HOW MAJOR MEDIA WERE DUPED BY PHILIP AGEE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000201230008-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 28, 2010
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: August 22, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/28: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201230008-2
22 _ u ;us t
Salvador `White Paper'
What is one to do about journals
that, however unwittingly, have served
as transmission belts for Communist
propaganda and then refuse to correct
the record? The most that can he done,
apparently, is to expose such journals
when they engage in such outrageous
practices. - . . .11
The Wall Street Journal and the
Washington Post; we submit; are two
.newspapers which have served as such
transmission belts;. and neither has
made any effort to rectify the grave
damage it has -done -to U.S.- foreign
The department said that the guer-
rillas were promised 800 tons of mod-
em weapons and equipment-machine
guns, rifles, mortars, anti-tank wea-
pons and other supplies-and that
at least 200 tons were known to have
been delivered. The arms shipments
were arranged by the leader of the pro-
Soviet Salvadoraa Communist -party,
Shafik Handal, who traveled to the
Soviet Union and other Communist
states during the period June 2-
July 22. 1980. The arms were trans-
carping about the document, but that it''!
was trying to destroy its credibility en-
tirely. Indeed, the thrust of the Journal!
story was that evidence of Soviet-bloc
interference in El Salvador was virtu-
-- -
The following day the Washington
Post unleashed its own savage indict-
ment. In a front-page piece, above the
fold, the Post headlined its story:
"White Paper on El Salvador Is Faul-
ty." Written by Robert Kaiser, the arti-
cle strongly echoed the Journal's theme
that the White Paper had highly exag-
gerated
the evidence concerning Soviet-
bloc involvement with the Salvadoran
guerrillas.
The articles in both papers had a tre-
mendously negative impact. Editorially,
the Post referred to it as the "defective"
White Paper. Hodding Carter III, the
moderator of the Public Television pro-
gram, "Inside Story," praised the
Journal and the Post for raising
"serious questions" about the docu-
ment. Though the White Paper had_
been accepted as fact by Western of- i
ficials, claimed Newsweek, "inde-
pendent investigations by the Washing-
ton Post and the Wall Street Journal
have raised serious questions about the
accuracy of the report and the validity
of its conclusions."
Thanks to the Journal and the Post,
ferred to the guerrillas via Cuba and
used by an ideological agent of the I't-e release of the White Paper
Soviets and the Cubans, Philip Agee, to signaled the end of the Carter era prac
undermine American. policy in El tice of cozying up to the far left in Latin
Salvador and to help destroy the America, and the beginning of a get-
American government's thesis that the tough' policy with Communist in-
Soviet bloc has been instrumental in surgents in the region. Clearly, the aim
furnishing aid to the Salvadoran guer- of the document was to give justifica-
rillas. In so doing, they have helped Lion to a policy of furnishing U.S.
greatly to foster the leftist myth that the military aid to a Salvadoran govei n-
guerrillas are nothing more than ment menaced by Communist forces.
reform-minded freedom fighters, bat-
tling a horribly repressive regime.
On February23 of this year, the
State Department, as was widely
reported, released a White Paper on El
Salvador which meticulously detailed
the Soviet Empire's heavy hand in
assisting the guerrillas. Relying on cap-
tured documents, the discovery of hid-
den weaponry and critical intelligence
But this turn of policy was to be
deliberately undermined by both
the Journal and the Post, though
neither would reveal that they
became the pawns of Agee in the
process. .
On June 8, the Journal, in its lead,
front-page piece, ran. an article by
e
l l
sources, the State Department docu- , White Paper was rife with error. The
ment disclosed that the Soviet Union, I headline immediately informed the
d
an
most of its thuggish satellites and
allies, such as Cuba, Vietnam,
Ethiopia, the PLO, East Germany and
the like, had combined in an effort to
furnish the guerrillas the wherewithal
to overthrow the non-Communist
Salvadoran government. . .
reader of the article's slant: "Apparent.
Errors Cloud U.S. 'White Paper' on,
Reds in El Salvador." The kicker read: ;
"Tarnished Report?" A subhead said:
"State Department Aide Says Parts
May be Misleading But Defends Con-
clusions."
The ' placement of the story, the
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/28: CIA-RDP90-00845R000201230008-2