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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!astrovax!fisher!david
From: david@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Reagon's mistakes - list wanted
Message-ID: <341@fisher.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 2-Oct-84 08:32:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: fisher.341
Posted: Tue Oct  2 08:32:45 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Oct-84 19:16:30 EDT
References: <5218@nlm-mcs.ARPA>, <255@whuxl.UUCP> <1010@pyuxa.UUCP>
Organization: Princeton Univ. Statistics
Lines: 35

[]

There goes TC Wheeler again.

The Carter administration did not reduce funds for spying for the CIA.
After all, intelligence gathering is what it's all about.  What was
reduced were funds for "operations", i.e. covert intervention. As far
as I can recall, the Ford administration placed similar emphasis in
budgeting the CIA.

Thus, the ability to gather information was not what was gutted, but
rather covert activity.  The Carter administration would certainly
have flown spy planes over Nicaragua (and were), and placed operatives
in the country for information (and did), but would not support a
covert war (well, I think they wouldn't have) or mined harbors or
poisoned Ortega's soup (I don't think the CIA is back to this, even
under Reagan).

Besides, how much intelligence (read this both ways) does it take to
realize the Embassy was insecure?  Yet the Reagan administration
WITRHDREW most of the Embassy Annex's marine guard. Security measures
had no more priority, it appears, then kitchen renovations.

It doesn't take more than a day to dig a ditch to prevent vehicular
access.  

When the Embassy was bombed, Reagan blamed terrorism.
When the Marine Compound was bombed, Reagn took the blame.
When the Embassy Annex was bombed, Reagan blamed previous administrations.

Thus, a new version of that famous Scot adage:

Fool me once---shame on you.
Fool me twice---shame on me.
Fool me thrice---shame on Carter and Ford.