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past "rough equivalency" with
America to that of a clear advan–
tage by the early to middle
1980s.
The Soviet Union by then will
have attained strategic nuclear
superiority combined with conven–
tional weapon superiority in Eu–
rope. Togoalong with theseadvan–
tages, the Soviets will have
achieved a powerful blue-water
navy capable of interdicting war–
time commerce between America
and Europe and cutting the West–
ern world's access to mineral
resources in Africa and elsewhere.
America Falling Further Behind
The United States has been slow
to meet this challenge. Says for–
mer Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger: "Rarely in history has
a nation so passively accepted
such a radical change in the mili–
tary balance."
lnstead of "closing the gap" all
evidence points to the United
States further dropping behind
the Soviets.
Recent news analyses have
revealed shocking deficieucies in
the U.S. military forces. In every
service branch there are serious
shortages of equipment, spare
parts and supplies. Manpower
shortages are critica! as well,
especially among the ranks of
skilled technicians.
The all-volunteer force idea,
critics warn, isn't workíng. Yet a
return to the draft is fraught with
explosive social consequences.
From all appearances today,
the military services are being
used more as vehicles for achiev–
ing social goals of eliminating
racial and sexual "discrimina–
tion"-rather than as instruments
of national defense.
Phyllis Schlafly, noted U.S.
journalist, recently told a con–
gressional subcommittee that the
feminist movement, for example,
is responsible for the issuance of
maternity uniforms and the open–
ing of nurseries on army posts.
"What a way to run the armed
services," said Mrs. Schlafly.
"We must be the laughing stock
of the world."
And now, for the first time,
women have graduated as officers
4
from the nation's service acade–
mies. Actual combat roles for
women- hotl y denied by military
higher-u p~
now- won ' t be far
behind. Evcn <\dolf Hitler didn' t
commit women to combat!
Columnist Patrick
J.
Buchanan
put it in wry perspective: "What
a bulletin to send to the Kremlin:
Cease your imperalist crusade
toward the Arabian Sea, or con–
front American coeds in the Khy–
ber Pass."
Little wonder European lead–
ers have growing doubts about
the future reliability of America's
defense commitments.
The Kissinger Shock
In September, 1979, Dr. Kissin–
ger made a "confession" of sorts
about the true state of America's
nuclear umbrella supposed ly
shielding Europe. His remarks
deserved wider attention in the
press. Perhaps they were just too
shocking to be believed.
Nonetheless Dr. Kissinger told
a NATO study group meeting in
Brussels that Europeans could no
longer count on the United States
to guarantee thelr security.
American nuclear doctrine,
which rests on "assured destruc–
tion" of Soviet citíes, industry
and population, is no longer valid,
Dr. Kissinger said, because of
"the total vulnerability of the
United States." (Dr. Kissinger's
spoken words
total vulnerability
were downgraded to
limited vul–
ne'rability
in the official trans–
cript typed up afterwards.)
Addressing a top-level expert's
conference in Brussels on
"NATO-the Next 30 years,"
the former secretary of state said:
"Don't you Europeans keep ask–
ing us to multiply assurances we
cannot possibly mean,
and if we
did mean should not want to
execute, and if we did execute
would destroy civilization. That is
our strategic dilemma into which
we have built ourselves by our
theories and the encouragement
of our allies.
It
is not a declining
will, but an objective problem. Of
course a President will threaten,
but will he do it?"
NATO's unity, of course, has
been based for 30 years on the
premise that the United States
would
do it-would, in other
words, treat an attack on Europe
the same as an attack on the
United States.
"1 have contributed sorne of
these theories so I am not casting
any blame," said Dr. Kissinger.
"I have sat around the NATO
council table in Brussels and else–
where and have
uttered the magic
words
that the U.S. military com–
mitment remained undiminished,
which had a profoundly reassur–
ing effect ... And my successors
have uttered the same reassu–
rances. And yet if my analysis is
correct
these words cannot be
true,
and if my analysis is correct
we must face the fact that it is
absurd to base the strategy of the
West on the credibility of the
threat of mutual suicide."
Dr. Kissinger 's message, re–
ported Morton Kondracke in
New Republic
magazine, "was
such a shock that it became the
center of conference debate."
Don Cook, writing in the Los
Angeles
Times,
added:
"It
is a
rather sobering beginning to
NATO's next 30 years to have
one of America's most spectacu–
lar secretaries of state now saying
that all the assurances he had
given the alliance in the past were
eyewash. "
Only Two Choices
Europe, in its exposed state, has
but two choices in the long run:
The first is to opt for greater
accommodation with the Soviet
Union. But in Europe's weakened
state this would only amount to
subservience to Moscow's wishes;
the second choice is to pay the
price in an all-out effort to
become a third superpower bloc,
in command of its own defense.
Neither alternative is really
palatable at the moment. Yet the
realization of just how weak, how
exposed the continent really is,
and what must be done about the
deteriorating situation is just be–
ginning to dawn on its men of
influence.
Claude lmbert, chief editor of
the French news magazine
Le
Point,
writes in the J une 2, 1980,
(Continued on page 41)
The
PLAIN TRUTH