The Idea Is to Intimidate

The President made it sound routine. "We're conducting exercises such as we've conducted before," he said. But Pentagon officials who were eager to explain, though not to be identified, said one purpose of the imminent U.S. naval maneuvers off both coasts of Central America was to rehearse a possible quarantine of Soviet and Cuban weapons into the region. The U.S. naval display will be accompanied by U.S. and Honduras army maneuvers near Nicaragua's border. "The idea is to intimidate," a Pentagon official said in reference to Nicaragua, "and see if we can have a real effect on the flow of arms"...