'DISTORTION' ON LATIN POLICY DECRIED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020023-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: August 10, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020023-5
A^T4flE !.PPE~hE3
ON PAG l
WASHINGTON POST
10 August 1983
lien's `Leda, Churches [flamed
Distorlion* on Latin Policy Decried
By Lou Cannon Ill:lit!r newspapers placed by the quested in El Salvador) and there is
11, (olllffy1tly(' CauCUS'and it ('oiltel'- a disaster. it seems to tile yc'rv rea-
enre on "Democracy for Nicaragua" s,mahle that the American people
1 ~1 hilt House official trying to eacan'e sponstred I>v the Institute of Deli- will pin the blame where it belongs."
constituent support fur President Reaga's ion and llenu,cr;I(?~, Blackwell said. making clear that he
('cntril America policy blames "deliberate dis-
tortion" h% the ne,,vs media and major U.S. I tiev. have also published five meant opponents of the policy.
churches for continuing public ignorance of, "s1 ilite House Digest " focusing on Recent public opinion polls have
suppression of civil liberties in Nic hown (jeep voter skepticism about
and opposition to the administration's strategy administration policy in Central
iii the regioll. ara?ua, the Soviet-Cuban arms I
"I buildup there and the role of the America: A \V`ashingion Post-ABC
bhas tried
think are the
mmuni what Palestine Liberation Organization in News liol.l last week showed over-
we think arthe bad a guys. the communists, as whelming disapproval of CIA sup-
r>!.. ._:_1 r' _:.L n - . II'L t-. --- !- helninv ? the Sandinistas.
White
House director of public liaison. "And I
think the confusion has been deliberate and
that accounts for some (-)I' the ignorance."
Whittlesey, who is directing the White
House campaign to line up conservative, husi-
ness. labor. ethnic and veterans' groups behind
Kea an's Central America policy. said she
watched television every night and was "ap-
palled" Vy coverage she described as "biased
and one-sided."
She used similar language to criticize the
opposition of American church leaders to ad-
ntinistration policy, saving they "tend to char-
acterize the Sandinistas as Robin Hoods. es-
sentially fighting for social justice" in Nicara-
gua.
1\ hittiesev said the White House is trying I(
counteract this by emphasizing that the leftist
Sandinista government of Nicaragua has "per-
secut, cd .) s. Protestants and Catholics !and!
booed ,nd hedged die pope when hey o if,
(I , tv. a I lle'e Irvin" to of t(-r teas
1thittie-e,. made her cotnnli-nts during an
interviete in which she and an assistant. llor-
ion C. Blackwell; assessed the con-
tinuim White House "public diplo-
macy' campaign designed to circum-
vent the media and church leaders
he imthilizing grass-roots organiza-
iion- and their internal cummunica-
iit!Os s_vstenls.
h(, two, officials presented a writ-
;('n accoluu of :t4 specific undertak-
ings on central America originated
or encouraged by the administration,
itlcludin'_ a supportive editorial in
American-, I a;,rion Magazine. mobi-
lization of chambers of commerce in
Latin Atiierica, advertisements in
A separate tabulation showed that
representatives of 150 organizations
have participated in weekly "out-
reach" meetings in the Executive Of-
port lot' guerrillas tr'ving to over'-
throw the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
although it majority did agree that
the situation in Central America was
Tice Building in which prominent ad- threat" to the United States.
ministration officials, including the In ,r finding that underpins White
president. have been featured speak- Iiouse sensiti it,,' ahoot 'news rover:'
ers. age of Central America. 49 percent
Blackwell characterized all this as voters said they would tend to be-
a long, incremental effort" to con- nutior television and newspaper
since American voters that Reagan's r(?ports compared with :;t Percent
Central America policy makes sense. who said they would tend to believe
While acknowledging that. it has ,o Reagan, The remainder said it would
far failed to increase popular support depend on the specific story or had
for the president. Blackwell-con- no opinion.
tended the ad mitlistratlot, is in a Polls taken for the White House
"no-lose situation." by Richard B. Wirthlin have consis-
"Although we're behind in the tently shown voter indifference and
public opinion polls right now. we ignorance about Central America.
nlav he in the Churchillian position .After the president made a major
of the 1YdOs and the people who are
opposin tt the president's policy may
wind up in the same boat that Nev-
speech about it to a joint session it
coy ress ill April. a \Cirthlin pull
!!Ull(1 th;lt ~PVe;l out Ur fll voters
ille Chamberlain did over the loll,, ' didn't even knuv, he had mentioned
haul," Blackwell said. Nicaragua.
He compared Reagan's warnings ?irt.hlin has attributed the con-
"
about the dangers of the Soviet and
Cuban "war machine" in Nicaragua
with \Ginston Churchill's unheeded
u?orninos of (;errnan rearmament
a
fusion to Central America being
back-burner issue" for most Amer-
icana and to the complexity of a sit-
Churchill replaced Chamberlain as supporting guerrillas fighting the
British prime minister on May In, leftist government in Nicaragua
1940, eight months after the out_ while opposing leftist guerrillas
break of World War-II. fighting the U.S.-backed government
Blackwell said Reagan's policy in Ei Salvador. AChittlesey criticized
will be approved by it majority of published polls. saying (fuestions
Americans if the present combing ;Iked by The Washington Post-ABC
Lion of pressure and negotiation sue- News and The New York Times-
ceeds. "It' oil ille other hand, the CBS Neus polls were "t ranted to
president doesn't get what he has re (licit it certain response."
COL'T' 1I' UED
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020023-5
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020023-5
The questions can be turned
around another wav." she said. "For
example. f you could askI how would
you feel. )f as a result of it commu-
nist takever. 2 million refugees have
come to the United States. ou get a
completely different answer if the
question is framed in these terms."
Whittiesev's White House Ow-
reach \\ orking Group on Central
America has been -controversial even
within the White House. She has
started from the premise that "going
to your natural supporters is one of
the basic tenets of political organi-
zation as I see it_'
Originally. her campaign was
strongk hacked by national security
affairs adviser William P. Clark. a
staunch conservative. But ('lark re-
portedly became concerned at a .July
20 meeting when one of the White"
House digests overstated the degree
of anti-Semitism attributed to 'the*
Sandinistas.
titajj oriter Juan tt iiiicrnt.s con-
tributod iv this report.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201020023-5