Harrington Tells Law Forum Of CIA Role in Chile Coup

Rep. Michael J. Harrington '58 (D-Mass) charged yesterday at a Law School Forum that high U.S. officials withheld information from the American public on covert activities in Chile.

Speaking before a crowd of 200, Harrington said the foreign policy of the United States was "all out economic, political, and covert military aggression towards Chile's Allende government."

He said CIA Director William Colby evaded the truth on CIA involvement and charged that Congressional leaders acquiesed in witholding information concerning covert acts in Chile.

Harrington, a member of the House Foreign affairs committee, achieved notice in September when a letter he had written to Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-Ark), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, outlining CIA activities was printed by the New York Times.

The letter stated the CIA spent more than 11 million for "destabilization" in Chile between 1962 and 1973.

Harrington said Congressional acquiescence to the executive branch in foreign policy must stop.

Congress must cease following the initiative of the state department, he said and "be fully involved and fully informed in the determination of foreign policy."

Harrington stated Chile is not a closed affair. It epitomizes "the willingness of the U.S. to challenge the ethics it endorses to the rest of the world," he said.

Harrington also called for further investigations of multi-national corporations in Latin American and the Rockefeller interests in South America.