The White Falcon - 15.01.1971, Blaðsíða 8

Page 8
THE WHITE FALCON
January 15, 1971
'Why can’t I publish a newspaper in Iceland..?’#
(Continued from Page 1)
personnel and their dependents
would read your newspaper, there
would be no interference in local
politics. But could you do that?
If your newspaper contained
any articles or statements on
matters that are politically con-
troversial in Iceland, and if it
was read by any Icelander, the
publication of your newspaper
would constitute political acti-
vity in Iceland. This would be
true though it was not your in-
tent that the newspaper be read
'by any Icelandic citizen.
As to what is politically con-
troversial, I can't give you an
absolutely clearcut definition.
However, it could safely be said
that this term would encompass-
any subject or matter that poli-
ticians or members of various
political parties would argue
about, or on which they could
hold differing political views.
In addition to the Icelandic
laws and treaty provisions, there
are various other provisions in
the U.S. Code, the Uniform Code
of Military Justice, Navy regs
and other relevant directives
which provide various degrees of
restraint on your freedom to put
whatever you might desire into
print. Space limitations prevent
me from discussing all of these
here, but, if you would like to
stop by your legal office, they
would be glad to discuss these
with you or anyone else who is
interested.
You will recall that the last
sentence in the treaty provision
quoted requires the U.S. to take
"appropriate measures" to ensure
that the first two clauses are
carried out. That is, to ensure
that U.S. forces personnel and
their dependents do not violate
Iceland's laws and that they ab-
stain from political activity in
Iceland.
In furtherance of this respon-
sibility to ensure that all other
treaties, laws and regulations of
the U.S. and its subdivisions and
military departments are carried
out and obeyed, ComlDF has pub-
lished many different instruc-
tions. One that is very relevant
to this discussion is CocnlceDeFor-
Inst 1620.2 series. This regu-
lation, in summary, requires that
before any defense force member
or his dependent publishes or
distributes any unofficial news-
paper in Iceland, or before he
may submit any article or other
writing for publication in any
such newspaper, permission must
be obtained from ComlDF.
One of the primary purposes
of this regulation is to ensure
that the article to be published
will not violate any applicable
treaty provisions, laws, or other
pertinent regulations.
By the way, the term "unof-
ficial" refers to any publication
that is not sponsored or offi-
cially sanctioned by the military.
Examples of official publications
would be the White Falcon or the
naval station plan of the day.
Examples of unofficial publica-
tions would be newspapers or
flyers published by an individual
member or members of the defense
fprce or newspapers published in
Iceland for the Icelandic public.
If you have an article or a
letter to the editor for submis-
sion to the White Falcon, the
editor would be most happy to re-
ceive it. On the other hand, if
you contemplate sending a letter
or an article to the editor of an
Icelandic newspaper, you had
better submit it to ComlDF for
review. If you don't, discipli-
nary action could be taken against
you.
Caller: Whatever happened to
the stands at the bus stops? It
store is miserable standing in the
wind and rain outside the dispen-
sary.
C.A.L.: All of them needed
cleaning, maintenance and repair.
Public Works picked them up (one
at a time) and will replace them
when they are done. Will be
soon — especially in front of
the dispensary.
Caller: Are American depen-
dents in Iceland authorized Ice-
landic medical care under the
CHAMPUS program?
♦ C.A.L.: Yes, if required ser-
vice is not available at the dis-
pensary.
Caller: What is the most one
can get at XO's mast?
C.A.L.: Officially, the 5^
can either dismiss the charge,
refer it to captain's mast. HcH
ever, he can (and often doe^P
suggest that you "volunteer" for
a certain period of restriction
rather than have the stigma of a
captain's mast in your service
record. In this case, it is your
choice, and not the XO's.
With paint supplied by Public Works through the self-help
these fellows spent ten days improving the pistol range. :
A03 Stephen A. Rhodes, A03 Joe Adamclk and AOAN Romny O.