Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare

On October 15, 1984, six days before the second presidential debate between President Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale, the Associated Press reported that the CIA had written a manual for the contras, entitled Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare (" _es. Operaciones sicolóogicas en guerra de guerillas"). The ninety-page book of instructions focused mainly on how "Armed Propaganda Teams" could build political support within Nicaragua for the contra cause through deceit, intimidation, and violence. [cite book
first = William M.
last =Leogrande
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2000
month =February 1
title =Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977-1992
chapter =Peace Offensive
chapterurl =
editor =
others =
edition =
pages =363
publisher =University of North Carolina Press
location =
id =0807848573
url =] The CIA manual discussed assassinations.cite journal
first =Timothy J.
last =Kepner
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2001
month =Spring
title = Torture 101: The Case Against the United States for Atrocities Committed by School of the Americas Alumni
journal =Dickinson Journal of International Law (19 Dick. J. Int'l L. 475)
volume =19
issue =
pages =487
id =
url =http://bailey83221.livejournal.com/77479.html Footnote 105 ] The CIA claimed that the purpose of the manual was to "moderate" activities already being done by the Contras. cite web
title =International Law PSCI 0236 > International Law PSCI 0236 > Introduction
work =middlebury.edu
url =https://segue.middlebury.edu/index.php?action=site&site=psci0236a-f06
accessdate=2006-09-05 ]

Political reaction

A Reagan administration official stated privately that the manual had been written by an "overzealous" independent low-level employee under contract to the CIA. Further, the manual had not been cleared for publication and was "clearly against the law", cite journal
first =
last =
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1984
month =October 19
title =U.S. Orders Probe of CIA Terror Manual
journal =Facts on File World News Digest
volume =
issue =
pages =p. 764 A2
id =
url =http://bailey83221.livejournal.com/60879.html#2c ] and the manual violated Reagan’s 1981 executive order banning political assassinations.cite web
author =James Bovard
date =June 9, 2004
url =http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0406c.asp
title =Terrorism Debacles in the Reagan Administration
format =
work =
publisher =The Future of Freedom Foundation
accessdate =April 14
accessyear =2006]

On October 18, 1984 President Reagan ordered William Casey to initiate an investigation by the CIA's inspector general. Reagan stated that "whoever is guilty [of preparing the manual] , we will deal with that situation and they will be removed."cite journal
first =Neil
last =Roland
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1987
month =February 8
title =Casey spared top officials of discipline for Contra manual
journal =United Press International
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url =http://bailey83221.livejournal.com/60879.html#2d]

In a news conference the day after his reelection victory, Reagan dismissed the entire controversy as “much ado about nothing.”

The next month a White House spokesman said Reagan had approved the inspector general's report recommending discipline of several mid-level officials. Five mid-level CIA employees received punishments from written reprimands to suspension without pay for “poor judgment and lapses in oversight” because of the manual. In 1987 it was found that Casey blocked any punishment of the two senior CIA officials involved with producing and distributing the manual, including one, Duane Clarridge, who after initially denying that he had anything to do with the manual, admitted he was “fully responsible” for the document. In closed testimony to a congressional committee, Casey reportedly declared, “There’s no reason to discipline them for one little slip-up.”

Contents

The manual recommended “selective use of violence for propagandistic effects” and to “neutralize” (i.e., kill) government officials. Nicaraguan Contras were taught to lead:

demonstrators into clashes with the authorities, to provoke riots or shootings, which lead to the killing of one or more persons, who will be seen as the martyrs; this situation should be taken advantage of immediately against the Government to create even bigger conflicts.

The manual also recommended:

selective use of armed force for PSYOP [psychological operations] effect.... Carefully selected, planned targets — judges, police officials, tax collectors, etc. — may be removed for PSYOP effect in a UWOA [unconventional warfare operations area] , but extensive precautions must insure that the people “concur” in such an act by thorough explanatory canvassing among the affected populace before and after conduct of the mission.

Nicaragua v. US

The manual was one of the issues the International Court of Justice analyzed in the Nicaragua v. US 1986 I.C.J. 14 case. The court's jurisdiction for this case was disputed by the United States, an issue that has never been resolved.

The I.C.J. in the voted on statements "Finds that the United States of America, by producing in 1983 a manual entitled Operaciones sicologicas en guerra de guerrillas, and disseminating it to contra forces, has encouraged the commission by them of acts contrary to general principles of humanitarian law; but does not find a basis for concluding that any such acts which may have been committed are to the United States of America as acts of the United States of America" [ [http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=367&code=nus&p1=3&p2=3&case=70&k=66&p3=5 ICJ Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America)] ]

"The Court has to determine whether the relationship of the contras to the United States Government was such that it would be right to equate the contras, for legal purposes, with an organ of the United States Government, or as acting on behalf of that Government. The Court considers that the evidence available to it is insufficient to demonstrate the total dependence of the contras on United States aid. A partial dependency, the exact extent of which the Court cannot establish, may be inferred from the fact that the leaders were selected by the United States, and from other factors such as the organisation, training and equipping of the force, planning of operations, the choosing of targets and the operational support provided. There is no clear evidence that the United States actually exercised such a degree of control as to justify treating the contras as acting on its behalf." [ [http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=367&code=nus&p1=3&p2=3&case=70&k=66&p3=5 ICJ Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America)] ]

"Having reached the above conclusion, the Court takes the view that the contras remain responsible for their acts, in particular the alleged violations by them of humanitarian law. For the United States to be legally responsible, it would have to be proved that that State had effective control of the operations in the course of which the alleged violations were committed." [ [http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=367&code=nus&p1=3&p2=3&case=70&k=66&p3=5 ICJ Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America)] ]

External links

Full PDF http://www.freewebs.com/moeial/CIA's%20Psychological%20Operations%20in%20Guerrilla%20Warefare.pdf

ee also

*"The Freedom Fighter's Manual"
*U.S. Army and CIA interrogation manuals

Notes

Further reading

*cite web | title=Cold War Episode 18: Backyard | work=CNN | url= http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/18/documents/cia.ops/ | accessdate=February 18 | accessyear=2006
*cite journal
first =
last =(Author Unknown)
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1984
month =October 21
title =The CIA's Murder Manual
journal =The Washington Post
volume =
issue =
pages =C6
id =
url =http://bailey83221.livejournal.com/60879.html
*cite book
last =
first =International Court Of Justice
authorlink =
coauthors =
date =January 1, 2000
title =Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua V. United States of America)
publisher =United Nations Publications
location =
id =ISBN 92-1-070826-1 The "manual, several thousand which were produced, was distributed ordering political assassinations, hiring of criminals and other forms of terrorism. Some of it was excised; but the part dealing with political terrorism was continued." p. 178.
*cite book
first = William M.
last =Leogrande
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2000
month =February 1
title =Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977-1992
chapter =Peace Offensive
chapterurl =
editor =
others =
edition =
pages =363
publisher =University of North Carolina Press
location =
id =0807848573
url =
*cite web
author =Lisa Haugaard
year =
url =http://www.lawg.org/misc/training_manuals.htm
title =Military Training Manuals, Latin America Working Group
format =
work =
publisher =
accessdate =April 14
accessyear =2006