AND IF THE SHAH ASKS FOR A NEUTRON BOMB?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100100023-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 23
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/28: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100100023-8
Sen. John Culver..D-Iowa, asked a
good question at the hearings on the
sale of AWACs to the Shah of Iran, .
the enterprise which makes mince-
meat of President Carter's twin dec-
larations about cutting back arms ..
sales and honoring human rights.
What, Culver wanted to know,
.would happen if the shah of heaven,
which he likes to.be called, should
suddenly fancy a neutron bomb? .
Culver, the liberal heavyweight on
the Armed Services Committee, was
trying to focus the committee's atten-
tion on the insatiable appetite which
Carter proposes to feed. The leader
of Iran is a junkie-who mainlines on
anything that flies, shoots or is
armor-clad. .' , .
Richard Nixon told him he could
have anything he wanted in the de-
fense candy store. Gerald Ford saw
no reason to disappoint his best cash -
customer. Jimmy Carter, the new
manager, told us'last May that he
. was going to cut'the business way.
back. No more "Arms, Unlimited."
SEVEN AWACs-As. not what*you
would call penny candy. And if Car---
ter checks the: shah's. human-rights
'credentials, he's' going to find out
that the shah should get a lecture, not a - consignment` of. the latest mgdels
off ..the assembly line. According to -
Amnesty International, the shah is
holding some .7,000. political prison-
ers. Torture is routine.
Members of the'"new spirit" team
are'. understandably' a bit on the
defensive about the AWACs, which is
the most sophisticated airplane ever
built. They say it is a "defensive"
weapon. That's what they always say
when the price is right.
What it comes down to is that the.
shah wants them. He would be upset
if denied. Gerald Ford, who never
THE WWASIIINGTON STAR (GREE`i LINE)
19 July 1977
Apologists for the deal protest that
it is not true that we give him every-
thing he asks for. Why, when he
wanted 200 Fll-18 planes, we were
very firm in telling him they were
not good for him. So when he comes
back wanting AWACs, we really
must oblige.
THAT'S WHEN Culver wanted to
know what we would do if the shah
came around and said he had to have
a neutron bomb.
Culver; a former Harvard fullback
who was chosen to carry the ball in
the anti-BI fight, points out that the
? Carter administration is handling the
AWAC'`embarrassment in- the same
hole-in-the-corner ? manner- ?thatt-' it
managed the neutron-bomb affair.'-
Despite -protestations -of openess
and cooperation with Congress, Car-
ter seems to- have made up his mind
about the AWAC sale without observ-
ing "the regular order." Carter did
of even consult the director of the
-CIA, Stansfield Turner. As wit t e
neutron bomb, no public hearings--.
were held. It was only after Congress
sent the General Accounting Office,
its own watchdog, out sniffing, that
Turner's opinion was solicited.
.Adm. Turner, in a classified letter,
said he didn't think it was a good idea
to have a, plane that is not fully -:
operational wandering over Iran's.
long border with the Soviet Union. A
defecting Iranian crew could give the-
Soviets.l0 years' worth of advanced
technology.
IF TURNER goes before-a Senate'
? committee in secret session this
week, as planned, and announces he-
has been -"born again" about the
AWAC deal, as rumored, Carter will
be in trouble for having re-politicized
an agency that is supposed to be de-?
politicized. - - ?
Rep. Gerry Studds,' D-Mass., who
is leading a fight in the House against
the AWAC'sale, which goes through:
unless both chambers veto it, laid out
the human rights considerations for -
his colleagues.. -
"Amnesty ' ' International - reports
that there has been an identifiable in-
crease in the repression of opposition
within Iran and an extension of the
activities of SAVAK (th
I
i
e
ran
an se-
made any high-flown statements cret police) to countries in which Ira-
about arms sales, promised delivery, nians are living. abroad. The torture
to the North Vietnamese, but we
have no scruples about welshing on
that particular item. The North Viet-
STAT
. THE CARTERS suppressed any'
dismay they might feel on that score
when the empress of Iran came to
Washington and was entertained at
luncheon at the White House. There
was a great deal of hugging and kiss-
ing and gushing over her, and Senate
wives clucked over the unfortunate
amount of attention given t: the
hooded Iranian demonstrators who
dogged her path.
Iran might not be the best place for"
Jimmy Carter to demonstrate that he
is not kidding about human rights,
but it is certainly among the top 10.
The shah has the world's third larg-
est arsenal already.
The question of why he needs more
weapons is not examined. The propo-
sition that he seeks to reconquer the
ancient Persian Gulf and half the
world's oil supply- is advanced by
Paul Erdman in an ingenious' and
scary new novel called "The Crash of
'79." Appropriately, the climax is
provided by a neutron-type bomb
which the emperor has caused to be
constructed from recycled plu-
tonium. ? .
The shah has been reported as say- -
ing the book was "crazy." All we can
do is hope so.
namesenave noon.. Approved For Release 2007/06/28 :CIA-RDP99-00498R000100100023-8
of political prisoners during interro-
gation appears to be routine practice,
but prisoners may also be subjected
to torture again at any time during
their imprisonment.".
-