COUNTERSPY: AN 'ANTI-DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100360049-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 15, 2004
• Sequence Number: 49
• Publication Date: January 7, 1976
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2004/10/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R0001003 04g ig I
WASHINGTO'N' POST
." C unto spryy Orr "Anti-Derr ocrat is System
What your December 23. editorial on
Richard Welch failed to deal with is that
we are reflecting on a systemic, not a
personalistic problem. This systemic
problem Involves U.S. Government-
directed and CIA-executed plan; to sub-
vert or overthrow certain foreign regimes
which challenge "cur" system. The
clearest example of this was the sub-
version and overthrow of the
democratically-based socialist govern-
ment of Salvador Allende. In the process,
not only was Allende assassinated and that
government eliminated, but it resulted in
the murder, imprisonment and exodus of
tens of thousands of Chileans.. So, we are
not talking about some "abuses" in the
policies of the CIA; we are talking about
the systematic destruction of certain
governments by certain U.S. leaders who
see those governments as a threat-to otir
capitalistic system and-or geopolitical
hbecmany. So, let's at least be' honest
about the nature of the problem and not'
discuss it as though it were a matter of
morality Involving some innocent In-
dividuals.
The Post editorial speaks of Richard
Welch as an ordinary "American citizen
serving his government and accused of no
crime." Much to the contrary, the CLVs
!'leaches are serving :n system and their
crimes are of the most serious nature
imaginable-the overthrow of a govern-
ment. Furthermore, these crimes are
carried out in such a way that no in-
dividual CIA agent will ever be found
guilty, even though they engineered the
crime.
Most Americans oppose our government
functioning in such a manner . . . oncethey
discover what is going o:I.:ind the only
way the rl:ncricn:r people learnebcut such
clar.:'.estine counter-insurgency is
precisely through exposes lilki those of
Counter spy by the Fifth Estate, or those by
a Phiiip Agee, or those by a John Marks.
The Post having taken on t by Watergate
scandal--before it became such-must
surely understand this process as well as
anyone. The Post editorial, however,
wants to leave .cell CIA investigations and
revelations to congressional due process,
forgetting that the present congressional-
hearin; s wouuld never have occurred
without individuals and groups like the
-Fifth Estate first revealing the truth.
The Post mourns the death of Richard
Welch; so does the staff of the Fifth
Estate. But does The Post equally mourn
the massacre and torture of thousands of
Chileans which was caused by a system
that uses the CIA rrs its shock troops? And
more Importantly, do-.s The Post mourn-
those human tragedies in terms of
critiquing that system?
If the American people are going to
survive as a free society, it will only be
through fighting this kind of an anti-
democratic system within our midst. We
are at war with such a system;, a war
between two conflicting visions of our
society. We can only save this society by
exposing such a system. Tha.t.'s what.
Counterspy is doing.
PHILIP E. WHiEATON
Advl~ary 3.o+rd. C jri r s. Y? -
STAT
Approved For Release 2004/10/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000100360049-3