CENTRAL AMERICA MILITARY VICTORY CALLED NECESSITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302960004-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: September 13, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302960004-9
ARTI CLB AYFEAFM
or PACT - /Z WASHINGTON POSfi
13 September 1983
Central America
hhtary Victory..
~alled Necessity.
By Fred Hiatt
+????~ w MhVWWnftELS rtwrlter
.:' d -C. fide,' the thud-ianldng offiiciaL nthe
i)e~Eense Depart ent; last sight called jar. ''mil-
itary,victory in ' encl.:saying=-negotia;
dons alone cannot*reso}veiurrent conflicts there.
Me, undersecretary..or_policy, also suggested
that lukewarm congressional-support for President.
.eagan's Program of !economic and. military aid
could -force the United States to deploy troops in
the region, "as in Korea or Vest Germany."
-Wes remarks. prepared for delivery to the Bal-
imore Council .on Foreign Affairs, and last week's
-visit to the area by Defense Secretary .,Caspar -% i'.
'Weinberger renew the -administration's bid for
congressional support -for increased ?US. involve-
ment in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras.
In addition to seeking more military and -eco-
nomic aid for El Salvador and rightist insurgents
in Nicaragua, the Reagan administration has de-
aided to increase by as.many- as 11 the:number of
U.S. military personnel in El Salvador, informally
limited until now to 55, officials said yesterday.
Weinberger said in an interview last week that
he expects Guatemalan troops to be trained at.a
camp in- Honduras operated by US. Green Berets,
although there are no specific plans to do so.
Congress has refused to authorize military aid
to Guatemala because of alleged human : rights
violations by it military government. .
. .Ikle, casting doubt on the potential effective.
Hess of diplomacy in the region, said some of the
leftist guerrillas fighting the Salvadoran govern-
ment will never negotiate seriously. -
.The hard core among the insurgents will never
settle for a fair democratic, process," he said: -Wt
can no more negotiate an acceptable political so-
lution with these people than the social democrats'.
in revolutionary Russia could have talked Lenin
into giving up totalitarian Bolshevism.
'IAt me make this clear to you," Ikle continued,
"we do not seek a military defeat for our friends..
We do not seek a military stalemate. We seek vic-
toryi.for the forces of democracy."
Ikie said victory has two components, "defeat.
ing militarily" guerrillas who will not accept de=
mocracy and 'establishing an adequate internal
system for justice and personal security."
Ikie accused Congress of 'crippling the presi-
dent's military assistance program" and leading to :
a- policy of "protracted failure." ' Last year, Con-
grest provided about half the military aid Reagan
requested for El Salvador, and the House has
votes to cut off covert aid to guerrillas fighting
the$andinists government. of Nicaragua.
flee urged continuation of covert aid to `dem-
ocraoc resistance forces in Nicaragua." Arry.other
action, he said, "would-turn Nicaragua into a sanc-
tuary from which the nations of Central America
.could : be safely attacked, but in which U -S.-sup-
ported'forces could not operate."
,A.ztaong and unthreatened Nicaragua. in turn,
.could .force the United,States to place troops in
neighboring counties, -as in Korea and West Ger-
mane," Ikle said. "Clearly, we must preventsuth s
partition of Central America."
.Rep.' Clarence D. Long (-Md.), chairman of ,
the House Appropriations foreign operations sub-
comrniuee, -said Ikle's speech reflects the.failure of
administration policy in Central America
"Now they perceive the policy as not working
very well; they're nearing an election, and they
want someone to blame it on," Long said. -. - = _
Gino Lofredo, director of the Commission on
U.S.-Interamerican Relations, condemned Ilde's J
mention of an East-West partition ?of Central
"This is the first reference to the Koreanization
of Central America: it's no longer the Vietnamiza_
tion. It takes three weeks to set something like
that up and three months to dismantle it," Lo-
fredo said.
He said his group is composed largely of former
Carter administration officials and congressional
aides with interest in Central America
Congressional sources said Reagan has decided
to exempt the 11-person military group in the
U.S. Embassy in San Salvador from- his -self-
imposed limit of *55 trainers in the country.
The decision, being discussed with congression_
a] leaders, represents a compromise -between. those
who wanted a substantial increase in the number
of advisers and those who fear the politicalfallout -
from such an increase. -
Weinberger supports exemption of the embassy
military group from the self-imposed limit. Some 1
call it a self-inflicted wound," he said to 13.5. per_
sonnel in El Salvador last week.
"There is. some desire to adhere to '[the limit]-
Weinberger told advisers and embassy personnel,
"but there certainly isn't any desire to make your
job infinitely more difficult by counting every
i_ American who comes in here."
The military group, a version of which exists in
most U.S. embassies, administers military aid and
advises local armed forces. The trainers are more
involved with educating Salvadoran soldiers..
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302960004-9