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PAGE 12
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, APRIL 26, 1985
For example, Danny Ortega, the Nicaraguan president, was able to
predict on Monday that the U.S. House would hand him a victory
over his contra foes.
In a show of religious devotion not
evident in the policies of his government, he even went to a
church to pray for that victory. But on the chance that the
Almighty might not be listening, he had previously enlisted two
freshman u.s. senators, Kerry of Massachusetts and Harkin of
Iowa, as his ambassadors to Ronald Reagan, assigned to tell the
president that Mr. Ortega was offering what Sen. Kerry called a
"wonderful opportunity" for peace.
Mr. Ortega had also offered concessions•••before a House vote on
contra aid last summer, then reneged after Congress gave him what
he wanted. Even if the senators didn't know that, they should
know that bait-and-switch tactics are an old game for authorita
rians trying to consolidate power. Hitler constantly made prom
ises he didn't intend to keep during the early '30s••••
A still unresolved issue is the nature of the threat, Mr.
Reagan's strong rhetoric notwithstanding. The Sandinistas don't
plan to launch their 75 tanks and 12 helicopter gunships against
Houston. But t ¥ ey, the Cubans and the other foot soldiers in
Moscow's im""'peria crusade� gof�to continuea:oT"ng � other
things. They will continue to dabble in U.S. politics, partly by
subterfuge and deception. They will continue building the drug
trade, which nets them huge piles of dollars, spreads degeneracy
and undermines law enforcement in the U.S. They will continue to
train terrorists who, partly through the networks developed Tn
the drug trade, will sow further disorder and try to destabilize
democratic regimes in this hemisphere•.••
Finally, some congressmen probably represent what the polls sug
gest is a common view among Americans generally, that
1*,!
million
in aid to the contras doesn't look like we� very serious about
beating the communists. Do� intend to win� don't�? If not,
poll respondents seem to be saying, don't get us bogged down in
any more losing struggles. It is to that final misgiving, es
pecially, that the administration must find an answer•••because
this problem, and indeed the larger ·problem of Soviet imperial
ism, is not going to go away just because the House tried to wish
it away Tuesday night.
An article in the April 23 WALL STREET JOURNAL, entitled "A Lobbying Drive
Began in Managua," gives further details about how the Sandinistas were
able to sway Congressmen to their side. Just think of what Nazi master
propagandist Josef Goebbels could have done today, enlisting public
relations firms in his big-lie techniques! This article was written by Jim
Denton, executive director of the National Forum Foundation, a public
policy group in Washington.
The likely congressional defeat of President Reagan's proposal to
provide military aid to the anti-Sandinista contra forces comes
in the wake of an extraordinary lobbying campaign•••• Although it
is not uncommon for foreign governments to try persuasion on
Capitol Hill, the manner and degree to which the Sandinistas have
manipulated pu1:iIIc and ccing'i:essiona�opinion---rs noteworthy•• -.-
.--