Robert McFarlane
Robert McFarlane served as Ronald Reagan's national security adviser and in January 1985 advised FDN leader Adolfo Calero that it might be time to consider cutting losses on the Contra project.
Robert "Bud" McFarlane served as President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser during the period when the Contras reached their lowest ebb, both on the battlefield and in the battle for U.S. public opinion during the winter of 1984–85.1
Advice to FDN Leadership
In January 1985, as the FDN spent its last batch of Central Intelligence Agency money and Contra forces retreated from Nicaragua into Honduras, McFarlane told FDN leader Adolfo Calero that perhaps it was time to start thinking about "cutting both our losses and theirs." The administration's prestige was riding on the Contras; Reagan had compared them to the founding fathers of the American Revolution during a speech. The FDN's only ray of hope was to withdraw from battle and lie low until spring, when Congress agreed to let the administration make one more pitch for funding.1
Context
McFarlane's pessimistic counsel came after twelve months of consecutive public relations disasters for the Contra project, including the CIA's seeding of Nicaraguan harbors with mines, a bombing at Eden Pastora's jungle headquarters, the public exposure of a CIA-printed terrorism manual, and the passage of a stringent Boland Amendment in October 1984 that cut off all U.S. government funding for the Contras.1
Sources
- Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it" ↩
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