NICARAGUA MANUAL WAS CENSORED, BUT STILL URGED VIOLENCE
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630036-7
Release Decision:
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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Body:
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