CLARK FEARS REVIVED ROLE IN ANGOLA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140088-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 20, 2007
• Sequence Number: 88
• Publication Date: May 24, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/22 : CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140088-3 STAT
Washington Post Staff Writers
-
Sen Dick Clark (D-IoNva) said yesterday, "It is in-
creasingly clear that President Carter has made the
decision to reinvolve the United States in the Angola
civil war."
Clark based his accusation on what he termed Carter
public statements about the desirability of repealing the
so-called Clark amendment that precludes any U.S. aid to
promote military or paramilitary, operations in Angola.
Clark said that if Carter really does not want to re-
involve the United States in Angola, "he ought to say
so.
White House press secretary Jody Powell said last
night: "The president has not made any decision to take
any action that would ? be contrary to the Clark amend-
ment or any law and is not going to."
Carter "has never said publicly or privately that he
thinks it ought to be repealed," Powell said of the Clark
amendment.
Powell said that the administration is not trying "to
rush pell mell into any entanglements," and that dis-
cussing laws that preclude actions "didn't necessarily
mean the president wanted to take those actions"
. It was learned yesterday that Carter's deputy national
security adviser, David Aaron, and Adm. Stansfield Tur-
ner, director of the Central Intelligence Agency,' called
on Clark earlier this month to discuss the transfer of
U.S. arms through third parties to Angolan and Ethi- {
opian . groups fighting Soviet- and Cuban-supported
forces.
The purpose of this U.S. aid would be to tie down the
Cubans in those two countries and make them reluctant
to enter the guerrilla war in Rhodesia, those officials
reportedly told Clark. ?
Turner is said to have shown Clark a plan outlining
transfer of equipment through a third party to the
United Front. for the Total Independence of Angola
(UNITA), led by Jonas Savimbi, which is conducting a
guerrilla struggle against Angola's Marxist central gov
ernment.
Clark reportedly told Turner such aid would be against
U.S. law,' but said he would study the idea. When they
talked again a few' days later, the Iowa senator strongly
opposed the idea.
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE A-I,15
THE -WASHHINGTO1 POST
24 May 1978
S
Turn erIaterTeLJU Lt~kA (Jn trraritib ar
titude to a National. Security Council:
meeting called to discuss possible aid
to UNITA in Angola. According to a
source, national security adviser Zbig-
riew Brzezinski "groaned" on hear-
ing Turner's report.
Before Turner visited Clark,- Brze
zinski's deputy, Aaron, called on the
senator to talk about possible indirect-
aid for Eritrean rebels fighting the'
Ethiopian army supported by Cuban:
troops and Soviet equipment. Aaron
also mentioned possible new U.S. aid;
to Angola, but only vaguely, a source,
said.
Powell said last night that Aaron's!
visit was for "a general discussion:
about Africa," and that Aaron did;
not "present any proposal to Clark"i
for new U.S. aid. .
.,..Powell said that Turner had talked;
to Clark "about what was possible
within the law," and "obviously used
several examples."
Powell also said that turner's mis-1
sion was not "to run any proposal:
by Clark."
Reached. by telephone last night,
Clark said Senate rules forbid him
from commenting on confidential
briefings from administration offi-
cials. '
Sources said the proposal to renew
covert military aid to Angolan rebels-,
was -hotly contested by State Depart-'
ment officials. It was suggested that,
proponents of the assistance hoped'
to obtain Clark's acquiescence beforeI
a final security council recomnienda-,
tion was made to the president.
In a related development yesterday,
Sen. George McGovern (D?S.D.) de-.iii
cided to challenge the administra-
tion's contention that congressional
restrictions have tied the president's
hands in Africa and made it difficult
to deal with the challenges posed
there by Soviet and Cuban interven-
tion... -
Itr remarks to be delivered on the
Senate floor this week, McGovern will
By Walter Pincus and Robert G. Kaiser -
Approved For Release 2007/06/22 : CIA-RDP99-00498R000100140088-3
say'the administration appears to be,
engaged in "a public relations ven-:
ture." He implies that it is the work-,
of "certain officials whose frustration;
at being unable to control complicated
international events - and to estab-
lish an image as tough-fisted wielders
of power - has compelled them to
place the blame on Congress." -
- The Washington Post reported last.
Friday that the Carter administration
had been working for two months on
a plan to funnel arms and equipment
through other countries to African
guerrilla forces fighting Cuban and
other Soviet-backed troops in Ethiopia
and Angola.