with a positive and constructive alternative to express it.” The Ad Hoc Hearings So I went outside the context of the Armed Services Committee, raised some funds, and held six days of ad hoc hearings on the full implications of the military budget. We looked at the national security and foreign policy implications of the military budget; the tactical and strategic implications of the military budget. We looked at the moral implications of the military budget; the economic implications of the military budget; citizen responsibility to end the madness of the arms races; and finally, the economic implications of America’s global arms sales, because we are a major seller of weapons in the world. Let me tell you a few things that we learned. If the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in nuclear war and only used ten percent of their nuclear arsenal, only ten percent, we would destroy 80 to 90% of the ozone, which means that the inhabitants of this planet, over a relatively short period of time, would all die of some form of skin cancer and related disease. Some scientists have indicated that even if the United States never absorbed a nuclear strike, we would be committing suicide anyway by unleashing the nuclear terror. It would just be a matter of time. Dr. Jack Geiger, who is one of the leaders of a remarkable organization known as The Physicians for Social Responsibility, told me that if I wanted to convey an understanding of the arms race, I should tell this brief story: Envision two men in a room, air tight, both up to their necks in gasoline. One is holding seven matches, and one is holding ten matches. The one holding ten matches says, ‘‘I’m not about to negotiate with you until I have fifteen matches.” That’s the level of absurdity at which we are operating. Whether we in this room agree politically or not; irrespective of our political views, our race or our national origin, the one thing that unifies us all is this planet Earth, and this planet is in danger from the threat of nuclear war. To the black and third-world people in this country, I say this is not a white male issue. Three-quarters of the people on the planet Earth are people of color, and if for no other reason but one’s nationalistic pride, ^^tudies are beginning to be made public indicating that large percentages of our children don’t even believe that they will achieve adulthood, because we will end the world in a nuclear holocaust. you have a responsibility to engage in a struggle against nuclear weapons because a nuclear weapon is an equal opportunity destroyer. It has no respect for race, creed or color. We have an obligation to challenge this madness. We have a responsibility to become part of the struggle to end this insanity. To stop the madness of nuclear weapons, to stop the ever-increasing arsenal of conventional weaponry, because all those weapons do is make it easier for us to engage in adventurism around the world — in the Vietnams, the Koreas and the El Salvadors. We have to move beyond the concept of war. What I found in those hearings was that the planet is in danger. That there , is no such thing as nuclear superiority; there is no intellectual or political or military support for that idea. We all know one thing about the Soviet Union. They have the intellectual capability, the scientific wherewithal, the political will and the military might to build whatever they think is necessary in response to our weapons capability. No matter how heinous the weapon, it may be six months, it may be one year, two years later, but we’ll be looking down the barrel of the same weapon. So superiority is a fleeting thing. Today I have a bigger gun than you; tomorrow you’ll have the same gun. Then I go back to the Congress and say, “The brother has a gun equal to mine; you’ve got to give me more money so I can build a bigger gun.” And it goes on ad infinitum. Beyond Control The implications are that we bring ourselves closer to the brink of nuclear disaster and we cripple and destroy ourselves economically. The other implication is that in continuing to pursue an ever-increasing military budget, either the bottom will drop out of this economy from the sheer weight of a bloated, wasteful and unnecessary military budget, or someday we’re going to achieve a level of technology that is beyond our social institution’s ability to control. A few times all of you have gotten up in the morning and read the newspaper that said, “American planes scramble into the sky.” Then you read further, “because of a misprint in the computer.” And I sit there as a member of the Armed Services Commrttee and go behind the headlines and find out that all of our lives hung on the judgment of one general, sitting there, reading these tapes, while you all quietly slept. This incredible capacity to destroy comes down to a human being making a judgment as to whether that read-out is real or unreal. And I’m saying that if we continue down this road, we’re going to achieve a level of technology that will be beyond our ability to control. This administration talks about verification. If we’re going to engage in an agreement with the Soviet Union, we have to verify it, which means that we’ve got to have satellites that look down and see what they do, right? But isn’t it a contradiction to talk about verification and at the same time ask for funds to develop weapons that defy verification? How can you verify a Cruise missile? You can put it on a fishing trawler; you can put it anywhere. It’s cheap, it’s small, it’s compact, but it’s a deadly weapon. At this very moment we are developing weapons that are beyond our ability to verify. The second dangerous thing is that over the years we have engaged in the process known as “deterrents.” Deterrents, simply stated, means that if you hit me, I can respond by inflicting such pain upon you that you will consider many times before you inflict any damage upon me. Nobody’s Consign Your Records and share in the profits. You can also bring in your old records in exchange for cash or other records. Rock, Jazz Classical, Country, New Wave, Hard to Find, Out of Print and unusual records. BIRD SUITE 3736 S.E. 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