Avoiding Iran

U.S. OUT OF GRENADA, yes-and immediately. We agree that the U.S. should not be in the business of constructing puppet governments. But drawing a hard and fast line between use and non-use of military force in this situation is dangerous and puts Americans around the world in jeopardy.

What if our government were privy to information that indicated the students in Grenada were in real danger? The majority opinion condemns too broadly the use of American force to safeguard American lives in any situation short of actual kidnapping or murder.

Our government is wrongly denying reporters free access to the island, and because of this we do not yet have the information necessary to condemn or condone the Administration's actions. We cannot say definitively that U.S. citizens were free of danger, simply because no hostages had yet been taken. In fact, some reports have indicated that the medical students were indeed in danger before the U.S. forces arrived. It was clear in 1979 that anti-American sentiment in Iran could threaten U.S. lives there, but the U.S. government took no steps to safeguard them until it was too late. And that time-over a year and a half later-eight U.S. servicemen's lives lost in a futile attempt to save the hostages and correct the initial misjudgment.

We agree that the American forces have already gone too far; even if the students were in real danger, the operation should have been limited to pulling them out. The continuation of military action is a heinous and unjustified waste of lives-of both American servicemen and others.