A SCARY LOOK AT WORLD TRAFFIC IN ARMAMENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300230003-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 3
• Content Type: NEWSPAPER CLIPPING

I? JUX 1969
Approved For Release 200621, IWF 315f 000300230003-4
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TIIB tl'AR BUSIN::SS. The In- three news stories in the' 1'herc are no agreements
tern:Lional Trade in 'Lima- 'Washington Post and one in among nations to control the',
rt:cnts, By George Thayer. ,the New York Times. proliferation of these arms.
nwn S. S e h u s t e r. 117 one can just hear the, edi There are no conferences or
pubes. $6.9 i toriiils based on that kind of d'?scussions under way, or..
'I'll's is the kind of book that paragraph: ". as George ,even planned, to bring some
can '1U 'Ow a good scare into Thayer has revealed in his au_ order to t us field. There is not
anyone who takes the time to thoiitative book, 'The War even much demand for action;j
ink it, , few people discuss the subject. I
Business.' 11
L114Whatabout is particularly scary is This is not meant as a criti- Everyone has been talking
who has an.; about atomic warfare and how?
r
f Th
aye
n t so much- the threat from, C15111 o
, the international trace inar. parently done a prodigious. to avoid it, when all the killing.
amount of work in gathering '1 one by these 'mun
we
apons.
manlents-scary as that may , together what can be known or' dana
bo-but the way a book like surmised or what has been re- If Thayer's book at least
this takes -gossip, rumor and ported about the international gets people to worrying about
journalistic reports and gives 'arms trade and has woven it, the spread of conventional-
them akind of legitimac they together into a balanced, read-;weapons his efforts will not
do no' possess on their own able account. But it is meant have been in
re '
i
t
i
c
u
s a p
n that this
merits simply by encasing to war them between the hard covers painted with a borad brush.
of a book.:. ,..._ One of the most fascinating;
the
k i
t
s
portions of the boo
Take one paragraph, almos
at random: chapter Thayer devotes, to
"While it was sur eptitiously Samuel Cummings, founder,
Portugal in its war president and sole owner of.
ti
ng
suppor
`,against ,he guerrillas by al- International Armament Cor-,
`
-hewn as Inter-
rs
b
e
now
, poration,
lowing it to buy 3-26 bom
d States was and still arms but long familiar to resi
it
e
the Un
:is supporting the guerrillas dents of the Washingtori area
widely known. in Angola, for ,warehouses on the Alexandria.
ith the antitank
rt-
,
waterfront, w
instance, it has been suppo
ing Holden Roberto. In Moz-. 'guns lined up out in the yard,
ambique, also a Portuguese have for years been one of the i
colony, it has been supporting more intriguing of the area's,,
a rebel oup led by a pro- ' tourist attractions. c
West nationalist named Ed-. But even the dealings of this.
uardo Mondlane. Both men "largest private dealer in sur
wore educated in the United plus military weapons on the;
States and have been looked international m a r k 9 t" 'are
upon with discreet favor by,yastly, overshadowed by tho?
.%vashington cuficials. They . dealings of the major powers,,,
both have received a small particularly the United States
amount of financial aid from and the Soviet Union.
U.S. sources. Several African Thayer is most critical of
experts have told met at the the role of the U.S. govern--l
omney has come and still meat which, he argues,. has
coes fro bath private and not adjusted to the changes
government funds. One au- which have occurred in the
thority claims that the CIA 'world since the chilliest days
has been directly involved ' of the Cold War and has con-
with these rebels but he could tinued to peddle arms on a'.
not prove it. The United States vast scale. +
'has realized-.as, surprisingly, Whether ? this is true or.:
do many P'a r t u g u e s e not-and there are those with. leaders-the t someday both in the government who would
territories must he given their argue strongly that it' is not-
freedom and, until then, it is' the relatively free flow of
in the U.S.'s interest to keep arms throughout the world is
t
e....- ..?
o
away from the west." "It is a fact of life today
As support for this charge that no'onc v,'ants to control':
1that the U.S. is backing both the trade in conventional
sides in the conflict in Angola arms-riflos, pistols,, machine',
and Mozam,;i.;uc, Thayer re-; guns, tank's, artillery, fighter,
fors to the export to Portugal 'planes and bombers, warships,
of B-26 bombers-a case with, tactical missiles and conven- i
?
w`,ich I am familiar and in ' tlonal explosives," Thayer ? which, I am completely ;,on-',warns. "No organization, el- i
vinced, the planes were smug thor national or international,
Bled without the approval of has created any -macbinery-tok
"several African .erts" a d
+., p proved For Release 20Q6/09122 ': CIA-RbPis84013 5-R0OpSU0230003'4,_-
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