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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 25, 1982
PAGE 14
fight until death even as thousands surrender, wounds do not
bleed.
Something like a national retreat from reality has been going on
in Argentina for many years. This is, demographically, a Euro
pean nation, which 50 years ago was one of the world's richer
societies, commonly thought the natural leader of South America.
It is � land as big as India, � rich and fertile Ind � a--to ? so·il to
the depth of � man's height, oil in . Patagonia, minerals.
Argentina was so rich, the Argentines like to �, that they
would slaugnter � cow and eat only the t6ngue.
- --
Argentina
I
s economic wealth per capita today is lower than in
Bulgaria or Gabon. Politically, it has been in crisis for years.
It suffers triple-digit inflation, rapidly mounting. It lives by
selling food to Russia. It has retreated from industrialization.
It is � formerly developed country.
It goes frivolously to war 400 miles at sea with an untrained
army and a navy unwilling to leave coastal waters. "Argentines
cry for Argentina!" the song should say. rs it imaginable that
this Falklands disaster might reintroduce the people of Argentina
to facts and consequences?
If the war could do that, the cost
that has been paid by Argentina's and Britain's young men might
be justified.
When Mrs. Thatcher was in Washington earlier this week, she was interviewed
by all three major TV networks on their early morning news programs. One
wishy-washy ABC newsman asked the Prime Minister whether she had any doubts
now about the war, considering the number of lives lost on both sides. She
replied that the issue does not revolve around numbers or statistics, even
human ones. What was at stake was a principle; that aggressors simply can
not get away with taking over other nation's property whenever they choose;
that such action must be resisted. The newsman persisted with a few more
"Yeah, but" questions and Mrs. Thatcher answered: "Frankly, I can't under
stand this line of questioning." It seems that Americans have lost sight of
principles. They want to quantify everything. By this reasoning the price
paid to resist Hitler would probably have been considered "unacceptable"
today.
Meanwhile, evidence continues to mount from all sides that it would be ex
tremely unwise to let the Argentine leadership "off the hook." First of
all, British troops found large quantities of dum-dum bullets, banned since
World War I, in an ammunition depot Argentine forces abandoned in the
latest fight for the island capital of Stanley. The deadly rounds were from
a regular Argentinian production line. None of the bullets had fortunately
yet been used. The soft-nosed bullets expand upon impact and cause large
jagged wounds leading to painful death. "They would take half a man's back
away if they went through the chest," said a British soldier.
Second, it is evident that authorities in Argentina have been acting toward
internal dissidents
(perhaps a carryover
Here is an almost
GUARDIAN, of June 4,
much the same way the Mafia deals with its enemies
trait from the Sicilian ancestors of many Argentines).
unbelievable report from the British newspaper THE
1982.