`Rolling back' Soviet gains

FREEDOM fighters are the latest heroes of the New Right. From Afghanistan to Nicaragua, from Angola to Ethiopia, anywhere men and women are fighting Marxist-type governments, America's conservatives are championing their cause.

The New Right was thrilled when United States forces swept away the Cuban-backed rulers of Grenada in 1983.

Terrell Cannon, chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom, says the No. 1 foreign policy goal of conservative activists today is to ``roll back the Soviet gains of the mid-1970s.''

Mr. Cannon says Reagan has the difficult task of undoing the harm inflicted on US interests by the Ford and Carter presidencies.

The loss of Nicaragua to a group that has cozied up to the Soviets and to Cuba was a ``totally needless mistake,'' says Cannon. All that was required was a peace-keeping force sponsored by the Organization of American States to prevent a Marxist takeover of Nicaragua. But ``we did not have the guts to do it.'' Last of three parts. Parts one and two ran Mar. 18 and 19.