January 28, 1965

Would Churchill OK Germans For MNF?

The scythe of Time has cut the brittle thread of life that was Sir Winston Churchill's and launched him into eternity. Oh, that he had not been born just a bit ahead of his time and could have sentient vigor for but one more decade to counsel us on world problems.

I particularly wish for one of his pearls of wisdom about the so-called Multilateral Nuclear Force so warmly espoused by the last two American administrations and so despised by the French government.

Churchill had a genius for grasping the full import of the acts of human nature. He warned the world in 1919 that a rabble of Russian revolutionists who called themselves "Communists" menaced the institutions of free men. He called for rearmament in 1934 against the comic-opera hoodlums of Nazi Germany and its "wicked men."

Howls of derision and defeat at the polls was the response. Yet, when his incisive analyses proved tragically correct, his former detractors unabashedly called on Churchill in his 65th year to deliver them from the evil they had turned away from.

The architect of England's "finest hour" stood alone before Hitler and the greatest war machine in all history up to that time. He led the way to victory over Germany and bolstered the United States in its battles against Japan.

I have often wondered what Winnie thought of our post-war policies of embracing our former enemies and setting them up in business with U.S. tax money to compete against us so effectively in the world markets.

Churchill said after victory that his hatred of the Germans and Japanese left him. I can't believe he really meant it. The military careers of both nations were so senseless, so brutal, so treacherous that it seems impossible for my generation of Americans and Britons to forgive the contemporary generation of Germans and Japanese.

It seems to me that we are willing to play footsie with killers because we may need their nefarious services sometime in the future when the Russian bear strikes. I'll accept this premise, but don't expect me to love the Germans and Japanese. The war they provoked only cost me four precious years, but to many of my friends and relatives it cost their lives. You and I and our children will sweat for a century to pay the cost in money.

Which brings me once again to the Multilateral Nuclear Force.

West Germany, with the help of American aid and without the burden of a standing Army, has waxed prosperous. German Chancellor Erhard feels the time has come for his divided nation to move back on to the military stage. He doesn't really care, you understand, whether we give him a few teeny-weeny atom bombs, but if we did he sure would be able to do a better job of staving off the Communists when the big crunch comes.

In the meantime it's okay with him if we plant a few atomic bombs along the border, just in case.

If this doesn't raise hackles on the back of your neck then you are of the post-war generation that isn't dry behind the ears yet.

As a nation, the Germans have proved themselves selfish, arrogant, and irresponsible with power.

Presidents Kennedy and Johnson professed to see merit in Erhard's proposal. Certainly it has provided some bargaining points with the Russians who have nightmares of such a possibility. The U.S. is anxious to keep Germany from developing its own A-bomb and hopes MNF will be a satisfactory substitute for them.

Great Britain is appalled, but for old time's sake, it tries to go along with the U.S.

French President DeGaulle, who has made a lifetime career fighting Germans and studying their national mentality, is furious. Besides, he has his own vestpocket nuclear weapon.

MNF is simply a small fleet of ships, the crews of which are comprised of officers and men intermixed from all the nations signatory to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and which would have nuclear missiles at its disposal.

We will pass for a moment the problems of keeping German and French sailors from keel-hauling each other at every opportunity. Consider only that German officers would share with U.S. and British officers the responsibility of firing the Awful Weapon. No harm in this you say? Then you have not learned the significance of establishing principles with insignificant precedents. These are the building blocks of great follies.

Presumably MNF would satisfy Germany's hunger for a new war toy without upsetting the world balance of power.

Who among us is ready to make book on this cozy arrangement?

Please forgive me if what I am about to say sounds un-Christian or provincial, but the Germans started two world wars and caused untold death and destruction for nothing more than personal aggrandizement. In the last holocaust they murdered, in cruel and barbarous fashion, six million defenseless human beings in pursuit of an insane "race purification" theory.

The Berlin wall is a disgrace — to Russia, for needing it; and to the United States, for permitting it. Yet it is now a fact of life and symbol of a divided Germany. It is to be sincerely hoped that an escape hatch can be provided for the East Germans with a conscience so they can come and work with other good West Germans in purging themselves of their previous transgressions.

I will be happy to see Germany stay divided until the present evil generation, and the memory of its deeds, fades from living memory.

In the meantime, I suggest we heed the advice of Churchill in his last speech before the U.S. Congress — "Trust no one with your nuclear weapons,"

Author: Lindsey Williams