Foreign Correspondence

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New Book on Marcos Says U.S. Knew of His '72 Martial-Law Plans
By FOX BUTTERFIELD, Special to the New York Times
Sunday, April 19, 1987

Contrary to official assertions, the United States Embassy in Manila knew that President Ferdinand E. Marcos was
about to declare martial law in 1972 and did not act to stop him, according to a new book by Raymond Bonner.

Drawing heavily on previously classified State Department and Central Intelligence Agency documents, Mr. Bonner contends that the C.I.A. got a copy of the martial law declaration several days before Mr. Marcos announced it. The document was provided by a Filipino informer whom the C.I.A. had recruited from among the small group of confidants who helped Mr. Marcos plan martial law.

The book also contends that President Marcos was not concerned about possible adverse American reaction because
he had telephoned President Nixon, who said he had no objection to Mr. Marcos assuming absolute power.

The book, 'Waltzing With a Dictator: The Marcoses and the Making of American Policy,' will be published next week by Times Books, which is a division of Random House. Mr. Bonner is a former correspondent for The New York Times who has also written a book about El Salvador. Look at Long U.S. Role

In his new book, Mr. Bonner asserts that American acquiescence to the martial-law declaration was part of a long-term pattern of the American role in Philippine politics. The book says that role was to bolster leaders who were seen as friendly to Washington regardless of how corrupt or oppressive they were.

AS MOST OF US KNOW, AND SOME OF US ACKNOWLEDGE US FOREIGN POLICY
HAS BEEN SINCE WHENEVER. FRIEND OF USA OR KAPOOT, IF USA COULD.

The close ties between American Presidents and Mr. Marcos were cemented by the lavish hospitality of Mr. Marcos and his wife,
Imelda, as when Ronald Reagan, then Governor of California, stayed at Malacanang Palace in 1969, Mr. Bonner writes.

Also helpful, according to a C.I.A. memorandum Mr. Bonner obtained, was the $250,000 the Marcoses gave President Nixon for his 1972 Presidential campaign. The memorandum was considered so sensitive that instead of being sent as a cable it was hand-delivered to the agency's headquarters in Langley, Va. During one of the Watergate trials, Federal prosecutors found evidence of a smaller Marcos-connected contribution, but the new book refers to different evidence. Mr. Bonner said Mr. Nixon declined to be interviewed for the book. Telephone calls to Mr. Nixon's offices on Friday and Saturday went unanswered. Other Disclosure in Book

These are among the other disclosures in the book:

* As early as 1953, the Central Intelligence Agency under Edward G. Lansdale provided more than $1 million to help elect Ramon Magsaysay President, with a C.I.A. agent masquerading as a journalist for The Christian Science Monitor writing Mr. Magsaysay's speeches, the book says. Once, when Mr. Magsaysay delivered a speech written by a Filipino, Mr. Lansdale was so enraged he knocked Mr. Magsaysay out. The C.I.A. went so far as to drug the drinks of Mr. Magsaysay's incumbent opponent, President Elpidio Quirino, and discussed assassinating an outspoken opposition senator.

* To help persuade Mr. Marcos to dispatch a small civic action team to Vietnam, President Johnson agreed
to pay him $39 million secretly, with State Department officers delivering the money in quarterly checks.

*The C.I.A. early on was aware that Mr. Marcos and his wife were amassing huge personal fortunes. In 1969, four years after Mr. Marcos was first elected president, an agency profile concluded that he had already stolen several hundred million dollars, Mr. Bonner writes. A C.I.A. study of Mrs. Marcos in 1976 determined that she had taken over a portfolio of four dozen companies, including several banks, worth at least $150 million. The C.I.A. was also aware that President Marcos and one of his associates, Herminio Disini, received bribes of $25 million to $40 million from the Westinghouse Corporation for helping it win the contract to build the Philippines first nuclear power plant.

The most striking new material in the book is Mr. Bonner's disclosure that the C.I.A. warned the embassy that Mr. Marcos would declare martial law in 1972. The information was passed on to Ambassador Henry Byroade, who returned to Washington to confer with President Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger, then the national security adviser.

Mr. Nixon 'seemed bored' by the news, a former member of the National Security Council staff who was present told Mr. Bonner. Ambassador Byroade later told Mr. Marcos that Washington would back him if martial law was needed to put down the then-tiny Communist insurgency. This was the pretext Mr. Marcos cited in declaring martial law.

The White House and State Department have said repeatedly they
did not know in advance that Mr. Marcos would impose martial law.

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/19/world/new-book-on-marcos-says-us-knew-of-his-72-martial-law-plans.html

Why is this posted here? Well .. there is a small Phillipines mention a couple back .. also, a wave .. a gesture to Amaunet .. hi .. :)

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