There is a larger, much more terrifying issue at stake here than the President's ignorance.
For example, one of the choke points is the straits of Skagerrak, adjacent to Germany. What if the Nazis today controlled such a choke point? Would we then condone their mass murder in the face of the Soviet threat?
Why not? Where do we draw the line? If you kill 50,000 or 100,000, like Marcos, that's okay. It's at your first million that we draw the line. Better watch the count, Ferdinand.
If not numbers, what then? Who you kill? If you are an equal opportunity killer, that's fine, but if you kill just Jews, that's no good. Must be the new civil rights policy.
Such distinctions are not only ridiculous but unworkable. Either you support murderers, or you don't. If you decide military bases and choke points are more important than human life, if you decide that preparation for war is more important than preserving democracy, there is no going back.
That road has already led us to Marcos' door, bearing gifts, and I'd rather not see the the kinds of friends choke points are going to make us in the future.