KENNETH KEATING CRITIC OF OUR CUBAN POLICY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000400300015-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 25, 1999
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: May 1, 1963
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

READER'S DWAFtized - Approved FWYRelease : CI
A63
nnetli heating
Mt fir
AMES DANIEL
an
CAIN, last1,,_ Tannary and Febru-
ary, ,R) ct oversy :flared over
Cub '''. ind. apin the uproar :
ii-
, (Net -headed. was toucheso. by Se'r7r?entieth B.-
Keati ng ? the mild-mannered but
ff .
SenO etthe nation intent man ho last fall warned the
to the threat of Soy' ilinur.iet ..citffirry that Cuba was being turned
ji wit rvto Soviet nuclear-missile base.*
m ilitary power y ising in tge Senate on raTtimiSr 31,
t -r,he sought to correct what he consid-
,-,;f
,1014A,
miles from our shores, an ers the dan erously complacent view
y resident Kennedy -"and
is stil dee concerne ii
yt."-+Xi, A. ?
_ the, administration.
Though the President in his lat-
est press thiference had minimized
the Cuba danger, saying, "There is
lux of mi itary equ1ment,"
eating pointelout that SoviEt-bloc
"*Shrps had been arriving in Cu a at a
2 , n
ra more than one a ay since
Ti with? aililary
It ` 144
,?,A,14? Pia
4"itlf.4.140-?k
10 ?
eiirsit6H-a-s-heli-
e President spoke,
oviei?Thip-Ta7den
trit6' Cuba.
-
. aerial recorinaissal:lae,
unloadat coveredoc ssr
_ ??:.? of-f:ii.tcls lowered into the
4411Pill 'teSeTa7eis were verified Ibr
S as the U.S. Navy a4d
(Yministration.)
urpose all this feveriih
'Obviously not to 4t-
i -tahe4Trnited States directly,
ing said. "What theiRussians
anning to do?are akeady do-
alp mount an increasing wave
? . ? ?tage, terrorism, political sul?..,
' vet', Already riots in \'`eriezue
Peru and Bail are demonstrab
CPYRGHT
Sanitized - Approved For Release:
armed
work n ci
orik ot1cbo4m.,Thm,x time
w
communists trainedinc(m
and
e
when the.U.nit.e1:1 States will have to
make a hard choice: either get rid
of. this advance communist arsenal
o-niatter how, or give up in Latin
_ _ .
a. Furthermore, the Soviets
ir ?
rilding Cuba up militarily to
_W
tht,pTint where it will be impossible
to get them out with conventional
weapons. Cuba is becoming an im-
pregnable fortress."
As.in Jast October, the latest Keat-
lasPrOvoked instant and in-
,41_
ant denials. In an effort to make
mblicap Senator eat his hat,
,
e ??tc iTiouse staged a televised
Otoio-tketigence briefing by Pe-
. L..
eEr'etary Robert McNamara
ist'gcl'one hour and 45 minutes.
Scores of pictures flashed on the
screen. Aerial photographs showed
some missile sites plowed up, some
missiles and missile,s orting
equipment being shippt b t Bt
the pictures also told . tea--
an ominous and thought 'p rig
one which confirmed Keating's
charge of a military buildup. They
showed an immense amount of con-
ventional weapi1s,-79f-the latest
' Soviet typeS', including delta wing
MIG 21 fighters, antilIircraft rock
__.ets, nuclear-capable toil5edo boats.
Yet in spite of all this armament
-11-in spite of the 17,000 Russian
soldiers (plus thousands more Red
*Scc "whil erica _s
Digest, Matt
CPYRGHT
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000400300015-2
lecral4ctlie effect on ele-tro'ns ;
Not keat4.?...1-le said,II tTic pr e
the Reptib_icans must pay?for,te
Presided's' ,;c7tliii,11-ie loss of? some
, 7 17f24 . wW
CO r.,./pTatitaa.Sofl2cytCS,
t1ii4ic,44,12=1?yr,sip price. _
As a member of the Senate Irntrg,
nal Security Coiparnitteck?K
was voicing pul5lic concern
Rtit
the risks
commung, as
. Janlaa- ?2.9 )0,
Tic
- -
f2741241a6q6.1V) LIAS
PS Ye?a,2-
, a "Ls-valuation
roe Doc
j)ltcre.
earl.y.
criticize
tratio
danger;
an?
trip&
iptcfng
.8 ?a .41.41.eAtiig
Rr?s ete takeover by t
cOMil? 7E7 1177,..7 22
q,f
t.cci a y pigs d is ma s -
crt 1K. egt;gg- was among those wEo
bppcful1yapplaudeci_President Ken-
e s ringing pledge to "re-exam-
, =
and reoriAit ovi. forces of a
Inds, our_ysti,cs and otir institji
tions" so, as 'Ic? keep more Cuh
from ,happening. But then, last
summg, he watcheA in fascinat?
horror as the Russians began to con-
vert Cuba jrico aniajor military
, base.
morn ?
In tell, gkat.-Adresses on We
floor of ,the ,ctjS_eating detailed
each step of-_e_bu up. His facts
were the ?af -ts gathered
and ,ve4
2 I. ,overnment
more fully
yciiiaW AC44ae1 hi1.4--Iyyse than
to him; yeti. Nysicrignored and
indignantly,t top members
of the administratiuA. on,
Since the October crisis?during
which it seemed for a time that the
President had stopped khrushchev
in his tracks ?Senator Keating has
watched with mounting uneasiness
the steady retreat -fi-ort'Kennedy's
1 strong original stand.- The mile-
: ptn.
'I. Removal of the naval blockade
iirNovember without obtaining the
pltrnised on-site inspection.
The disbanding of. the ran-
. vaned Cuban Freedom Fighter bri-
grle, nucleus of any liberation army.
?3. The emasculation of an order
&nailing trade with Cuba. Orig-
iftilly intended to pr?hibit a ship-
ig fri)rn'car.rYli-ig U.S.
grrerriment tarp if any of its ships
calls at Cuban ports, the order now
prbvides merely that the same ship
- callnor do both. And even this is
eft-'11-0.-dl3i enforced] -When the A
' riculture Department threatened to
- --
keep the Norwegian freighter Nora
from picking up a,cargo of Surplus
tallow atPeekskill, N.Y., because it
was engaged in Cithan tracl the
State Department-got the deetsion
reNiersed.
4. The creation in January' ot a
special task force within the State
Department to imprOViSe a nekpu-..
ban policy. Though the unit claims
carteManche to recoM:mend Way's' of
getting rid of Cii.tr(2?,.slich "new"
policies as have been disclosed seem
to be only the old policy of contain-
inerif.TAS, President Kennedy him
self announced at his Is/I. arch 6 press.
conference, "We feel the wisest p'ol-
7,02
icy is the isolation of communism in
this hemisphere."
We are now trying to cut off Cas-
tro's traffic of Red money, arms'
and?most important of all?agents
trained by Cuban schools of subver-
sion. The prospects for success are
not promising. According to Cas-
tro's chief of training, Lionel Soto,
Cuba has 351 revolutionary schools
with 14,000 students, including, as
Kennedy admitted, 1200 Who came
last year from other Latin countries.
"Containment is not _a policy,"
says Keating, "but an acceptance of
the status quo in the pious hope that
it won't get worse?which it obvi-
ously will in Latin America, once
the communists are assured the
United States has only a do-nothing
policy on Ciiba. Someday unless
there is a sharp change this country
is going to find the separate pockets
of 'contained communism' all joined
up together, and the southern half of
this hemisphere one huge, boiling
communist caldron.
"I believe that Americans of all
parties will stand behind the Presi-
dent in any firm, realistic step he
takes to reverse this trend. And I be-
lieve that if we make our position
clear enough soon enough, leaving
o doubt of our intention to back it.
uTith what it takes, we can re-
verse the trend without war.
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000400300015-2 *