MARY MCGRORY FORCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91B00135R000701270016-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 16
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/02/21 :CIA-RDP91 B00135R000701270016-9
OPJERATIONS CENTER/CURRENT SUPPORT. CTROUP
~~~~'S ~g~~-~~~~ WASHINGTON POST, A-3
A Glass Through Which the Free World Can
- View the Soviets
9 February 1983
Item No. 1
.: ,.
By prcumstance and by .choice, Pope .tca-ie, .wbo were recently" summoned .tv .Salvador; it.:is bad news for the. adminis-
John Paul II is standing at the center of Rome to meet with their dissenting Euro- tration:^ Rivera, who has.been "acting" for
r.. .
. the whole complex of East-West relation- ;p~~ brother-bishops, were being called on ~ three years, is a critic of theaecurity forces
ships, not to mention Ronald Reagan's the carpet. ~ ~ - ~: ; :._ ~ ,and an outspoken advocate of "dialogue,"
.,thorniest foreign policy problems. ~ ;: ~~ This was not the purpose or'the outcori~e that is, negotiations with the guerrillas. His
~`. -Because of the plot against his life, the ?of~.the .bishops'. meeting, according.to eye- ~ installation would be seen.as a .papal en-
':Bulgarian connection that the Italian police..witnesses.. Differing opinions ;'were ex- dorsement of Rivera's approach. ''
:have established and the possible, although ;changed .in an_:amieable, fratexnat`spirit. The most the administration could hope
:far from proven involvement. of Yuri V. for in the pope's visit tv Nicaragua is that
Andropov, the new Soviet leader and erst- ``' ~ the pontiff will be. preoccupied with eccle=
.while head of the KGB, the pope could I~~~i'o siaatical offenses=the presence of disolie:'
become the glass through which the free dient priests . in high places in the San,
world looks et Moscow. ~ I danista government and the recalcitrariE
The president has been preternaturally "popular church" which the pope wishes`tii
`~ restrained in his comments about an un ~ : t ?..~ convert to the Polish virtues of "unity. and?~_
.finished story that so .far reinforces a ..? ;. ,discipline." But he may find time to speak
-
; thousandfold his stated views of the Soviets Thethird draft ,of theirr` pastoral. setter, ~ of"reconciliation" .betwgen Nicaragua, ana~
as perfidious and brutal people who stop at which the president.wishes would.never see :its neighbor Honduras, .which recently eri~
?nothing to divide and conquer the world. '.the light of day, is going forward. -;'' .:~~ ~' ;gaged :in military maneuvers with forces cif
~. .The monstrous suspicions engendered by :~. The, administration thought at one time ;the United States, which has never denied
.
for halting the disarmament negotiations ;who have taken an -adamant
position `Managua. "
.
he so reluctantly opened in Geneva. The against its policy in Latin America. They' .His resonant baritone will ~ be heeded: .
explanation that he wishes co preserve de-.had some initial success, but last August,, John Paul II, by accident and design, has.,
. tents is hardly convincing, in view of his the pope issued a pastoral letter that long since become more than the ahepherd~
recent attempts,' through pipeline sane-! proved ~ did ~ share the administration ~ of his flock.
:tions, to disawrage it. Not all public figures Iview of the war in El Salvador as a struggle
"are so reticent. Sert. Alfonse M. D'Amato,between East and West with the guerrillas
(R-N.Y.) is storming around Rome shout-:cent as clients and pawns of Moscow and
ing "J'accuse" at the CIA for ineptitude in Havana.
' investigating the enormous crime,, about . He defined it in these terms:
' which;~he~rages, he gave them advance in- "On one side those who consider armed
formation. battle a necessary instrument for obtaining
Adding to the. riddle is the fact that the, a new social order, and on the other side
.CIA has been charged with leaking ac- those resorting to the principles of `national
counts that pooh-pooh Bulgarian acid KGB security' to legitimize bnital repression:'
.? involvement. Why? Is it covering for its, Now the .pope will go and see for him-
failures pn the cage? Does it have better` self. Early next month he is embarking on
;: information? If so, why is it not divulged? ~ .a tour of Central American hot spots, El
.. ~ The pope also is a pivotal figure in the Salvador, '.Honduras, Guatemala, Nicara-
. matter moat galling to the administration-- 8~; His itinerary is a tribute to his courage
' the U.S. bishops' controversial anti-nuclear aid also his determination. to be taken into
pastoral letter. r~aocount in world.affairs..? -'. -,
According to ~ columnists ~ Evans .` ands .The State Department hopes that it may
Novak, the White House dispatched Gen. be just another of those picturesque pas-
Vernon Walters, a veteran troubleshooter,' total -progresses, ,with the white-clad figure
to the Vatican to importune the .pope to lost in the seas of screaming, Yearning hu-
rein in his radical clerics, pvho oppose first manity that envelop him wherever he goes.
use and other nuclear "options" Reagan 'But the political potec-tial is too great for
wishes to retain. Walters indignantly denies comfort.