KISSINGER'S BACK IN A SADDLE, BUT WILL HE BE A WHITE KNIGHT?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303320011-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: July 22, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303320011-0
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Kissinger's back in
a saddle, but will he
be a white knight?
By Joseph C. Harsch
The telephone call for which Henry Kissinger has been
waiting for 2'/2 years Willy came this week. It was the White
House saying, in effect: "Henry, we are In trouble, come and
save us.?'
The White House was is trouble on several-foreign affairs
matters, but most immediately over Central America. In the
long run the Middle East Is by a wide margin more danger-
ous. But as of this past week President Reagan was commit-
ted to a Central American policy which the Congress was on
the verge of repudiating_ _
There was a movement in Congress-t o forbid more funds
for carrying on a supposedly "covert" military offensive
from Honduran bases against the government of Nicaragua.
Congress did exactly that (voting to forbid covert aid) in
1976 When Henry Kissinger was secretary of state and the
issue was Angola. A Marxist faction there was winning out
with Soviet support and Cuban troops. Dr. Kissinger was
using the CIA covertly to contest the outcome. Congress
PATTERN
OF
DIPLOMACY
stopped him:-- .
For Mr. Reagan this situa-
tion is worse because it is closer
to home. He has been backing
the right-wing regime in El Sal-
vador for two years. The mill- I
Lary offensive from Honduras
against the Marxist-led regime
in Nicaragua had been l
ong
planned. troops had been trained and armed and deployed,
and the advance into Nicaragua was actually under way.
In the administration view, to call off the offensive now
would collapse the campaign against Nicaragua, spread con-
sternation among rightist factions all through Central Amer-
ica. and probably mean victory for the leftist insurgents in El
Salvador. In such circumstances Mr. Reagan would be pre-
siding over a fiasco comparable to the Bay of Pigs affair-of
unhappy memory for Washington.
The political situation in Washington is such that Mr.
Reagan had to do something quickly. Calling -in the redoubt-
able Henry Kissinger with his reputation, as the
wonderworker of diplomacy is clearly intended to head off
such a fiasco in Central America.
Congress is not likely to repudiate Mr. Reagan's Central
American policies until it has first seen what-Dr. Kissinger
can conjure up. Mr. Reagan has gained time. Conceivably he
may still save both the rightists in El Salvador and the coun-
terrevolution in Nicaragua.
But that of course depends now on whether the Kissinger
talent for crisis control has survived 2,;, years of waiting for
the expected telephone call from a new Republican adminis-
tration. It never came - until this past week.
For a supposedly indispensable man, 21/ 2 years is a long
time to wait. It could erode even Dr. Kissinger's monumental
self-confidence. We shall see.
STAT
Also, we do not yet know whether he will interpret his
mandate as being to reconcile the opposition in the Congress
to the military solution in Central America which President
Reagan favors - or to find a path out of the military jungle
toward a political and economic solution which many in Con-
gress favor.
At the moment the situation is that a fiasco has been
staved off and time gained for rethinking the Reagan ap-
proach to Central America.
Of course, if Dr. Kissinger uses this opportunity, with the
brilliance that has been credited to him by admirers in the
past, there will be opportunities for more service to his third
President. The arrival in Washingtoniiuring the past week of
President Amin Gemayel of Lebanon underlines the fact that
American diplomacy in the Middle East is stalled in a dead-
end street.
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin recognised the
situation by postponing his visit, which was to have followed
_. he. Ge mayel visit. There is really nothing for Mr. Begin_ to
discuss with Mr. Reagan right now.
Motion toward peace in the Middle East
could be regained If Syria were willing to join
Israel in withdrawing totally from all of Leba-
non. But Syria has dug in its heels. And, while
this lasts. Israel has gained American accep-
tance for remaining in southern Lebanon.
Hence, Israel is preparing for a long-term oc-
cupation of much of southern Lebanon, in-
cluding the two important and ancient port
cities of Tyre and Sidon.
Conversely. Syria, backed by Moscow,
refuses to consider mutual withdrawal if Is-
rael retains the sort of influence over south-
ern Lebanon which was spelled out in the
Lebanon-Is-raeli withdrawal agreement
worked out under the auspices of US Secre-
tary of State George Shultz.
This is the kind of deadlocked situation
that Dr. Kissinger was accustomed to handle
by "shuttle diplomacy." There could be more
work for him ahead - but only if he can first
extricate Mr. Reagan from Central America.
And what would come after that?
Anyone who read William Safire's column
in the New York Times July 17 knows the an-
swer. Mr. Satire is a brilliantly articulate
voice of that "neoconservatism" which op-
poses almost all traffic with the Soviets. Mr.
Reagan is obviously headed down the road to-
ward a summit with Moscow's Yuri
Andropov. Mr. Satire gave fair notice that he
will be resisting every step of the way.
The first step was taken the week before
(July 15), when Mr. Reagan gave his ap-
proval to a compromise arrangement with
the Soviets at Madrid on the wording of a text
on human rights. In itself, the matter was mi-
nor - at least when compared to war and
peace issues such as arms control. The ques-
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303320011-0