Word: combatents
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...first news conference in almost three months and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance looked far more somber than usual. Just a few days earlier, it had been confirmed and publicly revealed that a combat brigade of between 2,000 and 3,000 Soviet troops is stationed in Cuba?a disclosure that in turn produced a storm of angry reaction in the Senate. Although the State Department had emphasized that the Soviet force "poses no threat to the U.S.," Vance now assessed the situation in more ominous terms. In a solemn voice he told reporters, "We regard this as a very...
...days later, as the tempest grew, Jimmy Carter took to television, both to endorse the Vance warning and to call for "calm and a sense of proportion." Said the President: "We consider the presence of a Soviet combat brigade in Cuba to be a very serious matter and that this status quo is not acceptable." In the terse five-minute statement, Carter confirmed that "we are seriously pursuing this issue with the Soviet Union." But the Soviet force, he stressed, is not an assault force and does not have the capability to attack the U.S. Concluded the President: "This...
...know how the Soviets could be trusted in an arms-control agreement when they made provocative military moves in the Caribbean. And how could the U.S. claim to be able to monitor weapons development deep inside the Soviet Union when it could get caught by surprise by a Soviet combat brigade 90 miles from Florida? Suddenly and improbably, what should have been a minor diplomatic squabble with the Soviets?one that could have been handled quietly and with minimum strain?had escalated into a major domestic political issue, strained U.S.-Soviet relations and endangered SALT II. Gloated Senator Henry (Scoop...
...Idaho, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and thus formal sponsor of the SALT treaty. Church, who first made public the Soviet move on Aug. 30, dramatically postponed the SALT hearings for a day in order to summon Vance and CIA Chief Stansfield Turner to testify about the combat brigade. Said Church: "There is no likelihood that the Senate would ratify the SALT II treaty as long as Soviet combat troops remain in Cuba...
...that might puzzle both Carter and Vance. For although the Soviet troop presence mightily angered the Senate, the Soviets had broken no treaty or law ? after the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, they agreed only to station no offensive weapons in Cuba ? and the existence of Soviet combat forces in Cuba had long gone unchallenged. This left Vance with very little leverage, except for the Soviet desire for a SALT treaty, to negotiate a Soviet withdrawal. Indeed, after protesting, the State Department received only a noncommittal note from Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. According to White House aides...