CERTIFYING EL SALVADOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000707170015-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: July 27, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000707170015-5
ARTICLE APZLUM
ON PAGE- 3
NEW YORK TIMES
27 JULY 1982
Certifying l Sava t~ Thnftag-
matism gives the Reagan Administra {
If 4+ i
t
wa
o u
t
By Robert E. White
CATAUMET, Mass. - In 1981, Con- stated that "the C.I.A.was now again
gress signaled its anger over the active in clandestine activities albeit
course of the Reagan policy toward El in post Watergate style." He added,
Salvador by inserting into the Foreign "For instance, we helped out in the El
Assistance Act a twice-yearly certi? Salvador election." Let us all. hope
fication requirement. Accordingly, all that he operates as effectively against
military aid will stop this month unless our nation's enemies as he does
President Reagan warrants that the against the policy objectives of the
Salvadoran Government is making a Administration he serves.
concerted and significant effort to The military and economic elites of
achieve progress on human rights, El Salvador have developed their own
land redistribution, a political solution rationale to justify their systematic
to the guerrilla conflict and free elect extermination of political leaders,
tions. As all evidence we have runs di. union' members, clergy, journalists
rectly counter to these propositions,. `i- and .peasants. They. insist that .the ,
any document providing a rationale for Reagan leadership secretly agrees
Presidential certification will neces-' with their terrorist methods and will
sarily be long on unsubstantiated as. continue to send aid because the alter-
sertion and short on demonstrable fact. native is tosee the revolutionaries via
In spite of this, the President is ex= 'torious. If President Reagan certifies
pected to sign the certification pro- as true that which is known to be false,
vided him by a bureaucracy more com- he will breathe new life into this chill=
fortable with barren continuity than . ing theory and at the same time un-
creative change. dermine his own high- reputation for
All independent witnesses, includ- honesty. He will also revive the spec
ing a highly professional study by the. ter of past administrations that chose
Americas Watch Committee and the to justify unpopular policies by con=
American Civil Liberties Union, con- coaling the facts from the American
firm ,that the slaughter of unarmed,. -people.
civilians goes on. How could* it be Defenders of Presidential primacy
otherwise? In spite of the many thou in foreign affairs contend that Con
sands of cases involving torture and gress, by intruding so conspicuously
murder by the Salvadoran armed into the domain of the executive
forces, no officer or enlisted man has branch, has simply asked to be lied to.
yet faced trial for any of these crimes. .They point out, correctly, that Con-
Nor will they. The refusal of the mill- tress is a blunt instrument in the con-
tary high command of El Salvador to duct of foreign affairs and that any at-
permit justice to take its course inthe-, tempt by the legislators to play a con-
case of the four murdered American
missionaries symbolizes the generals'
determination to continue to use ter-
ror as a weapon against their own peo-
ple. ._
It is true that an election was held in
March this year that might have pro-
vided some evidence of progress to-
ward Congressional goals. At least it
had that potential until this month,
when William J. Casey, Director of
Central Intelligence, in obedience to
God-knows-what imperative and with.
his customary exquisite sense of tim- .
ing, publicly bragged that the Central
Intelligence Agency had meddled in
the election. As reported in The Wall
Street Journal of July 16. Mr. Casey
tinuing role in country-specific policy
formation is likely to end in disaster.
In the case of El Salvador, however, it,
is legitimate to argue that Congress
had no ' intention of manacling the
President or intruding into his domain
but rather.. intended to compel high
Administration officials .to assess at
least twiceyearly whether our El Sal-
vador policy was based on illusion or
reality.
s
y,
n
se
Lion an opportuni
it, to seek an honorable and sensible
way out of this dilemma. One possible
solution might be for the President to
send a special message to Congress.
The communication ' would state that
the Secretary of State has thoroughly
examined -the record and based onthe
evidence is not completely convinced
that all the Congressional c onsidera-
tions have been met. The-President
would say that in view of this disturb-
ing report he has ordered his chief ad-
viser on foreign affairs to review
policy toward El Salvador fully and he
would ask Congress to accept this
message as The equivalent of certi-
fication pending the outcome of the
policy reassessment. State Depart-
ment lawyers could easily work -out
the appropriate legal-language.
It is vital for the future flu United
States relations with Central America
that President Reagan-not continue to
certify fantasy masquerading as fact, i
thereby providing a continuing white-
wash of the brutal and corrupt Salva-
doran military machine. The execu-
tive branch and Congress must work
in harness if they are to forge a more
creative and common-sense course in
Central America. The Reagan Admin
istration should look on the Congres-
sional certification requirement on El
Salvador due tomorrow as an oppor-
tunity to begin that cooperative.effart.-
Robert E. White, a former career dip-
lomat, was, the Carter Administra-
tion's last Ambassador to El Salvo-.
dor. ..
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000707170015-5