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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, AUGUST 5, 1983
PAGE 13
Soviets and Cubans may call the U.S. bluff by becoming more
directly involved in Nicaragua and by stepping up their political
and material support of the guerrillas in El Salvador. Then what
do we do? Blockade the area? Shoot up military bases in Nicara
gua-r- Or back off?
If Reagan and national-security adviser William P. Clark have not
thought through such questions and decided that they are prepared
to deal with whatever the consequences may be, the military exer
cise is a dangerous mistake.
Blockades are difficult to pull
off. U.S. air strikes would trigger worldwide condemnation. Yet
retreat in the face of a communist counterbluff would demolish
U.S. presti�in this . hemisphere. And the Soviets, havin � found
Reagan to be a paper tiger in his own part of the world, might be
sorely tempted to test his nerve elsewhere as well.
The American public is, incredibly--after all the news from Central Ameri
ca--still pretty much in the dark about the grave issues at stake in the
region. In his editorial entitled "Central America? What's That?" U.S.
NEWS & WORLD REPORT editor Marvin Stone editorializes in his magazine's
August 8 issue:
Challenged on our own continent, faced with the prospect of
Marxist forces in control of nearby nations and with a small war
that could grow much larger, Americans have fateful choices to
make. Who among us is weighing the possible repercussions of
sending troops and a carrier battle group to Central America? Is
it a bad idea or a good one?••• It is shocking to learn that most
of the population lacks the basic information needed to deal with
these questions. Only 25 percent� persons answering.! NEW�
TIMES/CBS poll could tell which side President Reagan . favors�
El Salvador: only 13 percent knew the faction he backs in Nicara
gua; Just 8 percent were able to name his preference in both
places.
Some, in another poll, thought Central America was
Kansas and Nebraska. Can those in the uninformed maJority take
effective part in the judgments that belong to them as citizens?
In these past few months, anybody who can read or can listen to
radio or view television has been exposed daily to discussions of
the crisis in Central America. So what is amiss? It may be that
people have become discouraged at the complexity of the news, or
that they have grown accustomed to regard explanations as politi
cal ploys by one group or another.
Mr. Reagan has become aware of this•.•• His blue-ribbon commis
sion on Central America, with Henry Kissinger at the helm, could
be regarded as an opening move to show that he is getting people
involved who are outside the administratibn. Though the Presi
dent's action seemed sensible, the public has not applauded very
loudly. Nor did Mr. Reagan's news conference on July 26 evoke
much enthusiasm from realists. One reason is that the President
s
7
e �ed to be fearful
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coming right out and saying that
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military forces were being sent to Central America to transmit a
firm signal of resolution--that our friends there could count on
us, and our foes had better think hard about further encroach
ments in this hemisphere. Instead, Mr. Reagan sought to disguise