CONGRESS HIT OVER CENTRAL AMERICA VIEWS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302960006-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: September 13, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302960006-7
ARTICLE
ON PAGE,
WASHINGTON TIMES
13 September 1983
Congress hit over. Central America views.
By Walter Andrews
wO.SH*NGTON TIMES STAFF .
A senior Pentagon official yesterday
charged that a well-organized, orches-
trated effort exists to keep the essential
facts about Central America from the
American people. _
In one of the hardest-hitting
speeches by an ad ministration. official,
Fred C Ikle, undersecretary of defense
for policy, also charged that-Congress is
denying President Reagan the military
aid money needed to succeed in Central
.America. ' ; .......
The Pentagon's number three official -
said members of Congress tell the
administration that their constituents
are pressing such positions -on them.
But We told the Baltimore' Council of
Foreign Affairs, a private group, that
polls show only a small -percentage of
Americans know which side the United
States supports in El Salvador and Hon-
duras. -
"You must help us overcome not only
a lack of information, but also a great
deal of misinformation. This misinfor-
mation is not accidental; it is the result
of a well-organized and well-
orchestrated effort .. _to conceal the
essential facts," Ikle said in his pre-
pared address in Baltimore last night.
Misinformation being spread
includes the "fictions" that the United
States has prevented the development
of democracies in Central America and
is "militarizing" the problems of the
region.
The official noted that the Soviets are
giving ten times as much military assis-
tance to Cuba and Nicaragua as 'the
United States is providing all of Latin
America.
He said that as a result of the Soviet
domination of Cuba, including Russian.
military installations there, U.S. sea '
'lanes to Europe are seriously
threatened.
Allowing the Marxist -Sandinista .
regime to continue in power indefinitely
would create a "second Cuba" that ,
would be more dangerous than Castro's
Cuba since it shares borders with Hon-
duras and Costa Rica.
Even after the insurgency in El Sal-
vador has been brought under control,
We said that Nicaragua, if it continues
on its present course,"would be the
bridgehead and arsenal for insurgency
for Central America.",....
. Proposed congressional legislation to
deny U.S. covert -aid to anti-Sandinista
forces in Nicaragua "would turn Nica-
ragua into a sanctuary from which the
nations of Central - America could be
safely attacked, but in which U.S.-
supported forces could not operate,"
,Ikle said.
We said that US. strategy is to pre- _
vent both a Communist -victory in Cen-
-Aral America and the .partition of the
region into two spheres of influence -
one linked to the Soviets.and the other
to the United States.
He said the guerrillas in El Salvador
have used a "rule or ruin" strategy,
seeking to destroy bridges, school
buildings, etc. faster than US. aid can
restore them.
"You have to defeat these 'rule or
ruin' forces militarily. This is the pur-
pose for our military assistance,' the
undersecretary said.
But, he added, "as long as Congress
'keeps crippling the president's military
assistance p _~ram, -we will have a
policy always shy of success. We will
remain locked into a protracted fail- -.
A congressional cut off of US. covert
aid to the anti-Sandinista forces in Nica-
ragua would have a severe "psychologi-
cal impact," signaling that the
Communist forces represent the win-
ning side, We said.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302960006-7
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