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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 4, 1983
PAGE 11
secret police to keep them quiet: we don't put political and
religious dissidents in jail� and we never cold-bloodedly shoot a
defenseless airliner out of the sky.
One possible sour note, however, could occur should the Reagan Adminstra
tion now feel emboldened to get much tougher in Central America against
Nicaragua. The Managua Marxist government is hurting under the increased
pressure of CIA-backed counterrevolutionary forces. The real war for con
trol of Central America and the Caribbean may yet be over the horizon. Re
garding Nicaragua, the British news magazine THE ECONOMIST asks whether
Ronald Reagan "will try to become the first American president to reverse a
Marxist-Leninist revolution."
The test may come soon with Nicaraguans attacking contra camps in Honduras
and coming into contact with American troops there, now numbering about
4,000. Such a move might offer the proper pretext for direct U.S. action.
A full-fledged war in Central America would be totally different than the
neat "surgical strike" nature of the Grenada campaign. World reaction and
U.S. congressional pressure against the President would be much more in
tense.
It may not be the clearest parallel, but America's long nightmare in Viet
nam took place after a successful, quick military venture into the
Dominican Republic in 1965.
The Key: The Remarkable Mr. Reagan
Much in the immediate future depends upon the decision-making ability of
America's remarkable leader, Ronald Reagan. With regard to Grenada, Mr.
Reagan acted in true Commander in Chief style. Once he made the "go ahead"
decision, he entrusted the outcome to the military--and characteristically
went to sleep. How unlike President Carter who fretted endlessly over the
military rescue mission in Iran, manipulating its operation in minute
detail from the White House.
Moscow has met its match in Mr. Reagan. As long as he is at the helm, the
"evil empire"--as the President calls the Soviet Union--will likely be held
at bay. But after he departs the scene--look out America! Just scanning
the weak state of 1984 candidates being fielded by the opposition Democra
tic Party is enough to make one realize that, with any one of them in power,
America's skid during 1977-80--arrested by Mr. Reagan's resoluteness--would
resume and worsen, becoming a careening tobogganslide. All of the Democra
tic contenders have promised to "consider" having a woman vice-presidential
running mate on their ticket. Lobbyists for the woman's political movement
have been saying lately that the so-called "gender gap" is actually a
"peace gap," and that President Reagan, like all men, is for war, and that
the White House needs a woman in it to push for world peace.
Finally, one last insight into Mr. Reagan's views was provided by this
ASSOCIATED PRESS dispatch dated October 29:
Five days before the terrorist bombing in Beirut that killed more
than 200 American troops, President Reagan wondered aloud if the
world wasn't approaching "Armageddon,
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according to a lobbyist
called by the president.