U.S. Debate Over Soviet Aid

George Bush sees a window of history open, yet does nothing. Perhaps he’s paralyzed by indecision; perhaps he’s simply comfortably smug, but the result is the same. He sees communism collapse as the Soviet Union strives mightily to become democratic. It is clear that there are still forces there that would like to return to dictatorship and militarism, and Gorbachev has to contend with them. What is desperately needed is a massive outlay of American dollars for food and supplies to keep the Soviet Union from facing such hardship that the people will accept a dictator who promises to feed them.

At such a time, it is imperative that President Bush do everything he can to show the Soviet people that American support for democracy can translate into American financial and material aid for those people who are bravely trying to bring democracy to a land which has never known it. Instead, Bush sits, waits, waffles, makes vague promises. We spend billions on the arms race, send billions in aid to Third World dictatorships, but we can’t send food to the Soviet Union. Is it that, deep inside, the people running this country want to see the familiar Evil Empire so that they can sink into their familiar “us versus them” mentality, and thus keep the focus away from domestic concerns and national failures?

RICHARD WONTENOT

Sherman Oaks