REAGAN TO ASK MILITARY AID FOR CONTRAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403850015-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: January 15, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403850015-7
ARTICLE
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON POST
15 January 1986
Reagan to Ask
Military Aid
For Contras
Nonmilitary Support
Also. on the Agenda
By Joanne Omang
and John M. Goshko
waAu.ea. Nm Staff writer
The Reagan administration is
preparing to ask Congress for $30
million to $50 million in renewed
military aid to rebels fighting the
leftist government of Nicaragua,
despite Republican warnings that it
may not be approved, congressional
and diplomatic sources said yester-
day.
Officials will also ask for a renew-
al of and increase in a $27 million
nonmilitary aid program that ex-
pires at the end of March, the
sources said.
In an interview, Elliott Abrams,
assistant secretary of state for in-
ter-American affairs, said he be-
lieves that the "votes are there" for
military support for the rebels, al-
though he declined to comment on
whether or when the request might
be made.
He noted that last year's furious
debate over nonlethal aid has
yielded to semiautomatic support
for it and that members of Congress
are increasingly critical of the San-
dinistas governing Nicaragua.
In fact,, he said, the Sandinistas
have become the administration's
unpaid lobby" against themselves by
their recent efforts to curb criti-
cism from the Roman Catholic
Church and dissident Nicaraguans.
"I'm optimistic," he said.
A well-placed Senate source said
Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.)
has warned the White House that
the Senate will reject any effort to
revive a covert military program
run by the Central Intelligence
Agency, e a 3m_ ion is ex-
pecTe-Ttoseek that.
However, u ar is understood to
have added that the Senate may
well approve an open military-aid
program if the administration and
counterrevolutionary leaders make
a strong public case, possibly
through Senate . hearings being
urged by Lugar, that the contras
are firmly democratic and worthy of
the aid.
Such a move would at least tac-
itly recognize a Nicaraguan govern-
ment-in-exile, which the adminis-
tration has been reluctant to do.
Rep. Dave McCurdy (D-Okla.),
key to administration success in ar-
ranging the $27 million nonmilitary
aid package last year, said that the
program could be renewed or in-
creased but that military aid would
be rejected. He added that a great
deal depends on administration tim-
ing.
"The situation can change a lot
between now and when the vote is
held," he said.
The administration has been un-
happy with the humanitarian-aid
program, which has had trouble
making deliveries and embarrassed
the Honduran government.
Contra attacks on Nicaragua are
launched from bases in neighboring
Honduras, whose officials he helped
the CIA transport covert aid to the
contras before Congress ended that
program in 1984. Honduras has al-
ways-demeWtfiaFrebels use its ter-
ritory.
One planeload of overt U.S. aid,
mostly medicine and clothing,
reached the rebels last October, but
Honduras blocked a second ship-
ment and no others have been de-
livered. Instead, the rebels are
making purchases in Central Amer-
ica, and the Nicaraguan Humanitar-
ian Aid Office in the State Depart-
ment is paying the bills, according
to officials here.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403850015-7