LEFT HAND, RIGHT HAND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200700052-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 28, 2010
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: December 16, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/28: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200700052-5
AR7ICLE APPEARED NEW YORK TIMES
0 , PAGE - 16 December 1983
PARIS, Dec. 15 - For years now,
U.S. foreign policy in Central Amer-
ica has been undermined by private
or semi-private U.S. groups encour-
aging the extreme right to disregard
official Washington warnings.
A senior State Department official
said not long ago that it must be
dreadfully confusing for the local
politicians. They are told publicly
that the U.S. supports democracy and
reforms, and opposes death squads
and wanton murder of peasants.
But then they hear whispers from
Americans who seem influential that
all this talk is for public consumption,
and that the U.S. backs anyone who
fights Communists. The contradiction
is widely known in Washington.
The private activities probably vio-
late the Logan Act, passed in 1799 and
still on the books. It forbids unauthor-
ized -U.S. citizens to deal with foreign
governments in an attempt to influence
foreign policy, which well-placed peo-
ple were already trying to do in the
earliest days of the Republic. Aaron
Burr was an example. The act is con.
sidered virtually unenforceable now.
But there are disturbing signs that
private involvement in covert actions
has substantially expanded well be-
yond political and economic meas-
ures, exemplified by the I.. T. in
Chile before the Pinochet c6Up, to
paramilitary activities.
Whether or not this subverts U.S.
policy depends on what the policy
really is. in any case, such involve-
ment -shields participants from the
legal,-oversight mandated for spe-
cially, cleared Congressional commit-
tees. According to Adm. Stansfield
Turner, former C.I.A. Director, It
also, probably blocks C.I.A.. control
once operations are launched, risking
runaway disasters.
There is an argument in Washing-
ton about whether the Administration
is deliberately disguising an attempt
to overthrow the Sandinista Govern.
mentrin Nicaragua and help the far
FOREIGN AFFAI RS mend)
Left Hand,
Right
Hand
By Flora Lewis
right elsewhere, or whether it is lax in
reining in its own supporters.
John Carbaugh, the busy former
aide to Senator Jesse Helms, said flatly
that the C.I.A. was totally in charge,
sometimes through private contracts
or by accepting "contributions." These
seem to include planes and possibly
U.S. mercenaries sent to perform saber
tage. Mr. Carbaugh has intimate
knowledge of devious moves in Central
America, but he doesn't hide his con-
tempt for what the C.I.A. is doing.
Philip .Taubman off Gerth of
The New York Times recently tracked
several privately owned American
planes i vo)ved'in secret operations,
but they haven't been able to pinpoint
the source of the orders or the money.
Argentine soldiers helped train "con-
tras" in Honduras and plan attacks in
Nicaragua before the Falkland war,
but they are no longer available, Con-
gressional sources say.
The U.S. military and paramilitary
network is now expanding through
the region.' The Administration says
it endorses the efforts of the Latin
Contadora group to demilitarize Cen-
tral America and promote negotiated
settlements. But U.S. actions cast
doubt on the declarations, even as
Henry Kissinger and his commission
tour the area preparing to recom-
evolve moderate regimes interested
in negotiating.
It is easier to see the political un-
derpinning for the conflicting drive to
the right. There are conservative
"think tanks" in the Washington area
that make a point of having good rela-
tions with such ultras as Salvador's
Roberto D'Aubuisson and Guatema-
la's Mario Sandoval Alarcon, who are
officially shunned by the U.S. because
of their murderous reputations.
Among them are the Council on
Inter-American Security, the Ameri-
can Security Council, and the Na-
tional Strategic Information Center,
the last organized in the 1960's by Wil.
liam Casey, now C.I.A. Director. Re-
tired U.S. military officers and for-
mer C.I.A. officials are among their
active members.
They travel to Central America,
and arrange high-level meetings for
their friends when they come to
Washington. These sessions are then
used by the Latins to spread word
that they have confirmed secret U.S.
Government backing, despite public
denunciations. U.S. ambassadors
have confided that they are powerless
to reverse the impact.
If the policy is what the Adminis-
tration announces, to promote moder-
ate, democratic regimes capable of
social and economic development
that will head off Communist ad.
vance, then it is being flouted by its
servants and friends. If that is only lip
service, it is not only deceiving the
country and wasting a lot of money, it
is compounding the danger.
The jungle of intrigue, undercover
attacks and provocation has helped
make Central America the mess it is.
There have been no successes. More
militarization, in collusion with cor-
porations, covert or open with U.S.
troops, diminishes the prospects of
both security and freedom. Mr. Kis-
singer should take the hidden side
into account in his report. -
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/28: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200700052-5