Troops try to win not only firefights but hearts and minds
The success of U.S. policy in Central America rests in large part on the performance of the 25,000-man Salvadoran army. After repeated setbacks at the hands of antigovernment guerrillas, it has been widely criticized as a 9-to-5 fighting force lacking both skill and determination. Last week 4,000 U.S.-trained Salvadoran troops were combing the fields and volcanic mountains of the rich agricultural department of Usulután, seeking to dislodge elusive units of the Marxist-led Farabundo Martà National Liberation Front (F.M.L.N.), whose hit-and-run tactics...
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