The Wilmington Morning Star

Today And Tomorrow
GAG RULE

Senator Vandenberg indicated, but owing to his official position could not spell out, the valid reply which we can make to Mr. Gromyko's criticism, and on which we can invite the judgment of mankind. It is not that Mr. Gromyko's criticism is untrue, or that it is hypocritical of Russia to make any criticism of unilateral action. It is that the grave error of bypassing the United Nations was recognized almost instantly by the American people and their Congress, and that they have insisted on correcting it. The central principles of the Charter have been enforced by the American people on their own government, and they have allowed no sophistry, no legalism, no plea of emergency, and no consideration of national pride to cover up the mistake or to deter them from making amends.

The spectacle of this powerful government called into account by its own people, and acknowledging its error to the world, is evidence-which men of good will will respect-that the American people mean to be loyal members of the international community. It is, as Senator Vandenberg called it, an act of voluntary allegiance to the United Nations. It proves, as perhaps nothing else could have done, that the injury to the U. N. was unintentional, that it was due to an error of the head and not of the will.

The error, as all informed observers know, was due to the fact that the decision to intervene in Greece and Turkey was made suddenly and without sufficient preparation. There are other errors and defects in the policy, due to the same cause, which it is no less necessary to correct. The Administration can correct them, and no doubt will wish to do that as the policy is being debated in Congress.

The first has to do with our strategic purposes in giving military support to Turkey. We have made it clear that we wish to strengthen the Turkish Army and that we are making an American naval and air demonstration at the Dardanelles because we are opposed to the absorption of Turkey into the Soviet military orbit. But this decision needs to be supplemented promptly by a statement of our political intentions. Until that is done, our intervention in Turkey will be provocative without having a definite, realizable, constructive end. We should, therefore, explain to the Soviet government and to the world that we shall exert power in this region until there is reached, and for the purpose of reaching, a negotiated settlement of the disputes and claims on the Turkish, the Greek and the Iranian borders. Our object is a treaty which settles these disputes. That treaty must insure the security of the Black Sea nations, including Russia, and of the Mediterranean nations, and of all countries. When such a treaty has been agreed to, the security of Turkey and the Dardanelles will become the business of the United Nations. Until it is negotiated, it is the business of all the great powers, of which we are one, and not of the Soviet Union alone dealing with Turkey alone.

It has been right, but it is not sufficient, to say why we are intervening. It is necessary also to say what kind of settlement will satisfy us. The Russians may not like that settlement, and their objections are entitled to honest consideration. But at least they will know that our objectives are definite, concrete, and limited, that we want a treaty and not an endless quarrel.

Another point of cardinal importance which needs to be dealt with firmly and positively is the Greek civil war. As things stand now, we appear to be committed to unqualified and unlimited intervention on behalf of the present Greek government against a very large section of the Greek people. This is an intolerable commitment, involving grave and unnecessary risks of international conflict. It puts us in a disgraceful position in the eyes of the free people of Europe. And it is certain, if it is not radically amended, to nullify any program we may have for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Greek life.

Our object in intervening in Greece should be not to support the civil war but to settle it. Instead of offering to support this government, we should insist plainly that it be reconstructed at once, that it become a coalition government of national union, and that the first military measures of that government, the first use made of the military power we are supplying, be to guarantee an amnesty to the dissident Greeks. Instead of reinforcing the government in a campaign to crush reconstructed government which can guarantee the personal safety of the dissidents who lay down their arms.

The Administration has not been impartial and sufficiently frank about the civil war in Greece. It has spoken much of the armed bands of the extreme Left. It has glossed over the armed bands of the extreme Right. Yet if the civil war is to be settled, if the armed Communists are to be isolated from the Greeks who, though not Communist, are in rebellion, these moderate Greeks must be protected. Today, if they surrender to the government forces, the chances are that they will be murdered. They will be murdered not by the government forces but by armed bands of the Right that the government has tolerated. and therefore no end to the civil war, until there is an honest government in Athens which makes it safe for Greeks to accept amnesty.

There is no doubt that this is intervention in the internal affairs of Greece. But what is the use of pretending that we are not intervening while in fact everybody knows that we are intervening? To support one side in a civil war is intervention. It is, however, an odious form of intervention. On the other hand, intervention to reform the Greek government, to settle the civil war by mediation, to enforce amnesty by all the power and influence we can exert. is a kind of intervention which can be explained and justified to the conscience of mankind.

The sooner, therefore, that the State Department makes it plain that our intervention is not to foment civil war to the bitter end, the better the prospect of success for its Greek enterprise.

Copyright, 1947, New York Tribune Inc.