The Reagan administration’s five-year-old ‘‘low-intensity war’’ against Nicaragua took a qualitative turn late last month as the U.S. House of Representatives voted a $100-million military aid package for the CIA-spon- sored contra insurgents. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega Saavedra suc- cinctly assessed the move as ‘“‘a declaration of war by the United States against Nicaragua’’. How far the U.S. has moved in the direction of open warfare against Nica- ragua was underscored June 26 when the International Court of Justice hand- ed down a verdict that condemned the Reagan administration for its repeated violations of Nicaraguan sovereignty. The court cited the CIA’s secret war, which since 1981 has claimed the lives of some 3,000 people, left 75,000 home- léss, and inflicted more than $1-billion in economic damages. The court ruled that the United States must pay repara- tions to Nicaragua to compensate for the destruction and dislocation the con- tra war has caused. However, the U.S. withdrew from the World Court on this issue a year ago, and has made plain that it will not recognize the validity of the court’s decision. In a propaganda stance worthy of Goebbels, the Reagan administration has continued to insist that its war against Nicaragua is ‘“‘fully consistent with international law’’, even after the World Court clearly ruled otherwise. Orwellian Tone Adding to the general Orwellian tone of official U.S. pronouncements, Presi- dent Reagan has asserted that Nica- ragua is guilty of ‘‘unprovoked and un- lawful use of force against its neigh- bors’’ — although in five years his gov- ernment has been unable to bring for- ward a shred of convincing evidence to News Analysis ———— Fred Weir support this charge. He has also made the astonishing claim that Nicaragua, whose population is less than that of Metropolitan Toronto, represents a se- rious ‘‘security threat’ to the United States. >) “For over 200 years the security of the United States has depended on the safety of unthreatened borders,’ Rea- gan shrilled to Congressmen in his re- cent television address. ‘‘Do we want to be the first elected leaders in U.S. history to put our borders at risk?” Such hysterical rhetoric illustrates the obsessive determination of Ronald Reagan to ‘‘deal with Nicaragua’’ be- fore he leaves office. It seems not to matter to the President that he distorts reality in a brazen and outrageous style that is frighteningly reminiscent of Hit- lerian propaganda; that he snubs and degrades the World Court, the only organ of international justice we have; or even that he is acting in defiance of the clearly expressed will of his own people: a Washington Post-ABC News poll late last month showed that Ameri- cans are opposed to “‘granting military and other aid to the Nicaraguan rebels knows as contras’’ by a margin of 62 to 29 per cent, or more than two-to-one. : A Wider War Reagan’s victory in the House of Representatives means that the way is now clear to launch a massive escala- tion of the war. The Congressional decision not only grants $100-million to pay forcontra operations, it also lifts the ban that was imposed on direct CIA involvement after the mining of Nica- raguan harbors in 1984. As Newsweek magazine reported last week, the CIA is now preparing to spend up to $400-million of its own money to provide the contras with logis- tical support, training, communica- tions, and intelligence. In addition, the CIA will now be able to do openly, with the blessing of Congress, what it has been doing covertly for some years: re- cruit mercenaries, raise funds from ‘‘foreign supporters’, and divert regu- lar U.S. military supplies, all to aid the contras. They will also engage in the full spectrum of “‘dirty tricks’ against Nicaragua and its friends. ; Corrupt Contras All of this signals a much wider and more intense war. The level of violence is sure to escalate, and with it come more deprivation and agony for a popu- lation which has suffered long and pain- fully. The Nicaraguan people endured almost half a century under the U.S.- sponsored Somoza dynasty. Within two years of their successful revolu- tion, they were forced to take up arms once again to oppose a CIA army based upon Somoza’s old Guardia. In cranking up this war another notch, the Reagan administration can have few illusions that the contras are capable of victory. In five years of ter- rorist activity, they have proven unable to take and hold any Nicaraguan terri- tory at all, much less a town or village. Nor have they put forward any clear © Central America. ~ country. CP demands action _ Calling the U.S. Congress’ decision to grant $100-million for aid to the CIA-sponsored contras a ‘“‘move_toward direct military intervention against Nicaragua’’, Communist Party leader Wil- liam Kashtan, in a letter to Joe Clark dated July 2, urged the Canadian government to speak up against U.S. involvement in The decision to fund’ the contras, said Kashtan, “‘has been roundly condemned in the United Nations. The World Court too has condemned the U.S. administration and urged it to pay com- pensation to Nicaragua for the damages it has inflicted on that ‘‘In view of the extreme danger of direct U.S. military inter- vention we urge the Canadian government to initiate a call for a meeting of all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean with the aim of advising the U.S. Administration of their total opposition to this dangerous course which could ignite a fire not only in Latin America but in the world’’. ordinary. ‘Freedom fighters’ strike a blow for democracy Contras in action: sequence of photo- graphs taken by freelance American photographer and published in Newsweek shows the execution of a peasant captured by contra marauders in northern Nicaragua. The captive, apparently sus- pected of being a pro-Sandinista “spy”, was taken into the jungle and tied to a tree ‘overnight. Next morning, contras forced the man to dig his own grave (below). He was then made to lie in the shallow trench while contras knifed him several times in the throat and abdomen (Right, top to bot- tom). The contras belonged to FDN, the main CIA-backed insurgent group. The fact that they allowed the act to be photo- graphed suggests that such behavior is common practice, and the killers have no sense they are doing anything out of the 6 ¢ PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 9, 1986 political program. They are, quia a ply, the creatures of American m0 and power. af Like any number of CIA proxy mies in recent decades, the contras wot turned out to be corrupt parasites, ™ xe interested in lining their own ust than fighting for ‘democracy’. A Althour” ’ President Reagan has shown it Si : barrassment, thoughtful Americ have squirmed at revelations t intel | contras are brutal, ignorant, S¢ se ested opportunists, torturers al! smugglers. at has 4 __ True to the Orwellian spirit, what ihe shocked official Washington most! is news that contra leaders are als0 © bezzlers who have stolen mild 4 dollars in Congressional aid meal | purchase food, medical suppl clothing for their men. U.S. Invasion Next SteP ' Although $100-million can ae lot of havoc in Nicaragua, it © cannot purchase a contra victory: ing allocated the money, as One © official told Newsweek, ‘‘the adm! tration now has to figure out some to get these guys off their butts doing something’. doi | What they will be called upon to of no mystery. The contras are little @ 3 than a trojan horse for increase rei a4 involvement in Central America: function will be to keep inflicting pail and to provide a pretext, at the aP. priate moment, for a direct U. S. i sion of Nicaragua. 1 As Sandinista leaders hoe ; peatedly pointed out, time and opti? tie are fast disappearing. Unless domes and world opinion is brought heavi on bear, it seems certain that Ronal gan will soon try to play out his fan f of destroying the Nicaraguan | rey) tion to “troll back communism” Western Hemisphere.