THE HERSH STORY: BETTER LATE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000402830046-8
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
February 28, 2012
Sequence Number: 
46
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
February 17, 1981
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000402830046-8.pdf150.54 KB
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402830046-8 WALL ST_ 7ZET JOURNAL 17 February 1981 ,~. w..tf~r'`~rF :~S. "} ", "_.:!"'..'ffi'~G`i'.'~.'.?19 7TttiP~?.4f?*"17_~'te'~:: I, e 'ersh' Sto;y Better Late -.,_gy.tr.~ y, s__ 4 ? By THOaras Bx..Y "I' can t; believe 1, sighs Seymour' Hersh,r?former New .York Times reporter; and, Pulitzer Prize winner,. as he: juggles one telephone inquiry, after. another in his washington.oftice_ :'I thought I ,was; doing a good. deed. Now everybody is after me." the4 tiine:of'Mardst~ Salvador "Allende's? election tnthe presidency In 1970; can't be- lieve?it either. A long free-lance article by:, Mr. Hersh has. just appeared in the Times,. headlined='New Evidence Backs: Ex-,Envoy,- on His-Role in Chile." It appears to be a rnea'culpa by Mr. Hersh;` who in, 1974? had writteit'several' Times articles linking Mr. Korry.,to-, an :alleged coup;to prevent Mr.. Allende' ' from . taking office:: Mr. -Hersh views it as exonerating Mr:.- apparently arose. out.of a, se- ries,.oiL conversations- in:. which Mr.- Hersh was'seeking M_ r:. Korry's help' with a new, book taking a negative view of former Sec- retary of. State- Henry. Kissinger,' and -Mr.,, Korry wastrying' to get a New York Times story setting out his view of the Chilean ep- isode.. Mr. -Hersh is being bombarded with questions about his motives for the story. Mr. Korry feels he got only.minimal satis- faction out of his end of things:.Y~ e1:didn't. need Hersh to tell the-world I was innocent:'" he fairly shouts to, an inter- viewer seeking his reaction to-the article. "Thais old news.' The Church committee. made1it clear five "years ago. T, wanted Hersh to tell what really- '.happened down there.. It.wasn't;the.CIA that got Allende it. was. 500% inflation ' and'Soviet, double-. dealing and the Allende government's own corruption.' BuC Hersh doesn`t want to hear tha. tens vl r ,.=- y hat the article was intended to accom-- plish':is? a;little-murky ;It began On-the front' page ' and :-continued Inside,' tilling : .much of six columns. "Evidence has come: t tignf:'; Mr. Hersh' announced in the see- . ond..paragraph, ::suggesting' that.' Korry; despite -his strong opposition to the Allende candidacy,: was frozen out of the 'planning for a proposed military: coup and warned the White.House- that. it would be risking another 'Bay of Pigs' if it got involved in military' plots ' to stop Dr.. Allende's elec- t.-The. article goes onto note Mr. Korry's- 'particular;. bitterness toward,- The New -York Times,', but then things begin to get a little fuzzy. The much-touted. "new. evi- 'dence' never; quite seems to surface. de- '.'-spite- references, to classified ;documents.`' "White-House officials." And in any case, the central fact of the case-that Mr. Korry knew nothing about a coup-wasn't exactly new. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence-the so-called Church com- mittee-had concluded as much years ear- he; in a public report on the Chile affair-. ;, ? _ Mr'Hersh also asserts that his new ma- terials "raise new questions "about the ex-~ : tenr of CIA operations in Chile' in 1970 and the efficacy of' later congressional investigations of that affair.. "Again'-' however, :hard facts seem scarce, except. for the ap, parentlynew-and brief revelation that two CIA agents had entered Chile and were posing-as, respectively;. a ? Mafioso and a foundation . official. ? Hardly the stuff- of 3,-. 000-word articles in the Times."- -;v: R So- the questions remain. Why did Mr. Hersh write the story, and why did the Tories print it? _4 e ,~ .. .. Contacted by the Journal, Mr. Korry re- counts events from his perspective. In mid- November he was. contacted by Mr. Hersh seeking help on his book about Mr. Kiss'in- ger- Mr. Hersh told Mr. Korry that he had changed his mind about the latter's role in Chile. "I can't undo what went before," :Mr. ' Korry "recalls Mr. Hersh as saying, "but I can make it clear that you did not 'know" of the coup plotting. How he could make:it clear wasn't stated,,. though Mr. 'Hersh; who accepts Mr. Korry's version up to. this point, denies that he was offering any sort o.f quid pro quo. ..,.That wouldn't be ethical and I