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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 4, 1983
ately, force has its place in this world. We do not yet live in a
world of law. Even in countries where law does prevail, the use
of force to defend innocent life is permitted--by police or by
citizens in the absence of police....
But liberals suspect that the saving-lives argument is just a
cover or a convenience, that Reagan was just itching to take a
shot at some leftist regime to prove that the United States could
win one. I think so, too, but I still say--as a liberal--well
done. If liberalism values self-determination, peaceful change
and democracy, then liberal values are being threatened in the
Caribbean and around the world. They need to be defended, and
Reagan defended them....
Beyond the immediate case of Grenada, the U.S. invasion will warn
the Soviets, Cubans, Sandinistas and other aggressive leftists
that the United States has overcome its Vietnam-bred reluctance
to use military power to defend its interests and its values. We
� employed our power to win� quick, reasonably clean victory
in� very small place, but they cannot� where� might� it
later. If that deters them--rrom aggression, that will save lives
and liberty elsewhere in the world, and that is something that
liberals ought to cheer.
The Grenada affair puts a new light, for the time being at least, on events
in the Caribbean/Central American region. Other nations are taking a cue.
Already the leftist government of Surinam, on South America's northern
coast, has expelled the Cuban ambassador there. Surmised the November 7
TIME magazine:
Desi Bouterse, the paranoid dictator of Surinam...may have con
cluded that leftist revolution is no longer the wave of the fu
ture in the Caribbean and that he should make himself less obnox
ious to the U.S.
Certainly the Grenadian "rescue operation"--which it was, much more than an
invasion--is of benefit to members of God's Church throughout the region.
The enclosing grip of Cuban-styled totalitarianism has been lifted from the
30 members on Grenada. The larger congregations throughout the Caribbean
can breathe a sigh of relief. Perhaps "The WORLD TOMORROW" will once again
be heard in Grenada, having been suspended in 1979 when Radio Grenada be
came Radio Free Grenada (how the meanings of words are twisted).
Back to big-power politics--what next?
What are Mr. Andropov and Mr.
Castro thinking right now? Surely their timetable for erecting a picket
line of Communist states patroling the entrance into the Caribbean Sea has
been dealt a considerable setback. The Communist bullies have been put on
notice by Mr. Reagan that American concerns are not to be taken lightly any
longer.
At a ceremony in Camp Lejuene, North Carolina, honoring Marines
who died in Beirut and Grenada, the President declared:
In foreign policy, we've let the world know once again that
America stands for the political, religious and economic freedom
of mankind. And something else: under this administration, our
nation is through wringing its hands and apologizing. Americans
don't put up walls to keep people inr we don't have armies of