Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!uwvax!shemp.cs.wisc.edu!samuel
From: samuel@shemp.cs.wisc.edu (Samuel Bates)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: CPSR vs. EFF
Message-ID: <1991Jun26.184003.22787@spool.cs.wisc.edu>
Date: 26 Jun 91 18:40:03 GMT
References: <9269@hsv3.UUCP> <1991Jun26.055354.358@athena.cs.uga.edu>
Sender: news@spool.cs.wisc.edu (The News)
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 66

>In article <9269@hsv3.UUCP> mvp@hsv3.lsil.com (Mike Van Pelt) writes:
>>
>>     "The Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
>>     have taken out an advertisement in the West Coast edition
>>     of the New York Times protesting the use of computer
>>     technology in the war with Iraq."
>>
>>This does tend to support my off-the-cuff characterization of CPSR.  I
>>suspect a fair percentage of those who support what EFF is doing find
>>this sort of thing utterly cretinous. 
>

So that people can see what it is that is being attacked here, I am posting
the advertisement in question; it appeared in the June 18th edition.

-----------

"WE'VE SEEN SMART BOMBS.  LET'S SEE HUMAN INTELLIGENCE.

Some have called it a great triumph of American technology.

During the armed conflict against Iraq, the U.S. government launched the most
devastating assault on a country in the history of the world.  An arsenal of
laser guided, computer controlled weaponry laid waste to Iraq.

A United Nations fact-finding mission described the effects of the bombing as
"near apocalyptic."  The U.N. team said, "most means of modern life support 
have been destroyed or rendered tenuous," including food supply, power 
generation, water purification, garbage disposal, sewage treatment and
essentials.  (New York Times, March 24, 1991)

We are not proud that the fruit of our labor -- computer technology -- has been
used for such deadly ends.

We do not endorse the actions of Saddam Hussein or the Iraqi government.  We
do, however, value the lives of the Iraqi people.

We believe in the defense of our country and the protection of our national
security, but our country's defense was not an issue in the Persian Gulf, and
our nation's security must be measured by more than tanks and guns.

Congressional and military sources estimate that at least 100,000 Iraqis died
in the war.  Their deaths did not improve the lives of 200 million Arabs living
in the Middle East.  Nor did their deaths benefit the millions of Americans who 
continue to face a declining standard of living and a collapsing infrastructure.

We call for new priorities.  We call for conflict to be resolved through 
negotiation rather than military force, for computer technology to advance
public well-being rather than wage armed conflict, and for our technical skills
to help solve the pressing problems of social justice and human survival.

- Instead of building smarter weapons, we should be educating our children.

- Instead of dropping bombs from the sky, we should be curing diseases on
  the ground.

- Instead of destroying the infrastructure of countries overseas, we should
  be re-building communities at home.

We have seen smart bombs.  Now let's see human intelligence.

-----------
You may still object to this statement, but please do so knowing what it says.

						--Samuel Bates
						  Chair, CPSR-Madison