PROPAGANDA SINCE GOEBBELS

To the Editors of The Crimson:

In my letter to your readers, published October 2, 1973, I stated, "mass military forces now are not only completely unnecessary, but even dangerous." Military forces such as provided through the ROTC, Reserves and National Guard, are dangerous because their primary purpose is not national defense, but the promotion of the military mind in an age when international cooperation and peace are absolutely essential.

For national security purposes, I repeat, they are totally worthless. Certainly, massive military forces can serve Pentagon aggressive purposes as in Korea and Indochina. Without military conscription, limited wars of naked and raw agression such as in Korea and Indochina would become impossible. It is absolutely absurd, it seems to me, to argue that a massive foreign military force could invade the United States in the thermo-nuclear age, and therefore we must be prepared to repel it with a massive military force. This is on a par with the biggest propaganda lies ever proposed by Goebbels and Hitler.

Unless the propaganda program that mass military forces are essential is abandoned, nothing can prevent this nation from becoming a warfare state. The ROTC and Reserves are part of this massive brain pollution program. The military-industrial-financial complex is the most powerful lobby in the history of man. It should not surprise any informed person that the Armed Forces Committees of both houses of Congress, which are dominated by this lobby, should support laws to prevent any Federal funds from going to educational institutions which have abolished ROTC. Both committees, however, are willing to restore such funds if and when the ROTC units are restored. This inference is clear in Peter M. Shane's article, Crimson issue, July 27, 1973, relative to the recent restoration of the ROTC units at Boston University. This is Standard Operating Procedure (S.O.P.).

The real purpose of the Reserve Corps is, as I see it, the promotion of the warfare state and should therefore be abolished. The argument advanced by those who favor the restoration of the ROTC on the grounds that it is undemocratic to prevent those who want ROTC training from getting it is completely invalid for this reason: Public funds in large amounts are used in order to sustain the ROTC, which not only renders no public service, but does the exact opposite. This argument, it seems to me, is just as invalid as would be the argument that public funds should be paid to potential criminals in orders to prevent them from robbing banks, etc.

The National Guard which is heavily subsidized by the federal government comes in a different category from that of the Reserves. Originally, its purpose was for defense against external enemies and against internal disorders. Because of changes in warfare, it is no longer capable of repelling the so-called foreign enemies and therefore no longer belongs in the Department of Defense, but in a national police force where it would be properly trained for such duties. Another important reason for removing the National Guard from the Department of Defense would be its removal as a propaganda agent for the warfare state. This transfer would greatly increase its efficiency in preventing internal disorders as a reserve police force and greatly reduce its numbers and cost to the states and federal government.

No one could be more concerned than this writer that this nation maintain an adequate defense force, but it is a dangerous illusion to think that national security can be secured by military means alone. The Global Grab for Power initiated by Harry Truman immediately after he became president, and followed by each of his successors has almost destroyed this nation. Further delays in reordering our priorities away from a warfare state and toward a reduction in poverty, ignorance and bigotry may, I fear, lead this nation to an irreversible national disaster.

A highly trained professional military force of 500,000-600,000 capable of handling the sophisticated weapons for national defense, and an annual military budget of between $25-30 billion will provide this nation with all the security possible through military means. Hugh B. Hester   Brig. General U.S. Army (Ret.)