VOLUNTEER GROUP ASKED CIA TO AID IN CONTACTING REBELS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100320012-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: September 12, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/12 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100320012-2
AE2I CLE At PE
~N PAGS_~-~
WASHINGTON-POST
12 September 1984
~%a~~u~~eer gaup asked ~~A
~'Q ~.ie~ ~ ~~n~a~ting ~el~~~
'
B.; Don Oberdorfer -
l~,~htne,.on Post51a1! 11711er
The .leader of a private expedi-
ticrar}' force asked the Central In- .
telh;once P.gency last November to
put him in touch with "gurrillas in
Hondrus to fight the communist Ni-
caraguan government," but xhe
agency turned his irquin= over to
the Justice Department, a Senate
committee v:zs told }?ester3ay.
The Nov. 4, 1SS3, letter from
Thomas V. Posey, organizer of the
Alabzmz-based Civilian-Military As-
sistzncE (C\lA), ~?.?as presented to
the SEn:::E SE1ect Committee on In-
tc'.!i~Ence zs pzrt Of the zdministra-
ticn's case thzt it u?as not im~clved
is t?r,e C\iA mission to the Hondu-
ras-Vicar zguzn border zrea that
cost the L1?es of tv:o American par-
ticipants ezrliEr this month.
The presentation by officials of
t he CIA znd State and DEfense de-
partmerts seemed to have con-
vi;lced the co:rlnittee. Chairman
Eam~ Gold?,~: zter (R-A. iz.) and ~%ice
Cczi._.,an D~r;iel Patrick ~iovnihan
(D-?~.1'.) sr:id later thee- 11~erE sat-
isfied there ?~~ as no U.S. govern-
ment inrolve,~,Ent in the fatal mis-
sion.
"A private citizen of this country
has the right to volunteer in any .
cause or country any place in ? this
~;?or)d to help them, and there's
nothing v: e bzn do to stop them,"
Go;du?ater szid. He added, "it's
been Going on forever znd ever,"
ciarg ~;~rnericzn volunteers in the
past in Spain, Israel and China, and
szid even enacting laws against pri=
vate missions probabl}= u=ould not be
effective.
Anti-government guerrillas in
Nicz-zgua u-ho ha~~e -been sup-
~ort~d by the CIA since ezrly 1982
:":;:re rEZC~ed out to private groups .
`or fu,-,as and tr ainir,g since Con-
g; ess actc~ this summer to deny
fu-ti?,er U.S. support.
?.n ?adT~nistratian e`5ciz1 szid
1?Esterda}? that the insurgents hive
e :o~~gb U.S.-sup~iicd equipment
and money, including $100,000 still
not spent last month, to tide them
over until Oct. 1, when CIA funding
may be resumed if Congress does
not expressly forbid it.
Official sources discounted claims
by guerrilla spokesmen that as
much as $10 million has been re-
ceived within the past six months in
contributions from private citizens
and third-country governments,
Tl1e actual U.S. estimate is closer
to S1 million, one official said.
Asdepicted by CIA officials,
Posey and Ms CAZa were well-
meaning but troublesome outsiders
v.?hose efforts to aid the "secret
v:a~' mounted against the Sandi-
nista Nicaraguan government were
an}-thing but appreciated.
Posey, a wholesale grocer in De-
catur, Ala., said he and his friends
who were Vietnam veterans were
motivated by "guilt about not lvin-
rring" the war in Indochina. His let-
ter to the CIA came as he was mzk-
ing efforts to assist the Salvadoran
and Honduran governments and
reflected fn:stration that he hzd
been "trying like hell" to get in
touch with the "gurril]as in Hon-
drus."
. A government official said the
main result .of the letter was that
the Federal Bureau of Investigation
opened a file on Posey and his or-
ganization, and later made it plain
to him through a visit by an FBI
agent that he could be in danger of
violating the Neutrality Act. This
law, which has been sparingly en-
forced, makes it a crime to act on
U.S. soil to mid an insurrection
against a state with which the Unit-
ed States is not at war.
The Senate committee u?as told
that CIA operatives u*ith the rebels
along the Hcndurzs-Nicarzgua bor-
der immediztely lest the encamp-
ment when members of Poser's
"volunteer" group zrrived there )ate
in August and thereforE they had
"no adti?ance knowledge" of their
specific mission. This is reported to
r prat ice w en un-~?
.authorized personnel arrive at a site
where CIA involvement is not ac-.
know}edged.
Two of the volunteers, Darz H.
Parker and James P. Powell III,
were killed when a hElicopter in
which they were flying was shot
dov:n by Nicaraguan troops in Ni-
caraguan territory. '
Goldwater said of the two dead
Americans, "They both were vet-
erans of the Vietnam war. I believe
they were good men doing what
they thought v.?as right. ~~'hether or
not they made a good decision here,
they have paid for it with their lives
and we should be mindful of that."
Six lawmakers ~;?ho are members
of the Arms Control and Foreign
Policy Caucus, mean~,hiie, issued a
report charging z "troubling pattern.
of disrespect znd disregard for th?
lzv.'' in U.S. pq':icy in Central Amer-
icz.
Commenting on the Alabama-
based private gTOUp headed by
Posey, the report said, "The appar-
ent fzilurE of t'~.S. officials to at-
tempt to halt the activities of C114A
or other groups sending cash and
aid to the contras [tl-,E anti-govern-
ment guerrillas) adds strength to
the czse that the NEUtralin~ Act
mz}? be being riolzted.''
Tre report szid disclosures about
CA~IA "call into question" whether
its zctivities violated thrEe other
laws, which were listed as sections .
of the Arms Export Control Act, the-
1984 -Defense Appropriation Act
and the Foreign Assistance Act. '
The Democratic-controlled
House has voted repeatedly to deny
further U.S. funds for the antigov-
ernment Nicaraguan guerrillas on
grounds that the United States is
.violating international law by aiding
the rebellion.
~ The House also has written into
lau? a stringent bzn on the use of
CIA contirgenc} funds and other
special accounts to aid the Ni-
czrzguan ins?ar~ents. It is consid-
ered iikeh? that the administration
:nay use contirigeJ?c}- L~r:ds for r Ebel
aid after this bzn expires Sept. 30,
unless the House manzges to write
it into a lzw that ap~iies to the corn-
inb fiscal }?ear.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/12 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100320012-2