SENATORS SOFTEN CUBA RESOLUTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00148R000300780009-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2008
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: May 10, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/01/03: CIA-RDP84B00148R000300780009-0
SeiatorsSoften
The surprising-d'eleion: by?the?Sen
ate Foreign Relations Committee~;pf
key phrases. in reaffirming- the; anti'.;
Cuba resolution passed in 1962. shown
'how far that key committee has wa-.
tered down its will and-
determination-despite Fidel Castro's. recent inroads
into Central' America::
The new edition of the 1962 resolii-
tion pulls teeth' out of the version'
pushed by President Kennedy; which.
passed.with: only.. on- .dissenting vote ..
during the, Cuban missile crisis.
Deleted. were the words"including the :
use of arms" in the ,resolution's pledge::
to 'resisC Cuba'n'subversion?or aggress
lion. Z:
Conservative angerat? the commit-'
tee's' surgery points the Senate to- a
showdown vote on the. Kennedy=era
resolution versus the- watered=down,.
edition.',The White- House- is-'moving
quietly to make sure:the 196Ttanguage.
gets strong Senate approval on grounds..
that passage, of the. committee's text
would signal U.S. weakness. -7-
A: private.- letter. from William P
Clark President-Reagan's National Se..
curity Council assistant, to Sen.. Steve
Symms; the 1982 sponsor of the 1962:-
resolution, shows intense presidential".
interest. Clark .wrote..Synrms,April 29
::that he' "enthusiastically"., endorsed:
Symms' resolution- "as;an, abiding ex=:
.:.pression of the ' Reagan administca-:
'ion's policy toward?Cubrt"?,:r: sr:
Similar support. has come. from- tie-'
fense ..undersecretary;Fred; Ikle, ? who
'
wrote Symms in late. April.. that h.
resolution is "important to..U.S. poll-
.'cy.'" and, from the State. Department:.
r Pentagon., lobbying., teams ;.have bee
.deployed- to help: push' the' 1.960:?.ver--
.:sioh; Son; John Tower, chairman of the
Armed Services- Committee:tpay tack
the amendment to the defense authori:
,;nation bbl now before the Senate: 1c
rti
In: the Senate 'Foreign Relations
Committee,. a different opinion 'rules.
Voting'down the Symms-1962 text; the
:''committee, under-- Sen ? Charles H..
Percy, punched one hole after another
=_in the 1962 language; giving:the:resolu
'tiort the appearance of a leaky umbrel-
la. It promises U+S.'action not against
an "offensive military threat'' but only,
against one that is-"serious."""`
Equally eye-catching was the com=
Zrrittee's curious decision- to overrule'its
own. staff and rewrite a section U Of a
`.companion, resolution pledging,
;support for negotiations' in F.l Salva-
dor. The staffs. draVt promised U,S..ef
forts "to:ieduce thefiow, of arms into
El Salvador.,.
The committee f or and those words oh-
actionable: and deleited them. 1' a rea
W
-or
son: they might us ecl by the
anti-communist Imun states- as 0_
~'tation for coveA'onerntiona acainGt
Cuban Nicarai uan gen-mqme+
Indeed, concern over-.. the taint . of
;what.Sen.:Paul_T5bga m "anR'.
Castro jingoism" clenarty affected both him and other ILm Cal Democrats, in-
cluding Sens. Claiborne: Peltand Chris
"There's a kind ofE`the Russians
'coming,;'the Rim are .:coming'
shrillness' in- Syr" e' rhetoric." That:
led the
- .
down the.i 1962: Oalba . resolution . and.
weaken the mildlyitough talk in the-.
cut ..it._ is questiawbla -whether so
tortured aaa. this election year. A& x the.height of fort
mer. president Cart E s strenuous effortl
to: entice. Castro out cif the Soviet orbit
and into the , i nter4krnerican .. system,
iuch'.dilution of the.Cuban resolution
`might have been pol icnflypalatable::..
_.,Thee downward.treiid since then has
. V. \ L-
L--
Ihardeiied-suspicions..of most American
voters : about ' CastroN Cuba. Even
apologists for Nicaragua's 'Sandinista
regime now agree ' it- is under the con=trol of Marxists greatly influenced, if
not totally directed: by Moscow .and
Havana. The Cuban-Nicaraguan effort
to unseat El Salvador's anti-comma-
nist. regime. by supporting the pro-
Marxist insurgency has been the prin-1
,?cipal focus of. Reagan. administration
Caribbeen-policy sinceithe beginning.
Given those circumstances, senators
in the Syn;ms camp. confidently claim
that the 1962 version of the anti-Cuban
"'.jesolutionc4ill be approved by the Sen.
?_ate over th committee's draft. Admin-
istration officals agree,.but they wan
Im cliffhanger decision that will : dan-.
gerously inflate doubts about U.S.. Swill
:'and determination.es. exhibited in. the
Foreign Relations Committee. - "'
That was tyre subtle point of a letter
from. a State&Departmenit official back-
ing Symms" resolution. Its impact ' on
`Cuba - and " 'the' unacceptability - of
Cuban behavior," Wrote Deputy Assist=,
ant secrets', Stephen. Bosworth,
would directly ,depend.on.the strength
it showed in Congress. , _~
or~ea,easncecv.ru.
ARTICLE Ai? i..1RED THE WASHINGTON POST
ON PAG _- /7 10 May 1982
Rowland Ezans and Robert' Novak
Approved For Release 2008/01/03: CIA-RDP84BOO148R000300780009-0