European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 4, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes tuesday March 4, 1986 columns Anthony Lewis . Setting stage for intervention in Nicaragua one of the ugliest and most dangerous political operations seen in our country in years is now under Way in Washington. It is the Reagan administration s Campaign to win a free hand for War on Nicaragua by smearing As pro communist All who disagree with the War policy. It is ugly because it uses the tools of Joe Mccarthy invention fear and intimidation. It is dangerous because it Points the United states toward the use of its own military forces in Nicaragua. William j. Casey the director of the Central intelligence Agency got the operation rolling at a White House briefing for members of Congress on feb. 18. He passed out copies of a classified report in Brown wrappers entitled sandinista disinformation and Public manipulation he took the copies Back at the end of the meeting but officials began leaking details of the operation. The operation is timed to coincide with president Reagan s push for $100 million in new Aid to the contras most of it for weapons instead of the present humanitarian Aid. The idea is to picture opponents of that policy As pawns of communism and the nicaraguan government. Elliott Abrams assistant Secretary of state for inter american affairs said the Cia report showed How elaborate and skillful Are the sandinista plans to manipulate Congress and the news agencies quoted a senior administration official unnamed As saying what you have Here is a communist government Allied with the soviet Union undertaking a very Well organized Effort with the help of certain americans to change a vote in Congress. That is not a Federal crime but it is something that con Gressmen appear to wish to know you can almost hear the voice of sen. Mccarthy at Wheeling w.va., 36 years ago charging that the state department was thick with communists. The talk of a vast disinformation Campaign by the government of Nicaragua has As much sub stance and As much Poison As his talk of a conspiracy so but there is something More insidious about the Reagan smear Campaign. Joe Mccarthy was an outsider. The people running this operation hold positions of William Safire Ambito Power in the United states government. Worst of All they Are misusing the Cia for purposes of political intimidation. The Republican chairman of the Senate intelligence committee David Durenberger of Minnesota was troubled by just that Point the use of intelligence resources for a transparent political the aim he said was to portray every senator and congressman who votes against lethal Aid to the contras As a Stooge of comm moreover Mccarthy was a cynic. He did not believe those fearful tales he told he just thought they would help him Politi Cally. Abrams and the others who Are pushing the War on Nicaragua do believe. They Are zealots. They Are convinced that the Man Agua government must be overthrown. That end justifies the use of any Means and disagreement is treason. The zealotry is what makes the present Campaign so dangerous. There is no reason to believe that the contras with their proven ineptitude and cruelty Are going to get anywhere in Nicaragua with $100 Mil lion More from the United states. When they fail the zealots logic will require the intervention of . Forces. The launching pad for a . Invasion has been prepared in neighbouring Honduras. Over the last three years the Reagan administration has spent millions there on airstrips Barracks and other supposedly temporary facilities for Maneu vers. It is still hard to believe that the Reagan people would actually Send Ameri can troops into Nicaragua. But we have to keep remembering that the Issue for them involves something More than rational calculations. The speaker of the House tip o Neill warned the other Day of the effect of arming the contras and then setting them lose. The shame of Pur defeat he said will bring our troops in assistant Secretary Abrams has been sensitive in other areas in helping to get Jean Claude Duvalier out of Haiti for example. But on Central America he has the certitude of a Savonarola. Disagree and you Are mccarthyism May Well intimidate some members of Congress it has done so be fore. But i do not think it will work with the press and the Public generally. This country s Best friends in latin America Are advising us urgently against military intervention. History gives the same advice. To return to the game of overthrowing latin governments is against every american in Terest moral and practical. New York times today s drug smuggler tomorrow s bomb smuggler if you think the . Border is any Barrier to the smuggling of drugs you re blowing dope. Every narcotics racketeer and cop knows the most efficient Way to transport drugs particularly cocaine across our boundaries Fly it through the Windward passage Between Cuba and Haiti into the Bahamas and then by boat or plane into Florida. Or if you really want to play it Safe Fly it into Mexico and trampoline take advantage of the Many dry Lake Beds South of Elpaso that serve As Landing Fields for the world s most profitable air service. Almost two thirds of the cocaine snorted in the United states comes across that Southwest Border in Small planes according to rep. Glenn English d-okla., chair Man of the House operations subcommittee overseeing our flagging War on on a single Remote stretch a recent three Day test surveillance spotted eight smug Gler aircraft plying their Trade multiply that by a Hun dred other favored crossing Points to get some idea of the undisturbed air Armada doing its booming business. The most glaring difficulty in our War on drugs is that we have All but abandoned the front line the Border is relatively undefended. The classic bureaucratic Battle be tween the Justice department which believes in tips by informants and criminal prosecutions and the customs service of the Treasury department which tries to inter dict drugs at our Borders has been won by Justice. We have decided essentially to stabilize the invest ment in customs drug interdiction Treasury s Richard Darman told Congress which Means that customs will not be Able to use new surveillance aircraft equipped with radar built for f-15 fighters to Nail the trampolining smugglers. He knows better than to do Battle with attorney general Meese who prefers to use the Money to Chase the drugs in the United states. The apparent helplessness of Law enforcement in interdicting the flow of drugs across our Borders raises the Issue of posse comi Tatus. The phrase is latin for Force of the county and is familiar to fans of Western movies in which the sheriff deputies a band to follow the men who went that away in this context it Means the use of the nation s military forces for the purpose of Law enforcement. My libertarian knee jerks away from legislation such As that passed in 1981, that permits the armed services to be employed in the search for International drug pedal ers. The department of defense has properly resisted this while you re at it Law holding that it might distract the armed forces from their first Mission in addition it is dangerous to turn an army into any sort of National police Force. As a result the department of defense lends a hand in drug interdiction Only when it is part of other training and no shoot outs Are involved. But the porous Border is worrisome in a Way that arrests my knee Jerk. Defense is in business to protect us from armed aggression and will ultimately be Able to detect and destroy incoming missiles. Greater than the possibility of a superpower first strike is the Chance of a terrorist state smuggling a nuclear device into one of our cities. The defense department if it is not to find itself fighting the next War with the strategy of a War that May never be fought must be prepared to defend the nation from a suitcase with a Hydrogen warhead. Granting Star wars a perfect execution of a defense against thousands of incoming soviet missiles it will still leave us naked to an attack from a Khomeini or khad Afy unconcerned with launch phase shoot Downs or massive retaliation. The Day can easily be foreseen when one of our cities is held hostage by a terrorist group or a terrorist state the stuff of novels can quickly become reality. At that Point we would be asking How did they get the bomb into our country whose Job was it to Stop the incoming weapon at our Border Why have we spent trillions on defense when any maniac can Fly in a bomb that can destroy acuity we do have a special operations Force run jointly by the army and air Force putatively in charge of counter terrorism. When the drug smugglers trampoline bounces a bomb or two with practice ease across our Southwest Border we can expect a Blue ribbon panel to be appointed to inquire into the lapse in our decision making process that rendered interdiction impossible. The fighter pilots of the Pentagon want no part of missions looking Down for smugglers the customs serv ice does t have the Money for gunships or Junior Azacs the Justice department derides interdiction but is thinking Only of drugs not bombs. Who is there to organize a posse comi Tatus to defend our Borders new York times
