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PAGE 10
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 3, 1985
"Oops! We made a mistake" seems to be the reaction of some congressmen to
the Ortega visit to Moscow. Senate Majority leader Robert Dole of Kansas
said that the visit indicates Congress made "a major misjudgment."
THE
WALL STREET JOURNAL, on April 26, placed the Congress-Ortega relationship
in the context of a very ill-advised marriage:
Minister: "And do you, the U.S. Congress, solemnly take this man,
Daniel Ortega, to be your lawfully wedded responsibility, for
richer or poorer, till death do you part?"
Congress: "We do!"
Minister: "If anyone present knows any reason why these two
should not be joined in holy matrimony, let him speak now or for
ever hold his peace."
Someone has, but a little too late. Senator Jim Sasser, a Ten
nessee Democrat, now says he'd have voted for the contra aid if
he'd known of Mr. Ortega's just-announced plans to make a post
wedding trip to Moscow.
Too late, senator.
He's Congress's
problem, now. Have a nice honeymoon!
A cartoon in the WASHINGTON TIMES showed Comandante Ortega on the phone to
the House Minority leader Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, saying: "Hey-y-y•••senor
Tip•••muchas gracias••• to show my gratitude I'll send you and the boys a
case of borscht from Moscow••••"
Ten years ago, on April 30, 1975, the war in Vietnam ended with the fall of
Saigon. Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger was recently inter
viewed by Jack Burby, assistant editor of The LOS ANGELES TIMES editorial
pages, and Art Seidenbaum, editor of OPINION, about the events leading up
to the defeat and how it has affected u.s. foreign policy, including the
current dispute over U.S. conduct in Central America. The interviews ap
peared in the April 28 TIMES:
Q. How about Nicaragua right now and this problem of political
divisions within government?
A. On Nicaragua, we are in danger of repeating the same sort of
domestic debate--an Administration request hard to reconcile with
� definition of vital interests. How could something be of vital
interest and be only worth
$14
million? And Congress was saying
you must make a compromise1 you might have non-lethal aid for the
guerrillas. What is the meaning of that? Either it's not a vital
interest or it's worth more than
$14
million,� it's worth
lethal equipment":" I don't want to enter into the merits of that
dispute in this interview but the shape of the debate has been
very similar to Vietnam ••••
Q. Defense Secretary Caspar M. Weinberger seems to have taken
Col. Harry Surmners' book about Vietnam, "On Strategy," to mean
that you can't ever involve yourself in a military action unless
you have full support of the American public.
A lesson from
Vietnam, apparently. Is that valid?
A. A President is elected to take care of the future of the peo
ple and the p�ople will not forgive him for disasters, even if
•