BARBIE'S U.S. CONNECTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100140035-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: March 22, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 :CIA-RDP90-012088000100140035-0
STAT
CHARLESTON NEtiTS & COURIER (SC)
22 March 1983
B~rbi _ ;
e s U . S__. Con
_ _ _ nect~on
1t is heartening to hear that Attorn~y~Gen- ~ ~ It is difficult to conceive of any situation f
eral William French Smith. has ordered an in which such a man would be protected by
investigation by the Justice Department into U.S. intelligence. It is not impossible that the .
allegations that Klaus Barbie, the former _ Allied intelligence services sought informa-
Nazi Gestapo leader who is facing trial for tion from him when he was arrested in Ger- i
crimes against humanity in Lyon, France, 'many at the end of the war although it is
following his extradition from his haven in questionable whether a man who spent most 1
Bolivia, worked for and was protected by of his time as a torturer and executioner in
U.S. intelligence agencies. France would know many Soviet secrets, as
The charge came out of the blue from Nazi has been alleged..But if is important to estab-
hunter Serge Klarsfield, who claims that he lish the truth of these charges.
has documentary proof that for five .years ;,Because of their. ver~r nature; intelligence, .
authorities in the American zone consistently services can very easily ..become corrupted
frustrated French efforts to bring Barbie to and sometimes serve the aims of the enemies .
trial and that the CIA helped him flee to Bo- they are supposed to protect us against. Quite
Livia in 1951. _ ~ frankly, Serge Klarsfield's story sounds too .
' Since then, three other men have come for- much like aleft-wing propaganda canard to
ward with stories of money paid to Barbie for be true. Two purposes may be served by ~car-
working for U.S. intelligence which allegedly rYthg out an investigation into any American ,
granted him protection. It has also been al- connection with Barbie: On one hand, another-
leged that he paid a number of visits to the left-wing attempt at discrediting the United
United States and Europe from Bolivia, pre- States may be exposed. On the other, if the
sumably with the knowledge of his supposed worst turns out to be true, it will establish a
protectors. case for a thorough housecleaning in-tbe CIA
and allied intelligence agencies to remove
Barbie was a notorious killer, deservedly any lingering traces of p~ilo-Nazism. The
known as "the Butcher of Lyon" because of two extremes of totalitarian .temperament,
his key role in the torture and murder of whether leftist veering to Marxist-Leninism,
members of the resistance and in the depor- or right-wing .bordering on Fascism, .are
ration of thousands of French Jews to Nazi equally venemous and alien to American de-
concentration camps. mocracy.
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 :CIA-RDP90-012088000100140035-0