coffee refills are no longer free
Editor:
While lunching in the MSC cafeteria I
picked up my coffee cup to get it refilled
and was shocked to discover that refills are
no longer free, but are the same price as the
first cup of coffee (19 cents).
I most strongly protest this cavalier
treatment of Aggie coffee drinkers. The
right of coffee drinker to refills as part of the
purchase price of a cup of coffee is recog
nized by many restaurant chains, and is
vital to those long discussions requiring
more than one cup.
If the MSC cafeteria needs to increase
revenues, raise the price of a cup of coffee,
double it if necessary, but leave us our free
refills.
—Gregory K. Taggart
Cyclists, take care
Editor:
I would like to make a comment about
the bicycle riders here on campus. I want to
make it perfectly clear that I know that all
bicycle riders are not the same and by no
means do I want to make a general com
ment about all of them.
There are some bicycle riders who think
that they are not pedestrians and they are
not cars so they are going to make the best
of the situation and take advantage of inno
cent people. I believe that a bicycle rider
should be treated like a car. They should
yield right of way to pedestrians and should
obey all of the rules that a car has to follow.
I am a bicycle rider myself; as a matter of
fact it used to be my only means of transpor
tation, and believe me I know the anger
and frustration of having a car pull out in
front of you when it was your turn to go at a
four way stop. You patiently waited your
turn at the intersection, when all of a sud
den some hotrod pulls out in front of you.
But there are always two sides to a story.
There are bicycle riders who never stop
at stop signs, they just cruise right through
them thinking that God is going to stop the
traffic because they are riding a bicycle. I
almost hit a man on a bicycle last Monday
when he failed to even think about stopping
at a busy intersection on campus. I would
have been at fault even though he was the
one who almost made the deadly mistake.
I have passed the point of defensive driv
ing and reached the point where I have to
watch out for the bicycle riders because
they refuse to watch out for themselves. If
the bicylce riders want to be treated like
cars then they should act like cars, anil
they want to be treated like pedestri!
then they should get off their bicyclesH
on their feet.
As a closing point I would just like to$
that if you are fortunate enough to jj
within riding distance of campus, andf
do ride your bike, please he careful. Onl
these days there is going to he somef
who swears that they “JUST DIDN’TS®
YOU.”
—-Allyson Gail
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