B
Well, there are those that, that, that think that, that, that the Panama Canal has some considerable strategic importance, particularly for the military. Interestingly enough my father was, who was in World War One, and as, uh, as a civil engineer they, they, they offered him a commission as a captain if he would, uh, go in and, and, uh, help with the defenses of the Panama Canal. He had worked for United Fruit Company there,
A
Uh-huh.
B
and they, uh, they, in fact, they had, this was in the, the late twenties and they in fact used some of the equipment that had been left over and, uh, he turned them down. It, it's interesting that, that most people don't realize how small the canal is. Have you ever been there?
A
No, I haven't.
B
It's, it's really, I, I haven't been there, I've been to, been to Salvador and, and, uh, in fact, we went back to visit some friends of, of my fathers, that we went in fifty-seven I guess. And interestingly enough the canal is quite small and, and realistically could be sabotaged quite, quite easily. The thing I find interesting, though, is that, uh, is the whole colonial approach and, and, and do we, do we support the Sandinistas or, or do we support, uh, you know, when they thought, uh, they thought that Nicaragua, if you gave them a free election, they would vote for the, Will you, uh, did you ever studied the, the political makeup there, in, in, in Nicaragua.
A
I have a, a little bit, I can't say that I'm, I would be an, an expert on, on the region, but, uh, certainly, uh, I, it, it gets, it ge-, there, your, you've got this, this toss up betw-, or not, not so much a toss up but a, a dilemma when, when you want a country to have its, its, um, own, uh, dominion, or its free rein over its, its own people. and now we're, we're in this dilemma over, uh, United States is, believes in democracy and, and self determination, where a-, but that on the other hand we believe in self preservation and, uh, agree with the, or, not so much agree with but are terribly concerned about, uh, infl-, Soviet influence in, in what's considered to be the United States sphere of the world which is not only, you, we used to see spheres but now we're in a situation where the United States is, looks like we're it now.