Sell part of stockpile

The Pentagon maintains a $6.5 billion stockpile of strategic materials used in military hardware. With the end of the cold war and the greater availability of raw materials worldwide, it says it could make do with $24 million worth of just three items -- iridium, tantalum and quartz crystal.

Congress should seize this opportunity to raise more than $6 billion from the sale of surpluses. But this year's defense authorization bill is likely to allow only limited sales, or none.

Evidently industries that benefit from the status quo have weighed in. Commodities traders worry that prices will break if stockpiles go on the market. Some also wave the flag for "struggling democracies," meaning South Africa and Russia, both rich in precious metals. These are empty arguments because sales would be spread over time to avoid disrupting world markets.

The stockpile, started in 1939, was valued at $11 billion in 1980. Since then it has been cut almost in half, but it still stores two dozen materials. That includes 440,000 troy ounces of platinum, 8,500 tons of chromium, 129,000 tons of natural rubber, 47 million pounds of cobalt and more than 5 million carats of diamonds -- all unneeded, according to a Defense Department report.

At a time of tight budgets, Congress should take advantage of this painless way to raise revenue.

-- The New York Times