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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 24, 1993                   TAG: 9303240321
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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DISMANTLING THE WAR MACHINE

OUR GOVERNMENT has become a government by bribery, to thwart a true representation of the people, and, in the case of the military-industrial lobby, has brought the country to the brink of disaster. The military lobbyists have been busy working to get a slice of a swollen Pentagon pie. They want to continue robbing the taxpayer, thereby further endangering our economic system.

While our president is trying to find the necessary finances to get the government on track, the Pentagon is eating up and wasting $200 billion and has another $30 billion in a secret stash that's unaccounted for. We must bring the military under control. We must clean up our act here at home (which is a real challenge) and not take on the world. There is far too much to be done here, and we cannot afford to waste time, energy and resources in policing the world.

If we really want change, we will have to start with the most wasteful parts of the economy. Those people who worked in war factories had secure jobs and safe living conditions while many veterans of World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam came back to unemployment, loss of homes and families. Now it is time for the war producers to bite the bullet and to retrain for the millions of productive jobs that can be provided - a difficult task but one that must be faced. JOSEPH STILL BEDFORD

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