Editing 78-12-A5 (section)

=== Transcript ===
The Soviet Union's Nicolai Ogarkov has delivered a message to the American
people. He says, "You once had military superiority and felt secure. You no
longer have that superiority and you will never have it again. And now you will
know what it means to feel threatened."

On the last broadcast I called attention to a new invention of the Soviets
which could make their tanks invulnerable to present day anti- tank weapons. It
would not protect them against our neutron weapon. That is, if we had it.

The June issue of The Officer, the official Reserve officers journal,
carried a story based on data and material authenticated by the American Security
council and presented by Major General J . Milnor Roberts.

The article opened with what the General called a "worst case" scenario.
Let me read portions of that scenario to you. QUOTE -- "Suddenly and without
warning, hundreds of Soviet-bloc divisions spearheaded by 15,000 assault tanks
and amphibious armour, spin from Warsaw pact maneuvers and lunge westward. Their
target, the English Channel.

"Swarms of Soviet warplanes, armed with missiles , bombs and cannisters of
death dealing chemicals, strike NATO bases and stockpiles of U.S. tactical
nuclear weapons.

"Outnumbered and out gunned, allied forces retreat before the massive
Communist blitzkrieg. At sea, Soviet submarines prepositioned hours before
intercept and attack U.S. convoys attempting to rush reinforcements. Behind the
lines, Communist saboteurs emerge in Western Europe cities and industrial centers,
creating widespread havoc.

"With Western Europe about to be overrun, the President of the United
States is faced with a life or death decision; to accept the Soviet conquest of
all Europe or to unleash American nuclear counterforce , thereby risking a
worldwide holocaust." --UNQUOTE

The General admits this "worst case" scenario may never happen. But he
does say the possibility that it might is the constant nightmare of allied
leaders. Then he quotes General Haig, our Supreme Allied Commander in Europe,
"The greatest single threat to stability and peace continues to reside -- as
it has for 29 years -- in the immediate presence of massive Soviet military
power ... the greatest peace time aggregation of military power the world has
ever seen." UNQUOTE

The article then goes on to catalog the statistics of Soviet power and
the continued retreat by the U.S. over the last couple of decades.

In 1962 (the time of the Cuban missile crisis) our superiority was so
great that Kruschchev had no choice but to back down. Eleven years later in the
1973 Arab-Israeli war Soviet power was such that a threat by them to intervene
in that war forced the Israelis to halt their drive against Egypt. Our Chief
of Naval Operations said, "had there been a confrontation between the United
States and Russia in the Eastern Mediterranean, we would have lost."

Production of the neutron weapon could eliminate the nightmare of that
"worst case" scenario at best and, at least, buy us some much needed time. 

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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