'SECRET WAR' IS INEFFECTIVE AND IMMORAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000606250003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000606250003-1
USA TODAY
10 June
`fret war' is ineffective and immoral
WAYNE S. SMITH
Guest columnist
MIAMI - U.S. involvement rWes seemed to have been sus-
in the.-secret war" against Nic pended or reduced.
aragua should be .terminated There seemed to be ample
as quickly as possible. room for negotiations. But the
This covert operation cannot Reagan administration did not
achieve U.S. objectives - nei- want to negotiate; it wanted to
ther the real objectives nor get rid of the Sandinista gov-
those claimed by the adminis ernment, and-so it :mounted its
tration. Spokesmen have sug-
gested that all the adminish'a- This var threatens to leave
tion really wants is for the San- our nation without constructive
dinistas to move up election4e4 influence in Nicaragua; It has
(now scheduled for 1985) and-A carried us to the brink of a re-
-respect human rights. - Lr j -.gional war in Central America
Our. policies elsewhere hard!? If thiseffortto overthrow an-
ly bear out such concerns. For, other government Is approved,
example, Pinochet, the mill- that would be entirely inconsis-
tary dictator in Chile, has just tent with the moral values on
announced that he will not hold which the nation was founded.
elections until 1989. This is the United States, not
the Soviet Union. We are guid-
A freshman political science red by a different code of con-
student knows that one does ,.duct. Let us not forget it
not promote liberalization with
an external threat That almost WLzyneS' ate Car
always results in calls for inter- . Xndowmeret-forma-
nal discipline and mobilization. - ., nai. eaoe-ics V former ie
So has it in Nicaragua. The :'wr4w -'Arcterests Section-in
secret war has discouraged I3avo"
elections, not promoted them.
'The administration has also
-suggested arms interdiction as
its principal .goal. By its own
criteria, the administration has
failed - it cannot point to a
single rifle that has been "inter-
The real-purpose -of the "se-
cret war" is to overthrow 'the '
Sandinista government But . its
has almost no chance of doing
so. The few thousand rebels
cannot defeat the large, tough;
well-trained Sandinista army
- not unless there were mas-
sive defections within that
army and among the people.
Yet, by building its "secret"
army around a nucleus of hat-
ed Somoza supporters, the ad-
ministration has virtually as-
sured that the rebels will re-
ceive no public support
All this was unnecessary. In
1981 statements, the adminis-
tration said that Sandinista sup-
port for the El Salvador guer-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000606250003-1