CONSPIRACY SO IMMENSE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000503820014-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: February 24, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000503820014-2
ARTICLE AP NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE 2'F February 1986
ABROAD ATHOME
Anthony Lewis
`Conspiracy
So'
Immense'
BOSTON
ne of the ugliest and most dan-
gerous political operations
seen in our country in years is
now under way in Washington. It Is the
Reagap Administration's campaign to
win a tree hand for war on Nicaragua
by smearing as pro-Communist all who
disagree with the war policy.
If is ugly because it uses the tools of
Joe McCarthy: invention, fear and in-
timidation. It is dangerous because it
points the United States toward the use
of its own military forces in Nicaragua.
William J. Casey. the Director of
Central Intelligence, of A _e opera-
tion rolling at a White House briefing
or members o oniu*ess on Feb. 18.
He sad out co vies of a classified
report in brown wraoners, entitled
"Sandinista Disinformation and Pub-
lic Mani ulation Plan." He took the
copies back at the end of the meeting,
but officials began leaking it.
The operation, is timed to coincide
with President Reagan's push for
$100 million in new aid to the contras,
most of it for weapons instead of the
present "humanitarian" aid. The
idea is to picture opponents of, that
policy as pawns of Communism and
the Nicaraguan Government. -
Elliott Abrams, Assistant Sec
tar of tats for Inter-Ame can
Af-
fairs, said the C.I.A. report showed
"how elaborate and skillful are t e
San ans to mom ate
gress and the press." News agencies
quoted a senior ministration offi-
cial, unnamed, as saying:
"What you have here is a Commu.
nist government, allied with the Soviet
Union, undertaking a very well organ-
ized effort with the. .help of certain
Americans to change a vote in Con-
gress. That is not s Federal crime, but
it is something that Congressmen ap-
pear to, wish to know about."
You can almost hear the voice of.
Senator S at Wheeling,
ago this month, charg-
ing-- than 'State- Department was-
thick with ommunists. The talk of a
vast- disinformation campaign by 04 .1
Government of Nicaragua has as much
subetamw and as much poison, ad his
talk of "a conspiracy so immense."
But there is somethi more insidi-
ous about the LealM smear cam-
paign. Joe McCarthy was an outsider.
The newle, running this ggprM
States Government. Worst of all,
eeyy
ate Misusing the or purposes
oThe Republican cm=an of the
Senate Intelligence Committee, Sena-
tor David Durenberger of Minnesota,
was troubled by just that point - the
use of intelligence resources for a
"transparent political tactic." The
aim, he said, was to "portray every
senator and Congressman who votes
against lethal aid [to the contras] as a
stooge of Communism."
Moreover, Joe McCarthy was a
cynic. He did not believe those fearful
tales he told; he just thought they
would help him politically.
Elliott Abrams and the others who
are pushing the war on Nicaragua do
believe. They are zealots. They are
convinced that the Managua Govern-
ment must be overthrown. That end
justifies the use of any means, and
disagreement is treason.
The zealotry is what makes the
present campaign so dangerous.
There is no reason to believe that the
contras, with their proven ineptitude
and cruelty, are going to get any-
where in Nicaragua with $100 million
more, from the United States. When
they fail, the zealots' logic will re-
quire the intervention of U.S. forces.
The launching pad for a U.S. inva-
sion has been prepared in neighboring
Honduras. Over the last three years
the Reagan Administration has spent
millions there on airstrips, barracks
and other supposedly temporary facili-
ties for maneuvers.
It is still hard to believe that the Rea-
gan people would actually send Amer-
ican troops into Nicaragua. But we
have to keep remembering that the
issue, for them, involves something
more than rational calculations. The
Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill,
warned the other day of the effect of
arming the contras and then seeing
them lose. "The shame of our defeat,"
he said, "will bring our troops in
there."
Assistant Secretary Abrams has,
been sensitive in other areas - in help-
ing to get Jean-Claude Duvalier out of
Haiti, for example. But on Central
America he has the certitude of a Savo-
narola. Disagree, and you are "anti-
American."
McCarthyism may well intimidate
spore members of Congress; it has
done so before. But I do not think it will
work with the press and the public gen-
erally. This country's best friends in
Latin America are advising us ur-
gently against military intervention.
History gives the same advice. To re-
turn to the game of overthrowing Latin
governments is .against every Amer-
ican interest, moral and practical. ^
V
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000503820014-2