BRITISH REMAIN STEADFAST ALLY OF AMERICANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150113-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 29, 2012
• Sequence Number: 113
• Publication Date: March 31, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150113-3
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON P A G E J J
L'WASHIN 1Ta'l POST
31 March 1982
British Remain this attitude has been Margaret bombers to the NATO front in West
Thatchers Britain. I sent my assoi- Germany aid has four nucleai missile"
ate Dale Van Atta to London to submarines of its own.' The British
Steadfast Ally gauge the depth of the British com- nuclear planes and subs, as well as
t
d
._ d .~ iS mitment_ If the Aritiah are uncertain dM i i Q Po
id
on m si
es a e un
er
se
m
i
ei s.rr.s.s.., policy is in big trouble. Commander in Europe,-who has a11
From interviews with military, in- ways been an American.-
`
.
In World War II, the rock on telligence' and political,_' sources in In. addition, the British are
coop=
Which Adolf Hitler's dreams ultimate- " both, London and Washington, this is erating on U.S. programs to upgrade 1
ly foundered was the dose .working the Picttue that emerges about Brit-` joint nuclear missile forces so that the
relationship between Franklin Roo- ain.s position in the East-West strug- `;.anti-ballistic missile defenses of Noe-:
`sevelt ard.Wmston -.C6urc1v7L `Naw, . ~~ ' s rcow can be penetrated, a -vital deter-~
40.,years.later?,i onalct-Reagan. and.,.' The British are unquestionably our rent to any Soviet plans for a first
another British. prime minister, Mar-. strongest ally. against the Soviets, but
this stalwart support could be jeop.
garet Thatcher, seem to have arrived ardized by domestic political devel-
at a similar allianceagainstthe threat opmentr, that is, if Thatcher is on-
'of Soviet worldwide aggression: ceremoniously given the heave-ho, as ' `
Top White House advisers tell me Churchill was at the very moment of
that President Reagan is greatly en--- victory in 1945.
.comaged by Thatcher's steadfast sup- 'Unlike other North Atlantic Trea- '
pat of:hin anti-Soviet policies, and ty Organization countries, Britain has
would be crushed if she showed signs. supported .;the' alliance consistently
of : wavering, as, I for ?example, our _. , ? and at' great sacrifice, -including a
West German allies have done. commitment to increase its military
Reagan is evidently sincere m: his ,_ budget by 3 percent at a-time-when
belief that the Kremlin poses a con ; im economy can ill afford such an
tmving'threet to American freedom, expenditure: Unemployment is far
'a threat that overshadows'.the-cut- worse in Britain than in.the United
backi in domestic programs -for which tates; yet Thatcher has kept up her
support of increased defense nil .
he is taking. so much. heat,--But=the
president has not succeeded ,in ituree. ~ ;N: , : h sine
'.suadi most of our' In-the areight of classified ev-,
ng European-,allies idenoe shows that Thatcher is deter-.
that the Soviet threat is as dangerous mined-, to, maintain the' British. mill-
as he thinks it is. They prefer to min- tary-commitment. A top-secret Pen ? -
.imize the threat and business-with
-, the Sov`;" _ tagon - report discloses.. that:, Britain :
- t' provides bases-for 156 American nu
The meet, important . exception is clear bombers, contributes 56 nuclear
V r..
The British government has also'
agreed to allow 160 ground-launched
cruise missiles to be placed in Eng-
land; a decision not without its touch
of irony, considering that Britain was
the first victim of the cruise missile's
German ancestor, the VI, rocket of
1944. .
What `concenis the White House,:
though,. is the political equation in
Britain.. Secret CIA ` analyses have,
warned, that the ` Reagan-Thatcher
alliance, `like that ? of Roosevelt and
Churchill, may be blown away.
And in this case, unlike- the situ."
ation in 1945 when domestic policies
were the. cause of Churchill's defeat,'
the Thatcher government's '"deter-
mined support of ' Reagan . policies
could be a serious contributing factor
to its downfalL.The growing strength'
of leftist Labor is traceable to the"
public's distaste for nuclear..weapons'
in its backyard-as well'as, to domestic
economic conditions. :
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150113-3