Alone among the old European colonial powers, Portugal has doggedly tried to hold onto its overseas possessions. Last year more than 40% of the country's $1.3 billion budget was spent on a military effort to put down insurrection movements in the three African territories of Mozambique, Angola and Guinea-Bissau. Now an influential Portuguese leader has openly questioned the government's sacrosanct policy that the overseas provinces must be preserved at all cost. Ironically, this dovish challenge comes from General Antonio de Spinola, a hero of the African wars. Meanwhile, hawkish devotion to the status quo prevails in the civilian-dominated National...
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