CI Clark H, I .1. 1 BRIEF ISSUE: Summary of Current Events File no. 303 DATE: February 27, 1930 DRAEIHREGISTRATION Carter's proposal is in serious trouble. Attempts to register women, which requires an act of Congress, are dead. Though Carter has the author? ity, under the Military Selective Service Act, to invoke registration, he still needs approval from Congress for the $45 million in appropriations deemed necessary to carry out his registration plan. Appropriations for his plan are meeting resistance for a variety of reasons in the House appropria? tions subcommittee (See enclosed WP article). In a report released by Senator Hatfield, the Director of the Selective Service recommended bef_ore Carter's State of the Union address, that regis- tration for the draft be revived only after the President has ordered military mobilization in a national emergency. HiS'major contention is that prior reg? istration would be costly and unnecessary? that it would save only 7" days in registration. Registration after mobilization would produce the first draftee in 17 days and 650, 000 in 124 days. Registration before mobilization would produce the first draftee in 10 days and 650, 000 in 11? days. (See HYT article entitle "Report by Draft Director On March 22nd, a.nationa1 rally against the draft will be held in ?ash- ington, D. C. The rally is sponsored by'H. A. D. (Mobilization Against the Draft) which includes the Libertarian Party and SLS as sponsoring organizations. Leslie Key (LP of Wisconsin) is handling the media and the LP effort for the rally. The LP is encouraging as many lib_ertarians as possibl_e to_ at_tend. This is very important for us and for the anti?draft movement. Carter' 5 enthusiasm for draft registration may have been dampened by the strong student support for the Kennedy and Brown campaigns largely re? sulting from opposition to registration. (See the Washington Post article entitled "The.Me Generation A new organization called Resistance Mobilization.Against the Draft, led by libertarian Bob Bergle and sponsored by SLS and the War Resisters League, among others, has been formed. Should registration or the draft be? come a reality, this group will actively lead the resistance. The supports Carter's registration plan but calls instead for the creating of registration processing centers. Under Carter's plan, reg- istration would be performed through the Post Office. There would be no Selective Serives offices handling registration outside washington. NEHS BRIEFIHGKFEBRUARY 1930 2?2-2?2 IRAQ On February 13th the new President ef Iran, Abel Hassan Bani?Sadr appreved an internatienal cemmissien te ge te Iran and begin an investi? gatien inte the crimes ef the shah. The inquiry will be cenducted by a five member United Natiena cemmissien ce?chaired by Andres Aguilar ef Venezuela and Mehammed Bedgaeui ef Algeria. It is expected te cemplete its investigatien in twe weeks. The Carter administratien reperted that the hestages weuld prebably bejreleased semetime shertly after the cem? missien arrived in Iran. Hewever, en February 23rd, Khemeini said that the questien ef the release ef the hestages weuld be taken up by the Iran? ian legislature which will net be elected until mid?March and is net ex? pected te meet until April. The Carter administratien claimed that the release ef the hestages was ene ef the cenditiens set fer U.S. appreval ef the cemmissien. Hewever, it was net in writing. It was a "verbal assump- _tien." The drama centinues. AFquNIsrgp Beginning en February 22nd, a general strike by shepkeepers accem- panied by widespread pretests against Russian eccupatien in Kabul has led te martial law. Martial law was declared Friday. the 22nd, placing the Seviet military cemmander (name unknewn) ef Kabul essentially in charge ef the gevernment and ef the militia ef the ruling Demecratic Peeple's Party. Several theusand peeple gathered eutside the Pukhusthi mesque in Kabul chanting and waving Islamic flags. The crewd was seen surreunded by gevernment tanks and persennel carriers which epened fire en the crewd. Hundreds were said te have been killed. Meanwhile, Seviet helicepters and artillery have been bembarding many tewns in Eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan berder. Islamic guerilla erganiaatiens with effices in Peshawar, Pakistan, clese te the Afghan berder. said the strike has spread tn the Afghan cities ef .jlalalabad,.r Herat, and Hanahar. The washingten Pest tsperted that_the has begyn Eupplying weapens mestly Seviet made small arms and anti-tank guns te Afghan rebels. An article describing the cemplexity ef the Afghan guerilla ferces is enclesed ("Myriad Rebel Units The U.S. is censidering a "limited ameunt ef military training and equipment" te the gevernment. The State Department claimed that reperts that U.S. military advisers weuld be invelved in ceunter-insurgency training in El Salvader are incerrect. See the enclesed article Puts limits en Any Use ef Adviser El Salvader - brief descriptien. El Salvader is a small ceuntry en the Pacific ceast between Mexice and Panama. It is berdered en the west by Guatemala and en the Nerth and East by Henduras. It has a pepulatien ef 4.3 millien. The deminant PNC (Party ef Natienal Cenciliatien led by the wealthy land?helding "14 families" ruled fer many years. In Octeber of 1979 a military ceup everthrew and replaced it with a junta with left-center peliticians. Pledges were made ef land referm and ecenemic and secial referm. NEHS 27, 1930 3-3-3*3 pt SALVADOR aspirants 1979 a military ceup everthrew and replaced it with a junta with left?center peliticians. Pledges were made ef land referm and ecenemie and secial referm. The civilian members ef the junta resigned this January, charging that the military weuld net permit the premised referms. The junta was recenstituted with members ef the "centrist? Christian Demecratic Party and the referm prem? ises have been renewed. A number ef erganizatiens have begun waging guerilla war against the gevernment. The twe deminant erganizatiens are the Pepular League ef Feb. 28, whe eccupied the Panamanian and Spanish embassies recently, and the Pepular Revelutienary Blec (See the enclesed article Warned en Assisting El Salvader") assembles greup ef big businesses te help the Trucking Industry Fight Deregulatien. See enclesed article. Attitude en a Gulf War Treubling See enelesed article. Kenya, and Semalia have agreed te give United States ferces access te military facilities in their eeuntries. See enclesed article. ("Indian Ocean Lands COMMENTS serpepermgevigw caigicises: In his article "The Libertarians, Stripping Gevernment ef Its Pewers" (SaturdaynReview 3/1/80), Michael Nelsen used the preblem ef pellutien as a means te illustrate what he sees as seme basic flaws in the libertarian prescriptien. Belew are listed his majer criticisms with LP respenses fer each. 1) Citing Murray Rethbard's example ef a private firm ewning Lake Erie, Nelsen writes "Libertarians den't tell yen what weuld step a private firm frem.buying Lake Erie precisely te sell ether firms the right te dump gar? bage inte it." Theugh this criticism may at first seem silly it is a valid ene and ene -that libertarians can expect to be asked when advecating cemplete private ewnership ef all reseurees. Semeene ceuld, and likely will, apply the same argument te the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyen, er the Chesapeake Bay. First, we must stress that under a libertarian system ne ene ceuld indiscrim- inately claim and secure just title te enermeus tracts ef land er waterways fer his private use. Such claims sheuld be ne mere recegnized as legal er just than these tens ef theusands ef acres "granted" by the king te ariste- crats in early America. Ownership must be based en libertarian "hemesteading" principles. Ownership must ge te that individual whe net enly first eccupied a parcel ef land but whe made seme use ef the land. There is still disagree- ment ever what standards a libertarian ceurt might use te settle a preperty beundaries dispute. Hewever, it can be expected that as individual ceurts cempete with ene anether certain basic ebjective standards te determine just ewnership ef a natural reseurce weuld he arrived at. Seme ef these standards weuld likely be preef ef eccupatien, defense, and particularly use, whether it be ?transfermatien? by mixing ene's laber with the resource er aesthetic use. Se taking the example ef Lake Erie, ne ene persen er firm NEws 27, 1930 4?4?4?4 on THE srruaprr_arv1Ew CRITICISMS tour. could purchase the lake. An extension of pq?perty rights to the lake would result in a host of individual property owners. Fishermen would have fish- ing rights to specific areas of the lake, waterfront property owners would own portions of the shoreline, recreation firms, sporting associations, and conservation groups wculd individually own parcels of the lake and lake bot? tom, etc. With a multitude of owners, anyone dumping garbage in the lake would be met by a horde of angry property owners all with the right to indiv? idually or collectively file suit. That is a strong incentive not to pollute. But let's take a worst case scenario. Theoretically, an individual firm could buy out all the individual property owners of the lake and become the sole owner with the intention of selling dumping rights to ether firms. Such an enterprise would prove very, very expensive as the firm would still have to deal with irate property owners of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway which the waters of Lake Erie flow into. Further, a cesspool the size of Lake Erie would threaten the lives of people in the lake area by presenting the threat of disease, not to mention odor. So in reality the scenario des? crived by Nelson would be nearly impossible in a libertarian society. Under government ownership, polluting industries have had, up until recently, free reign with pollution. In the 19th century and throughout most of this century, a government-business alliance has turned Lake Erie into a "dead" lake. Pollution, particularly phosphate buildup, has encourage the growth of algae and the resulting eutrophication (depletion of oxygen) of the lake. Under government ownership who is to say this won't happen again. In the future, under a collapsing state controlled economy, desperate politi- cians will decide that production and jobs have priority over cleaning up pollution. Only a free economy, a recognition of property rights and an ex? tension of those rights to the air and water can insure a clean environment and a free society. 2) Nelson's next major criticism is that "everything in a libertarian society would end up being fought out by lawyers Problems currently being addres? sed by elected officials in the legislative and executive branches would not be removed from government jurisdiction at all, but simply transferred to judges and the police, who would enforce court decisions." The first implication is that there would be ore litigation in a lib- ertarian society than under the current system. This is nonsense. Under the present system, government invents a thousand times more litigation by constantly aggressing against people's lives and property. Libertarians would abolish all laws forbidding or regulating consensual, voluntary acts between individuals. This would eliminate tremendous sources of litigation alone. Unlike under the current system, everything would not be fought in the courts. Litigation would arise only in those areas where individuals have aggressed or threaten aggression against the lives and property of others. As long as human beings remain human beings, conflicts will arise and there will be a demand for arbitration and for courts to settle disputes. NEWS 27, 1930 5?5-5-5 counters on THE SATURDAY REV 1m CRITICISM Nelson's criticism also hints at a confusion between natural law and man?made law. On hearing about libertarianism, many non?libertarians will conjure up an image of private courts and police arbitrarily and on a whim making their own laws and imposing them on the pupulace. Libertarians be- lieve in a strong rule of just law. Laws must recognize the nature of all human beings. The ultimate litmus test to determine whether a law is just or unjust is to ask the question ?does this law recognize every individual's right to the ownership and control of his life and justly acquired property." If it does, it stays. If it does not, out it gees. . Finally, I think it is a good idea for libertarians to acknowledge the complexity of pollution disputes. Whether one is talking about radiation or automobile pollution, the problem for the legal scientist of setting boundaries and standards will be very, very complex. Still a more just and equitable solution lies in a voluntary society that recognizes individual rights rather than through the efforts of a coercive, centralized government.