Some Plain Thinking About Central America

Abstract

Upon reflection, it seemed to me that while both were right, both were also wrong. The nature of the current debate is such that one's starting point essentially preordains his conclusions. In the debate on US policy for Central America, the preferred solutions for one dimension of the problem are radically different from and seemingly interfere with the solutions for the other. PART 1 of this paper attempts to start from scratch; to review the US interests in the region, to discuss the threats to those interests and then to develop a basis for US policy in Central America. PART 2 then takes this basis and roughly examines two key issues affecting the region, drugs and insurgency, and assesses some of the aspects of US policy in light of this basis. This is not intended to represent another "experts view" of the problem or the solution. Instead, this paper is an attempt to devote some "plain thinking" to the problem and the solutions we seek.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA436515

Entities

People

  • Rock Salt

Organizations

  • National War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Central America
  • Continents
  • Counterinsurgency
  • Drug Abuse
  • Economic Development
  • Economic Systems
  • El Salvador
  • Governments
  • Hispanics
  • Latin America
  • National Security
  • Security
  • Terrorists
  • Thinking
  • United States
  • Ussr
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Systems Analysis and Design