THE HERSH STORY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303370007-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: February 17, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303370007-0
Oil
WALL S'T: S E T JOU N.L
17 February 1981
e, ers _, toy Better Late I
7~;~5,?".:...ri...:.'. x:.: rtes r
ByTHOMras J. BRAY
can't; believe it,sighs Seymour'
Hersh. former New -York Times reporter,
and, Pulitzer Prize winner,* as he juggles
one telephone inquiry after'. another: in his
Washington office- :'I thought I was doing
a good deed. Now everybody is after me."
Edward Korry,. ambassador.ta Chile at
the:itime=of'Marrlst' Salvador'Allende's
election to the presidency in 1970, can't be-
lieve-it either. A long free-lance article by.
Mr. Hersh has just appeared in the Times,
headlined "New Evidence Backs.Ex Envoy
on His Role in Chile." It appears to be a
rnea th pa by Mr: Hersh:' who in 1974 had
written'severai Times articles linking Mr.
Korry. to. an alleged coup to prevent Mr.
Allende' from taking -office... Mr= Hersh
views--itasexonerating Mr _Korry.
;Thestory apparently arose out of a se-
ries.oE. conversations- in which Mr.- Hersh
was seeking Mr.. Korrys help with a new
book taking a 'negative view of former Sec-
retary of. State Henry Kissinger, and Mr.
Korry wastrying- to get a New York Times
story setting out his view of the Chilean ep-
isode: Mr. Hersh is being bombarded with
questions about his motives for the story.
Mr. Korry feels he got only minimal satis-
faction out of his end of things_--,,,!
s"I;didn't. need Hersh to tell the world I
was innocent," he fairly shouts town inter-
viewer seeking his reaction to the article;
"Thais old news; The Church committee
made' it clear five "years -ago. I. wanted-
Hersh. to tell what really happened down
there.. It wasn't, the. CIA that got Allende-:.
it. was. 500% inflation and Soviet double-
dealing and the Allende go_yernment's own
corruption:'But: Hersh' doesn t want to hear
:,What thearticle was intended to accom .
push:is-a.little;murky;.It:;began on the
front'page- and -continued' inside, filling -`
much of six cola nn'. '-'Evidence has come .
{n light' Mr_ He announced in the sec- .
ond.,paragraph, "suggesting-that Korry,
i. ' despite his strong opposition to the Allende
candidacy,. was frozen out of the planning
fora proposed military coup and warned
the White.House-that: it would be risking
another 'Bay of Pigs' if it got involved in
military '' plots to stop Dr.. Allende's elec-
tton
-The article goes on to note Mr. Korry's-
pardcular; bitterness,: toward'- The New
York Times,', but then things begin to get
a little fuzzy- The much-touted .."new. evi-
dence" =
never, quite seems to surface. de- I
spite- references; to classified Adocuments'
unnamed-CIA sources and interviews with
"White-House officials." And in any case,
the. 'central fact of the case-that Mr.
Korry knew nothing about a coup-wasn't
exactly new. The Senate Select Committee
on Intelligence-the so-called Church com-
. mittee-had concluded as much years ear-
he; in a public report on the Chile affair.
Mr'Hersh also asserts that his new ma-
terials "raise new questions about the ex-
tent' of CIA operations in Chile in 1970 and
the;efficacy of' later congressional investi-
gations., of., that affair_ Again: however,
-,hard facts seem scarce, except. for the ap-
parently,new-and brief-- revelation that
two CIA agents had entered Chile and were
posing- as, respectively,. a Mafioso and a
'foundation official; Hardly the stuff. of 3,-.
000-word articles in the Times.
So?the questions. remain. Why did Mr.
Hersh write the story, and why did the
Times print it?
Contacted by the Journal, Mr Korry re-
:counts events from his perspective. In rrid-
November he was contacted by Mr. Hersh
seeking help on his book about Mr. Kissin-
ger. Mr. Hersh told Mr. Korry that he had
changed his mind about the latter's role in
Chile. "I can't undo what went before,"
:Mr.?Korry recalls Mr. Hersh as saying,
"but I can make it clear that you did not
"know" of the coup plotting. How he could
,makeit clear wasn't stated,, though Mr.
Hersh; who accepts Mr. Korry's version up
to?this point, denies that he was offering
any sort of quid pro qua
,.,;That - wouldn't - be ethical _? and;.: I
:wouldn't do it," says Mr.-Hersh. Besides,
he ?-- adds, Mr. Korry's help on, his book
wasn't'that- vital. "'I already had stuff he
"didn't`even know about-a CIA agent pis-
tol-whipping a Chilean general,. more
money',than anybody realizes,., Mafioso,
black-marketing
And Mr. Korry agrees that it was he.
not, Mr-' Hersh, who actually suggested
"calling .the ..Times. Mr. Hersh says he
talked with A.M. Rosenthal, the executive
editor, who commissioned a story. "He felt
that if we had screwed Korry on page one,
.we should: correct it on page one," recalls
-Mr:'Hersh.?(Mr. Rosenthal also adds that
he had no knowledge of any "deal" between
"Until Hersh decided he needed help on his
book, I was in permanent purgatory,:;. ho
says.. :; -1'`?
Mr. Hersh wrote his article and submit-
ted it to the Times in December. Between
then and Feb. 9 when it ran-held up. Mr.
Hersh says, for rewriting and the Iran hos=
tage story-Mr. .Korry, says Mr. Hersh
called him numerous times seeking more
information for his book. "He was sucking
y claims. Not so,;
it out of me," Mr. Korr
says Mr. Hersh, who repeats that he didn't
really need information. from Mr. Korry
and claims Mr. Korry was over-suspicious
about the delay on the story.
- Mr. Korry now teaches a course in in-
ternational relations at Connecticut College
but has spent much of the last decade in
embittered semi-reti rement- angry at the
press for their treatment of him, furious at
what he fee's was Nixon administration du-
plicity in going behind his back in Chile;
Most of all he resents what he believes is a
deliberate effort, starting with the Church
committee and continuing with Mr. Hersh.
to distort what actually happened in Chile.
Mr. Hersh's long "correction"' will only,
serve to cover up the real truth, he feels. I
Mr. Hersh seems surprised. that any-
body would question- his, intentions. His
Times article was motivated by access to
new information and a desire to right a
wrong: he- says. _.'Ed : Korry- can't believe
that some things happen just because they
happen." says the hard-bitten investigative
reporter, who - calls himself a -"skeptic"
when it comes to the motives of others.,.
Only one thing is really clear:.It is news'
fit to print that Seymour Hersh now be--
lieves what even-the. Church committee'.
conceded years ago about Mr. Korryis
f._~?tr
; 1.
Mr. Bray is an associate editor, of the:
Journal's editorial page. .:
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303370007-0