European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday March 9, 1986 James resign Congress press Are lie detectors on Nicaragua we need some lie detectors in Washington. The most prominent advertising Agency in Washington these Days is the firm of Reagan Weinberger Shultz and up cakes situated at 1600 Pennsylvania ave. These Guys with the Aid of Pat Buchanan inside and Mike Deaver outside think they can sell refrigerators to the eskimos but sometimes they go too far. Having sold Star wars and dumped their old Bud Dies in Haiti and the Philippines they Are now engaged in a major Campaign to convince Congress and the Amer ican people that Nicaragua is a menace to the United states and that unless they get $100 million for the Freedom fighters on the Border Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow and Fidel Castro in Havana will threaten the Security and democracy of the Western hemisphere. It s the boldest advertising Campaign since Ford motor  to sell the Edsel. Suddenly the administration has aimed its big guns on Nicaragua and let s agree Nicaragua is a problem. President Reagan has proclaimed that a failure by Congress to approve that $100 million for the Nicara Gua n rebels or Freedom fighters would be a strategic disaster that could Well deliver Nicaragua permanently to the communist  he gathered a few commentators into the theater of the while House the other Day to emphasize the Point along with Secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger and Secretary of state George Shultz who not Only supported the president but indicated that he was minimizing the problem. Then Shultz and other members of the administration went on to veterans groups and other so called press conferences to pick up the theme of the coming disaster if they did t get that $100 million. At first they suggested that it might be in american to oppose such an investment in Nicaragua. But when challenged on this Point they agreed that maybe it was Tom Wicker All right though wrong minded to disagree. Nevertheless the president has charged so hard on this $100 million for Nicaragua and overstated his Case so obviously that he has challenged the judgment of con Gress and vilified the press some of whose members when they attempted to question him were denounced As sons of  Well As the president is always saying with an amiable nod of his head we have to be careful. It s a hard Call what to do about Nicaragua. The Secretary of state has said that the russians have put about half a billion in there in the last five years and he testifies that the cubans have been engaged in military operations on gunships from the soviet Union against the opponents of the nicaraguan government and therefore that Congress must quickly approve that $100 million. But the administration s pressure on Congress and on Public opinion has been so Sharp and accusative that reaction has set in. It s interesting what the White House has tried to do about Nicaragua. It has stated the menace in such harsh terms that its proposal for another $100 million seems almost modest. If there is a threat to the Security of the United states As the president and the secretaries of state and defense say Why a Mere $100 million Why not intervene with our troops to remove the threat they say is posed by the sandinista government this of course is precisely the decision the president is unwilling to face. He thinks he can Deal with the problem by financing the rebels to fight the Battle he insists is vital to the Security of our Republic. But Congress has its doubts and so does the press. They have been told so Many lies about the Nicaragua problem by the administration that they Are no longer willing to be overwhelmed by this latest propaganda Campaign out of the White House. Pat Buchanan s advertising Campaign really has gone too far. His fastball is better than his control and Congress and the press Are onto it. He has been trying to use the press and television to put Over this latest vote on financing Nicaragua in Congress but there have been so Many deceptions and lies about Nicaragua that Congress and the press Are beginning to rebel. They Admire Reagan s television techniques but Are increasingly sceptical about his policy on Nicaragua. They would Welcome an honest discussion of the problem but have become the lie detectors of the administration argument. C new York times there s no parallel Between Philippines Nicaragua Fin fat far am  president Reagan citing parallels where none exist Between the Philippines and Nicaragua insisted to members of Congress in a White House meeting we stood for democracy in the Philippines. We have to stand for democracy in Nicaragua and throughout Central America and in our own  this parallel denigrates the remarkable achievement of the philippine people in their spontaneous uprising against Ferdi nand Marcos. It is meaningless rhetoric if anyone thinks it should apply to the dictatorial Augusto Pinochet government though Chile is in our own  and it s Only one More excuse with which to pursue Reagan s pathological fixation on the overthrow of the sandinista this time with $100 million of . Taxpayers Money because there Are no parallels Between the Philippines and Nicaragua. In the former a real tyrant through corruption brutality and murder brought the population to the boiling Point what Ever charges May be made against the sandinista that cannot be said of them. By massive fraud and violence the tyrant ignored and reversed the Clear will of the people expressed in a National election whatever deficiencies May be Laid to the nicaraguan election of 1984, nothing in it remotely approached the outrage perpetrated by Marcos. Filipinos who Rose in their Wrath to rid their country of the tyrant were not organized and financed by the Cia or Covert funds from Washington As were the nicaraguan contras. And when filipinos had had enough they swept All before them disclosing in a matter of Days the Rotten underpinnings of the tyrant s regime but after five years of Effort and millions of . Dollars the contras have yet to take and hold a single town in Nicaragua or to set off the smallest Ripple of popular uprising anywhere in that unhappy country. Filipinos staged a glorious revolution the contras wage a minor guerrilla War paid for by . Taxpayers. Now the administration joined by Richard Lugar r-ind., the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee advances the proposition that $100 Mil lion in additional Aid $70 million of it for military equipment must be supplied to the contras so that they can Force the sandinista to participate in the so called Contador negotiating process. Aside from the fact that with or with out . Aid the contras have shown no ability to impose Reagan s will on Man Agua this is a deceptive argument. Not Only did the sandinista agree to accept a Contador draft treaty in 1984, which the Reagan administration promptly rejected but just this year they also accepted a statement of principles advanced by Guatemala and other nations in the Region As a basis for a peaceful settlement in Central America. That statement called for the Elimina Tion of foreign military advisers from the Region including cuban and soviet bloc personnel in Nicaragua. Is the Reagan administration willing to negotiate on the basis of those principles no. It insists that the sandinista must first negotiate with the contras although the contras As yet have earned no right whatever to sit Down As equals with the sandinista. Secretary of state George Shultz mean while continues to assert that Nicaragua subverts other latin american countries with arms and military training. If that is even partly so it s All the More remarkable that the foreign ministers of the eight most important latin american nations Bra Zil Argentina Mexico Venezuela colom Bia Peru Uruguay and Panama went to Washington last month to urge Shultz and the administration to Stop the Contra War against Nicaragua and to negotiate directly with the sandinista. They got no where. Shultz also has raised again the tired old threat of a soviet and cuban base on the Mainland of latin  there s no evidence that Moscow wants such a pro Vocative base but if it does the United states could hardly Stop it with $70 million in guns and ammunition to a ragtag guerrilla band with no real political support and fatal ties to both the Cia and the hated Anastasio Somoza regime the United states once backed. That the soviet base argument May be the administration s strongest political Medicine suggests just How weak its Case is. Lugar concedes that the appropriation will have a Tough time even in the Republican Senate. In the democratic House rep. David Bonior of Michigan the chairman of the democrats task Force on Nicaragua sees a Good Chance to defeat it. That s Why the administration is pulling out All stops. If Aid to the contras is Cut off Reagan will have to turn to diplomacy which Means accepting the sandinista in some degree of Power or use . Forces to overthrow them directly. C new York times