Another reason to distrust Ed Kennedy

[Bruce FLinch]

HYPERLINK
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics..../200611/POL200
61102b.html
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics..../200611/POL200
61102b.html



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 HYPERLINK
"http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.publi
cations&group_id=11901"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 HYPERLINK
"http://www.iwp.edu/faculty/facultyID.9/profile.asp"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 HYPERLINK
"http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200610/NAT200610
20b.html"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 Mitrokin papers.






* * * * * * *
Let these truths be indelibly impressed on our minds--that we cannot be
happy without being free--that we cannot be free without being secure in our
property--that we cannot be secure in our property if without our consent
others may as by right take it away. - John Dickenson






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[ironsight65]

Isn't this basically treason?

[Marlin]

ABSOLUTELY!!!!

[southernshooter]

I'll heat up the tar who's got the feathers

[berto64]

BUMP!

[satellite66]

Here is all the reason I need not to trust Teddy the swimmer.

[obxned]

as if all the other reasons weren't enough.

[reallyoldguy]

I'm surprised anyone finds Tunney's contact with the Soviets on behalf of Kennedy particularily noteworthy. If you bother to read anything beyond what the spin factories spew out you'd find contacts between US political figures and the dark side aren't all that uncommon. Here's more from Vasili Mitrokhin -- this time out of "The Sword and Shield, The Mitrokhin Achive and the Secret History of the KGB" by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin: "When Kissinger became and advisor to Nixon during the 1968 election campaign he began to use Sedov to pass messages to Moscow that Nixon's public image as an unreconstructed Cold War warrior was false and that he wanted better relations with the Soviet Union." -- at the time Sedov was a KGB officer in the PR Line organization of the Soviet residency in Washington, D.C. If you want to walk on the seamy side check into Donald Rumsfield's meetings with Sadaam and the US provision of intelligence and chemical weapons precursors to Iraq during the Iraq/Iran conflict.

[Insulation Tim]

When's that brain tumor going to rid us of this POS ?????

[momo]

Originally Posted by ironsight65

Isn't this basically treason?

HELL YES!!!!

[momo]

Originally Posted by southernshooter

I'll heat up the tar who's got the feathers

Forget the tar and feathers, find a short rope and a tall tree!

[Trouble 45-70]

Don't forget Teds' relations with the Libiyans before, during and after the attack on the ailiner that was brought down on Lokerbee, Scotland by Libiyas secret service. A traitor on numerous counts. He should have been geting his cancer treatements at Levenworth.

[sabashimon]

All I need to know about that ##!!@*! is that he left a young woman alive, trapped in a car under water (that he drove there), and didn't call for help until the next morning.
How'd ya like to have that guy in a foxhole with you?

This story about he and the Rooskies surprises me not in the least.
Nor does it surprise me that he's the darling of the left in this country.
Heaven help us.

[oldogy]

Many of we oldtimers need nothing more than the Chappaquiddick incident in 1969.
oldogy

[armedandsafe]

You took the easy side. What I'd like to see is if ANYONE can find a reason TO trust that man.

Pops

[bcj1755]

Originally Posted by armedandsafe

You took the easy side. What I'd like to see is if ANYONE can find a reason TO trust that man.

Pops

Sure, we can trust him to bend us over and give us a good boarhogging We can trust him to continue pushing BS liberal agendas through Congress. We can trust him to continue his quest to take our guns. We can trust him to continue furthering his aim of socialising this country. We can trust him to continue being a drunk. We can trust him to continue being a douchebag