A GLASS THROUGH WHICH THE FREE WORLD CAN VIEW THE SOVIETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201420016-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: February 10, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201420016-7
AP,TICLZ A.FFEAL
ON PLGE WASHINGTON POST
10 FEBRUARY 1983
A Glass Through which the Free
STAT
World Can View the :soviets
STAT
According. to, eoTnists",EvaRS"~aad ='I'Fie Sta{eDepartment hopee'that it inay
By circumstance and ' by choice, Pope< j _ Novak;; the- White House dispefclzed_ den:, be just another of those picturesque pas-,
John Paul II is standing'at the center of Vernon Walters, a veteran troubleshooter, toral progresses, with the white-clad figure.
the whole complex of East-West relation- to the Vatican to importune the"pope lq' lost in the seas of screaming, yearning hu-
ships, not to mention Ronald Reagan's 'rein in. his radical clerics, who oppose ftESt= inanity that-envelop him wherever he gees..
thorniest foreign policy problems. use and other nuclear "options''..Reagan But the political potential is too great for
Because of the plot against his life, the wishes to retain. Walters indignantly denies comfort:
Bulgarian connection that the Italian police the Evans and Novak report, but plainly.. If the pope, for instance, makes Rivera y
have-established and the possible, although 'the administration. hoped that-the Amer Damas the: permanent archbishop of El
far from proven involvement of Yuri V. _._,
Andropov, the new Soviet. leader and erst-, ; .' icans,. "who, were recently summoned to Salvador, it is bad news for the adminis-
while -head of the KGB, the pope could:; Rome to meet with their dissenting Euro- tration. Rivera, who has been "acting" for
become the glass through which 'the free =Dean brother-bishops, were being called on, three years, is a critic -of the security forces
world looks at Moscow.. ;the carpet. and an outspoken advocate of "dialogue,"
The president has been preternaturally This was not the purpose or the outcome. that is, negotiations with the guerrillas. His
restrained in, his comments i about an un- of the bishops' meeting, according to eye- . installation would he seen as a papal en-
finished story that so- far. reinforces . witnesses. Differing opinions. were ex- dorsement of Rivera's approach.
thousandfold his stated views of the Soviets ' .-changed in an amicable, fraternal - spirit The most the administration could hope
as perfidious and brutal people who stop at . 'F third of their' pastoral letter,' for in the pope's visit to Nicaragua is that
nothing to divide and conquer the world. '` - which-the president wishes would never see the pontiff will be preoccupied with ecde
The monstrous suspicions engendered by - the'light of day, is going forward.- siastical offenses-the presence of disobe=
the reports would constitute a perfect alibi , 1'he administration thought at one time dient priests in high places in the San-
for halting the disarmament negotiations :`that it could circumvent" the U.S. bishops, danista government and the recalcitrant
he so reluctantly opened in Geneva. The .. who' have.'taken am adamant position "popular church" which the pope wishes to
explanation that he wishes to preserve de- '. against' its-policy in Latin America. They' convert to the Polish virtues of "unity and
tente is hardly convincing; in view of his -had some initial success, but last August, discipline." But he may find time to speak
recent attempts, . through pipeline sanc _ -,the pope issued a pastoral letter " that of "reconciliation" between Nicaragua and
tions, to discourage it. Not all public figures roved he did not share the administration; its neighbor Honduras, which recently en=
are so reticent. Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato view of the war in El Salvador as a struggle gaged in military maneuvers with forces of
(R.N.Y.) is storming around Rome shout- . between East and 'West with the guerrillas the United States, which has never denied
"J'aecuse" at the CIA for ineptitude in a covert campaign against the 'Marxists in
ing cast as clients and. pawns of Moscow and Managua.
investigating the enormous crime, about' Havana. His resonant' baritone will be heeded.
which, he. rages, he gave them advance in- He defined it in these terms: John Paul Il, by accident and design, has
formation. . - !40n one side those who consider armed
Adding to the riddle is the fact that the battle a necessary instrument for obtaining long since become more than the shepherd
CIA has been charged with; leaking ac- a new social order, and on the other side of his flock.
counts that pooh-pooh Bulgarian and KGB those resorting to the principles of `national
involvement. Why? Is it covering for its security' to legitimize brutal repression."
failures on the case? Does it have better Now the pope will go and see for him-
information? If so, why is it not divulged? self. Early next month he is embarking on
The pope also is a pivotal figure in the a tour of Central American hot spots, El
matter most galling to the administration- Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicara-
the U.S. bishops' controversial anti-nuclear gua. His itinerary is a tribute to his courage
l letter: - and also his dQterruin
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201420016-7 --