'HYPOCRITICAL' POLICY ON TERRORISM SAID TO HURT US CREDIBILITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480009-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 1, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: November 10, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480009-3
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CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
10 November 1986
`Hypocritical' policy
on terrorism said to
hurt US credibility
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Staff wrhs- of-The cruie science M?um-
The United States is facing charges of hypocrisy in its
approach to terrorism as details continue to emerge
about covert White House negotiations with Iran to
swap military spare parts for the freedom of individual
Americans held hostage in Lebanon.
President Reagan has repeatedly proclaimed a policy
of not granting concessions to terrorists or their state
sponsors. Administration officials have also worked to
encourage US allies in Europe to stand united in their
opposition and response to terrorist tactics.
Because the secret dealings with Iran appear to un-
dercut, if not directly contravene, the stated policy, the
disclosures are proving highly embarrassing to the
White House.
The Reagan administration is said to be sharply split
over the issue. There were reports over the weekend
that Secretary of State George Shultz is considering
resigning over what many are construing as a violation
of the US's announced antiterrorism policy,
Mideast experts say that in addition to hurting the
administration's credibility at home and abroad, the
Iran negotiations case raises serious questions about the
competence of White House Mideast advisers.
They stress that while working toward improved
relations with Iran is a sound and desirable goal - with
potential long-term gains of reducing militant Islamic-
inspired terrorism in the Mideast - the administration
seems to have badly Tsui td-tlfe effOrtt----- - -
It is management by people who don't know what
they are doing and who don't understand the- Middle
East," says Robert G. Neumann, a former US ambassa-
dor to Saudi Arabia, Morvoco, and Afghanistan-who- is
now at the Center for Strategic and International
Under the secret plan, US officials re-
portedly arranged to have spare parts
shipped to Iran with the assistance of
Israeli middlemen. The purpose was to
gain the release of Americans held hos-
tage by the militant 'pro-Iranian Muslim
group Islamic Jihad. The plan was alleg-
edly carried out by members of the Presi-
dent's National Security Council (NSC)
and former national security adviser Rob-
ert McFarlane.
The swaps are reported to have
brought about the release of David Jacob-
sen last week; the Rev. Lawrence Jenco
last July; and the Rev. Benjamin Weir in
September 1985.
Members of the Senate Intelligence
Committee have called for an investi a-
tion to determine if the White House de-
liberately tried- to deceive Congress in
conducting the covert mission thidUgli
the NSU rat er an i vo vufg a State
6epartment, fense-Depaltment, or the
Central intelligence Agency, which must
report such activities to egress,
MIdiMe East specialists iii critics
within the administration argue that ne-
gotiations to swap US spare parts for
hostages will only encourage terrorists to
take more hostages in the future.
They add that the secret negotiations
undermine the stated US policy of strict
neutrality in the Gulf War between Iran
and Iraq and could tip the balance of
power in the oil-rich Gulf in favor of Iran.
Clumsy contacts with moderates within
the Iranian regime may also have boom-
eranged against the US by undermining
the standing of top Iranian officials in-
volved in the secret hostage deals.
Critics also note that the secret plan
violates a US arms embargo of Iran first
enacted by President Carter in the wake
of the Tehran hostage crisis in 1979.
In recent years, several cases have
been prosecuted in US courts involving
would-be arms dealers working with Is-
raelis who claimed in court that ship-
ments of banned military spare parts to
Iran had been secretly approved by the
US government. One such case, involving
an estimated $2 billion in arms, is now
pending in US District Court in New York.
Mideast experts say the administra-
tion's actions are short-sighted. They em-
phasize that the five Americans, six
French citizens, and others who remain
hostages in Lebanon are not all being held
by the same group. They say that while
senior Iranian officials may be able to use
their influence in Lebanon to gain the
release of hostages held by Islamic Jihad,
it remains to be seen if Iran or Syria have
any influence over a growing number of
terrorist groups who seem to be following
their own agendas in Lebanon.
Experts note that with an estimated
1,000 Americans still in Lebanon, it re-
mains relatively easy for freelance terror-
ists to abduct Westerners on the streets of
Beirut and hold them with little fear of
being either thwarted or discovered.
"I am not persuaded that Iran has the
capacity to get them all released," says
Lt. Col. Augustus R. Norton, an expert on
the Lebanese Shia. who teaches at the US
Military Academy at West Point. "There
is a lot of anarchy in Lebanon," Colonel
Norton adds.
"There is no doubt that as long as
terrorism pays it will continue," says
Roger Edde, a prominent Maronite Chris-
tian in Lebanon. "'Terrorism is used now
for many purposes by many players....
Some are interested not in what is crucial
to Iran but what is crucial to them -
which is to throw out of Lebanon any
Western presence," Mr. Edde says.
"It is a ruthless game," says Ambassa-
dor Neumann. "They take us, they take
what they need, and they let out one
hostage or another." He adds, "I don't
think this kind of dealing works."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605480009-3