FrcHrrNG THE `DrRTy \(/AR`

I
political reality.South African armored units
1975, in support of Jonas Savimbi and his
rad,secredyencouragedthe invasion, Nigeria
tull support, including major financidLd
ime in Luanda. Not surprisingly, the United
issasan ally of a racist South Afri."r, resime.
rn the Nigerian government released,i ,t.
nt Gerald Ford, which appearedto Ngerians
The Lagos newspapersprinted
y,i::::t
'S
LETTERIS FATUOUSINSUTTTO
rutsidethe U.S. Embassyand USIS offices.
Cemocratizationassistancepackage.
rnala was assassinated
by fumy il4ajor Buka
bitiousMinister ofDefense Gen. Iliya Bissala.
Ltesand the United Kingdom with complici_
naking a mark on African diplomacv with its
thern Africa. The U.K High Commission
)nsffators,this dme doing greater damase to
earlier.The U.K High -ommissioner"was
i. businessmenwere ariestedand detained
for
cketed6y ^gy students.Threatening lemers
ed by messengers.
USIS programswould be expectedro pros_
Obasanjo,Murtalds successor,
d.monrtrat_
ns, it wasvery much in the U.S. interest to
I unwrapping fie package, and the USIS
lic Affairs Officer fut lewis, assistedby his
asenand Information Officer Robert iGill.
its British-sryleparliamenrary systemwith
Ktensrveresource materials on the U.S
tary government'sConstitutional Drafting
:rias 19 daily newspapers,five TV srarions
iningwith theAssociatedpressfor the new
Ldby providing U.S. International Visitor
ministry officials and potential candidates
)ourt systemsin action.
r turn-around in Ngerian attitudes toward
ghted by PresidentJimmy Cartert historic
rguration of President Shehu Shagari after
four yearslater. Alfiough o"ustedby
1..r+
ionalprocesses
bywhich he rolk office and
thundreds
of thousandsof Ngerians today
n 1975-79. Beforeretiring from rhe Foreio.n
[akarta, Indnnesia;Da kar- Senegal;Niaiev,
,o,? tf.S**ftr Afican Afairc. Rober Kit,
'd tn theprEaration
ofthis essay.
FrcHrrNG THE 'DrRTy \(/AR'
AncnNrrNA,1977
By F, A. "Tex" Harris
n October 1977, as a midlevel officer sarting my second overseastour, I was askedby the
U.S. Embassys Political Counselor Bill Hallman in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to take on
responsibilities for a new areaof diplomatic activity - hurnan rights. I alreed, on the condition that the strict restrictionson uninvited visitors to the U.S. Emiasry b.i.lo.d
to allow me
to interview ev_eryone
complaining about human rights abuses.The embassyworried fiat fiis
would draw a flood ofvictims' relativesto the mission, but I felt strongly that the job could not
be done unless I met directly wifi the families who felt fiey had b...r"*rorg.d.
people flooded
in by the scoreseach day, reporting facts on the "disappearance"of relativesJr lo,red on.r.
\We at the embassy,
who had lived through -o.ihr of threats and fie tegible murder of a
USIA officer at a branch post, had reponed fie'Uisappearances," in the contexr of fie "Dirty
\War" between left-wing terrorists
and the right-wing -iliti". My daily intewiews, which I kept
on 5x8 cardsthat eventuallytotalled 15,000, roo., p"i.rt d a clearpicture of a massive,.oh.r.rit,
military effort to exterminatefugentine citizens.
first, my telling of this_storyto the U.S. governmenr was applauded by embassyperson.At
nel, from AmbassadorRaul Castro on down. Then fie practical implications of fie ,r.#
C"r,.,
human rights policy becameclear.Actions of the U.S. governmenr rowardsArgentina were
no
longer to be based on Ambassador Castro's recommJndations, but on fie Eehavior of
the
Argentine government, as documented in our
rights reporting. A classicbattle began
ly**
wifi the front officetryrng to put a mor: favg{le 'tpinion -i tr"-il
rights r.portirrg. A it
becamemore difficult to report the full details of human rights abusesin di"plomatictelelrams,
I used airgrams, memoranda of conversationsand official-informal ls11s15'- non. of-*hi.h
required front-office clearance- to send the facts to \Tashington by classifiedair pouch.
My
major confrontation with senior embassyofficials came when o-n. of my letters,which had
been
copied to AmbassadorCastro, was withdrawn frgm the diplomatic pouch, and I was requested
not to send it. The information in that letter resultedin the cancellaiion of a multi-million-dollar.U'S. government loan guaranteeto a major American corporation to provide turbine
technolog. to a front corporation owned by the Argentine N"ry.
As a young FSO, its ,9"gh to fight with the Ambassador over policy issues.I took a stand
.
basedon the need to get the fi.rll facts and allpoints ofview back toVasiri.rgro.r, and knew my
performance evaluation might suffer. I was almost fired for insubordination] but after an independent review,I was given only a formal warning. ln l993,with the benefit ofhistorical hindsight after two decades,the.State_Department_;nferred upon me for my actions its highest
recognition - fie Distinguished Honor Award.
Outside the embassyin 1977;
were much easier.A an American diplomat, my infor+]ngs
mation about the military j""r"f "disappearance"program aufienticat.d "trd provided a context for the multitude of personalreports that journalists from around the world received,when
they came to fugentini A"d
extra tall (6' 7") offrcialAmerican diplomatic presenceand
!I
open_suPportfor fie Mothers of the Plazade Mayo and other human rights gro,rp, gavea clear
signalthat theAmerican government and it-speogle abhorredwharwas tt"pp.irl"g in"r\rgentina.
I focused ol getting and reporting the.A-1s frrlly to the U.S. govern-."r. prJudy sio*ing
.
the support of my nation to the thousands ofArgentin.s thre"t.Ined by an ouwardly sophistil
Ixsroe
a
U.S.
E\48,\ssy
77
catedmilitary junta gone 'but of control" wasmy
specialresponsibil
iry - and my honor.
Looking backon thoseterribletimes,I know rh".;*';;;n
canmakea difference.
F A' *Tex"Harris u''aspoliticatofficeri:
Aires,Argeryina,fom 1977-79.sincejoining
!":^
theForeignSeruice
in 1965,heals'iseruedin
Caracas,
Wnefuek;Wasbington,
D.C., and Durban,
SouthAfica. Since1993, hehasbeenpresidentofAFSA.
'BtacrcuaILING,pnEstoENT
Tounn
GurNea,1975
By Villiam Harcopt
yryidTi?*kTiHff"",#'i;Tfl
tli.:.,Hk#flir
The sovietshad built ihe u.niversirythe airfield, a
raifoad, a bauxiteindustry. The usSR
had furnishedadvancedmilitary.quipm..rt, technicians."rd
_,lili1g. The sovietEmbassy
in conakry had a staffof 950, the im.ric"n e-u""/;"st
15. volunteersfiom the u.s.
Pea99Corpshad just beenexpelled.
HugeTu-95 bombers(caled"Bears"by NAro intelligence),
configuredfor electronic
surveillance,began to regularryrefuel in'conakry,
c"i"51
5apital. operating among
Moscow,conakry and the othei Soviet_cli.nt,ofangola
"nd cuba, the bombersffackedand occasionally
- the NAro fleetin the fronh
harassed
Atlantic ip-*r*a
to president
ToureaboutGuine* participationin rhe.c:ld \r1rb;authorizing
theseflights,bur to no
avail'An admirerofJohn F, Kennedy,he insisted
c,riri."*s non-aligneddespitehis ideologicalaffiniry for the Sovietbloc. But he wastoo
beholdento the R:;r;;; to deny them
military landing rights.
I looked for a sourceof leverageto forcehis hand
without causinga breakin relations.
The answerwas obvious.Because"of
the collaps.;if.;
production under sekou Touret
strictlyenforcedcof;fv.e farming,Guineah"i b..o-e
deienden, upo., a-erican food aid
under Public Law 480' Americaricommod,ities
were'told" to the Guineangovernmentfbr
non-convertiblelocal currency.The
yii,:d.states porr.rrJ h;;. ;;"i,
---*^"' .r essentially
worthlessGuineansylis,aswedid of polishzlorys
"rr'a-i"ai* ,,rf?.r.
Knowing that it would be difficult for the c"rt.. "d-irrirrr",io.r
,o authorizean explicit
link bemeenhumanitarianassistance
and u.S. ,..u.iay .oncerns,I actedon my own
to
stringout theannualPL-480negotiations,
all thewhileremindingTourethat permittingthe
T,U-95 Bearfligits was " hortil". act againstthe \western
Alliance and the united States.
Toure'who liked to communicate
witrr
,h;;;h public biilboards,mountedsigns
"Down
[11people
which cried
with FoodBrackmail."
h.rr'h. ,;;il:;
ih. e.", nigh,r, ""a .", fleetwas
relievedof Sovietsurveillance.
william Harrop wn Ambassadortu Guinea,
fom 1975-77. He joined the Foreignseruicein
1954' Beforehe retiredin 123',his 39-yearrirr*
includedassignments
in palermo,laly; Rome,
t*b; u:!:t!, Belgium;Lubumbashi,Zaire; canbe*a,
Australii; ur;rrit, i/[iu"TltAuiu, Israel;
and in washington,
D'c., asan Inspector
in theInspecnrcrrrrnt,, offirr.
7a
IxsroE
A
U.S.
EMBASSy