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Rabin Makes
Historie Visit
toWest
Germany
BONN: The security pre–
cautions were especially tíght in
the West German capital Ltst
month. Throughout the eity
streets, patrol
can
roamed in in–
crease<! numbers. Pobee and
army heticopters hovered over
govemment buildings.
Thc reason for thc extraordi–
nary measures, however, was
understandable. Government
ollieials, alarmed over the in–
ereased
incidenee of sensalional
terrorist ac:tivities, wanted 10
make certain that the lirst ofli–
cial visit ever 10 the oation of
West Gcrmany by
a
Prime
Minister of Israel went off
smoothly.
Before Yitzhak Rabin len
Israel, he meo.tioo.ed that he, as
a Jew and as an lsraeli, had
mixed feelings about the trip.
but that be waoted 10 bridge the
painflll past with a fllture of
hope. On arriviog
in
Ocrrnany,
bis litsl stop was tbe síte of tbe
World War U concentratioo
camp Bergcn-Bcl.sen (oear Han·
nover).
In Boo.n during talks witb
govcro.meot and oppositioo
leaders, a major item oo Mr.
Rabin's agenda - beyond dis–
cussions about tbc Middle East
- was lsracl's huge trade deftcit
with the European Community,
currently ruo.ning at more than
1 billion doUars a year. Israel
felt tbat tbe Federal Republic
oould help close
this
gap to a
ART IUCHWALD
HowDoYou
Flght
a
Limited
Nuclear War?
WASHINGTON: The good
news from tbe Pcntagon this
weelc
is
that the
Air
Force has
just ao.n9unced it
will
start
training its crew to fight a "Jim.
ited nuclear war' ' in case the
United States sbould waot to
cxcrcise tbat option.
Wb.ile
this
is an enoouraging
sign, no oo.e in Washington is
quite sure what a limited nu–
clear war
is
and unfortunately
oeitber
is
anyone in Moscow.
"hn't a limited nuclear war
like being a li!tle bit pregnant?"
1 asked a source high in govem–
moot cireles.
WEEK ENDINO AUOUST 2, 19?5
more manageable leve!, and
West Germany, as a result,
agreed to give Israel 140 million
deutschmarlcs credit during thc
coming year. Observers noted
that Israel needs money as
mucb as it needs weapons 10
survive.
In tbe Bono daily
Generai–
Anzeigtr
of July 9, 1975
a
com–
mentator said: "We cannotstick
out hands into our pockets and
play the pnrt of an uninterested
spectator.
Also
we cannot take
tbc threat of lsrael's annihila·
tion upon
us,
we
can
only re–
!luce tbe danger."
Although there were stiU dif–
ferences of oplnion between
Prime Mioister ltabin and thc
Boon govemment, it could be
said that this vjjit was the cli·
ma.x of developing relations be–
tween Israel and West Germany
- the
peak
ot
tbe normaliz.ation
proccss.
Upoil
bis
retum to Israel, Mr.
Rabin said that he found West
Oer'1'any hnd more under–
Standing Of the lsraeli situation
Iban any other oountry in Eu–
rope.
Israel indeed oeeds under–
staoding fnends. For a nalion
of ortly three million and one of
the few countries notlinked lO a
single intemntiooal defensc or–
garüzation. such understaoding
is a vital requirement
in
a hos·
tile world based on power poli·
tic:s.
Prime Minister Rabio
has
certainly turncd 10 the nation
best prepared to help Israel in
terms of economic might (be–
sidos the two super-powers), as
West Oermany is the baclcbone
of tbe European Community.
having more 6nancial reserves
than tbe other eight EEC mem–
bers combined.
- Wolfgang Thomsen
"Cenainly not. At the mo–
ment smaU nuclear wars havc
been considered unthinkable.
But we bope that attitude
will
change and countries
will
start
thinking about them instead of
large nuclear wars that could
wipe out a continent."
"Everyone
is
for smaU nu–
clear wars,'' 1 said,
"as
opposed
to large ooes. But how do you
persuade tbe olher side tbat
you're not engaging in a largc
one7 How wiU
we
know
if
wc're
attacked witb nuclear weapons
tbat the Soviets or eveo the
French have no intention of de–
stroying lhe entire country?"
ult won't
be
easy,"
lhe source
said.
~aut
ifwe annouoce a new
nuclear strategy wlúeh is more
flexible, tben the Soviets
will
adjust tbeir strategy accord·
ingly. For example, suppose tbe
Russians lauoehed an attack on
Mobile, Ala.; we would retaliate
by hitting Minsk. lf they tben
RUSSIAN TANKS -
BEFORE AND AFTER
Picture above shows
B
!tJw
of
the more
th~n
2,000 Soviet–
made tanks capturad by Israel
from the Egyptian Bnd Syrian
•rmies during the Artlb-/srae/i
w11r of
Ocrober.
19
73. lying in
• fie/d sornewhere in lsraBI,
BWIIiting shipment to
lsr~eli
factories for reconstruction.
View at right shows workers
írr'tm lsraeli faetory in the pro..
cess of modilying the c.ptured
Soviet T-55 ranks into new bat·
tlefield weapons. descríbed by
tsrseli defense offici11ls
liS
one
of
the
best unks m the world.
Despite suggestions of a pos–
sibltJ new interim
pe~co
sccord
in the Middle East,
en
ominous
11rms build-up of msssíve pro–
portions.. is currently underwsy
there. For a look into how
events are shaping up in the
volati/e and unp<edictBble Miel–
die East, reed the cover story
on
p11ga
2 of th1s issue of Plain
Truth.
hit White Plains. N.Y., we
would drop nuclear weapons on
Kiev. That would be considered
a limited nuclear war.
As
long
as there wcren' t attaelcs on out
major cities, both sodes could
livewitb it."
"1 can see tbat. But how wiU
we koow that they nre only .en–
gaginginalimited nuclearwar?"
The source seemed irritated.
"That's wbat the hot line
is
for,
stupid,• he said. "Tbe Soviets
would alert us as 10 what cities
tbey intend
to
bomb, and we
would alert tbem about cities
we would hit. lf they double–
cross us and bomb New Orleans
instead of Mobile. we'll just !By
a little ol' nuclear bomb on Len–
ingrad. Our insurance is that
tbey don't want their entire
country destroyed and neitber
dowe."
"1 guess we couId all live
witbout Mobile and White
Plains,'' 1 said. "But by chang-
ing our strategy from the deter–
rent of mutual destruction to
limited nuclear war, aren't we
encouragíng botb sides 10 start
senously thinking about using
'A' weapons?"
"Yes and no. The imponant
tbing is that we m.m, have mote
options. Right now the only
op:
tioo we haveis to use our weap–
ons for all-out destruction. The
Soviets are
also
stuck witb tbe
same option. But, let's face it, if
we could use our atomic weap–
ons just 10 knoclc out a few
So–
viet faetory towns in thc
Ukraine, the Russians would
only be under an obligation to
dcstrny sorne place like
[)e.
troit...
"Nobody would miss De–
troit," 1 said. "But suppose
we ·
bad some Hawks in Congress
who got mad and said, 'No one
ean win a limited war. We have
to go aU out
or
nothing'?"
"You'U get sorne of that. But
no Presiden! is going to get us
involved in an all-out nuclear
war.
lt
would
wreck
tbe ecoo–
omy and play havoc witb in–
ftation. So no matter how much
pressure tbe Hawks put on, tbe
Presiden! wiU see that an 'A'
war doesn't get out ofhand."
"Now 1 know you'rc going to
get mad at me for asking
this
question," 1 said. "But suppose
one side or the other decides it
is
losing tbe limited nuclear war
and, ratber Iban face disgraee,
turns it io.to mass destructíon?
What happens to your strategy
then?"
"lt
will
never happen."
"How do you know?"
"Beeausc our military people
aren
't
ccazy
!'
"How
do
you know?"
" Becausc anyone who oomes
up witb a limited nuclear war
plan has to be sane."
"How do you know?u
(1 191S.IMA"""'"'lilwl
S