LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: A REPLY FROM SEN. MOYNIHAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440051-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 51
• Publication Date: January 1, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440051-1
I4ASHINGTON POST
ARTICLE APPEARED -,..rill January 1985
ON PAGE A __,T1r
A Reply From Sen. Moynihan
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
William F. Buckley Jr. ["The Damage
at the World Court," op-ed, Dec. 281
cited a letter I sent him concerning our
response to Nicaragua's complaint
against us in the World Court. I don't
think he captured the spirit of the letter.
In a commencement address given
at the Syracuse University Law School
last May, I expressed some dismay at
an argument advanced by Allan Ger-
son of the U.S. Mission to the United
Nations that under the charter the
court has no jurisdiction over cases in-
volving national security.
The United States formally pre-
sented this argument to the court. It
seemed to me this was an abysmal
reading of the charter, and that we
would surely lose. The National Re-
view took me severely to task. But the
court ruled exactly as I had expected,
as anyone ought to have expected.
And so on Nov. 30, I wrote the follow-
ing letter to Mr. Buckle;:
"A unanimous court, including the
American judge, has now dismissed
Mr. Gerson's argument.
"One of the lawyers working for our
government on the case remarks that
this was the worst setback in an inter-
national tribunal in the history of the
United States.
"I continue to be puzzled by Na-
tional Review's argument. Surely our
country has been hurt by all this. All I
ever tried to do was to point out how
near to inevitable this outcome was
going to be. A lawyer's job is to win
cases for his client. Ours lost.
"My argument was that we would
surely lose on the question of jurisdic-
tion, and that it would be far better to
welcome the opportunity to meet
Nicaragua in court to discuss what has
been going on in Central America and
to ask El Salvador to join us. That is
still an option...."
DANIEL P. MOYNIHAN
U.S. Senator (D-N.Y.)
Washington
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440051-1