MANILA, MANAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706520004-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 24, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/13 :CIA-RDP90-009658000706520004-1
NEW REPUBLIC
24 March 1986
why the lessons of the Philippines .Ian ~ any aspects of Reagan's own cam?
apply to more obvious places like South paign for rata a!d might be called ' di,-
Korea and South Africa, where we con- information' if the deception weren t ,o
time to maintain friendly relations with transparent. The adm!nistratlun cling; ;,.~
oppressive regimes, hoping that "quiet the fiction that the part of its
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~~ ~~~ diplomacy"' and 'constructive engage- a!d that !sn't actually going to bu?.
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F R O !~1 ?'.-~ S H [ ~ G T O ti It should be obvious-but apparently ian -a distinct!en that mutt ;reate
it isn t-that trying to start a war is a work for dozens of guerrilla accountant,
graver step than trying to stop one. The And one that was invented, for Amen-
f!rst step !sn t always wrong and the sec- can fund-rais!ng purposes. by the ter., ?-
ond i;n t always right. But what's miss- ist Irish Republican Armv i
ing from the case for the contras is any The administration also ;t!il .lair-?,
tense that war is not a chess game. The that its goal is not to bring do:. n tre
inevitable ambiguities iAre the Sandinis- ~iicaraguan government "~~e ;untinue
tas committed Leninists' Are the rntras to believe that a negotiated settlement
committed democrats') and uncertain- represents the ultimate hope for peacerul
M.~.!ti~-A.M.~.tiAGL.~ tles (btihat can th!s war ach!eve?) ought change." Secretary of State Shultz ;ai,i
to weigh more heavily when you're 'March 3, though asking Reaganues what
bye stood Eor democracy in the Philippines fomenting violence According to the the vicaraguan government could negu-
ti~e have to stand roc democracy in [-~;r;;,:n~?/,? r?,e,? administration officials tiate short of its own demise bong;
\icaragua have 'hinted strongly that the Marxist nothing but winks.
! ne analogy is preposterous. to Haiti ;ueue metnoos to manipulate press re- administration supporters explain away
and the Philippines we withdrew our ports on Nicaragua.'" Suhrie metireds, the the fact that tiicaragua's neighbors and
support-at last-from dictatorships bounders' vo one can accuse the admin- all the major Latin American nations op-
w?e'd embraced for decades [n ~Jicaragua istration of subtle methods in its cam- pose the contra war: they secretly support
Reagan wants us to finance a guerrilla paign for r, nt-.z aid. The reference to it. you understand, but they're afraid to
w?ar against the government. To sub- "subtle methods"" concerns a document say so, for fear of the Sandinistas' wrath.
some these two exercises under the gen- outlining an alleged Sandinista "disin- Let's see, now. .~merican right-wingers
eral rubric of "intervention" (or "assist- formation campaign'" against Reagan; can divine these leaders' true desire. and
(ing] in the transition to democracy," as proposal. The administration has made a report it in the newspapers, but the San-
this week"s .VE~~ REPL'BLlC editorial deli- great to-do about this document Re- dinistas remain hoodwinked? Or alter-
cately puts itl is to abandon all capacity vealinQ an unexpected fla!r Eor drama, _ natively, the Sandinistas, although bent
fur making distinctions. Yet this is theme CIA director 6ti'illiam Casey showed on regional conquest, will give any
lesson that defenders of aid to the ::n- comes in plain brown wrappers to some country a pass whose leaders demur to
ras-and of a generally belligerent for- members of Congress at a L~'hite House say publicly what they are known to
eign policy-want us to draw from the briefing. But they won't release the doc- think privately; .?~nd the Latin leaders
events of the past few weeks. ument, saying it's classified ~everthe- are ;o ;ore the Sandinistas are obsessed
The L?nited States never "intervened" less, Reagan officials have been sharing :.ith this rather fine point that they will
against Ferdinand 'Marcos when he still the contents with friendly ;ournalist; risk losing .-~meriian support for the .: s-
had agrip on power Far from it. Less (This from an administration that wants ?-.r campaign that they actually-;ecret-
than ayear ago, the administration was lie detector tests for thousand; of Ko: - ly-think a essential to their sun?ival' I
asking fora 15J percent increase in mill- ernment employees to prevent classified might ;hake my head in disbelief at the
tan? aid to his regime losing arguments leaks l :.orking; of the Latin mind, if this whole
similar to the ones now made for aid to So what does the mystery document conceit :.even t actually a product of
the 1.?~t-a:l It's said now that Marcos ;ay' .-~ "senior administration urf!cial" \orth .~mencan thinking.
was completely out of touch with reality summarizes. "l~'hat you have here is a Support for the .: nr-.r: is one of the
by the end. But who can blame him for Communist government. allied to the -are .;sues in the :nurse of the Reagan
thinking that l~'ashington wouldn't be- Soviet L'nion, undertaking a very .yell- adminiscatwn where the president will
grudge him a little stolen election; 6~~ho organized effort, with the help ut certain have to ;hange the public s mind if he
can ;oppose that the l:nited States Americans, to change a Note in Con- :.ant; ro get hi; way Reagan; vaunted
would have given him the push if the press you mean. like the ~tarxi;t Ko: - ieaderhip has consisted. by and large
Filipinos themselves hadn't forced our ernment in .~ngola hiring the lobbying .~t leading people :.here they already
hand' As for Nicaragua, if all Reagan firm ut Reagan'; buddy Robert Gray, for ?.. ant to go But there !; no national sup-
pruposed was offering Daniel Ortega a 55J.000 a month, to campaign against aid pert fer starting a war in \'icaragua
tree plane ride out and a sate haven for to the rebels in Angola' Something like t~ hite House supporters portray the up-
his collection of designer sunglasses, few that' Hot stuff The notion that there ; punents of ,,?r?.r aid as a timorous libera
would object. something illicit about a foreign govern- elite. paralazed by Vietnam [n fact, the
Ironically, even as they draw a fatuous merit enlisting sympathetic Americans in ,: ~t-a ;ampaign itself is almost entirely a
parallel between the Philippines and an effort, organized or otherwise. to af- creation of elite opinion A higher quali-
~rcaragua, conservative distinction- feet legislation will be news to support- t}? of disinformation will be required to
makers are working overtime to explain ers of Israel, among others. change that.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/13 :CIA-RDP90-009658000706520004-1