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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, FEBRUARY
17, 1984
Given the public and congressional mood, and the Reagan Admin
istration's inability or disinclination to alter that mood, the
strategy may be necessary. But
it
should be interesting to hear
the Administration defend its defense budget, which seem;-soine=
� large � � regional power, and disproportionate to the
nation's political will and strategy.
Now, consider: If you are an enemy of the United States in, say,
the Persian Gulf or (for that matter) Central America, are you
not exhilarated by developments in Lebanon? Are they not fresh
evidence of a familiar axiom--that it is more dangerous to be
America Isrriend than its enemy?!£ youareaSaud1 leader-
,-you
are going to be especially generous with this year's subsidy to
Syria. If you are King Hussein of Jordan, there is now one con
trolling fact: Your hostile neighbor to the north has shoved the
United States west.
In the end Syria's President Assad, the shrewdest political leader in the
Middle East, won out. As reported in the "Washington Whispers" column of
the February 20 U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT:
Syria's President Assad gambled and won in Lebanon, White House
advisers privately admit. Assad bet that American resolve to
defend the besieged Lebanese government would crumble under
constant criticism at home--precisely what happened.
One can almost discount now America's victory in Grenada. The blow to U.S.
prestige in the crucially important Middle East more than offsets the
former action.
Where it really counts, U.S. policy is afflicted with
flawed conception and faulty execution. Despite Grenada, America is still
a "paper tiger."
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau