| Show ASSIGNMENT AMERICA Opinions of M Most st General On Atom Bomb Worthless WorthIes By KENNETH L. L DIXON WASHINGTON INS INS Noth Noth Nothing ing has been said publicly about it It but the secretaries of war and navy have had a private suggestion placed before them recently which soon will wend vend its quiet way down through h the channels of their two depart depart- ments The probably unwritten order will say approximately this Quit popping off oft about your opinions of the atom bomb The reason for the rather highly placed suggestion is pretty obvious Too many upper- upper bracket brass boys in both the army and nd the n navy vy have been debunking the deadly bomb of late And while the criticism of ot such debunking varies from the scientifically specific to the radically rad rad- ridiculous It all comes to the same conclusion the conclusIon the fear that Americans respecting the generals and admirals may conclude conclude con con- clude elude that the atom is not so deadly after all aU And President Truman is not the only person who shudders at atthe atthe atthe the thought of what that sort of popular theorizing might do to the survival of the whole human human race Know Enow Delivery Only To appreciate why this unwritten ten order is going down the line it should be understood that the average overage general or admiral knows just about as much about the atom bomb as you do wIth do-wIth with one exception I If he happens to belong to the ultra-ultra ultra top top echelon he knows how to deliver it to its target But even so like the postman he still doesn't know exactly what's in the pack pack- age So under normal circum circum- stances his opinion on the potentialities po po- of the atom bomb Is less pertinent than that of your neighbors neighbor's son who is a physics student at college But for or some reason the top- top bracket military and naval brass hats cant can't seem to realize that they had almost nothing to do with the development of this new v weapon and know less than nothing about it And it isn't a anew anew anew new habit this promiscuous popping popping popping pop pop- ping off More ore than a yc year r ago in the Pacific I heard an admiral as assert assert assert as- as sert blandly that even the atom bomb was useless without the navy navy to to deliver it to a launchIng launching launching launch launch- ing point he said Proved Ridiculous He was a famous and very popular admiral and perhaps people have forgotten that well- well reported remark He probably hopes so because even then it was being proved ridiculous And today it is obvious that land- land based planes could deliver dellver the bomb from almost any country on earth to almost any other country on earth earth and and return to their home But since the war was still a recent thing at that time even he is more to be forgiven than other ranking high-ranking oC officers who recently have been indulging in such reckless forensics Hardly the least of these is General Jacob L. L Devers commander commander com corn mander of the U. U S. S army ground forces who minimized the menace menace menace men men- ace of the murderous w weapon apon the other day in a statement ing that any nation w tacked America would u USe atom bomb sparingly if it at He made quite a case of t that no aggressor aggreSS r W m want to destroy the indus Industria a country about to be Consequently he contended aggressor aggressor t would thing so lethal as an atom which might wreck those tries Gist of Comment Even atomizing an enemy eny a tal would accomplish nothing military Importance he tu And the gist of all aU his co cor was that the atom bomb much overrated as a thre thre civilization All of which would be h b fin that even men tt of ally opposite views vIews such such aj u ul 1 Ing scientists and high high- army array officers officers till all agree Devers just doesn't know n of anything about the A. A l A-l And that opinion wont won't any correspondent who rt bers hers when General Deven Devers p through our miserable southern France wint winter camp amp in late 1944 He p pa pat long enough to hold a I press conference during he proved to everybody Including including his own ned conducting officers t tt knew nothing whatever the current strategic tact physical situation along the he was supposed to be ing But all that's over the theand theand theand and perhaps it wouldn't be bep p except that such n ml m- Devers again are making matic maUc statements on sub about which they know more than the average can citizen And this time It affects th the ture of the whole human which is mainly why t th being told to shut up know what they're talking a at Distributed by News Service |
