Text 25629, 145 rader
Skriven 2006-12-04 15:32:17 av John Hull (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: Ted Kennedy:  A murderer, now proof he's a traitor!
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And the damn liberals wonder why we don't trust them any farther than we can
spit!

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Kennedy Offered to Help Soviets Thwart U.S. Policies, KGB Papers Show
By Kevin Mooney
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
November 02, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - While Soviet troops occupied Afghanistan in 1980, Sen. Edward
Kennedy (D-Mass.) worked in close concert with high level Kremlin officials to
alter the direction of U.S. policy, according to documents made available
through a KGB defector.

Details concerning Kennedy's correspondence with KGB agents are included in the
writings of the late Vasiliy Mitrokhin who defected to Britain in 1992. The
Mitrokhin papers highlight a meeting that took place at the behest of Kennedy
between former Sen. John Tunney (D-Calif.) and KGB agents in Moscow on March 5,
1980.

The exchange of information between Tunney and the KGB is included as part of a
report Mitrokhin filed with the Cold War International History Project of the
Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C. The former KGB man continued to work
with British intelligence until the time of his death.

Noted Cold War author and researcher Herbert Romerstein told Cybercast News
Service Mitrokhin was a "highly credible source" with vast knowledge of the
now-closed KGB archives.

Prior to his defection, Mitrokhin made meticulous copies of KGB documents by
hand, explained Romerstein, who headed the U.S. government's Office to Counter
Soviet Disinformation and Active Measures during the 1980s.

The KGB defector smuggled out six cases of notes that formed the basis of his
reporting.

The KGB files Mitrokhin retrieved indicate that Kennedy fixed the blame for
heightened international tensions on the Carter White House, not on the
Kremlin. Kennedy at the time was challenging incumbent Carter for the
Democratic nomination for president.

Tunney told his KGB counterparts that Kennedy was impressed by the foreign
policy statements made by then General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. Kennedy saw
in Brezhnev a leader who was firmly committed to the policy of "détente," the
report said.

But, in Kennedy's estimation, the Carter administration had assumed an overly
belligerent posture toward the Soviet Union after the invasion of Afghanistan,
Mitrokhin wrote.

In Kennedy's view, "the atmosphere of tension and hostility towards the whole
Soviet people was being fuelled by Carter" as well as by some key advisors, the
Pentagon and the U.S. military industrial complex, the Mitrokhin report states.

Throughout the meeting Tunney remained focused on the separation between
Kennedy's proposals and the official stance of the Carter White House. While
official U.S. policy called for the withdrawal of Soviet forces from
Afghanistan, Kennedy avoided "touching the question of the legality of the
presence of Soviet troops," Mitrokhin reported.

Instead, Kennedy relayed through his envoy, Tunney, his support for a
withdrawal of Soviet forces that would be coupled with policy directives that
"guaranteed non-interference" by competing foreign powers in the internal
affairs of Afghanistan.

Since there was intense disagreement between Kennedy and the administration on
policy toward the Soviets, Tunney told the KGB that the Massachusetts senator
had concluded "it was his duty to take action himself, which could force the
Carter administration to act to de-escalate the crisis," Mitrokhin wrote.

In 1980 Kennedy lost to Carter in the Democratic primary, and the incumbent in
turn lost to Ronald Reagan in the general election.

As was previously reported by the Cybercast News Service Kennedy also
subsequently made overtures to Soviet officials aimed at thwarting Reagan's
military buildup in the 1980s.

Kennedy had offered to help the Soviets organize a public relations campaign in
the U.S. that would dilute support for Reagan's policies. Once again, it was
Tunney who traveled to Moscow on Kennedy's behalf to relay the senator's
proposals.

The particulars of Kennedy's proposals are discussed in a letter dated May 14,
1983, that was sent from the head of the KGB to Yuri Andropov, who was then
general secretary. Romerstein acquired a copy of the letter from a contact in
Moscow who had access to the Kremlin archives.

"The letter speaks to the degree of opposition and the lack of understanding
liberals like Kennedy had toward Reagan's policies," said Lee Edwards, a
distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

"Reagan knew we had to build up our armed forces before we could apply pressure
to the Soviets." The notion of fighting to win the Cold War was an alien
concept to liberals like Kennedy, Edwards added, because they had grown
accustomed to the policies of containment.

A copy of the letter is reproduced in a new book entitled "The Crusader: Ronald
Reagan and the Fall of Communism." The author, Paul Kengor is a professor of
political science at Grove City College.

The pattern of behavior should concern members of both political parties,
Kengor said, because it shows Kennedy was willing to work against American
foreign policy, regardless of who occupied the White House.

In his book, Kengor points out that Tunney acknowledged making 15 separate
trips to the Soviet Union where he acted as an intermediary not only for
Kennedy but for other U.S. senators.

'Clear violation'

Charles Dunn, dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University,
told Cybercast News Service Kennedy's activities were in "clear violation of
the U.S. Constitution and at the expense of presidential authority."

The secret overtures to the KGB during the Reagan years were particularly
insidious, Dunn said, because Tunney and Kennedy were working to undermine what
ultimately proved to be a very successful policy that brought an end to the
Cold War.

"If another country gets the idea that it can deal outside of official channels
then that undermines presidential leadership," he said.

For his part, Romerstein said that Kennedy, and other senators, may have
violated the Logan Act, which has been on the books since 1799, but is rarely
enforced. The law prohibits American citizens from engaging in private
diplomacy with a foreign government with the intention of influencing public
policy.

At the same time, however, Romerstein cautions against viewing Kennedy as an
agent for the Soviets. Instead, he said, it is appropriate to label him a
"collaborationist" who sought out Soviet contacts to advance his own interests,
not theirs.

When Kennedy spoke highly of Soviet leaders like Brezhnev and Andropov, he may
have been "pretending," in an attempt to curry favor, Romerstein said.

"He [Kennedy] was no more loyal to the Soviets than he was to the United
States.," Romerstein said.

Kennedy's office was contacted but declined to comment on the communication the
senator had with the KGB, as reported in the Mitrokhin papers.

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