European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes columns William Safire incursion was aimed at cleaning out sanctuaries if you re out to win a War against guerrilla to crush an insurgency that is being helped from the outside then it make Good military sense to clean out the that s what the United states tried 10 do in 1970. F resident Ninon sent . Roopi in South Vietnam across the cambodian Border. The purpose was to destroy the bases and supplies being used by the com munists., thai s pretty much that happened in Honduras Las week. The communist dictator of Nicaragua emboldened by a congressional cutoff of did to his enemy and strengthened by new soviet arms truck across the Border or Honduras Wilh at least 2,000 troops. Kit purpose was not to conquer Honduras but to clean out the sanctuaries to win the War against he contras. The analogy is not exact. In Honduras today the contras arc not unwelcome by he government As the Viet Cong were in Cambodia and the goal of the con iras is not to impose a communist dictatorship but to till one from their people. Bui one similarity cannot be denied the Central purpose of cleaning out the sanctuaries was then and is now to defeat the insurgents to conclude the War on the Sandin Iila government s terms. Dodgers May recall the reaction of America s doves when we went after the Viet Cong supplies in Parrot s beak. The left went bananas this was an Effort to Widen the War there was tragedy Al Kent stale editorialists derided the use or the euphemism incur Sion for what they were certain was an invasion. Today with the communists in Nicaragua doing he incur Sioning the combat Boot is on the other foot. Our doves Are now saying what s the big Deal the communists raided Honduras a couple of years ago and nobody hollered which makes this unworthy of news coverage. The pro Sandini iia left in our Congress newly Toler ant of Sanctuary cleaning say this in t taking place because or. Onega denied ii or if it did it s Only an or this is All alarmist hype by the Reagan warmongers who arc seeking n reason to Send in . Troops. Or or. Ortega was provoked into the insignificant Cross Border raid by by whatever. The Plain truth is that the peace process in the Ortega strategy has always been a farce. His soothing words to speaker right and Hii flattery of president Arias has induced the Congress with the Suppon of every one of the democratic presidential candidates into cutting off All military Aid u the contras. As Fri our Aid withered and our congressional commitment grew Ever More palsied the momentum of the War turned around in the Field. We arc eager to Settle the communist purpose is to win. If the world has Learned anything in the period Between Vietnam and Afghanistan it is this when one Side is determined to win and the other Side wants to Seale the Side thai is determined to win will win. Ortega s secret slogan is now Oul in the open Cive War a Chance. Now we will see our isolationist thumb suck ers and snookered san airs impaled on the Ortega Hook trying to wriggle off. Their focus will be on the overreaction of sending a brigade of americans to reassure the hondurans or on the anomaly of making a show of potential Force by sending troops in a non shooting capacity or. Reagan s obeisance to she War Powers act. Thai s Alt a sideshow. Nor is it necessary a ibis Point for realists to explore the curious Noriega Ortega Plo relationship. Let doddering doves and told you so Hawks gel to the nub of the Mailer the Nicara Guan communists lulled the . Congress into a false sense of International Security and then launched a Surprise military offensive. The incursion the word a accurate in Cambodia in 1970, and it is accurate today was hardly intended to Speed reconciliation within Nicaragua or to Calm Ortega s Central american neighbor. It was designed to destroy supplies kill opponents and break the Back of the contras before the negotiations began All of which was Well Worth letting Good Faith and world opinion go hang. Whal now agree with or. Ortega to Cut the pre Lens. No More of this hand to Mouth humanitarian Aid hypocrisy that lets doves say they never of d anything lethal but forces Contra leaders to waste Money trading blankets for bullets. Give the anti communist forces of Nicaragua the. Weapons they need to win their fight. It is our fight Loo As Ortega has just shown again if the contras cannot Slop him it will be up to the 82nd airborne new vow Kimei news Sfer Tot Anthony Lewis Mission of gis sent to Honduras remains unclear the Phi silent who Scal the marines to Lebanon on a Mission without a purpose has now sent 3,000 american Somin to Honduras. Once again their Mission is unclear. Once again professional military people Are troubled. Rut in arc is no doubt about what underlies the honduran adventure in a to link Al sense. It is evident if one looks at the even that by Happy coif of id Floc. Occurred on the Simc Day the indictments of Oliver Nonh John to inducer Rich aft Secord and Albert Hal Tim for conspiracy in the Iran Contra affair. What links the iwo events is obsession or rather a pair of complementary obsessions. One is Ranald Reagan s obsession with Nicaragua his belief that inc sandinista government of that Liny poor country threatens our National Security. The other is the argument of the american right that the executive Branch must have absolute Power to fight communism anywhere in the world b any Means Power Ahova Congress above the Law. President Reagan began trying to overthrow the nicaraguan government six in Alicr entering the while House. He Anil his agents created a Force of counter revolutionaries armed it Buiu bases for it in Honduras instructed it in techniques of assassination. They mined nicaraguan harbours and did All they could la destroy the nicaraguan Economy. The program was launched with Oul authority from Congress in secrecy cloaked by tics. It had to be done that Way because the american Public was opposed to the War on Nicaragua. When Congress limited the Covert War inc White mouse violated the limits. In Short the Only Way the obsession with Nicaragua could be carried into action was by Means of the obsession with presidential Power. To destroy inc Sand nistas it was necessary to destroy the balance of Powers in the United Stales Constitution ii was necessary Todd Tchili Misc Congress. Ii was necessary to invest the president Wilh supreme Wisdom and supreme Power. The twin obsessions were in inc open last week. There was la. Col. North inc familiar half sob in his voice complaining that he had been caught in a dispute Over the Power of the president 10 deter communism in Central Ameri that is the Power of the president or his most obsessive aides to fix . Policy no Mailer what the Public and Congress think. And there was assistant Secretary of stale Ell Ion Abrams the administration s official liar Seething on television about nicaraguan lies full of outrage that nicaraguan forces had crossed a Border that the contras have crossed hundreds of times in the other direction. Why did t the usually Lough Ted Kop pc of Abc s nightlife ask him Why the Border should be respected Only one Way Tiff. Dancers in Central America arc Plain enough the sandinista in their eagerness to pursue the contras May have jeopardized the scheduled peace talks Reagan will use the incident to frighten Congress into renewing Aid to the contras and keeping the War going. Ii is no certainty that the . Troops now in Honduras can be Kepi to a train ing exercise As Reagan s spokesman called it. In Lebanon the marines slipped from a Neutral peace keeping Rote to intervention on one Side of an Interne Cine War. And 241 marines died. That shows what can happen when . Forces Ore dispatched for political reasons Clear military Mission. But the larger threat ii Here the threat posed to our order by the Rig it s obsession with the need for greater presidential Power that obsession was played out last week on the editorial Page of the Wall Street journal. Ii railed no Lawrence e. Walsh the Independent counsel who obtained inc indict Chi of Nonh and the Oil try they believed they were carrying out the president s wishes the journal said so Why should Alliey be punished the divine right of Kingi has not been respectable doctrine in Britain since George 111, and America rebelled against ii. The men who made that Revo Lution and who wrote the Constitution were conservative. That is Why they feared concentrated Power not least the Power to embroil their country in Dan Gers abroad. Alexander Hamilton who More than anyone wanted a Strong president nevertheless saw inc dangers. The history of human conduct he said does not War rant that Chat cd opinion of human Vir tue which would make ii Wise in a nation to commit interests of so delicate and momentous a kind As those which con Cern its Intercourse with the rest of inc world to the sole disposal of. A presi Dent of inc United
