THE WORST-KEPT SECRET WAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505410003-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 10, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: December 8, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/10: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505410003-5
AFTICLE AFZX~
:?n
ON PAGE J 0
M> W YORK TIMES
8 DECD 1982
the Worst-Kept Secret War
When asked the other day if he could confirm a to confirm the darkest fears of suspicious adver.
report in The Times that the C.I.A. is mobilizing a series and make them more truculent, not accom-
secret war against Nicaragua, President Reagan re- modating.
plied: "No, and I don't think The New York Times It is perfectly true that an acceptable doctrine of
" B
h
can.
ut t
e growling evidence of American in-._ non-intervention has to be respected by all parties. If
volvemeat can't b
h
'
e s
rugged off so blandly. There
s
nothing secret any more about the training of emle
armies in Florida and the recurrent border raids
into Nicaragua by insurgents claiming C.I.A. help;
all this has been widely reported for months. - .
Whatever American agents may be -doing to
help Honduras prevent the use of its territory. for
arms smuggling to El Salvador, it seems beyond
doubt that they are also engaged in some direct ac-
tions in Nicaragua. The manifest purpose is to
threaten a frontal assault on the leftist Sandini-st re..
gime. Undeniably, some of the leaders of the insur.
gent force are Nicaraguans associated with the dis-
credited Somoza dictatorship.
These are, to begin with, illegal activities. The
Neutrality Act expressly forbids the raising of s -
cret armies to *unseat a regime that the United
States recognizes as lawful. Flouting that law is no
way to rally the hemisphere against meddling by
Cuba and Nicaragua in other nations' conflicts. ,
Even if these secret armies were never meant to
be used in a big way, they are a dangerous instru.
ment of diplomacy. Give people with a political
grudge a gun and they maneuver to fire it. If they do,
they are impossible to disown., Even If they don't,
they are extremely difficult to disband.
If the idea here was to use the threat of insur.
gency to win bargaining concessions from Nicara-
gua, the idea is bound to misfire. Such threats tend
It were proven Nicaragua indeed plating the 1
territory of Honduras funnel weapons to El Salva.
dor, some reprisal in kind might be justifiable.
But the evidence suggests that it -is Nicaraguan
territory, notEonduran, that is being systematically
violated.
A final justification for covert warfare might be
a clear showing that truly vital American interests
are at risk, and beyond the reach of diplomacy. No
such showing has been made, either to the American .
people or to our Latin friends. To the contrary,
President Betancur of Colombia, an independent.
minded conservative, last week risked Mr. Re?-
gan's displeasure by appealing for negotiations with
both Nicaragua and Cuba.
That was a foretaste of bow Latin America
would react to unilateral United States interven-
tions. Mr. Reagan, by way of polite reply, expressed
his wish to see "the withdrawal of all - I repeat all
-foreip military advisers in Central America"
Nicaragua contends that it is prepared to negoti-
ate. A proper response would find Washington test-
ing that claim, documenting its charges of Nicara-
gua's interference in other countries and persuading
other Latin nations to join in condemning the import
of Communist arms. The improper response is to
deny the undeniable, in the false hope that the C-1-4-
hand can somehow be hidden. That illusion?,sbould
have died at the Bay of Pigs.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/10: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505410003-5