NICARAGUA MANUAL WAS CENSORED, BUT STILL URGED VIOLENCE

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Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630036-7
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RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
2
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
July 16, 2010
Sequence Number: 
36
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
October 23, 1984
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630036-7.pdf124.83 KB
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630036-7 c r ''~~..aM. I WASHINGTON POST 23 October 1984 sored L en IT T ---- 1 ITO By Joanne Omang Wa;nn ton Fort Staff Writer CIA officials, before distributing a tanned l advin ng rebels in Nicara- gua bout guerrilla techniques, cen- sared all but a few copies but did riot ran,ove recommendations that ..,ice be used to "neutralize" Ni- caraguan gc ernment officials, two s .tors said yesterday after a Cen- ai Intelligence Agency briefing. T ~e ar:nouncem,~nt by Sens. Mal- co!m Wallop (R-Wyo.) and Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) contrasts with the im; re~,sion left by President Rea- can in Sunday's presidential debate. c tint included a question on wheth- er his administration was support- terrorism by distributing a man- ual advocating assassination of Ni- caraguan officials, hiring criminals and creating martyrs by killing some rebels. Reagan said that only 12 uncen- sored copies of the 90-page hand- book "got out down there and were not submitted" for censorship. Those responsible for "the few that did not get excised or changed , * , will be removed," Reagan said, citing possible violations of his De- cernber 1981 executive order ban- ning political assassinations. However, Nunn and Wallop said the censored portions did not in- clude the section entitled "Selective Use of Violence" that has caused most of the controversy. In that part, the booklet says, "It is possible to neutralize carefully s_lectcd and planned targets, such as court judges ... police and State Security officials." It stresses the need to make sure that the local population understands the need to "replace the target" individual. ioece "The term 'neutralization' was in all the documents," Nunn said. "It should not have been published or distributed by the CIA." The censored parts referred to hiring criminals and creating mar- tyrs, according to some of those at the three-hour CIA briefing. Wal- lop, appearing with Nunn after- ward, noted that "neutralization" did not necessarily mean "assassi- nation," a word not used in the man- ual. Nunn agreed but added -that, when read in context, "it could lead one to the conclusion that the pres- ident's policy [on assassinations] was being or could possibly be breached." Democrats seized on the issue when the manual surfaced last week, citing it as evidence that Reagan's goal in Nicaragua is to overthrow the leftist Sandinista government, not merely stop Nic- aragua from sending arms to leftist rebels in El Salvador. Wallop and Nunn, the only mem- bers of the Senate Select Commit- tee on Intelligence in town for the briefing, said that many questions remain unanswered and that the CIA briefers were new to the issue and not as well informed as they could have been. But Wallop said he saw "no indi- cation of foot-dragging" and insisted that the document did not cast doubts on Reagan's policy. "I do not believe that it calls for the overthrow of the government. It calls for the establishment of de- mocracy, which the [Nicaraguan] government says that it is about to try to do," he said. Presidential elections there are scheduled Nov. According to others at the brief- ing, the CIA explanation conflicted in part and agreed in part with the account given journalists last week by Edgar Chamorrc, a member of the directorate of the largest Ni- caraguan rebel group, the Ni- caraguan Democratic Force (FDN). The CIA, Chamorro and Reagan agreed that the manual was written by a low-level CIA contract em- ploye, who FDN sources said called himself John Kirkpatrick. Chamorro said that, as propaganda director, he received 2,000 copies of the manual and personally deleted sec- tions on hiring criminals and cre- ating martyrs because he found them offensive. The section on "neutralization" was left in. Reagan said during the debate that a CIA official in Central Amer- ica "recognized that what was in that manual was in direct contra- vention of my own executive order" and had it censored. The CIA told Wallop and Nunn that all but 24 copies were censored and that 12 of those were recov- ered, according to some of those present. That tallied with Reagan's observation that 12 copies escaped censorship "some way or other." The CIA officials said a second printing of the manual, not the first, involved more than 2,000 copies, those present said. They said the briefers, referring to the deaths Friday of four CIA employes in a plane crash in El Sal- vador, assured Wallop and Nunn that the plane's mission did not in- volve Nicaragua. They said the briefers also dis- counted a Defense Intelligence Agency document, which was dated July 16, 1982, and reported "assas- sinations" by Nicaraguan rebels, calling some of them terrorists. The publication, entitled "Weekly Intelligence Summary," had so little importance and was seen by so few people that it has since been discon- tinued, the briefers said. The infor- n,ation that rebels were killing Ni- caraguan officials despite Reagan's 1981 order may not have been ac- curate and probably never reached high officials, they said. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630036-7 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630036-7 i n a related development, FDN spokesman Bosco Matamoros said here that Chamorro "is no longer ,'hor ized to speak for the FDN." He admitted "abuses" during the four-year rebel effort but said those responsible have been punished. "That the manual exists does not moan we put it into practice," he said. "The ones who practice assas- s:n .lions are the Sandinistas." Meanwhile, L.N. Ambassador Deane J. Kirkpatrick dismissed as "irresponsible" a Newsweek mag- 2z;ne report that members of her staff debated the need for such a guerrilla guide to help the rebels a year ago. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630036-7