STICKS AND STONES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980037-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: September 8, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980037-2
ON PAGE
NEW YORK ME S
8 September 1983
Sticks and Ston
ByWi=Wire`
WASkUNGTON, Sept. 7-A U. .
President, in response to the Soviet
massacre of 61 U.S. citizens traveling
under the protection of U.S. pass.
ports, has sounded off more fiercely
than Theodore Roosevelt and has
acted more pusillanimously than
Jimmy Carter.
Never in the course of Presidential
history have so many bombastic
words been accompanied by so much
handwringinng and such little action..
No wonder dovish commentators
have been lavishing -praise on Mr:
' Reagan's decision to limit his zeac-
tion to an orgy of oratorical self-right-
eousness: no matter what the provo.
cation, the march to the election-year
summit must go on.
Here is what happened near the
Soviet-Japanese border. Our .elec.
tropic ears told us that a major Soviet
missile test was in its beginning
stages; as usual, one of our RC-135
spy planes was sent up to observe the
test from a position well outside the
Soviet-Union. At the same time, the
Korean civilian jumbo jet wandered
off course into the area. Preparations
for the missile test were promptly
shut down; as that mission was
scrubbed, our reco"
r~rsaissance plane
returnedtoits base.
The local. Soviet air commander
asked Moscow what to do about the
civilian jumbo jet about to exit Soviet
air space going toward Japan. From
this point on, I'm speculating: a high
defense official recalled the embar.
rassment within the Soviet military a
few years ago when a lost aircraft
penetrated 1,000 miles into Russia
without being challenged. With the
Korean plane about to escape un-
harmed, he went by the Soviet book
and shot it down with little concern
for the 269 human beings aboard. The
Soviet leadership then went into its
hunker-down mode and blundered
into demonstrable lying.
Here is why Moscow did not permit
search-and-rescue efforts and will not
allow other nations to help bring up the
wreckage: The K.G.B.'s disinforma-
tion unit will now create and' plant
"proof" that the airliner was on a
spying mission. We can expect West-
ern electronic spying gear - perhaps
an artfully recreated recording in aBoeing black box - to be dunked in salt
water and then "recovered" from the
real wreckage. 'That Russian perver-
sion of the truth will be believed by the
Soviet peoples and their fellow travel.
ers until another lthr ushchev surfaces
to discredit the Andropov regime.
Why then, in the light of Soviet
policy to shoot lost civilians as spies
and to tough. out protests, does Mr.
Reagan fulminate fulsomely on tele.
vision without calling for significant
economic or diplomatic retaliation?
Because our President sees this
merely as a propaganda opportunity
that will help him undercut the freeze
demonstrations in Europe and bolster
his MX vote in the House.
Mr. Reagan's political operatives
and State Department datenteniks fail
to see that after he has finished glory=.
ing in our victimization, and after he
has milked the incident for all it is
worth in "world opinion," Moscow will.
once again have shown that no aggres-
sive action it undertakes is likely to
cause it pain. Invade Afghanistan, get
a double-sized grain deal complete
with groveling by the Reagan Sire.
tary of Agriculture; execute hostage
airline passengers, get not even the .
cancellation of a meeting between For.
eign Ministers. We make debating
points in the U.N. while the Kremlin ef-
fectively intimidates the world.
No, we should not cancel arms can.
trol talks or break off relations. But the.
President can do more than set his jaw
while he offers his other cheek. To af.
feet Soviet behavior. we must demon-
strate that barbarity has consequences
beyond bad publicity.
For example, Mr. Reagan has just
O.K.'d the sale of American pipelaying
equipment to' help the Russians con-
struct their strategically potent gas
pipeline to Europe. The excuse: If
Caterpillar.didn't get the business, the
Russians would buy from the only
other supplier, the Japanese. But
Japan has been insulted in the airline
massacre; might that Government not
agree to join in withholding sales in
memory of the 28 Japanese who were
murdered? No such. obvious sugges.
lions for economic retaliation have
even been placed before Mr. Reagan.
Similarly, we have been going along
with the cottage industry built up
around the Helsinki Final Act. We
traded recognition of Soviet World War
II gains for human rights promises'
that turned out to be farcical. Mr. Rea-
gan should inform the meeting in Ma..
drid that his Secretary of State will not
only refuse to sign more documents,
but will begin the process of-rescinding
U.S. approval of the pact that the Rus.
sians have so often violated and
mocked. Its Propaganda value is now
nil; let's get back what we paid.
Only a President with a hard-line
image could get away with the empty
posturing of Mr. Reagan as he dithers
noisily through' his first Soviet chal. .
lenge. Makes you wonder: Would the
dovish Mr. Mondale or the owlish
Senator Glenn be under pressure to
talk less and.do more?,
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000200980037-2