European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes saturday August 2,1986 Anthony Lewis Reagan doctrine supporting Contra terrorism if americans were asked whether a political cause could justify inc deliberate aiming and killing of innocent civilians most would surely reject the idea. Those Are the tactics of terrorism we would say thai is the indiscriminate brutality of soviet repression in Afghanistan. But the . Government today allies itself with forces that use exactly those tactics. It actively supports such forces. And it Don so in full knowledge of their brutalities. In inc Reagan doctrine the end j us Tinics the mean s. Nicaragua and Angola arc  both the Reagan administration sup ports armed opposition groups that Are trying to overthrow established left Wing governments. In both a fundamental lactic of the opposition forces is to terrorize Trie civilian population. The nicaraguan contras unable to hit any significant military targets have Bee focusing their rage on farms cooperative settlements and schools in Rural areas. On june 27, contras attacked a cattle cooperative in inc Village of co Moapa. According to reports from the scene the attackers threw a grenade into a House killing two children in their Beds Sis ters aged 5 and 12, the contras burned five houses and took five residents with him when they left. Foreign diplomats and .correspondents also report extensive use of land mines by the contras. They Plant inc mines in the dirt roads that arc the Only links to villages in the Border areas of Nicaragua. By definition inc mines produce indiscriminate casualties. There was an especially grisly inc Denton july 2, when a truck was blown up by a mine near Al Cua in pinot Cha province and 3-1 people wore killed. But Many other trucks have been hit. The contras have gone into mines in a big Way a Diplomat in Nicaragua said. The savagery of Contra tactics is nose Cret. Missionaries have been kidnapped and murdered. But none of that has any Flora Lewis visible Impact on the Reagan administration s policy. Neither docs the evidence of corruption among the Contra leaders. The Only thing that matters is the end Over throwing the sandinista government. In Angola the anti government Force is headed by Jonas Sav Imbi a figure who has been on every ideological Side during years of trying to make himself inc ruler of the country. The Reagan administration hails him As a Freedom  a recent report in the  Post threw fresh Light on the character of Sav Imbi and his War. Written by David. Ottaway it described a particularly revolting atrocity. Last feb. 8 several Hun dred soldiers attacked Ca Sabatela in Northern Angola killing 107 villagers most of them civilians. By All available accounts Ottaway reported the attackers were Jonas Sav Imbi s men. They used bul lets machetes and knives. They killed women children and a methodist pastor. That incident was consistent with the general pattern of Sav Imbi terrorism. The Sav Imbi forces Plant mines in the productive farming areas of Angola with the intent and effect of driving Farmers into the overburdened cities. Thousands of people have lost legs. Again the Sav Imbi tactics arc nose Cret. Diplomats have been reporting them for a Long time Sav Imbi boasts of shooting Down civilian airliners. He has taken groups of foreigners As hostages and marched them hundreds of Miles. Vet the Reagan administration shows no embarrassment at any of Ihal it i evidently proceeding with its planned shipments of military Aid to Sav Imbi. A Story in the weekly mail of South Africa says that William Casey the director of the Central intelligence Agency visited South Africa in March to make plans far that Aid. South Africa has been Sevim by s principal Backer. To fight communism we arc told we must turn a Blind Eye to savagery. The irony is Ihal in the Long run we Are dam aging the interests and the name of America. The legacy of the Reagan Doc Trine in Nicaragua and Angola will be anti americanism. Docs anyone care not Manyin Ronald Reagan s Washington evidently the House of representatives caved in on Aid to the contras in june. In the sen ate even a Man As sensible on most issues As Bill Bradley of new Jersey has cast a crucial vote Tor that Aid. But i think the american character will Tell in the end and turn us in revulsion from such evil. A no roil.  something May be germinating in soviet Union the mysterious document brought from Moscow by the correspondent of the guardian of London May be a fake but it is an interesting comment on the soviet atmosphere behind the scenes nonetheless. It is purportedly a manifesto written by senior officials calling for dramatic Reform with Freedom of press and speech and contending political groups. The guardian s correspondent warned in his article that the manifesto might have been a provocation from anti Gorbachev factions trying to Block essentially modest economic reforms by showing where they could Lead. But he tended to believe it was authentic. Experts in London said they thought it was a falsification by emigre russians Given to Western reporters in Moscow Soas to make it credible. Still if its real origins were soviet whether in Earnest or As an attempt to discredit the general Secretary Mikhai Gorbachev it would show that some political ferment is going on. And even if it was concoct cd in the West in Hopes of stirring up new ideas i shows that the debate among the soviet elite seems to have reached a Point where some Challenge to the rigid system is conceivable. In China where economic Reform has gone far beyond anything suggested by Gorbachev there is apparently another Start on examining what kind of political changes might be required to accompany the new economic methods and make sure 1 hey work effectively people Are Likely to be chary about advancing challenges to China s Leninist system. But even the suggestion of Politi Cal change shows an awareness that something More than Market Competition and material incentive is needed to modernize the society. Soviet citizens who Are important enough to be Well informed know a lot about what is going on in China. There is a certain tendency to be disdainful since the chinese communists have such a drastic Zigzag record and the country s technological and living standards arc Way behind those of the soviet Union. But Progress has been extraordinary., an soviet officials must be concerned if the chinese find a better Way to run inc socialist system. Parts of the Moscow document come from various studies done in soviet think tanks that have trickled Westward. So it May Well be that the argument for political Reform to give More substance to the Effort for greater economic vigor is starting in pockets of soviet officialdom this would be very different from the courageous but futile activity of dissidents who have no real influence. There seems to be a human Law of social change that a Little whets the Appe Tite for More. That is Why soviet leaders Are so fearful of releasing natural momentum though they have also had to Leam that no change Means decay. A Leopard cant change kiss a. The new York times Harrison Salisbury reported after Many sessions with High level Moscow officials that the Cher Nobyl Accident and its handling had strengthened Gorbachev s conservative critics perhaps he is being More cautious out of weakness or perhaps he does t want to go further or faster. Success in negotiating a major agreement with the uni. De Stales would certainly bolster him. The signals of subsurface move ment in Moscow Are faint As always. They should not be overestimated. But they should not be ignored on the Assumption that communists Are All and always the same. This is a Lime to watch closely and so optically to examine assumptions about we at could happen in the soviet Union. Something May be germinating