Evening star., 1962-11-09
Cubu's Status


President not to blockade or
invade Cuba if the Soviets
remove the offensive" weap-
onS has deplorable conse-
quenceS for us. 1t assures the
Soviets an indefinite tenure
of their base in Cuba. It
throws out our Monroe Doc
trine. 1t negates the resolu-
ton on Cuba passed by Con-
gress. 1t betrays the CubanS
the second time. It disheart-
ems friendly nations who
showed increased confidence
and support for us when the
President at first took a
strong stand. 1t leaves the
Communists in Cuba with
the capabilities they had be-
fore this acute crisis. But
now they are practically
guaranteed that these capa-
bilities will remain undis-
turbed.
Among these capabilities
are: Continuing subversion
and perfidy; continuing OPP
preston of the Cuban peo-
pie; continuing to fortify the
Communist base astride our
shipping routes; mounting
air attacks from defended
bases; using submarine bases
in Cuba; making our naval
base at Guantanamo unten-
able by the use of artillery,
bombing and rockets; and,
by using fighter bombers,
deny to merchant ships the
waters around Cuba and
block shipping using our Gulf
Coast ports. 8
Against these threatening
capabilities our hands are
tied unless there is an overt
act. If an overt attack were
made, however, an invasion
of Cuba probably would be
necessary to eliminate the
threats. Moreover, an inva-
sion will be more and more
costly as time goes on and
the Communists become bet
ter prepared.
The SovietS now are in a
better position in Cuba than
they were before the "offen-
sive" weapons were sneaked
in. We have rewarded them
because they say they will
take them out, if indeed they
do take them out and not
merely hide them.
We have lost another great
opportunity to clear up this
Cuban cancer and give the
island back to it's people in
freedom and to sweeten the
whole Latin American scene.
Let us hope and pray that
somehow we may regain our
freedom of action.
Phillips Kerr.
4 II n y
In John Patrick's Pulitzer
prize winning dramatization
of Verne Sneider's novel
"Teahouse of the Angus t
Moon," there may be a timely
lesson for the United States
to keep in mind in the ne
gotiations for the removal OF
the missile bases in Cuba.
The scene of this delight
full story is Tobiki, a ficti-
tious village in Okin a W a
whose citizens were by defi-
milton and Pentagon direc-
tive, enemy civilians" II
was the mission of the Army
of Occupation to bring de-
mocracy to the natives, tC
orient the Orientals, as il
were, in occidental ways. A
sympathetic, ingenious, il
som what naive youns
American Army captain hac
the immediate task. He re-
habilitated the economy BY
such unorthodoX methods al
making a potent brandy from
sweet potatoes and finding 6
ready and Unsuitable marke'
in officers clubs Throughout
the island. He had also me
the natives idea of democra,
cy by building a cha-ya o.
teahouse. His enraged com
manding officer ordered al
the stills destroyed and tn,
teahouse demolished. His or
ders were apparently obeyed
But a Congressman bacl
home who had heard abou
the success story was head
ing a congressional commit
tee to visit the village ant
exploit the operation as al
example of American enter
prise. With only a days no
tice to prepare for the com
mittee's visit, Col. Purdy, tn
C. o., was frantic. But Sa
KIM, the roguiSh and re
sourceful interpreter ant
Man Friday, quickly assured
him: I'VE not born yester
day." and explained that tn,
villagers had destroyed onl.
water barrels - not stills
and had taken down the tea