Priest's Progress

Named for an oriental word that is chanted during meditation, the antiwar newsletter OM induced unusual meditation among the military brass soon after it appeared 13 months ago. It was written for servicemen by a member of the armed forces, 26-year-old Seaman Apprentice Roger Priest. When Priest sent a " copy with a taunting note to L. Mendel Rivers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rivers boiled off a note of his own to the Pentagon asking whether Priest had committed a "gross abuse of the constitutional right of free speech." Soon the seaman was ordered before a general court-martial.

His trial, which ended last week, was regarded as an important test of growing dissent in the military. About 50 antiwar publications have appeared on various bases during the past two years; servicemen have marched in off-base peace parades and requested permission to hold discussion groups in their barracks.

Bad Conduct. The charges against Priest ranged from encouraging desertion and sedition to violating Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which broadly forbids "all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline." Priest's law yer David Rein argued that his client had not directly urged desertion by reporting on groups in Canada that counsel U.S. servicemen who have fled the country. Most important, said Rein, Priest's views were protected by the First Amendment and indeed were no more unusual or harmful than those of General David M. Shoup, retired Marine Corps commandant, who was called to testify on his behalf.

The Navy judge, Captain B. Raymond Perkins, instructed the trial board that "criticism of Government policy may not be considered in and of itself disloyal" and the panel acquitted Priest of soliciting desertion and sedition. But the five officers found him guilty of "promoting disloyalty and disaffection." They ordered him demoted to the lowest naval rank, seaman recruit, and given a bad-conduct discharge.

The day after Priest was sentenced, a South Carolina civilian court convicted the staff of the first antiwar coffee house set up to encourage dissenting soldiers Three young radicals had operated "U.F.O." (a play on both Unidentified Flying Objects and the USO), near the Army's Fort Jackson. They were found guilty of operating a public nuisance, a misdemeanor for which State Circuit Judge E. Harry Agnew sentenced each defendant to six years in prison.

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