In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story - John Stockwell

Business and Money [205)
Department withdrew the export licenses for the planes.
A TAAG delegation promptly flew to Washington to lobby for the
release of the 737s. They were joined in Washington by George
Wilson, the president of Boeing. The T AAG delegation consisted of
two contacts of the Luanda station, encrypted IAMOFFET/1 and
IA PORKY /1, who were cordial to the CIA but unrecruited, unshakably
loyal to the MPLA. They were accompanied from Lisbon to
Washington by Bob Temmons, the chief of the Luanda station, who
had evacuated Luanda on November 3. In three months in Luanda,
Temmons had come to share GPSWISH's view that the MPLA was
best qualified to run the country, that it was not demonstrably hostile
to the United States, and that the United States should make peace
with it as quickly as possible.
In Washington Temmons made his views known inside CIA headquarters
while Wilson and the Angolans separately petitioned the
State Department. But the momentum of war was too great. Temmons
and Wilson were told that a program affecting the United
States national security was at stake.
Then Ambassador Mulcahy had a bright idea-why not ask Wilson,
the president of Boeing, to convey to the MPLA an official but
very discreet statement of our country's official position vis-a-vis
Angola. The State Department drafted the message and I sent someone
from the task force to rent a room at Washington's Statler Hilton
for a meeting between Wilson, IAPORKY/l, and IAMOFFET/l. Temmons
made the introductions and left before Wilson delivered the
message. It read:
THE UNITED STATES CANNOT STANDBY FOR A SOVIET POWER
PLAY IN AFRICA.
IF THE MPLA IS WILLING TO WORK FOR A POLITICAL SOLUTION
AND COMPROMISE WITH ITS RIVALS, THE UNITED ST A TES IS WILL­
ING TO BACK A PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT.
THE MPLA WOULD DO WELL TO HEED OUR ADVICE THAT NO
GOVERNMENT CAN PLAN THE RECONSTRUCTION IN POSTWAR AN­
GOLA WITHOUT UNITED STATES AND WESTERN HELP. NO GOVERN­
MENT CAN OBTAIN THE TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES TO
STIMULATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT AMERICAN CON­
SENT. IN FACT, THE UNITED STATES WOULD BE QUITE RESPONSIVE
AND HELPFUL TO A COALITION GOVERNMENT THAT WAS NOT DE­
PENDENT ON THE SOVIET UNION.
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IS PREPARED TO THINK FUR-