ORGANIZING 'WORLD PAC'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201180115-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 115
• Publication Date: August 19, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201180115-2
STAT-
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NEr YORK Tf?ES
19 August 1982
ESSAY
Organizing `World PAC'
By William Safire
I WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 - Why
-aren't the world's television screens
filled with protests about the way
Communist East Berlin has expelled
the organir~ers of the June 27 '`peace
workshop.' and has called up peace
activists for military duty - jailing
those who refuse to serve?
Why hasn't the Vietnamese artil-
lery captain who defected two months
ago been brought back to a suitable
-communications center and asked
about the chemical weapons supplied
by the Soviet Union - being used as
':"yellow rain" by Vietnamese units in
Laos even today?
And why has no campaign been
mounted to publicize and condemn the
'war of slander and blackmail being
'waged by the Communists running
Nicaragua against individual priests
who refuse to cooperate - a war in
which the Sandinista censor pastoral
letters from the Pope?
Why no sustained counterattack on
these offenses against humanity and
Its institutions? Not so much because
the press is biased, or the offenses are
root of top rank, or the democracies
lack the capacity for outrage.
The reason is that we are not organ-
ized, as Communists usually are, to
strike back in the field of mass per-
suasion. The invaders of Afghanistan
sponsor nuclear freezes; the crushers
of Polish freedom identify themselves
with the "peace movement" around
the world. The forces of, tyranny get
away with condemning the forces of
freedom for supporting the right of the
people of El Salvador to choose their
own government.
_ To set this straight - to find a
means to encourage democracy ac-
tively and to shine a light on the
wrongs of totalitarianism - a speech-
writer in the State Department, Mark
Palmer, came up with an idea that
President Reagan expounded io his
address to the British Parliament this
summer.
The idea is to engage in an open
political struggle with all those who
seek to subvert the basic freedoms
human beings tend to seek. The West
Germans, through federally funded
political institutes affiliated with their
political parties, have led'the way: in.
some third-world countries, they con-
duct political training and give money
However, Mr. Brock and Under Sec-
retary of State Larry Eagleburger
also want the staff headed full time by
a former Brzezinski aide, Alfred
Friendly Jr.; Republicans advised by
Richard Allen prefer Allen Weinstein;
of the Georgetown Center for Strata
gic Studies. That impasse _can be
worked out in the textbook way, bal-
to democratic candidates. -In Portu- 'and the staff to reflect shades of
gal, West German help made the dif-
ference when that country's democ-
racy was in the balance.
Americans should stop being em-
barrassed about sharing our political..
know-how- money, mimeo machines
and political action plans -=with lead-
ers and parties and institutions in
beleaguered democracies; more than
that,.we should carry the banner of
political, consciousness-raising to
third-world and even Communist
countries. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. has been
promoting a free labor movement
abroad, as much as one organization
could, for years. "This is not cultural
imperialism," said Mr. Reagan, "it is
providing the means for genuine self-
determination and protection for di-
versity."
A group is now being organized to
put the U.S. into organized political
competition around the world. Not
surprisingly, since it deals with poli-
tics, the embryonic "World PAC" has
become embroiled in its own politics.
The Democratic and Republican na-
tional chairmen are working together
'fairly well on this, along with the
American . Political Foundation, a
group brought In by Mr. Reagan's trade
negotiator, Bill Brock. The N.S.C.'s
Walter Raymond, 'I.C.A.'s Scott
Thompson, Defense's Richard Stilwell.
with State's Mr. Palmer, are the Gov-
ernment "honchos." All have agreed to
offer the key part-lime slot to a neo-con-
servative Democrat, Ben Wattenberg.
opinion and party coloration.
More Important, the organizers -ido
not agree on the ceater,of power. is this
to be primp' ily a State Department
operation? That would guarantee inoo-
herence; State's inclination is tradi-
tionally to soothe ratherthan upset for-
eign countries. A C.I.A.' front? -That
would get it shot down here even before
it had a chance to be : discredited
abroad. A foundation effort? That usu-
ally leads to philanthropoid mush. .
To get the politics out of Political
Action, we must rely on politicians. It
would be a mistake to center this
much-needed activity In government,:
since tbat-would Invite constant hec-
toring about "destabllizatiob" ??rom
overseas and. from isolationists. The
trick is to put the power of encourag-
ing foreign party competition in the
hands of the two American parties.
The time for this WorldPACidea,
has come; the best way to avert mili
tary competition is to turn to ecb.
nomic and political competition: And
in party politics, we should turn to the
-?pols and labor skates: the ,public
should fund international- political
competition, but the Government
should not be in thedriver's seat. -
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/19: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201180115-2