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Campus "Unrest" demonstrations and consequences, 1970-1971

1971-11-12 American Report: Review of Religion and American Power Page 29

AMERICAN REPORT

The New Subversives

{Seal of U.S.}  
_____________
 the other men
_____________
by Fred Branfman and Steve Cohn

"...And as for the other men, do they know all the unimagineable things happening here in this war?" 
--Laotian refugee, Plain of Jars

   Leaders who embark on costly foreign wars engage themselves in high risk/high gain ventures. If they succeed, they are hailed as heroes. If they fail, they le popularity and must increase domestic repression to protect their positions.
   We have already written in this space of the Orwellian air war presently going on in Indochina, as a tiny group of our leaders continue waging automated war against unseen peasants halfway across the globe.
   Equally important, however, is the domestic side of the coin; as the war drags on, our leaders are turning to greater electronic surveillance, eavesdropping, and wiretapping of those who oppose them, while publicly justifying their actions in terms approaching Orwellian Newspeak.
   The recent nomination of William H. Rehnquist to the Supreme Court dramatizes this phenomenon as no event in our memory.
   The March 9 edition of The New York Times reported that: "A senior official of the Justice Department said today that the department 'will vigorously opposed any legislation' that would impair the Government's ability to gather information about American citizens.
   "Assistant Attorney General William H. Rehnquist told a Senate subcommittee that 'self-discipline on the part of the Executive branch will provide an answer to virtually all of the legitimate complaints against excesses of information gatherings.'"
   For someone who has spent four years in Laos, the phrase 'self-discipline of the Executive branch' has a particularly Orwellian ring.
   Laos is an Executive war - conceived, initiated, and waged entirely by appointed officials in the Executive branch.
   These officials have never sought the advice and consent of Congress for their wide-ranging activities in Laos. They delayed informing Congress or the American people about these activities for years on end. And when finally pressured to do so, they concealed and distorted their more questionable activities. (See accompanying chart.)
   Executive officials still maintain that the regular Thai army units that they have brought into Laos are just 'volunteers' to the Lao army, and thus do not violate a Congressional ban against U.S. funding of non-Lao troops in Laos. They still officially claim to Congress that the price of one U.S. bombing sortie is $3,190, although the Pentagon Papers reveal that it was $20,000 four pre-inflation years ago. They are still adamant that American planes have not been bombing civilian targets in Laos. 
   And they continue to manage news to the public in such a way that a President can call the placement of a 10-pound bomb that blows up a Capitol restroom "an appalling act of violence," while his people remain unaware that on the same day his Administration dropped over 1,000 tons of bombs on men, women, and children in Laos.
   As a result of Executive self-discipline in Laos, two-thirds of the country now lays in ruins. The Meo tribe - whose people would have sought accommodation with the communists had not the C.I.A. pushed them into fighting for the last decade - has been decimated. A generation of Lao teen-agers in the U.S.-supported standing army have had their youth consumed fighting and dying in a war they do not want. An thousands upon thousands of men and women, grandparents and infants, Meo and Lao, Yao and Kha, soldiers and civilians alike, have been killed or maimed for life.

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AMERICAN REPORT The New Subversives {Seal of U.S.} _____________ the other men _____________ by Fred Branfman and Steve Cohn "...And as for the other men, do they know all the unimagineable things happening here in this war?" --Laotian refugee, Plain of Jars Leaders who embark on costly foreign wars engage themselves in high risk/high gain ventures. If they succeed, they are hailed as heroes. If they fail, they le popularity and must increase domestic repression to protect their positions. We have already written in this space of the Orwellian air war presently going on in Indochina, as a tiny group of our leaders continue waging automated war against unseen peasants halfway across the globe. Equally important, however, is the domestic side of the coin; as the war drags on, our leaders are turning to greater electronic surveillance, eavesdropping, and wiretapping of those who oppose them, while publicly justifying their actions in terms approaching Orwellian Newspeak. The recent nomination of William H. Rehnquist to the Supreme Court dramatizes this phenomenon as no event in our memory. The March 9 edition of The New York Times reported that: "A senior official of the Justice Department said today that the department 'will vigorously opposed any legislation' that would impair the Government's ability to gather information about American citizens. "Assistant Attorney General William H. Rehnquist told a Senate subcommittee that 'self-discipline on the part of the Executive branch will provide an answer to virtually all of the legitimate complaints against excesses of information gatherings.'" For someone who has spent four years in Laos, the phrase 'self-discipline of the Executive branch' has a particularly Orwellian ring. Laos is an Executive war - conceived, initiated, and waged entirely by appointed officials in the Executive branch. These officials have never sought the advice and consent of Congress for their wide-ranging activities in Laos. They delayed informing Congress or the American people about these activities for years on end. And when finally pressured to do so, they concealed and distorted their more questionable activities. (See accompanying chart.) Executive officials still maintain that the regular Thai army units that they have brought into Laos are just 'volunteers' to the Lao army, and thus do not violate a Congressional ban against U.S. funding of non-Lao troops in Laos. They still officially claim to Congress that the price of one U.S. bombing sortie is $3,190, although the Pentagon Papers reveal that it was $20,000 four pre-inflation years ago. They are still adamant that American planes have not been bombing civilian targets in Laos. And they continue to manage news to the public in such a way that a President can call the placement of a 10-pound bomb that blows up a Capitol restroom "an appalling act of violence," while his people remain unaware that on the same day his Administration dropped over 1,000 tons of bombs on men, women, and children in Laos. As a result of Executive self-discipline in Laos, two-thirds of the country now lays in ruins. The Meo tribe - whose people would have sought accommodation with the communists had not the C.I.A. pushed them into fighting for the last decade - has been decimated. A generation of Lao teen-agers in the U.S.-supported standing army have had their youth consumed fighting and dying in a war they do not want. An thousands upon thousands of men and women, grandparents and infants, Meo and Lao, Yao and Kha, soldiers and civilians alike, have been killed or maimed for life.