‘FEATURE

By J.J. Johnson

Never has the spectre of nuclear an-
nihilation hung as ‘ominously over the
head of humanity as it does today. The
hundreds of thousands who have taken
to the streets of Europe’s major cities
attest to both the fear of, and resolve to
remove, the threat.

The citizens of our nation, the prim-
ary cause of the concern, have not re-
sponded in like manner. The reasons for
‘the inadequate response are many.

But a weapon has emerged which if ©

used correctly can make an important
contribution toward changing that. It
does not have the “‘throw-weight’”’ or de-
structive power of a MIRV or ICBM. In
fact it measures about five by eight in-
ches and weighs less than a pound. .

This weapon’s strength lies in its
ability to tear away the myths and lies
which have held the U.S. people hostage
to.a seemingly insatiable military-
industrial cabal. The weapon is a
recently-published book by two leaders
of the U.S. Peace Council, Stopping
World War III.

The authors are Michael Myer-
son,executive director of USPC, ‘and

Professor Mark Solomon, chairperson .

of the history department at Simmons
College in Boston and co-chairperson of
USPC.The two have fashioned a work
which makes a powerful argument for
the need for a broad movement in this
nation to halt the arms drive.

More, they have exposed the under-
iying philosophy and forces which have
brought the world to the brink of ther-
monuclear holocaust. Beginning with
the thesis that the Reagan Administra-.

tion is actually preparing for nuclear —

war, the authors trace the use of nuclear
weapons as a central component in the

overall strategy to ‘‘contain com-
munism.’’**Truman decided to use the

atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
not to end World War II, but as the first
blows of the Cold War, and to let the
world and particularly the Soviet Union
know that the United States had a nuc-
lear monopoly.” (p.35).

It is the authors’ contention that
counterforce, the bombing of military
forces and installations instead of cities
and industrial centers,*‘is the essential

U.S. strategy of the 1980s.’’ They trace ~

this Strategy to ex-President Carter
who, in his attempt to out-Reagan the
Republicans, proclaimed on the 35th
anniversary of the atomic bombing of
Hiroshima, Japan, last year, Presiden-
tial Directive 59.

PD 59 allowed for the possibility of
the clearly impossible, a ‘prolonged
limited nuclear war,”’ which the citi-
zens of Europe, victims of the devasta-
tion of WWII, view as a direct threat to
their existence. This is the reason, to-
gether with the Reagan decision to de-
ploy the neutron bomb and NATO's at-
tempt to force first-strike Pershing and
cruise missiles onto European soil, for
the demonstrations. :

Myerson and Solomon point out that

the Europeans’ fears are well founded. —

They write, ‘‘Former Pentagon aide
Daniel Ellsberg has recorded at least a
dozen times that six successive Ad-
ministrations have seriously consi-

J.J. Johnson is the associate editor of the Daily
World and editor of the World Magazine.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOV. 20, 1981—Page 6

STOPPING
WORLD
WAR III

By Michael Myerson and Mark Solomon
U.S. Peace Council,New York
120 pages, $2.95 (bulk orders available)

deréd the use of atomic wea-

“pons.” (p.38).

Chapter four is appropriately enti-
tled, Lies My Government Told Me:
“The Soviet Threat.’’ The authors
write, “‘Without the myth of the ‘Soviet
threat’ there would be no revived cold
war. Without a revived cold war there
would be no arms race. Without the
arms race there would be no super-
profits for the military-industrial com-
plex and no threat to human survival
itself.” ( p.67).

Stating that Ronald Reagan has now
raised the ‘‘Soviet threat”’ syndrome to
anew peak of recklessness, the authors
proceed to debunk the assumptions on
which the myth of the threat is based.
They deal at length with estimates of
Soviet military strength and spending

Scenario

arrived at by the CIA. And as they do
throughout the book, Solomon and
Myerson quote from a broad range of
government personalities, statements
and official statistics to support their
conclusions.

Among those they quote on the CIA’s
findings is George F’. Kennan, the U.S.'s
senior Kremlinologist: ‘I have the
deepest doubts about this thesis (CIA’s
figures on Soviet spending—
J.J.J.)...The comparisons of military
expenditures that underlie most of
these alarmist statements are basedon
a means of calculation so obviously
specious as te approach direct dishon-
esty.”’ ;

The authors produce an enormous .

body of facts not only to disprove the
claim of a Soviet threat, but also. to

of the ultimate horror

Nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union would take
less than two hours to complete. Just one 20-megaton bomb would create a
firestorm of 2,000 square miles. Those nearest the blast would be vaporized ;
those further away would have their flesh ooze off like gelatine You couldn’t
survive even if you managed to get to a fallout shelter, because the firestorm
would suck up all the oxygen in the air and asphixiate you in the shelter, the
heat would turn fallout shelters to crematoria. Even if you could survive, it
would be in a situation in which the living would envy the dead. If you
survived in a shelter for two weeks and came out; you’d be killed by the
radiation. The injured would die without treatment—for a nuclear war
would destroy the hospitals, medicine, doctors—of third- and second-degree
burns, ruptured lungs, fractures and deep lacerations. There would be no
food or water that wasn’t radioactive. The ozone layer would be so damaged
that for months a three-minute exposure to sunlight would cause third-
degree burns. On the slim chance you survived all of that, you would most
likely get leukemia. Future generations would be unrecognizable. If there

were future generations...

According to Dr. H. Jack Geiger, professor of community medicine at
the City College of New York, a single one-megaton bomb dropped on New
York City would cause 5,096,000 casualties, or 36.2 percent of the metropoli-
tan population. A 20-megaton bomb would kill 9,487,000 outright and seri-
ously injure 4,898,000 for a total of 14,385,600 casualties, or 88.1 percentofthe ~

’ population...

From Stopping World War Ill (p.28)

“ter five to a discussion of the domestic —

tle for peace and against. racism.”

‘but is capable of victory.

prove just the opposite—that it is the |

Soviet Union which is threatened by the
West. Among the facts are these: ig
e Some 386 U.S.-NATO military ©

bases are on the frontiers of the Soviet> |

Union. There are no Soviet bases near
any border on the continental U.S.
. © The U.S. has used armed force for

political ends between January 1,1946_
and December 21,1975 at least 215 times,

in some cases in close proximity to _
Soviet borders. No Soviet armed action

has ever taken place outside the
framework of its treaty commitments

|

or its own security sphere. re

e The USSR is confronted by four

anti-Soviet nuclear powers—Britain, |
_ China, France.and the U.S.—andaclus- ~

terof anti-Soviet would-be nuclear pow- |
ers like South Africa, Pakistan, Israel |
and Brazil. The USSR’s Warsaw Pact |
allies have no nuclear weapons. ar

Myerson and Solomon write, ‘‘The

Center for Defense Information has de- |

veloped a system of calculating the ap-

proximate division of world power: |
NATO 70 percent; Soviet Union and al- |

lies, 20 percent; others, 10 percent.”
They add that approximate parity _

exists between the USSR and the U.S. in |

strategic forces and that this parity

must be maintained short of total dis- —

armament if peace is to be maintained.
Solomon and Myerson devote chap- —

consequences of the arms buildup. They —

cite the twin evils of inflation and |

economic stagnation, growing un-
employment, racism, and the destruc- —

tion of social services assomeexamples |

of ‘‘the less for the people, best for the
Pentagon’’ mentality.

They write, ‘‘In 1980, nearly $15,000

was spent on every member’ of the
armed forces and an average of $230 on

public education per school-age child.” |

The writers contend that aneffective
struggle against the Pentagon must in-
clude as a central component the fight
against racism: ‘‘Revived racism and —
revived cold war serve a single master —
and a single end of sowing division, fear,
distrust. The response must be recognl- —
tion of the inseparable nature of the bat-

(p. 106). Cer
The authors close the book with

suggestions which they feel belong ina |

comprehensive peace program, many
of which have been proposed by the
Soviet Union and peace forces time
again. Among them are a pledge to re-
nounce:a first strike and a return to the
SALT process.

The appendix includes a list of the
major peace organizations.

If Stopping World War III has any
shortcomings it is its failure to docu-
ment the activities of the peace forces in
this country. Thus it runs the risk of
painting an alarming picture of 4

doomsday scenario without informing a

the reader there is a movement that 1s
not only challenging the Strangeloves

Since it was completed before
Reagan, actually took office, the book
seems to ignore a number of important
current developments within the
Reagan Administration and the peace —
movement. The second printing of an

updated edition will take this:into ac- _

count,

be invaluable towards its declared end.

4:
7

Allin all, Stopping World War III can

3