| Show Marquis Childs Peril Seen in inOn Taft Attack On Military Whether ASHINGTON WASHINGTON Whether he meant it as a portent for the New Year there was in Senator Robert A. A Tafts Taft's last speech inthe inthe in inthe the old year an ominous shadow of discussion to come In that speech delivered deli in his hometown hometown home hometown town of Cincinnati Taft Tart announced announced announced an an- that he had no confidence con confidence i- i dence in the top military leadership leadership leadership leader leader- ship of this country That was n a strange thing thing- to say at a moment when hen American troops were being pressed to the point of deadly peril in Korea The senator from Ohio later amended his remarks to say that he did not mean to include in his vote of no confidence the command in the field which presumably exempted General MacArthur This it seems to me is indicative indicative indica indica- tive the of a most dangerous trend Foreign policy has become becom Increasingly in increasingly tn- tn the subject of bitter political partisanship If now military policy is likewise thrown into the arena of political cal passion the security ty of this nation will be jeopardized from within Dari Dal Dangerous Doctrine Several champions of General MacArthur have ha publicly declared declared de de- in congress that any ef effort effort effort ef- ef fort to relieve him of his command command command com com- mand or even to alter alter- the nature of that command would bring bring- political reprisals That is saying saying saying say say- ing in effect that political backing will champion MacArthur MacArthur MacAr r thur regardless of how any decision decision decision de de- may mav be reached as to his military status tatus Quite apart from anything the general may mayor ormay or ormay may not have done at any point in his long and distinguished career this Is a dangerous doctrine doctrine doctrine doc doc- trine that go goes s contrary to most American practice There is no intention here to suggest that a general or an admiral is above criticism But crit criticism ism is one thing and it is quite another thing for the head of ot the political opposition to declare declare declare de de- clare to the country that he has no confidence in the country's military leadership Tell Too Much Part of Tafts Taft's complaint served to be that the military command in the pentagon had told congress either cither too much or nut enough They had said that Korea was a disaster and now look said Taft we seem to be beholding holding a line on the paral paral- lel This it should be added was just before the latest Chinese Communist attack was launched One thing this does do and that is to bring into focus the burden put on our military men in the matter of the relationship with congress Our generals and admirals in addition to all their other duties must testify in person on major defense matters They try to keep congressional committees informed on the latest military developments Tight Serc Secrecy So what happens The general general general gen gen- eral or th th-j th admiral appears before before before be be- fore a committee in executive session A personal check cheek is made of very every individual present present present pres pres- ent to make sure that by some chance an unauthorized person has not slipped into the committee committee committee com com- roam The doors the windows and the walls have been previously pre checked for possible listening devices The general or the admiral talks frankly He is pressed to give his appraisal of the situation situ situ- The committee thanks him for his frankness All this is very cry secret Reporters waiting waiting wait wait- ing outside the door are told No comment But within a matter of hours the general or the admiral finds that everything he said has been leaked to press and radio It has actually happened that testimony given g in the morning morning- has by the process of congressional leak appeared in the afternoon newspapers Too Dangerous Here as Senator Taft might have pointed out is a matter where confidence and mutual trust enter in The general or orthe orthe orthe the admiral will not be nearly so ready to talk frankly the next time It is just too dangerous to disclose in this way secrets of possible benefit to an enemy whether immediate or potential and that includes plans for future campaigns General Eisenhower is shortly going to Europe to head a unified unified unified uni uni- fied defense command for fOl the the- North Atlantic Treaty Nations He is going g in answer to the call of duty To encourage politics politics politics poli poli- tics to infringe on that assignment assignment assignment assign n ment would be the deepest disservice disservice disservice dis dis- dis- dis service to the country and the western world to say nothing of what an injustice it would be to Eisenhower himself With the gulf marked out by Herbert Hoovers Hoover's speech the temptation will be there But It should be put pul down no matter what its source Copyright United Features Syndicate |
