Word: contras
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North's career and reputation have fallen into limbo since Nov. 25, when he was fired by Ronald Reagan for his central role in the Iran-contra scandal. The man whom the President described as a "national hero" has become a pariah to the embattled Administration. White House aides depict North as an overzealous underling who misled his colleagues and superiors and perverted the President's foreign policy. When a high-ranking Reagan official asked about inviting North for dinner, the State Department's legal adviser, Abraham Sofaer, told him to "forget...
...Trojes, however, is the closest journalists can get these days to covering the elusive war between the Sandinistas and the contras. For the past year, not a single reporter for a major U.S. publication or TV network has been allowed past Las Trojes to spend time with the contras. Questions about whether the contras received money from U.S. arms sales to Iran dominate the headlines and the Reagan Administration vows to seek continued aid for the rebels, but there is little reporting on exactly how the contras are faring in the field. Even after thousands of newly armed rebels began...
...officials in the region insist that they favor more coverage, but CIA officers apparently feel different. "There are turf and policy battles going on," says an observer familiar with the guerrilla operation. "The State Department wants to provide access for correspondents because it needs to convince Congress that continued contra funding is worthwhile. The CIA reckons the chances of winning are better without the press looking over its shoulder...
While these battles over access are waged, correspondents struggle to fill their notebooks with anything more than rumor or innuendo. They follow a well- trodden path to the contra offices in a sprawling bungalow on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa. The spokesperson is charming but uninformative. On a good day, a journalist might run into Contra Leaders Adolfo Calero or Enrique Bermudez, but they are not always forthcoming...
Caught in a crossfire of deceit, red tape, censorship and logistics, truth is usually an early casualty in any war. Guerrilla conflicts are especially difficult to cover, since there are no front lines and battles are usually fleeting. Nonetheless, the secrecy surrounding the contras is both excessive and ill conceived. After all, the Reagan Administration has made the rebel effort a centerpiece of its foreign policy. Congress, which approved $100 million in military aid last summer, is likely to debate the issue of further help later this month. Without extensive and independent reporting about whether the contras are making progress...