Dirty Attitude in a Dirty War

The Reagan Administration’s reaction to the death of a U.S. citizen in Nicaragua, killed in an ambush by U.S.-backed contra rebels, was cold and insensitive. But that’s an accurate reflection of the mind-set that spawned the dirty little war against Nicaragua.

Benjamin E. Linder, a 27-year-old engineer from Oregon, was one of thousands of idealistic U.S. citizens who have gone to Nicaragua since the 1979 revolution that overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza. Most want to help the new Sandinista government rebuild the nation. But, while idealistic, Linder was not naive. He actively opposed U.S. policy in Central America, and on several occasions told acquaintances that he knew it was dangerous for him to be working in isolated rural areas on government projects. Such projects are a favorite target for the contras, who in classic guerrilla style try to avoid clashes with the Sandinista army.

Still, while Linder knew what he was doing and the dangers involved, it was tactless and tasteless for White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater to say that. A simple expression of regret, and perhaps of sympathy to the victim’s family and friends (like that which the U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua, Harry Bergold, offered to a delegation of American citizens whom he received at the U.S. Embassy in Managua after Linder’s death), would have been acceptable, and certainly more appropriate.

But maybe it’s asking too much of Administration officials to show sensitivity at the death of a single U.S. citizen in Nicaragua. For they have shown precious little concern about the suffering that their policy of organizing and paying for a counterrevolution that has no chance of successis causing for the Nicaraguan people. Several thousand of them have died in the war being waged by President Reagan’s “freedom fighters.” There is no indication that Reagan intends to change his bloody Nicaragua policy, so the pointless killing will go on.