On the Right

New York, Aug. 4—Caspar Weinberger is eager to tell his story, and wonders out loud why it is that so many Americans fail to grasp the essentials of the problem, which is as simple as that the Soviet Union has acquired a first-strike ability as the result of the general torpor brought on by SALT I. SALT treaties, he points out, while they are symbols of the effort to disarm, have not brought on disarmament—quite the contrary. You can wrap up a bouquet of proposals for unilateral disarmament, label it SALT 111 (the metaphor is mine, not Weinberger’s), and the knee-jerk vote will hail SALT Ill, proclaiming peace in our time.

All very discouraging, says the Secretary of Defense, who, however, believes profoundly that little by little things will change, as the Soviet Union recognizes that the United States is not disposed to surrender. In Europe, as earnest of our determination, we have the scheduled deployment of the theater missiles this fall. In the Caribbean, we have an immense fleet and attendant military personnel. “They ask me, are these combat troops on maneuvers?” he says. “Of course they’re combat troops. That’s the only kind of troops we have, from the medics, to the machine-gunners, to the bakers. The question is: Are they dispatched with a view to engaging in combat, and the answer to that is no, they are not.” They are dispatched to make a point. Such a point as, perhaps, Fidel Castro has heard, as witness the relatively conciliatory tone of some of his recent statements.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review magazine in 1955.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

New York, Aug. 4—Caspar Weinberger is eager to tell his story, and wonders out loud why it is that so many Americans fail to grasp the essentials of the problem, which is as simple as that the Soviet Union has acquired a first-strike ability as the result of the general torpor brought on by SALT I. SALT treaties, he points out, while they are symbols of the effort to disarm, have not brought on disarmament—quite the contrary. You can wrap up a bouquet of proposals for unilateral disarmament, label it SALT 111 (the metaphor is mine, not Weinberger’s), and the knee-jerk vote will hail SALT Ill, proclaiming peace in our time.

All very discouraging, says the Secretary of Defense, who, however, believes profoundly that little by little things will change, as the Soviet Union recognizes that the United States is not disposed to surrender. In Europe, as earnest of our determination, we have the scheduled deployment of the theater missiles this fall. In the Caribbean, we have an immense fleet and attendant military personnel. “They ask me, are these combat troops on maneuvers?” he says. “Of course they’re combat troops. That’s the only kind of troops we have, from the medics, to the machine-gunners, to the bakers. The question is: Are they dispatched with a view to engaging in combat, and the answer to that is no, they are not.” They are dispatched to make a point. Such a point as, perhaps, Fidel Castro has heard, as witness the relatively conciliatory tone of some of his recent statements.