THE HERSH STORY: BETTER LATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402830046-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 28, 2012
• Sequence Number: 46
• Publication Date: February 17, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402830046-8
WALL ST_ 7ZET JOURNAL
17 February 1981
,~. w..tf~r'`~rF :~S. "} ", "_.:!"'..'ffi'~G`i'.'~.'.?19 7TttiP~?.4f?*"17_~'te'~::
I, e 'ersh' Sto;y Better Late
-.,_gy.tr.~ y, s__ 4 ?
By THOaras Bx..Y
"I' can t; believe 1, sighs Seymour'
Hersh,r?former New .York Times reporter;
and, Pulitzer Prize winner,. as he: juggles
one telephone inquiry, after. another in his
washington.oftice_ :'I thought I ,was; doing
a good. deed. Now everybody is after me."
the4 tiine:of'Mardst~ Salvador "Allende's?
election tnthe presidency In 1970; can't be-
lieve?it either. A long free-lance article by:,
Mr. Hersh has. just appeared in the Times,.
headlined='New Evidence Backs: Ex-,Envoy,-
on His-Role in Chile." It appears to be a
rnea'culpa by Mr. Hersh;` who in, 1974? had
writteit'several' Times articles linking Mr.
Korry.,to-, an :alleged coup;to prevent Mr..
Allende' ' from . taking office:: Mr. -Hersh
views it as exonerating
Mr:.- apparently arose. out.of a, se-
ries,.oiL conversations- in:. which Mr.- Hersh
was'seeking M_ r:. Korry's help' with a new,
book taking a negative view of former Sec-
retary of. State- Henry. Kissinger,' and -Mr.,,
Korry wastrying' to get a New York Times
story setting out his view of the Chilean ep-
isode.. Mr. -Hersh is being bombarded with
questions about his motives for the story.
Mr. Korry feels he got only.minimal satis-
faction out of his end of things:.Y~
e1:didn't. need Hersh to tell the-world I
was innocent:'" he fairly shouts to, an inter-
viewer seeking his reaction to-the article.
"Thais old news.' The Church committee.
made1it clear five "years ago. T, wanted
Hersh to tell what really- '.happened down
there.. It.wasn't;the.CIA that got Allende
it. was. 500% inflation ' and'Soviet, double-.
dealing and the Allende government's own corruption.' BuC Hersh doesn`t want to hear
tha.
tens vl r
,.=- y hat the article was intended to accom--
plish':is? a;little-murky ;It began On-the
front' page ' and :-continued Inside,' tilling :
.much of six columns. "Evidence has come:
t tignf:'; Mr. Hersh' announced in the see-
. ond..paragraph, ::suggesting' that.' Korry;
despite -his strong opposition to the Allende
candidacy,: was frozen out of the 'planning
for a proposed military: coup and warned
the White.House- that. it would be risking
another 'Bay of Pigs' if it got involved in
military' plots ' to stop Dr.. Allende's elec-
t.-The. article goes onto note Mr. Korry's-
'particular;. bitterness toward,- The New
-York Times,', but then things begin to get
a little fuzzy. The much-touted. "new. evi-
'dence' never; quite seems to surface. de-
'.'-spite- references, to classified ;documents.`'
"White-House officials." And in any case,
the central fact of the case-that Mr.
Korry knew nothing about a coup-wasn't
exactly new. The Senate Select Committee
on Intelligence-the so-called Church com-
mittee-had concluded as much years ear-
he; in a public report on the Chile affair-. ;,
? _ Mr'Hersh also asserts that his new ma-
terials "raise new questions "about the ex-~
: tenr of CIA operations in Chile' in 1970 and
the efficacy of' later congressional investigations of that affair.. "Again'-' however,
:hard facts seem scarce, except. for the ap,
parentlynew-and brief revelation that
two CIA agents had entered Chile and were
posing-as, respectively;. a ? Mafioso and a
foundation . official. ? Hardly the stuff- of 3,-.
000-word articles in the Times."-
-;v:
R So- the questions remain. Why did Mr.
Hersh write the story, and why did the
Tories print it?
_4 e
,~ .. ..
Contacted by the Journal, Mr. Korry re-
counts events from his perspective. In mid-
November he was. contacted by Mr. Hersh
seeking help on his book about Mr. Kiss'in-
ger- Mr. Hersh told Mr. Korry that he had
changed his mind about the latter's role in
Chile. "I can't undo what went before,"
:Mr. ' Korry "recalls Mr. Hersh as saying,
"but I can make it clear that you did not
'know" of the coup plotting. How he could
make:it clear wasn't stated,,. though Mr.
'Hersh; who accepts Mr. Korry's version up
to. this point, denies that he was offering
any sort o.f quid pro quo. ..,.That wouldn't be ethical and I