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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JULY 12, 1985
There will be no yellow ribbons for Robbie Stethem. With the
release of his fellow hostages finally completed, the nation cer
tainly must join in profound relief at a safe end to their or
deal. But it is no time for celebration. Instead, the Republic
should contemplate the courageous death of a young hero, the hu
miliations just undergone ]2y the nation he served, and the like
lihood that there will be more martyrs in the future as terrorism
goes unpunished. Indeed, his commander-in-chief should ask him
self a private question. In the dead of the night, in response to
the hijackers' final demand of no retaliation, the State Depart
ment delivered up a carefully worded statement. The question is
whether, despite the president's words about justice•••in the end
this cryptic affirmation will not prove to be exactly what the
kidnappers claim, and amnesty for Robert Stethem's murderers.
The second editorial framed in black appeared in the July 15, 1985, edition
of the U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, entitled: "Terrorism's Toll on America,
1980-1985."
In it, David Gergen, contributing columnist and one-time
Reagan staff aide, wrote the following message, which was included in the
center of the page, surrounded by the names of all the recent victims of
anti-u.s. violence:
The toll rises higher, higher yet--at least 320 Americans, their
names shown here, murdered by terrorists since the 1980s began.
Except for suicide drivers, not one drop of terrorist blood,
apparently, has been spilled in return. When will terrorists pay
the same price as their victims? How many more of our citizens
must die? How much longer before America strikes back--an eye
for an eye? ·The nation mourns•••and waits.
In his July 26 syndicated column, Norman Podhoretz, the editor of COMMEN
TARY magazine, called President Reagan a "pitifully erippled hawk." But
part of the crippling, according to the July 8 WALL STREET JOURNAL, is due
to the maze of Congressional restrictions placed upon executive action.
This affects not only the war against terrorism but all!!.:..§...:_ military ac
tivity:
All the available evidence from the past two U.S. administrations
leads to the conclusion that short of total war, the departments
of the executive branch responsible for foreign policy--the White
House, State and Defense--are highly averse to military action
outside the American continent.
In retrospect, Grenada appears to have been� anomaly, a unique
event precipitated in large part by the forceful will of Domini
ca's remarkable prime minister, Eugenia Charles (who, by the way,
has just won a big popular vote). The defense buildup of the past
four years is intended to fight World War III, an event many sen
ior military officers doubt will occur in their lifetime. Public
statements by Defense Secretary Weinberger and senior uniformed
officers make it clear that the Pentagon has little interest in
deploying its assets in any contingency failing between Grenada
and World War III.
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The danger in this posture is that it•••provides our adversaries
with an unacceptably large margin in which to maneuver freely.