CONTRA AID FIGHT RAISES SPECTER OF VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302050001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: February 3, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Si Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302050001-4
WASHINGTON TIMES
3 February 1987
Contra aid fight raises specter
tainment or a diplomatic solution are na-
of Vietnam ive and unware of the consquences of
both options.
"Fencing in" Nicaragua, he said,
"would run from seven f billion] to nine
Zr .rBvyr4gar-r6E2rnrpjne? 6%1'41 billion dollars for each year that it has to
WING N tS
be maintained." It would also require "a
large permanent presence of U.S. forces
A senior Pentagon official yesterday
in Honduras, Costa Rica, and El Salva-
charged that members of Congress who
dor" to interdict insurgents from Nicara-
oppose further aid to Nicaragua's anti-
gua crossing "jungle-covered borders."
Marxist resistance are leading the
Some Americans, he added, would in-
United States to a "second Vietnam" in
evitably get killed. "Reminds you of
Central America.
Indochina in the early 1960s, doesn't it?"
he said.
strongt statements
from a Reaga_n administration official,
The second alternative provided by
Fred Ikle, undersecretary_of defense for
congressional critics, a diplomatic deal
policy, said in a speech prepare-cl for creL with Nicaragua's ruling Sandinista junta,
Ilyeu last night in Seattle that congres-
is equally unpalatable, Mr. Ikle said, be-
sional critics of the Reag_an policy are
cause "to make this deal stick, we would
offering no realistic alternative to sup-
allude to some unspecified threat in the
porting the resistance, known as Contras.
event of violation, and offer economic aid
,____Hi.s_r_emarks_aplagari of an
as an inducement to comply"
Such tactics had already failed, he
els to,
take_tjae_a v f d fenc n
pointed out. U.S. and West European as-
Contra aid from attacks in Congress,
sistance since 1979 has totaled more than
President Reagan in last week's State
$1.6 billion, while Managua's promises of
of the Union address reserved his
democracy and non-intervention, made
toughest language for his Nicaraguan
to the Organization of American States,
policy. Vice President George Bush in a
speech Saturday told a conservative law- ,have yet to be complied with by the San-.
vers' group that Congress is eroding dinistas.
"presidential authority" in the making of The OAS, he said ? and by implication,
foreign policy especially its attempt to the Latin American countries belonging]
to the so-called Contadora group ? are
micro-manage foreign operations, in-
unlikely to summon an effective effort
cluding covert actions.
against Sandinista aggression.
Mr. Ikle contrasted the purposeful-
Mr. Ikle said that the critics of the:
ness of Soviet policy in Central America
present policy who have advocated the.
to the on-again, off-again support for the
use of American force if all other policies:
rebels in Congress. The Soviets have out -
prove ineffective have failed to under-
spent the United States in military assis-
stand "that our Marines would be:
tance by a ratio of 8-to-1 since Congress
fighting alone."
cut off assistance to the Contras in Octo-
"Having witnessed our abandonment
ber 1984, he said.
of the democratic forces within Nicara-
He warned that if U.S. aid is not re-
gua, why would our friends in Honduras,'
newed after the current $100 million is
El Salvador, or Costa Rica now rally to
expended in September, the Sandinistas
support us in some action under the Or-
will establish a "Leninist totalitarian re-
ganization of American States?" he
gime" in "perhaps a couple of years."
asked.
Once that happens, he said, Nicaragua
These countries, he warned, would not
will become "heavily armed, closely
trust the U.S. a second time, but would ,
linked to Moscow, willing to be a base for
"seek accommodation with what they :
Soviet intelligence facilities and terrorist
perceive as the winning side, the side that ?
headquarters, anxious to become the ar-
receives hundreds of millions of dollars
senal for Central American insurgen-
of military supplies from the world's
cies."
largest military power, the side that is .'
Noting that congressional critics of
loyally backed by thousands of well-
the Reagan policy have declared their
armed Cubans."
opposition to the creation of "a second
Cuba," Mr. Ikle said that members of Con-
gress do not present any practical alter-
native to the president's program. He
said those who advocate a policy of con-
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302050001-4