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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, FEBRUARY 4, 1983
PAGE 12
record as being against President Reagan's "zero-option" plan under which
NATO would forswear positioning its 572 new missiles only if Moscow dis
mantles its 345 SS-20 and over 200 older generation missiles targeted on
west European sites.
Later that same week, shortly after Mr. Gromyko left town, French President
Francois Mitterrand arrived in Bonn. In a surprisingly frank address to
the Bundestag, Mr. Mitterrand warned the delegates of what he perceived was
a dangerous drift toward neutralism in west Germany and a softening of that
nation's commitment to the nuclear defense of Europe. The French newspaper
LE MATIN noted the irony of a French Socialist president "exhorting a
Germany tempted by a pacifist adventure to get a grip on itself."
Behind Mr. Mitterrand's forceful presentation is the fact that France's own
independent deterrent nuclear force would cease to be credible if NATO fell
apart and the u.s. withdrew its nuclear protection of Europe. Thus the
French leader warned the Germans of what he perceived was the gravely seri
ous danger of splitting off ("decoupling") the U.S. from its European
allies--a distinct possibility if the new made-in-U.S.A. weapons are not
accepted on the continent. The future of Europe, he said in so many words,
hinges upon West Germany's resolve.
�
On the heels of Mr. Mitterrand's departure arrived Vice-president George
Bush of the United States. Mr. Bush encouraged the Germans to hold firm to
both the original NATO "twin track" decision (new missiles unless the U.S.
Soviet negotiations over the Euro-missile situation succeed in Geneva) plus
the President's "zero-option" offer.
The Vice President said that "Soviet SS-20s have been sprouting like fields
of asparagus" since 1977 and that Europeans must be willing to station new
missiles on their soil to prevent war. In a slap at Mr. Gromyko's earlier
statements, Bush said: "I was left wondering whether he reminded G�rmany of
the German proverb: 'When a fox preaches, watch your geese.'"
Mr. Bush's "vote," as that of Mr. Mitterrand, was cast for the conservative
Christian Democrats led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl. The CDU leaders public
ly profess fidelity to the U.S. position, but inwardly are said to doubt
whether President Reagan
can win the missile
stand-off with Communist Party
boss Yuri Andropov. Even Bavaria's Franz Josef Strauss says it is "absurd"
to expect the Soviets to scrap all its Euromissiles� that a compromise is
the best that can be hoped for.
(Mr. Andropov had earlier announced a new {what some observers called a
"half-zero") offer--a cutback to 162 Soviet missiles in exchange for no new
NATO nukes. The 162 number was intended to match the existing number of
French and British delivery systems. London and Paris immediately turned
this offer down flat. Besides being "national" rather than NATO weapons,
they are all topped with single warheads as opposed to the triple-warheaded
Soviet missiles. Then, too, Mr. Andropov did not offer to scrap those mis
siles above the 162 count but only to remove them elsewhere--since they are
mobile--perhaps east of the Urals, ostensibly beyond European targets.)
The Vice President brought with
addressed to the people of Europe.
while visiting west Berlin. In it
Andropov "wherever and whenever he
him an open letter from Mr. Reagan
Mr. Bush read the letter in a speech
the President offered to meet with Mr.
wants" in order to sign a treaty which