TWO DEATHS PUT THE FOCUS ON U.S. POLICY IN NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100320018-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 9, 2010
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: September 9, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100320018-6
ARTICLE APPEARLM PHILADELPHIA Ir1JIRER
ON PAGE J) 9 Sepixiuuer 1984
STAT
Two deaths
t
put the focus on
U*S* policy in Nicaragua
By Edwin Gutnma,i
Editor of The )ngusrer
To a public uneasy over the Reagan ad-
ministration's military pressure on Nicara-
gua, the death of two Americans in a rebel I
helicopter shot down last weekend over,
that beleaguered country ought to be a
matter of grave concern.
The two men were Dana H. Parker, 36, of
Huntsville, Ala, a major in the Alabama
National Guard, and James P. Powell 3d, 36,
of Memphis. They are said to have been
members of Civilian .Military Assistance, a?
group of self-styled freedom fighters that
has been providing military equipment and
training to the "contras" - the growing
C16-backed rebel force fighting to over-
throw Nicaragua's Sandinista government.
With the death of Parker and Powell in
combat, Thomas V. Posey, a Decatur, Ala.,
produce distributor, Marine veteran of Viet-
nam and one of two men who organized
Civilian-Military Assistance last year, has
come forward to disclose that the group's
f
idi
i
om prov
ng iu
lita y
equipment to El Salvador to aiding the Department and the Pentagon were clued
Contras a few months ago after Congress in; whether the entry of a private U.S. and Kurtz of the Washington Post reported,
refused to provide further funds for the organization on the contras' side and the notify the State Department that Posey had
covert war. risks that involved for U.S. policy in Nicara- declared on a Treasury application to be-
The organization has about 1,000 mem- gua were debated at a high level in the come a dealer 'in firearms in the United
bers in Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi, administration. States, that "I plan to buy weapons and
Posey says, but its size and its source of But that's the rub, for again history warns ammo to send to El Salvador."
funding remain murky. that~ite the existence of congressional Now, the State Department has asked the
It may be nothing more than a well- oversight committees, the intelligence corn- Customs Service to see whether Posey vio-
intentioned effort by self-starting patriots. munitys covert gperations have had a way laced federal law by sending the supplies to
or it may be the tip-off that the edministra- of becomi g the tail was n>; the soli El Salvador, but the larger question relates
tion has moved to circumvent Congress' ~Jnaking .099.-
-shutoff of funding for the.contras. _ As bits and pieces come to light about operations to Nicaragua.
chose ind_ two proper questions are in order. nate, isolated adventure by two "freedom
risks are great and onceslarled
,
of operations are es y difficu t tois- Who's in charge of the administration's fighters?" Or is it a chilling glimpse of
enga e. Nicaraguan policy and where is it headed? reality, puncturing the rhetoric of the pres-
-'Ihe Reagan administration has been do- The buck-passing that was evident in idential campaign and signalling that the
ing handsprings to distance itself from Po- Washington last week was not reassuring. administration for all practical purposes
sey's group, disclaiming any responsibility State Department spokesman John has abandoned efforts to seek a diplomatic
for the organization's involvement with the Hughes insisted that "there was no US. settlement with Nicaragua and is bound
contras. But if anything is clear besides the collaboration with the activities of this and determined to overthrow the Sandinis.
fact that Parker and Powell were killed in group. As they have consistently stated they tas?
action, it is that the State Department and were acting on their own." Those are among the most critical ques--
several other U.S. agencies were aware of But how does that square with the fact lions facing American voters for as Presi
dent Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado of Mexico
what Civilian-Military Assistance was do- that a military officer on duty at the U.S.
ing. Embassy in El Salvador forwarded to the observed Thursday, U.S. support for the
And unless the CIA is not what its cracligd Salvadoran government at least 11 ship- contras has created "a climate of violence
up to ._,it _aso had t_~___o_kn w, What is not ments of military supplies sent by Posey? It and aggression" that has forced the Sandi.
certain by any means, however, is whether doesn't. nista government to become desperate and
top officials in the White House. the State No U.S. officials acted to block the ship- radical - and more heavily armed.
ments although the State Department said The deaths of Parker and Powell indicate
that it had not issued an export license that the tide of events in Nicaragua will not
required for export of some of the military necessarily wait for the election and that
equipment that Posey sent to El Salvador. the administration is running out of time to
Nor did the Treasury Department, How? manage what happens next - for better or,
worse.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/09: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100320018-6