PBS MACNEIL/LEHRER NEWS HOUR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000606400002-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 13, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000606400002-5
PBS IIACNEIL/LEHRER NEWS HOU
13 March 1984
NICARAGUA/U.S. MACNEIL: In Washington, the Reagan admi
tactical victory in its battle for more military aid toa
the CIA-backed rebels fighting the Sandinista government
of Nicaragua. The Senate Intelligence-Committee agreed to
let the administration spend $7 million of the $21 million
it has requested for aid to the contras and to put the
other $14 million into a CIA contingency fund.
EL SALVADOR/ MACNEIL: But tomorrow the administration faces a biggest
test, when the Senate
U.S. AID Appropriations Committee votes on $93 million in emergency
aid to El Salvador. U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering saw
President Reagan today and said U.S. aid to El Salvador
has thus far been insufficient. THOMAS PICKERING (U.S.
Ambassador to El Salvador): What we have provided in the
past has been enough merely to buy a continued stalemate
in the changing military situation in El Salvador. Sixty
million dollars in a country like El Salvador on an annual
basis has been just enough to buy a continued stalemate.
The question is, is clearly what kind of assistance is
required-just to keep Salvador afloat, ah, for the next,
ah, for the next period of the fiscal year, to say nothing
of the urgent request to try to provide an increase in
assistance to do what should have been done years ago and
what:continues:to..need to-be done as to -provide more
security. A third of their military force, roughly, has
been trained and equipped by the United States after this
four years.. So there.is still a long, long way to go to
reach anything like what would be considered to be
favorable or helpful, with respect, ah, to the military
forces. And a.military-force that's one-third trained and
one-third equipped is basically not a very effective
military force. -So the, the issue is now, for El
Salvador--I can't speak for Central America as a whole--is
there, is there sufficient willingness on the part of the
Congress,
ah, working with us on this particular issue to provide
the assistance necessary, the bare minimum of assistance
necessary to get through the election process, an
extremely important process, and through the.remainder of
the year, ah, on the basis of just, you know, a stay-alive
kind of assistance.
WOODRUFF: Tomorrow, the administration's request for
emergency military aid for El Salvador is on the agenda of
two congressional committees, the Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee on Foreign Operations and the House Foreign
Affairs Committee. To assess congressional reaction to
the .emergency aid package, we turn to the Senate Majority
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000606400002-5