Kissinger on Nicaragua

The dead, the maimed, the bereaved! Does no one worry about them?

Kissinger does a masterful analysis of the Nicaragua- contras conflict. But he seems unaware that as the war drags on more people will die and more disaster will fall on the living.

Among his conclusions are that, “ . . . an overall settlement is simply not possible in any time frame relevant to congressional decisions on contra aid. An issue as complex as the democratization of Central American cannot be negotiated by the Nov. 7 deadline put forth in the Guatemala City agreement,” and that “Congress should vote contra aid for an 18-month period on the present scale to permit a new Administration to set its own policies and to avoid having an issue of fundamental national consequence overwhelmed by the politics of an election year.”

As the months roll by, while the experts endlessly argue the “what ifs” and “yes buts,” more corpses will be buried, more women will lose their husbands and more children will find themselves without parents.

Why not go for the earliest possible cease fire? With the bloodshed stopped, time then for talks of communism versus democracy and other points of contention.

War has never been kind to anyone. The sooner stopped, the better.

LARRY KELBLEY

Rancho Palos Verdes