An OK for War

Members of Congress may try to deny the harsh truth of the matter, but they have finally given President Reagan carte blanche to wage his dirty little war against Nicaragua.

Reagan wanted the House of Representatives to approve $100 million in military aid for the contra rebels in Nicaragua so that they could continue their war against the Sandinista government there. While the House attached conditions to the aid--it will be released in increments rather than all at once, no heavy weapons will be handed over until next February and a bipartisan commission will monitor efforts to negotiate peace in Central America in the meantime--Reagan will use the affirmative vote as a license to do just as he pleases in Central America.

By approving what was billed as a compromise proposal, members of Congress can say that they do not wholly approve of Reagan’s war but didn’t vote for the Sandinistas, either. Reagan helped his cause with a last-minute television appeal for contra aid in which he finally toned down his Red-baiting on Nicaragua and conceded that his critics are not just well-meaning but have raised some legitimate questions about the contras. That only made the hypocrisy of Reagan’s violent policies in Central America more apparent. He claims to want peace in the region, yet his most stirring appeals are for war. He likens the contras to the Founding Fathers, then has to admit that their human-rights record is less than admirable.

It was because of widespread concern about the reliability of the contras, and doubts about the sincerity of Reagan’s desire for peace, that Congress decided to appoint the commission to monitor the contras and also report on the progress of peace talks in the region. Presumably its conclusions will influence any future decisions by Congress to support Reagan’s war. But precisely how a civilian commission sitting in Washington is supposed to oversee a guerrilla army fighting against a rugged opponent in faraway jungles escapes us.

The commission is not likely to satisfy either Congress or the Administration. Rather, it is a device designed to allow Congress to put off facing the crucial question that has to be faced sooner or later: Should the contra war be expanded or ended? There is no other choice.

If the Sandinistas are the threat that Reagan claims, he should not be sending a surrogate army to fight them, but the full might of the U.S. armed forces. In fact, Nicaragua is a poor, feeble nation led by an inept group of ideologues who, while intent on abandoning the promises of democracy that they made when they forced the Somoza dictatorship from power, are no threat to the United States. That is why most of the nations of Latin America have expressed opposition to arming the contras and have been urging the Administration to negotiate with Managua and to support a peace plan negotiated by the Contadora Group--Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama.

Until Congress faces the real issue in Central America, rather than quibbling with Reagan over money and conditions under which it is spent, the President will take any opportunity that he is given to continue his futile war against Nicaragua. Wednesday’s House vote guarantees that the bloodshed in Central America will continue for the balance of Reagan’s term in office, and it will make it even harder for the Contadora Group to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the region’s troubles.

The peacemaking efforts of our Latin American allies must continue, however. At the very least they can create a structure for peace talks, and to begin rebuilding Nicaragua and the other Central American nations once Reagan leaves office and the folly of his bloody policies in the region becomes apparent even to his supporters on Capitol Hill.