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Show Daily Page Four L tah Chronicle May 8. 1974 OBseRvations Cut the cord D Like a had dream that will not go away, the problem of Vietnam still haunts the United Slates. Now, however, the dimensions of the problem are not measured in dead Americans or even in scores of billions of dollars, hut in terms of the SI. 126 billion price tag tied to the dubious "eace with honor." On Monday, the Senate Armed Services Committee acted to limit the military aid to South Vietnam to that amount by denying an additional S2o million for ammunition and aircraft. In so doing, it denied the Pentagon the chance to start the long and inexorable course of Hut the quest ion is not one of the amount of aid. but of giving any aid at all. The snag is not budgetary, but of military-politica- l efficacy. Sen. Jhn Stennis. the committee chairman, called the r4.(KK) American lives lost in the prolonged agony an "investment" from which the U.S. could not turn its back. The Nixon Administration pr(claims the military aid package is part of the Nixon Doctrine, which stresses the keeping of commitments to friendly nations by supplying the hardware for war if they will supply the manpower. Hut both forms of invest ment- -t he lives and the money-car- ry the even loss. the from In this the to investment sense, necessity protect How far are we smallest commitment carries the seeds of escalation. willing to go to protect our gamble? Vietnam has already proved a bottomless pit for lives and money. The military aid package contains another paradoxical twist: if the aid the U.S. gives is not enough, and if the U.S. is not willing to increase the amount of aid. then why give any aid at all? The (juestion gains more irony when one considers that this money and material is being used to kill people. More jx'ople can be killed by giving more aid. Kill enough people and a victory might be won. Hut if enough people aren't killed, then there is no victor)-- , and the lives are needlessly taken. The would-bconqueror is then just a criminal, and an inept one at that. As part of the enormous military budget of the U.S., the billion or so that goes to Vietnam is trifling. Hut it is a billion that could be better spent on constructive projects in this country and abroad. It is time to start seriously thinking about severing the useless umbilical cord which still drains resources from the U.S. to support a foundering government in South Vietnam. D.-Miss- H 1 A(D A ., d e KCPX FFOWCTONS f FUNITEStNTS... daily utch chponicLe Published daily, except during te9t week, by the Publications Council of the University of Utah. The opinions expressed on the editorial pages of the Daily Utah Chronicle do not necessarily represent the views of the studentbody or the University administration Subscription rates M.00 a quarter or si 2.00 for the school year. Send check or money order to the Daily Utah Chronicle, north wing of the Union Hldg.. University of Utah. Salt Lake Citv Utah Mil 2. VLJT ""V H SALUTE mill TOW SIXdAL WIS StAJU? vV J STOPrrasi GRLAT r SANDWICHL.S AN AT TWO KJ W LOCATIONS TROLLLY SQUAR1. JfiMES ODIICH MEMDjOAL PAT THE OATTTT?AT ALL TICKETS AVAIL A&LE mOPOCEP SCATS RESERVED AT. THE SALT PALACE BOX. : Mf) AF SAIX LAKE 6 , 5 ALL ,A.ZCMI Of PICE AN? FOR FUKTHEft. INFORMATION ;(80l)3i3-7fe&- l FCN PBOPUCTioNA FOKEST COMPAMX CTTY STORES.. 1974 R0GeR-5HPttEK- ? across MAIN STATION from the Capitol STRUT theater arch - STATION I 164 south mam street ti 1 1 |