Re: Project Truth, by Charles Z. Wick, Intl. Communication A
Posted: Fri May 26, 2017 12:51 amSkeptics Pelt Schultz With Queries on Reagan's 'Project Democracy'
by Bernard Gwertzman, Special to the New York Times
February 24, 1983
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23— Secretary of State George P. Shultz ran into considerable skepticism today when he outlined the Administration's plans to spend $85 million in the next two years to promote President Reagan's Project Democracy around the world. Several members of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on International Organizations expressed doubts about the feasibility and the propriety of the United States trying to train young leaders and foster the growth of such democratic institutions as labor unions, political parties, news outlets, businesses and universities in countries where democracy is not permitted.
''The more we look at this thing, the more nervous I become over it,'' said Representative Joel Pritchard, Republican of Washington. He said he thought most Arab, African and Asian countries would view the project ''as a destabilizing factor'' and ''mischief-making.''
'Don't Be Nervous'
Mr. Shultz, who issued a long statement praising the project as ''critical to our national security,'' replied tersely to Mr. Pritchard's concerns. ''Don't be nervous about democracy, about holding that torch up there,'' he said.
Representative Dante B. Fascell, Democrat of Florida, chairman of the subcommittee, said the premise of the program was ''sound'' but he seemed unhappy that it would be administered by the United States Information Agency, not the State Department.
Project Democracy was announced by Mr. Reagan in London last June as a major program in an ideological competition with the Communists. Mr. Shultz said the Administration planned to spend $20 million in the current fiscal year and $65 million in the fiscal year 1984. ''If we are to achieve the kind of world we all hope to see, with peace, freedom and economic progress, democracy has to continue to expand,'' he said. ''Democracy is a vital, even revolutionary force. It exists as an expression of the basic human drive for freedom.''
'Trouble' Predicted
But Representative Peter H. Kostmayer, Democrat of Pennsylvania, calling it ''multimillion-dollar propaganda,'' said, ''I don't see how this program can possibly do anything but give us trouble.'' And Representative Stephen J. Solarz, Democrat of New York, pressed Mr.Shultz to say without ambiguity that the United States would try to spread democracy everywhere, not only in Communist societies.
Mr. Solarz asked: ''Are we prepared to provide help to democrats in such places as South Korea, the Philippines, in such places as Taiwan, where there are Governments friendly to the United States, but obviously with little respect for democracy?''
Mr. Shultz agreed that the program could founder if it was perceived, in Mr. Solarz's words, to be ''selective democracy.'' But he said the program was not intended ''to support this or that party in a given government'' or ''to threaten or unseat some existing government.'' He also said there would be no role for the Central Intelligence Agency.
As to the possibility of influencing changes in the Communist world, Mr. Shultz said that ''while we are limited in our ability to deal with such closed societies, we propose to strengthen, both in quality and quantity, our information programs reaching these countries.''
by Bernard Gwertzman, Special to the New York Times
February 24, 1983
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 23— Secretary of State George P. Shultz ran into considerable skepticism today when he outlined the Administration's plans to spend $85 million in the next two years to promote President Reagan's Project Democracy around the world. Several members of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on International Organizations expressed doubts about the feasibility and the propriety of the United States trying to train young leaders and foster the growth of such democratic institutions as labor unions, political parties, news outlets, businesses and universities in countries where democracy is not permitted.
''The more we look at this thing, the more nervous I become over it,'' said Representative Joel Pritchard, Republican of Washington. He said he thought most Arab, African and Asian countries would view the project ''as a destabilizing factor'' and ''mischief-making.''
'Don't Be Nervous'
Mr. Shultz, who issued a long statement praising the project as ''critical to our national security,'' replied tersely to Mr. Pritchard's concerns. ''Don't be nervous about democracy, about holding that torch up there,'' he said.
Representative Dante B. Fascell, Democrat of Florida, chairman of the subcommittee, said the premise of the program was ''sound'' but he seemed unhappy that it would be administered by the United States Information Agency, not the State Department.
Project Democracy was announced by Mr. Reagan in London last June as a major program in an ideological competition with the Communists. Mr. Shultz said the Administration planned to spend $20 million in the current fiscal year and $65 million in the fiscal year 1984. ''If we are to achieve the kind of world we all hope to see, with peace, freedom and economic progress, democracy has to continue to expand,'' he said. ''Democracy is a vital, even revolutionary force. It exists as an expression of the basic human drive for freedom.''
'Trouble' Predicted
But Representative Peter H. Kostmayer, Democrat of Pennsylvania, calling it ''multimillion-dollar propaganda,'' said, ''I don't see how this program can possibly do anything but give us trouble.'' And Representative Stephen J. Solarz, Democrat of New York, pressed Mr.Shultz to say without ambiguity that the United States would try to spread democracy everywhere, not only in Communist societies.
Mr. Solarz asked: ''Are we prepared to provide help to democrats in such places as South Korea, the Philippines, in such places as Taiwan, where there are Governments friendly to the United States, but obviously with little respect for democracy?''
Mr. Shultz agreed that the program could founder if it was perceived, in Mr. Solarz's words, to be ''selective democracy.'' But he said the program was not intended ''to support this or that party in a given government'' or ''to threaten or unseat some existing government.'' He also said there would be no role for the Central Intelligence Agency.
As to the possibility of influencing changes in the Communist world, Mr. Shultz said that ''while we are limited in our ability to deal with such closed societies, we propose to strengthen, both in quality and quantity, our information programs reaching these countries.''