European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 14, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 12 the stars and stripes tuesday june 14, 1977 reap me what if says Pap James Resto Haig confident nato can meet challenges the Only top Man in the Nixon Whitehouse who survived the final Days and went on to better work in the service of the . Government is Gen. Al Haig now commander of . And nato forces to probably knows More about what happened at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue during the last Nixon crisis when the government was trying to protect itself against its own president than anybody else and he is unusual in other ways he s not talking about it. He s not even writing a Book about it the Only thing he would say was that after the second Nixon broadcast with David Frost he bet his wife that Henry Kissinger would Call him within 48 hours and Henry did Call and said was that the Way you remembered it but again Haig did t go on from that he seemed to be saying is in the past and he is More interested in his new Job in the future of the nato Alliance in the coming political struggles in France Italy Spain and Portugal in the upcoming conference on human rights in Belgrade and in the soviet Union s political and Mili tary policies in the Middle East and Africa. If i heard my right he made the following Points we should concentrate on what we Are doing in the nato Alliance rather than on what they Are doing in Moscow and the Warsaw pact countries. For example we have to work out our problems in the Eastern Mediterranean with Turkey and Greece. Turkey he insisted has a standing army of 500,000 men and can quickly Call up another 750,000. Failure to resolve this Allied problem in William f. Buckley and Why is our fear inordinate lbs s masterful documentary the Cia s secret army let us get this Point made and out of the Way suf fers from excessive toleration for Fidel Castro and something less than a sure grasp of american history. In two hours for instance not a mention is made of the Monroe doctrine. That doctrine was in effect repealed by president Kennedy when during the october 1962 crisis he promised Khrushchev not to invade Cuba. But a major Point of the lbs documentary is that although Kennedy lived up to his word about not invading Cuba in fact he had every intention of deposing Castro. By assassinating him. Lbs. Through narrator Bill Moyers who provides the perfect Organ tones of pious stoicism registers a sustained mix of horror indignation and resignation through it All. It is apparently inconceivable to the boys at lbs that for a Good Many decades americans were implicitly committed to giving their lives if necessary to defend the Monroe doctrine. What the documentary highlights is the awful difficulty in the modern age. Of find ing an appropriate vocabulary to describe certain relationships. Restrained total ism Mav offend the rules of language but not those of reality. What do you Call it when the soviet Union sends tanks into Czechoslovakia but does not declare War what was it we fought in Korea at the loss of 50,000 americans we tried police action but finally it cloyed. We agreed to refer to the War in Vietnam in a Way appropriate to the waging of War i.e., with no Eye out for any substitute for Victory. In Cuba. In 1960, a non Strang Lovean Republican administration headed by Gen eral Eisenhower a practice professional Soldier concluded that the soviet nation of Cuba was strategically intolerable. In that judgment a democratic administration the Toast of the salons of America As Well As of the saloons concurred. The result was and still is As witness the surviving secret army in Miami the great Ambi Guity which lbs now ponders. A 1945 Cia report drafted by a Blue ribbon panel of . Citizens said if the United states is to survive Long standing american concepts of fair play1 must be reconsidered. We must Leam to subvert sabotage and destroy our enemies by More Clever More sophisticated and More effective methods than those used against general Edward Lansdale on being brought in by Robert Kennedy to run the secret War against Castro put it bluntly we Are in a combat situation where we be been Given full american policy toward the soviet Union and its ancillary bases has become progressively easygoing. President Carter Speaks about our past inordinate fear of communism. Since it is obvious that Normal men have every reason to shrink from the Prospect of say living in a sibe Rian concentration Camp we Are bound task ourselves the question Why is our fear inordinate the Only plausible answer is because the soviet Union in t Strong enough to impose its Way of life upon the next question is what is it that keeps them from achieving that strength and then the crucial question posed indirectly by the lbs documentary if the soviet Union is not As Strong As it would like to be. In t that in part because of our efforts to recognize and act upon an existential relationship As distinct from a juridical relationship Wocet Greece and Turkey he thought could be extremely serious. .,._., the major problem with the soviets is not on the Central front of Europe de Soite the soviet military buildup in the Warsaw pact countries but on the Periphery in the Eastern Mediterranean the Middle East and in Africa. The soviet military buildup is not Ever since the missile crisis in Cuba they have been correcting their strategic weaknesses and Are nonworking on getting bases on both sides of Africa along the Oil transport lines fro the Middle East to Western Europe and the meanwhile the communist political Challenge in Italy France. Spain and por Tugal has to be watched and handled very carefully for this is As much and maybe More of a psychological problem among the european Peoples than a military prob said he thinks some Progress is being made in nato despite the obvious political problems. He believes the Days of separate training and Maneu vers by the National units Are Over and that the Inte grated Central command is much better. The standardization of weapons and am munition is a slow process he said but president Carter is trying to minimize National competitiveness and is pressing the Pentagon to contract for new weapons manufactured in Europe. Meanwhile he thinks that the controversy Between the . And the soviet Union Over human rights has not Only clarified the philosophic conflict Between East and West but has persuaded other members of the Alliance that they must improve the military defences of the West. It is important Haig suggests to hold the line in Europe but not to lose sight of what he thinks is the major threat of soviet policy around the edges of the euro asian soviet Union is now. He observed not Only a superpower but the last of the it discovered in the cuban mis Sile crisis and the african conflicts of the 60s that it did not have the transportation systems to use its Power on a global scale. It is working on this problem steadily but not recklessly Haig said. It has increased its Power on land and on sea but still needs bases beyond the internal seas of the Baltic and the Mediterranean to operate effectively on a world scale. The nato problem Haig suggested is to recognize that this is a natural develop ment for a new world Power and to coun Ter it on the Periphery As nato has countered it in the Center of Europe. Haig thinks this could be done if the Western democracies Are not weakened by communist coalitions or by conflicts Over economic problems within the Alliance. Turkey seemed to be on his mind More than anything else. As an Anchor of the Alli Ance in the Eastern Mediterranean when Israel is in a state of political transition and confusion and when Moscow is trying to Lake advantage of the nato divisions Turkey he said is vital to the defense of the West and everything possible should be done to resolve its conflict with Greece Over Cyprus. Most of these problems Are political. Haig said and therefore beyond his authority but the soviet Union has As Many problems in the East As nato has in the West and he is confident that a political As Well As a military balance of Power can be maintained. If. He concluded nato remains a demo cratic coalition and keeps its Eye not Only on the Central front in Europe but on the rising political problems in the Middle East and Africa then he believes the Alli Ance could go an into the 80s without the fear of a major conflict Between the super Powers. New Vert times
