U.S. AID TO NICARAGUAN REBELS-LAWMAKERS SPEAK OUT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000202230055-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 55
• Publication Date: May 2, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/06: CIA-RDP90-00552R000202230055-4
ARTICLE APPEA{ D,- U.S. IMwrs & W0FJD REPORT'
ON PAGE _ - - / --r 2 MAY 1983
iySa Aid to
ara an Rebels-
Lawmakers Speak Out
The Reagan administration's actions in Central Ameri-
ca are engulfed in controversy on Capitol Hill-so much
so that the President planned to make a televised speech
to a joint session of Congress on April 27 to defend his
policies.
One key issue: Should the U.S. be following its present
course of giving aid to the rebels who are trying to
overthrow Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista regime? The
magazine asked key lawmakers that question. Excerpts
from their replies-
Representative Henry Hyde
Insofar as the Sandinistas are pro-
viding weapons, training and sup-
port to the Communist guerrillas in
El Salvador, they must understand
there's a price to be paid for that. I
don't know that the administration
is funding anti-Sandinista groups,
but I hope it is.
Attempts by Congress to cut off
funding will hamstring efforts to aid the democratically
elected El Salvador government in resisting Communist
guerrillas and at the same time will immunize the Sandi-
nista government from freedom fighters attempting to
regain their country from Communism.
We don't seem to know our friends from our adversar-
ies in Central America.
Representative Jim Leach (R-
Iowa): The administration is now
saying it's not our program to over-
throw the Nicaraguan government,
although it may be the goal of the
particular groups we are assisting.
To accept that sophistry is to accept
the notion of a tooth fairy.
One of the lessons of the post-
World War II period is that great-
power interventionism is an idea whose time has passed.
?\Ve cannot look at Nicaragua in a vacuum. Ironically, in
El Salvador, we object to forces supported from abroad
who are seeking to shoot their way into power. In Nicara-
gua; we are supporting forces that are attempting to shoot
their way into power. We are the financiers of anarchy.
Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.),
chairman of the Senate Intelli-
gence Committee: I think everv-
thing the President has done has
been within his legal and constitu-
tional rights. Everything the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency and other
parts of the intelligence family have
been within the law.
In n' opinion. the Roland
n .::.::;;?: nt [prohibiting the U.S. from using govern-
ment of Nicaragua] is unconstitutional. It's another ex-
ample of Congress trying to take away the constitutional
power of the President to be Commander in Chief and
to formulate foreign policy. The role of Congress is to
advise and consent. But Congress has gone way too far in
telling the President how to run foreign policy.
Representative Berkley Bedell (D-
Iowa): I came back from my recent
trip to Nicaragua with three strong
beliefs. First, what we are doing is
morally wrong. These counterrevo-
lutionaries are led by the security
guards of former dictator Somoza.
They were guilty of atrocities dur-
ing the Somoza regime. Now they
are sweeping through the country-
side kidnapping and murdering innocent civilians. I met
a grandmother whose grandson had been killed by the
counterrevolutionaries that we are financing. She said to
me: "I cannot understand why President Reagan wants
to see our women and children killed when we have not
meant to do anything to him." It's pretty hard to answer
that question as an American.
Secondly, what we're doing is pragmatically wrong.
We're giving the government of Nicaragua an excuse for
some of its economic difficulties. We're pushing them
more toward the Soviet Union and the Communist bloc.
Finally, I think it is legally wrong. The President is
violating the law of the land and is not abiding by the
treaties to which the U.S. is a party.
Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.): It
is a legitimate point of our foreign
policy to discourage arms shipments
by foreign powers into El Salvador
when those shipments are clearly
designed to disrupt a democratically
elected government.
We are not attempting to over-
throw the government of Nicara-
gua. It is the unelected, undemo-
cratic government of Nicaragua that is trying to upset
the democratically elected regime in El Salvador.
The Nicaraguan armed forces are now a juggernaut of
tens of thousands of persons, more substantial than any
other military force ever assembled in Central America.
To talk seriously about overthrow when all these persons
are still in place is to talk nonsense.
Senator Christopher Dodd (D-
Conn.): The administration claims it
is not desirous of overthrowing the
Sandinista government. Yet, we've
admitted in effect that we're provid-
ing assistance to the contras fighting
the Sandinistas. That is confusing
enough here at home and it is certain-
ly confusing to Central America.
What's more, it legitimizes, in the
eyes of many, Nicaragua's buildup in arms. It could
provide them with justification for inviting Cuban troops
in or inviting the Soviets to place missiles in the country.
What will we do then? Are we going to rely upon the Costa
Ricans and the Hondurans to fight the Cubans?
The administration has not thought out clearly where
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