Word: chiles
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There were other disquieting notes in the statement. Ford described the operation as being "in the best interest of the people of Chile"?a throwback to an America-knows-what's-best-for-you line of years past that was particularly offensive to many countries. In addition, Ford did not make the small but crucial distinction between intelligence gathering and covert operations, which led some critics to suspect that he was not wholly familiar with the subject...
Misled Congress. There was a degree of ingenuousness, perhaps even hypocrisy, in much of the indignation, since the CIA is widely known to have carried out Chile-style operations elsewhere before. What galled Congress and many other U.S. and foreign leaders was the fact that members of the Nixon Administration had repeatedly misled Congress about the Chile operation. At his confirmation last year as Secretary of State, Kissinger assured the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that since 1970, the U.S. had done nothing in Chile except try to "strengthen the democratic political parties"?although critics argue that fostering strikes...
Anxious to heal the rift with Congress, Ford and Kissinger briefed nine senior Congressmen at breakfast the next day on Chile and covert affairs in general. Later, at a previously scheduled hearing on détente, Kissinger reiterated before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the intent of the CIA operation in Chile was merely to keep the Allende opposition alive and "not to destabilize or subvert" his government. Kissinger also conducted two separate briefings at the Senate. Still, Congress was neither convinced nor mollified. As the week progressed, growing numbers of Representatives and Senators called for an all-out review...
Some cynical foreign reaction was not so much concerned with the CIA activities themselves as with their becoming known. Said a former President of Argentina: "If you ask me as an Argentine, the CIA intervention in Chile was wholly illegal interference in the sovereignty of another state. If you ask me to see it from the point of view of an American, the fact that Senators and Congressmen can interfere with the national security interests of the country for political motives indicates a grave decadence in the system...
...Staff Chairman General George S. Brown. In his book, Marchetti describes the committee as a rubber stamp that is predisposed to give the CIA what it wants. But others say that the committee frequently rejects or orders revision of CIA proposals. Moreover, recommendations for major covert actions like the Chile operation require presidential approval...