Soviet Troops in Cuba
[Letter submitted to Rep. Guy Vander Jagt, 26 September 1979]
Dear Mr. Vander Jagt:
I listened to your comments on television about the Russian troops in Cuba, and I fully agree with your statement that these few thousand soldiers do not — formally speaking — threaten America. However, approaching the problem from another point of view, the situation is very dangerous for America, and we could very well be the loser.
Viewing the situation from the point of Russian psychology: Russian ambitions suffered very much at the time of the previous "Cuba Crisis." At that time America was still very powerful and the Russians did not have a choice but to retreat, which very much damaged their ego. Today the situation is different. America is weak and the Russians, well knowing that they have superior power, will not obey Mr. Carter's request to remove their troops. If the Russians will not comply with our request to withdraw their troops, America will lose face and the Russians will satisfy their ambition by showing to the world how powerful they are. And in this way they are the winner.
There is another possibility: the SALT II debate is in the Senate. Ratifying this agreement will be a victory for Russia as we are giving Russia more than we get. Now, if the Senate does not approve SALT II, there will be the logical consequence to spend a lot of money to improve our defense. For sure, the Russians would not like that and, having their troops in Cuba, the Russians will use this as argument to make us ratify SALT II. The Russians will obey Mr. Carter's request to remove their troops for the price of ratification of SALT II. This way the Russians will reach their immediate goal to have us agree to a treaty which is dangerous to us, and which eventually will help Russia's true servant — Mr. Carter — to run again, and possibly win the presidential election because he is a "national hero." And then Russia will again be the winner.
Right now the Russians are talking about our Guantanamo base, but I do not think that is really their point. One way or the other, the Russians will be the winner, and America the loser.
In conclusion, I will call the presence of Russian troops in Cuba a foretaste of what the Russians are preparing for America. In my opinion, it is 5 minutes to "midnight," and if America will not wake up now and organize our military power (which includes re-instituting our military draft, the development of the neutron bomb and all kinds of missiles, etc., not excluding gas), not many years are ahead for a free America.
And there is another danger: The trend to disarm America exists for many years already. Naive advocates of this disarming are thinking that they are doing this to avoid another war, whereas the facts are opposite. Russia will not risk to attack a strong America, but for sure it will attack a weak America. And this is the irony: [The disarmers] think they do everything to avoid another war, but in fact they provoke a new war. I would say that American readiness and military power is today at the lowest level ever, especially taking into consideration the terrible and terrifying Soviet arms buildup.
The present danger and question is here: Will Russia "tolerate" a new trend in America to increase military power? The way things are handled in Washington do not show common sense, but in Washington's craziness there is a method, which sometimes looks like a big conspiracy, serving not American but Russian interests: We liquidated the military draft, we refuse the B-1 bomber, we do not want to develop the neutron bomb, our fleet is old but we do not modernize, the military budget is being cut and cut. Then our "good" (good for whom?) Senator Church makes the CIA investigation, cutting the CIA's power, possibilities, and morale, and now, eventually, the CIA will be accused for not obtaining early and sufficient information — which would mean another injury and injustice to the CIA. In the past (before the Church investigation) the CIA "settled" problems (like in Chile) in America's best interest. Now, the CIA could not handle the Iran problem as it handled similar situations in the past; in consequence, we lost a good friend (the Shah of Iran), we lost our listening bases, and only Mohammed knows what will happen next in Iran because Khomeini surely does not know.*
Sincerely yours,
Waclaw Bakierowski.
P.S. A reminiscence from the Vienna SALT meeting [the previous June], and what the Russians are thinking of our joker in the White House if Mr. Brezhnev can allow himself such a joke that makes the American President an idiot in the eyes of European people: "God will not forgive us if we do not come to an agreement!" Mr. Comrade Brezhnev is an atheist, but he knows very well the messianic attitude of Mr. Carter, and he also knows the naivete of Mr. Carter and the American news media. He made a joke and nobody understood that.
* 1½ months after this was written, we sure found out: the American Embassy staff in Tehran was taken hostage by Ayatollah Khomeini's new regime and held until President Reagan's inauguration 444 days later. - Webmaster