Is It War, or Liar’s Poker?

Why is everybody so upset about the revelation that Administration officials lied when they waged a “disinformation” campaign against Libya’s Moammar Kadafi? After all, President Reagan and his aides have used half-truths, evasions and outright lies to justify their policies in Central America for years now.

Does anybody remember when the Administration first ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to covertly aid the anti-Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua, the contras ? The official explanation was that they would use the money to interdict arms that the Sandinistas were shipping to anti-government rebels in El Salvador. Instead, the CIA used the contras in a methodical campaign to overthrow a government with which the United States is officially at peace. Congress ordered a halt to the charade when it found out CIA operatives, not contras, were mining Nicaragua’s harbors.

But Reagan’s cynical shell game continued. Out of the woodwork came private right-wing organizations that volunteered to provide aid to the contras--or “freedom fighters” as Reagan began calling them in another campaign of obfuscation.

While these contra-aid groups were all officially private, the government links were there for anyone who looked closely enough--or just listened to the right-wing activists involved. The leading spokesman for the contra-aid groups, retired U.S. Army Gen. John K. Singlaub, has said many times he is carrying out the wishes of the White House and CIA.

There were also several reports that a member of the President’s National Security Council, Marine Corps Col. Oliver L. North, maintained close contact with contra leaders and even gave them military intelligence and other information obtained through government channels.

Most recently, Elliott Abrams, the assistant secretary of state for Latin America, went out of his way to praise U.S. citizens who privately work to overthrow the Sandinistas. He did so while talking about the latest Nicaraguan incident the Administration is trying to wink-and-shrug away--the downing of a contra transport plane with three U.S. citizens in its crew.

The White House, State Department, CIA and Defense Department all deny the three Americans had any ties with the U.S. government. But anyone paying attention could see the strands of the private citizens’ cover story coming unraveled some time ago. Recently, for example, the Costa Rican government discovered a mile-long airstrip carved out of the rain forests near its border with Nicaragua. Several workers employed on the project told a New York Times reporter that they had been hired by Americans, one of whom said he was a former Green Beret working on “classified” matters.

Then there was the crash of a civilian transport plane last Saturday at Kelly Air Force Base, in San Antonio. The local congressman, Democrat Henry B. Gonzalez, suspects the cargo plane may have also been carrying supplies for the contras. He told Congress the plane was owned by Southern Air Transport, a company that was owned by the CIA from 1960 to 1973.

And then ABC News reported that one of its video crews had filmed the same plane that was downed in Nicaragua when it was parked last year at a Miami airfield in a spot owned by Southern Air Transport.

So, while the U.S. government is not supposed to be helping the contras officially, not until funds approved by Congress are disbursed, they are clearly getting help, and lots of it, from somewhere now.

Reagan’s $100-million aid package for the contras has been held up pending final approval of the military appropriations bill of which it is part. Yet government sources admit that the logistical planning already is well under way for a major upsurge in contra military activity this winter when Central America’s rainy season ends.

A winter offensive is important to the contras because they need quick victories to show Congress they are a viable fighting force against the larger Sandinista army. A few victories could help them get more money out of Congress early next year, before the 1988 presidential campaign begins, and when an unresolved Central American war could become an issue.

But if a contra offensive is to take place by November or December, the ammunition, guns, boots and other material that the contras need would have to be on their way now. So there is a real chance that Gonzalez’ suspicions about Southern Air Transport are right, and the Reagan Administration is again cutting corners--and deceiving Congress and the American public in the process--to keep its bloody Nicaragua policy on track.

Neither Congress nor the press have ever found a “smoking gun” in the Central American disinformation campaign, nothing like the National Security Council memo that revealed the campaign against Kadafi when it was published by the Washington Post. But they should be looking for it. Asking some hard questions about the surge in air-supply activities for the contras would be a good place to start.