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Show Joseph Kraft i A 23 The Salt Lake Tribune, I ridar, I U S. Relatively Guilt-Fre- e Ap-- tl 2, 1971 au Dcllen Dr. T. R. a Of Deliberate War Grime WASHINGTON The verdict in the Calley case combines with a burgeoning literature to stimulate new debate on the issue of war ciimes in Vietnam. But at the - heart bate, as a masterly survey of the literature oy Neil Sheehan of the New Yorx Times le veals, liter is a confusion of tenns. The term war crime' can be used in a technical legal fceiise to mean Violation of the rules prescribed by international conventions or set down in such publications as the Army Field Manual For example, the field irmual prohibits any kind or degree of violence which to not actually hei essary for military purposes." The intoserkninate bombing of peasant villages in Vietnam on a grand scale goes againrt that canon. In the strict technical sense a strong case can be made that it is a war crime. But Vietnam is not unique in that re- - ii Stanley Karnow My Lai Guilt Rests on The Superiors Nearly a decade ago, a Yale psychologist by the name of Stanley conducted a study that was remarkably prescient He demonstrated in the laboratory what LL William Calley and his unit would later dramatize at My Lai that mans behavior is almost invariably dominated by authority rather than by his own sense of morality. ' This suggests that the real guilt for the slaughter of civilians in Indochina, whether in My Lai incidents or through raids, lies less with those who obey than with those who issue orders. Moreover, the guilt is shared by a nation that closes its eyes to atrocities, as the United Mil-gra- m of Tokyo. Indeed, those World War II actions were probably less related to military purposes than the Vietnam bombing. The term war crime," however, has another meaning besides violation of ofli-cirules. To most people it connotes what Hitler did. It has to do with intentional savagery, with willful malevolence, with the deliberate adoption of beastly tactics for the sake of humiliating others. By that popular staidard, the case that this countrys leaders have committed war crimes is very weak. President Johnson as anybody who saw him in those days can testify, did not order bombing raids in any spirit of exaltation. He acted more in sorrow and despair. And so it has been with President Nuon. and the mm who have held the highest jobs at the Pentagon and the State Department during uie past 6v A ear-olprinter walking down the st. et saw sever T people looking at the top of a high-risThe curiosity - -seemed to get the --- j best ot him and he As he stopped. looked straight up, he became dizzy, weak ened and fainted. At the hospital, an examination failed to uncover the cause that the man had high blood ex-ce- p. hall-doze- n years. Kerolts at Atrocities James Reston argument that war criminals. the term. The as well as the war crime literature, demonstrates the contrary. To a rare degree for a country involved in war, to a degree not faintly matched by the North Vietnamese for instance, the instinct of the United States is to condemn its own atrocities. And there lies the rough logic of the case against Lt. William Calley for his part in the My Lai massacre. A good deal of evidence indicates that there was a wanton, personal element in the killings at My Lai. Insofar as that is true, LL Calley is not merely a scapenot just like all the others only goat lower to rank. He is different, in a way meaningful to the ethics of ordinary men if not philosophers, from the pilots and artillery officers who did far more devastation. For they were just doing a job. Nor Is there a serious the American people are In the popular sense of reporting out of Vietnam, is not to say that this country is exempt from blame for what happened in Vietnam. Many of our leaders, and many of us who are followers, committed grievous errors of judgment. that one that The original sin Is moral applies to almost all of us blindness. We were too comfortable with things as they were, too persuaded of the beneficence of our system, too disposed to believe that reasonable men would come up with reasonable policies. We took authority on trust, and for too long turned a deaf ear to the warnings that disaster was shaping up to Southeast Asia. There was an excess of credulity. In that atmosphere, overconfidence ran rampant. Two successive presidents came to believe they could achieve a South Vietnam the if wily they could of victory equivalent s get a little time. So they told to die pubTc and diddled toe Congress to gain time. Meanwhile they delivered their fortunes into the hands of the mili' tary chiefs. Average Americans In his original experiment, described study of destructive obedience," Milgram assembled a group of school as a half-truth- teachers, salesmen, engineers and other average" Americans. Their task was to put a series of questions to students and administer electric shocks ranging up to 150 volts to those who failed to answer correctly. The shocks were fake. But this was unknown to the examiners," since the student victims were instructed to simulate extreme pain. While many perspired, trembled, stuttered and groaned, none of the 40 examiners stopped short of administering 300 and only 14 refused volts to his victim to go all the way up to 450 volts even though at that level, the victims were supposed to be suffering extreme shock. Hid Unwelcome Facts With that blanket backing, the milichiefs convinced themselves that they were the true expression of the whole country that what was good for them was good for the United States. In deference to the weapons they had, they developed tactics wholly out of keeping with hte national instinct for fair play. When things went wrong, they hid the facts as a matter of course, blamed the press, aud misrepresented matters to the Congress and the president The end result is a genuine mess. Abuse of confidence has eroded the whole system. It will be years before authority can easily count on public support In this country. But bad as things may be, the United States is not as one morally accursed. A slow rebuilding of confidence is possible. And it is the reverse of useful to inflame tempers by loose talk of war crimes. tary Wonders About Torture I he . anticipated Indochina at the time of his experiment, Milgram might have pondered on the degree to which a group of average Americans willing to torture their feiiow citzens would go if Visa ucted to punish gooks. My Lai has, of course, since provided him with an answer. By James Reston New York Tunes Service - NEW YORK Lenoid I. Brezhnevs 24th Communist the speech to Party ConMoscow to President is little like a gress recent N i x o na state of the world message to the U.S. Congress. It is long, vague, and a little hopeful something for evbut erybody essentially it is an exercise in public rather relations than a practical basis for serious II Neither vulnerable. West deals. NORTH A542 tfJMS 032 AAK8S7 WEST A EAST J87C A QS78 VK8782 OKU VJ O AJIS1 KQ3 A 32 SOUTH A A 18 VAQS4 O AJ$4 A Q 1 Opening lead: Three of hearts. Whenever the combined assets do not leave toe declarer much margin for error, he must exercise great care in the management of his resources. South, the declarer at three no trump in todays hand, displayed foresight as well as a deft touch to earn his triumph. - Wins Trick West had no very attractive lead of so he decided io open the three of hearts despite the fact that he held only a singieton in his partners suit. South made a very shrewd play at Irak one from the dummy, w hen he covered with the eight instead of putting up an honor. If the jack of hearts is played. East can eliminate any subsequent entry his on, A - $ Awwv-- a oAfTTI aii Dr. jgSI AmmmI Van Dellen pressure. Thereafter he ran hs own tests to determine whether looking up had caused the spell. Now when he becomes dizzy and weak he stops because he is sure he will faint. The printer finally consulted a medical specialist who pressed on a nerve center in his neck. A few seconds later he fainted. The diagnoa sensitive carotid sinus. sis The carotid arteries in the neck bring blood to the brain. They branch at the level of the lower jaw and r i important nerve center (carotid sinus) is located in the wails ot each artery at this bifurcabled area of the Middle East is part of tion. These regulate respiration, heart the larger strategic area of Europe, yet rate, blood pressure and circulation. The carotid sinus Is likely to become the western nations, divided on the l conflict, have separated the more sensitive with age, especially when two theaters, ignoring the fact that .the individual has hypertension, hardenSoviet naval power is now a powerful heart trouble, ing of the arteries, new force on the southern flank of westenlarged glands or scars in the neck. When it is overly sensitive, applying ern Europe. Thus, if Brezhnev did nothing else, he pressure with the fingers or thumb may at least reminded the west that, for lead to a slowing of the pulse and drop in blood pressure. Dizziness, blurring of all his conciliatory proposals, his strategic and political aims remain the vision, and faintness occur. same, and that his emphasis within the Hyperextending the neck when looking Soviet Union is still on the development up, viewirg a movie from the front row, of heavy industry and arms production, or working overhead may press upon the carotid sinus. (Copyright) forces, and arms reduction in certain oilier areas aie worth discussing, even in an conference, which Washington has consistently regarded with undisguised skepticism. Before any such conference, however, there is something to be said for the nations to hold a conference of their own. For the last few years, there has been an obvious rise in nationalism in the West, and an understandable but dangerous decline in the development of collective security arrangements. It is dear, for example, that the trou Arab-Israe- Out-oH- ow Call Cdlect te Order 355-62- 63 Annual Alliances He wants the annulment of toe Warsaw and NATO military alliances and the that is, dismantling af foreign bases he wants the Americans to go home, leaving the Red Army as the sole dominant military force on the threshold of Europe. He wants toe abolition of toe remainthat is to say ing colonial regimes the final dismemberment of the old western empires and the abolition of the old imperialism, but not the dismemberment of toe new communist empire or the new communist imperialism. wtoile We declare that, he said, consistently pursuing its policy of peace and friendship among nations, toe Soviet Union will continue to conduct a resolute struggle against imperialism, and firmly to rebuff toe evil designs and subversions of aggressors. Policy of Peace Translated into the principles of Marxism and Leninism, this means the Soviet Union is following a policy of peace and friendship in 'ndichina, the Middle East and Cuba, for example, while the United States is pursuing a policy of aggresston, subversion and imperialism in these places. on this Wei 1, peace and friendship basis, with control in the hands of men who make five hour speeches, would not be a very cheerful prospect, Brezhnevs pronunciamento could have been worse. He says he wants good relations with the United States, China, Yugoslavia and even West Germany, and his proposal Gore .a for conferences on nuclear arms and disarmament, for a ban on nuclear, chemito to dummy in this suit by refusing cal and bacteriological weapons, for a cover with the king. reduction of arms in critical areas of East played toe nine of hearts and for nuclear free zones to confrontation, declarer won the trick with the queen to sensitive areas of toe world and for coophis hand. At trick two be made his next eration to improve the environment of unusual play, tbe ten of dubs. When all this is well worth careful the globe West played low, the 10 was permitted to exploration. ride for a finesse. It held the trick and One of the troubing aspects of the South followed op by cashing toe queen world situation at the present time is led to A tea was heart of dubs. dummys outside their talks to drive out the king and establish the that the great powers, toe limitation ot on the Middle East ana to the run an as of hearts entry jack are concenweapons systems, strategic In all. declarer dummys good clubs. small differences scored five club tricks, three hearts and trating on relatively rather than getting down to the momentwo aces to make four no trump. tous issues a here they both stand to gain It should be observed that declarers first rouno finesse against the jack of by accomodation. It is doubtful that China will respond .Tubs was merely a safety play to assure the success of his contract If the finesse favorably to Brezhnev's proposal for a loses to toe jack in Easts hand. South conference cf tbe world nuclear powers and even Washington has some doubts wins toe return in his own band if either about the wisdom of such a parley in the a spade or a diamond is led. but it would be a foreseeable future Overtakes pity to reject this suggestion cut of hand He next plsys toe queen of clubs and and give Moscow a monopoly on propaovertakes to dummy to run the rest of ganda for nuclear disarmament The proposal for limiting arms in critthe suit The heart finesse may now be takes to give toe declarer three heart ical areas such as central Europe also tricks which al.mg with four clubs and raises the possibility of mutual advanhas two aces add up to the required nine. tage. What Moscow would like If South makes the routine play of wanted ever since the end of the lari war is to change the whole balance of cs shine the high dub honors, he is in Europe by persuading a Euroobliged to concede a trick to West's jack p'ner to establish dummy's long card in dubs. pean Comerence to invite the United States to withdraw from the continent. West can shift to a spade and declarer must hold ofi the ace for two rounds to This is clearly not desired west of the break the communications in that sum A Elbe Rier and is not even very interdiamond shift by East at this point will esting to ttie establish toe setting tr.cks for the de- in the Unietd States, but limited from central Europe by the Red fense before declam1 has dislodged ihe king of hearts. Army and the American expeditionary Goren oa Todays Bridge Hand C s negotiation. The tone is conciliatory, but toe substance is familiar and one sided. He wants final recognition of the territorial changes that took place to Europe after the second world war that is. general acceptance of the division of Germany and Europe as a permanent condition of the European states. long-delay- Ey ' a!L ' Soviet Leaders Speech Like Nixon s: Vague Something for Everybody That damful of human life. d e. Nation Not Blameless States has for years. The Milgram study, borne out as it has been by die realities of Indochina, ako suggests that Americans cannot plausibly brand the Nazis as a singular breed of war criminals" when they havta shown themselves to be equally dis-- . - Sensitivity of Carotid Sinus spect. This country violated the same rule by the bombing of German ernes in Uoild Wa II. Equally by tbe the of Age Increases witn-drawa- ls I Famous Serta 2I-P- c. 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