In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story - John Stockwell

Advisors, Technicians, and Foreign Troops
had us all dreading the thought of working another shipload of arms
through the congested Matadi port and attempting to fly them into
Angola with our ragtag little air force. The thought of putting the
next shipload of arms into Walvis Bay in South-West Africa, where
South African efficiency would rush them by C-130 to the fighting
fronts, was irresistible to Jim Potts.
At the same time, Savimbi and Roberto were both running short
of petrol. The South Africans had delivered small amounts in their
C-13os, but they could not be expected to fuel the entire war, not with
an Arab boycott on the sale of oil to South Africa. The MPLA's fuel
problems had been solved when a tanker put into Luanda in September,
and Potts, in frustration, began to consider having a tanker
follow the second arms shipload to Walvis Bay.
When Potts proposed this to the working group, he met firm
opposition: He was told by Ambassador Mulcahy that the sale or
delivery of arms to South Africa was prohibited by a long-standing
U.S. law. Never easily discouraged, Potts sent one of his aides to the
CIA library, and in the next working group meeting triumphantly
read to the working group the text of the thirteen-year-old "law."
"You see, gentlemen," he concluded with obvious satisfaction. "It
isn't a law. It's a policy decision made under the Kennedy administration.
Times have now changed and, given our present problems,
we should have no difficulty modifying this policy." He meant that
a few technical strings could be pulled on the hill, Kissinger could
wave his hand over a piece of paper, and a planeload of arms could
leave for South Africa the next day.
Ambassador Mulcahy continued his phlegmatic pipe puffing for a
long moment, always fully awake when something important was
being said. Then he spoke calmly but firmly.
"There is one problem." he said.
"What's that?" Potts leaned forward.
"If you do ship any arms to South Africa, I will resign in protest."
Mulcahy might have stated his preference for coffee over tea with
more inflection. But there was no question of his sincerity and the
unsaid words were, "resign and go public in protest." He and Potts
sat looking at each other for two long minutes. Mulcahy had nothing
more to say and Potts was speechless. No one in the room was
drowsy at that moment. Even General Fish was silent. Eventually
Potts began to fumble for his papers, at first with his eyes still locked