SENATE INTELLIGENCE CHIEF URGES REGIONAL ACTION AGAINST NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040067-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 20, 2013
• Sequence Number: 67
• Publication Date: March 26, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

;Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2013/02/20 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040067-7
ASSuCIATED PRESS
26 March19,857:-
SENATE INTELLIGENCE CHW:URGES.:REGIONAL.A-CITON AGAINSTNICARKGIT
BY Robert Parry
WASHINGTON
The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, declaring covert U.S. aid to
Nicaraguan rebels "at a dead end," Tuesday urged regional action against
Nicaragua's leftist government, possibly including military force.
Sen. David Durenberger, R-Minn., said the Reagan administration should drop
its bid for $14 million in renewed covert aid and instead encourage its Central
American allies to seek action against Nicaragua by the Organization of American
States.
Asked if such a move would lead ultimately to direct U.S. military
intervention, Durenberger answered in a question-and-answer session at the
National Press Club: "I don't think it's inevitable, but we better make clear
that it is possible."
Earlier, in a speech at the club, he said, "Military action should never be
ruled out. But no such action can be undertaken without a clear consensus in
this country and in the region."
Durenberger, who heads one of two congressional committees that has overseen
the CIA's covert action against Nicaragua, specifically cited two articles of
the OAS' Rio Treaty which provides for collective self-defense, from diplomatic
and economic steps to use of military force. -
Durenberger criticized the administration for failing to develop a coherent
approach toward Nicaragua, and Congress for interfering with the president's
direction of foreign policy.
He said last year's congressional action, which requires approval by both
houses of Congress for the release of $14 million to the Nicaraguan rebels,
"holds American action hostage to an ill-timed vote on an ill-planned program in
support of a policy which no one understands."
As for President Reagan's call for resumption of the aid, Durenbergersaid:
"The previous formula for covert assistance is simply at a dead end.
Congress won't be party to the illogical and illegal absurdity of pretending
that we are not providing military assistance when it is widely and publicly
known that we are."
However, Durenberger also denounced the Sandinista government, describing it -
as "another Central American dictatorship which is doomed to failure unless it
can be kept alive by outside help."
He added that he considered intelligence evidence of Nicaraguan support for
insurgencies in other Central American countries "clear and convincing,"
although he refused to elaborate on that information.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/02/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040067-7
C)11.
The administration has long accused the Sandinistas of funneling weapons and
other support to leftist guerrillas fighting in El Salvador and.Guatemala, but
has failed to capture a single weapons shipment in more than four years.
In December 1981, Reagan approved covert CIA aid to the rebels fighting to
overthrow the Sandinista government. That assistance totaled about $80 million
when Congress cut it off last June, following disclosures that the CIA
directed the mining of Nicaragua's harbors.
If the Central American nations were to accuse Nicaragua of aggression
because of its alleged support of guerrillas, the OAS council could approve a
variety of joint diplomatic and economic steps that would isolate Nicaragua from
the region.
The Rio Treaty also grants the council the authority to order "the use Of -
armed force" to thwart aggression.
In the past, however, the OAS has resisted suggestions that it intervene in
the Central America dispute as long as the so-called Contadora peace process,
led by Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela, continued.
Administration officials have also expressed doubts about chances of
enlisting OAS backing for a joint effort against Nicaragua, considering the
internal political problems such a move could cause countries throughout the
. Western Hemisphere. '
Durenberger, however, argued that the OAS route represented the best hope to
pressure on the Sandinistas into opening up itS political process and cutting
its ties to Cuba and the Soviet. Union.
"If the Sandinistas adjust their policies and manifest a commitment to
the democratic process, we should be willing to develop close and supportive
ties with Nicaragua," he said. "But we should also be prepared to isolate
Nicaragua if the Sandinistas continue on a collision course with their
neighbors."
In his speech, Durenberger also compared the construction of an advanced
airport in Nicaragua to one that was being built on Grenada in October 1983,
when the United States and other Caribbean nations invaded the island nation
, after charging its leftist government threatened regional security.
Citing Nicaragua's airport construction at Puenta Huete, Durenberger said:
"Is that a Grenada or not a Grenada?"
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/02/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040067-7