'A HEINOUS ACT'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450022-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: September 3, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450022-7 STA1
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ON PAGE A--/
'A Heinous Act'
WASHINGTON POST
3 September 1983
By David Hoffman and John M. Goshko
v...,aaaaga, Post Staff Writers
Rm--sicient Reagan yesterday accused the Soviet Union
of "flagrantly" lying about the-downing of a South Ko-
rean airliner with 269 crew members and passengers,
including at least 52 Americans, and questioned whether
the United States can 'continue to talk "with 'a state
whose values permit such :atrocities.'
In the strongest denunciation he 'hag delivered of So-
viet -behavior as president;'Reagari suggested 'that 'the
Soviets had gone beyond -"certain irreducible 'standards
of civilized behaviof" and had violated the "tradition in
the civilized world" 'of helping pilots who are -lost or in
distress. ? ?! ? - - --
Standing with his wife, 'NAT1CV,? on the -field 'of the
Point Mugu Naval Air Station on the California coast
before returning to Washington to meet lastnight with
;the National -Security Council,' Reagan* .read solemnly ..
. . .
.4rom a prepared -'
\ "What can be said about Soviet?credihility when they-,
so flagrantly lie about such _a heinous act? What can be
Speakes said Reagan also empha-
'sized' that the Soviets had provided
"no satisfactory response ... for
their outrageous conduct" and that
the families of those killed "deserve
a jut restitution for the loss of life."
.. ? A number of U.S. officials said
yesterday that they believe that Rea-
gan will find it difficult to go much
;beyond rhetorical retaliation and
such relatively limited sanctions as
seeking international restrictions on
Soviet air traffic, placing new restric-
tions on Soviet diplomatic personnel'
and putting off tentative plans for
-talks on a new scientific and cultural
?exchange agreement and the opening
of consulates in New York and Kiev.
- A senior administration official
*traveling with Reagan said, for ex-.
-? ample, "I would not look for us to
*discontinue our discussions (with the
Soviets on nuclear arms control) be-
cause the stakes are too high. We
'would not be serving our own coun- .
try or the world at large should we
-stop our efforts to achieve .true arms ,
'reduction."
? ? Speakes said, "Arms control is a
-very important issue, probably one
of the major foreign policy emphasis
of our administration."
State Department spokesman
John Hughes added that he was un-
aware of any plans to call off or
postpone next week's scheduled re-
-sumPtion of the U.S.-Soviet negoti-
ations on reducing medium-range
_nuclear missiles in Europe.
Speakes said last night that the
-
president has directed Secretary of
State George P. Shultz to follow
through with plans to meet next
week with Soviet Foreign Minister
Andrei A. Gromyko in Madrid. But.,
Speakes said, Reagan ordered Shultz*
to change the agenda of the meeting
to "center first" on the airline attack
incident "and then on other topics,
specifically other violations of the
international norms that the Soviet
Union has undertaken... .
the scope of legitimate mutual discourse with a- state,
-whose values permit such atrocities, and what are we. to, -
make of a regime which establishes one set of standard
for itself and-another for the rest of humankind?" ,
?
After last night's NSC meeting, an administration of- L
ficial who asked not to be identified said Reagan would
probably not retaliate by imposing economic sanctions,
such as canceling the new agreement to sell American
grain to the Soviets, or by withdrawing from arms con.:
trol negotiations with the Soviets.
White House spokesman Larry Speakes told reporters
last nizht that the president was given a set of options
"that focus in a measured response to this incident."
Speakes said the options "would include various steps the
U.S. government could carry out in concert with mem?
bers of the international community who share our out-
rage at this incident." ?
Reagan is studying .a response "designed to assure
. there will be no recurrence of an incident of this type,'
said Speakes. He added that the president is considering ,
_
options that would take "more of a
positive approach that will seek as-
surances" to guarantee the safety of
international air travel because cur-
rent international law is "obviously"
insufficient "where the Soviets are
concerned."
During the two-hour meeting at
the White House last night, Reagan
gave his advisers some direction, ac-
cording to Speakes, and they will
respond with recommendations by
Sunday, when Reagan plans to con-
sult with congressional leaders.
Canceling the new, five-year
agreement to sell American grain to
the Soviets was ruled out in part,
officials suggested, because it. would
risk an outcry from American farm-
ers and their political representa-
tives. It also would contradict Rea-
gan's past opposition -to the grain
embargo imposed by President Car-
ter against the Soviets after their
invasion of =listen. And it
would violate
tees in the new
agreement that make :it legally dif-
ficult to impose a new embargo.
In addition to Shultz and Reagan,
last night's me.eti
ed by
Vice President Bush,- Secretary of
Defense Caspar W. Weinberger, CIA;
Director William -Casey, Attorney
General William French Smith,
Treasury Secretary Donald T.
Regan, Office of Management and
Budget Director David A. Stockman
and other top administration and
White House officials.
In his statement earlier yesterday,
Reagan portrayed the Soviet regime
as having gone beyond the standards
of civilized behavior accepted by the
rest of the world. His remarks ap-
peared to go further than expressing
outrage about the incident, to sug-
gesting that the United States might
take some unspecified actions
against Moscow.
In rhetoric and practice, Reagan
has been both harsh and conciliatory
toward the Soviets during his first
21/2 years in office. He decried So- ,
viet-backed repression of human
rights in Poland and the invasion of
Afghanistan. But he also cleared the
way eventually for expanded. grain
_ __?
sales to the Soviets, and recently
approved the sale of pipe-laying
equipment built by Caterpillar Trac-
tor Co. for use in building the Soviet
natural gas pipeline in Europe.
?
;
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450022-7