European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 29, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday october 29,1988 columns William Buckley Reagan s insight saved the Day at Reykjavik Ronald Reagan s Faith in his own insights is a continuing inspiration and will happily contrib Ute to any Monument that would memorialize inc chief of these for instance on this podium on March 23, 1983, president Ronald Wilson Reagan announced his strategic defense Initia Tive which led to lifting the threat of nuclear holocaust that tormented Mankind during much of the 20th Cen Tury or. Reagan saved the Day by acting on that insight but it was a very narrow miss and the circumstances of the occasion have hugely enhanced the resources or the enemy foreign and Domestic. Yes foreign and Domestic. Foreign because it should now be Clear that the Sovi Al Union s obsessive fear of our space shield was be Hind the High drama of its proposals. Mind you icy were in the end empty proposals but they were enough to dazzle minds parched for synthetic disarmament. The soviet Union was going to eliminate intermediate nuclear weapons from the face of Europe in return for the United Stales doing the same . Then the soviet Union would reduce its major strategic nuclear inventory by 50 percent and so would we. Double wow. And then by the end of the Century or perhaps earlier who knows there would be a total elimination of nuclear bombs and All of that inc result of a single meeting in Iceland. Sort of Renews one s Faith in the deliberative process docs it not Ronald Reagan would then have returned to the United slates to answer a few questions among them How would we in fact police the elimination of the theater weapons by the soviet Union Given that these Are Mobile exactly How would we find a Hundred or two in the Evanl the soviet Union followed its custom Ary Traci inc of cheating on treaties what would verifiable mean you could make a Deal with a Haystack giving you full rights to verify its agreement not husband a Needle and you have the agreement hut the Haystack is pretty Safe with its Needle. And the soviet Union s strategic missiles Are reduced by one half. Reduced to use round numbers to  these Are the International warheads the one that can pop Al Haso. Texas if told to do so. Question How is 1 Aris France or Florence Italy left safer by the apparent absence of the smaller theater weapons a missile capable of soaring 9,500 Miles to its target can be directed to go a Mere 950 Miles to a closer target. Presumably the Only argument against using it for such purposes would be the waste of Gas an ii Lav it Nice he soviet Union might he willing to put up with in a tense situation. Question if indeed we Are going to strip Western Europe of All nuclear weapons what is it we would propose to do in the event that the soviet army marched West Inlo the area in which we have 16 Amer ican divisions by what Means would we propose to defend them by firing nuclear warheads from Omaha neb.? and since this is unlikely what would be the effect on West european politics of the apparent de linking of America s nuclear umbrella from its Little nuclear parasols within Western Europe and then of course the major question inc Only question what reason have we to believe that on that critical open future Date the soviet Union would Actu ally agree to move across the apocalyptic threshold defined As the Point beyond which its entire remaining nuclear Force would cease to threaten the entire United states what evidence is there that it has Ever crossed the mind of Mikhail Gorbachev or of any known Likely successor to Gorbachev so to emasculate soviet nuclear Power leaving the soviet Union a massive indigent East european slate. But hear now the place Nizery. Already sundry . Senators have said that Ronald Reagan a missed the greatest possibility since the Congress of Vienna to bring peace to our Lime. And the social democrats in Europe will raise a clamor alongside which the fight against the deployment of the perching and cruise missiles was nothing. Their demand is horribly Pasy to formulate kill ski and the Domestic enemies of the Bell Opportunity the world will Ever have to seek out at once Freedom and Independence together with the elimination of the practical threat of nuclear confrontation will go after Ronald Reagan to kill ski. They will fight him on the seas and oceans in the air and on the beaches in the Fields and in the streets and in the Hills. They will never surrender Ronald Reagan is beleaguered As he was never beleaguered before Reykjavik. And Only he backed by the american people can get us Back on course. That course is the development Ofsei a Universal pms Syndicate Flora Lewis Reykjavik rhetoric and arms control propaganda Geneva Switzerland the experts Simc americans allies and most probably russians too arc beginning to reap the wages of cynicism. For almost As Long As there have been nuclear arsenals various leaders have toyed with a hopeful Public offer ing to wipe out weapons and remove threats. But the fact is that while they argued the notion were not taken seriously in the Back rooms where plan Ning is done. That is Why there is such a backlash now against the outcome of Reykjavik. President Reagan and Genera Secretary Gorbachev Cutie near to agreeing on some of the major principles that have been mouthed for so Long. Sud Denly the planners were faced with the Prospect that their assumptions might have to be scrapped and a whole new set of calculations begun almost from scratch. It in t True that the ideas had t been discussed their were endless sessions within the . Administration and endless consultations with allies about the Zero option big cuts in big weapons and so on. But As the bureaucrats put it they were taken As Long Range objectives to be set aside for some Fine Day or to put it bluntly As propaganda blasts to appease a worried to rid. Reagan s letter to Gorbachev on july 2which talked of eliminating ballistic missiles in 10 years was cleared by the defense department with Opportunity Tor analysis by the joint chiefs of staff. Apparently they did t focus on the Lime Frame Only on the first Steps now they realize that 10 years is a very Short time in terms of military hardware and they want to impose More conditions. President Mitterrand of France was also Given the substance of the letter for his comment he objected Toa part that said that of course French. British and chinese weapons would have to be taken into account when the time came to get rid of All missiles. That passage was removed at his request. He did not object to the other proposals thai Are provoking French complaints now though not from Mitterrand himself. For a Long time there has been a noticeable contrast Between the warm endorsements european leaders give american defense policy at nato meet Ings and lop level talks and the fears and grievance about the policy pouring out of their capitals. The explanation seems to be that the people at the summits fell it More important to make a show or Friendship with Reagan and of Alliance Unity and leftist to underlings to voice their governments concerns. Something similar was happening within the . Government nobody wanted to mate a Flat Challenge to the president but Many relied on the line print to divert the implications of the rhetoric. It May be that Reagan did not realize that. Now he is going to have to make hard choices Between the positions he has taken and his advisers qualms. A Compromise put Forward in Reykjavik was to Sepa rate the to pc for Mir i abolition pledge and inc 10-year Promise not to withdraw from the abm treaty into linked five year segments. Only if Commin cols for the first five years were carried out adequately would both Promise for the next five years be obligatory. According to sources Here this and other american positions developed at Reykjavik have All been formally put an the arms control negotiating table. There Are contradictory reports from Washington that suggest that attempts continue to Cut Back on Reagan s sum Mit proposals rather than just add details and More precise definitions. So far the russians have not Pul Down their specific Reykjavik position in Geneva though they have repeated that Moscow stands by Gorbachev 1  contradictory statements from the russians in the last week indicate that Moscow too is having Trou ble pulling together what it really Means in Clear terms. The next step should be Tor the negotiators to draw up an agreed list of what both sides accepted in Geneva and a list of what they thought was agreed but no interpret differently possibly As a result of language  they can turn to the remaining acknowledged differences which Are important but not so big As to Moke settlement impossible if both sides really want one. Thai will confound the cynics but no Compromise gets applause from those who oppose All Compromise. There Are certainly risks in halving and mom in eliminating nud v missiles. But they Are not w great a keeping what i Isth and adding to them. Now is the Lime to make words of Hope mean what Ibry say in to Tojim