To Fight or to Appease

Between 1979 and 1982, the Soviet Union gave Nicaragua $150 million in military assistance and $50 million in economic assistance. The House Democrats have been quite candid about Soviet activities in Central America. The Majority Report of the House Select Committee on Intelligence asserts that the Salvadoran insurgency “depends for its lifeblood—arms, ammunition, financing, logistics, and command-and-control facilities—upon outside assistance from Nicaragua and Cuba. This Nicaraguan-Cuban contribution to the Salvadoran insurgency is longstanding. It began shortly after the overthrow of Somoza in July 1979. It has provided—by land, sea, and air— the great bulk of the military equipment and support received by the insurgents.”

Thus, a marvelous turnabout has suddenly occurred, such that the factual situation in Central America is no longer in dispute. The cover stories of six months ago—that the Sandinistas and the guerrillas in El Salvador were pluralistic democrats, independent of Havana and Moscow—have been discarded. Thus, both the moderate Left and the far Left have changed their line of argument.

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Michael Novak

Michael Novak was a Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat.

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Between 1979 and 1982, the Soviet Union gave Nicaragua $150 million in military assistance and $50 million in economic assistance. The House Democrats have been quite candid about Soviet activities in Central America. The Majority Report of the House Select Committee on Intelligence asserts that the Salvadoran insurgency “depends for its lifeblood—arms, ammunition, financing, logistics, and command-and-control facilities—upon outside assistance from Nicaragua and Cuba. This Nicaraguan-Cuban contribution to the Salvadoran insurgency is longstanding. It began shortly after the overthrow of Somoza in July 1979. It has provided—by land, sea, and air— the great bulk of the military equipment and support received by the insurgents.”

Thus, a marvelous turnabout has suddenly occurred, such that the factual situation in Central America is no longer in dispute. The cover stories of six months ago—that the Sandinistas and the guerrillas in El Salvador were pluralistic democrats, independent of Havana and Moscow—have been discarded. Thus, both the moderate Left and the far Left have changed their line of argument.