Kissinger Blasted Kerry in 1980s for Interfering in Nicaragua
Image: Kissinger Blasted Kerry in 1980s for Interfering in Nicaragua Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
Thursday, 12 Mar 2015 12:54 PM
By Melanie Batley
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger slammed then-Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry in 1985 for interfering in diplomatic negotiations with Nicaragua's Marxist government, the Daily Caller reported.
Now Kerry is hammering Senate Republicans for their open letter to the Iranian leadership which warned that any deal that was struck by President Barack Obama may not last without the consent of Congress and after the president leaves office.
Kerry and then-Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin had visited Nicaragua in 1985 to make a deal with the Sandinista government even though President Ronald Reagan at the time was determined to overthrow the government with the help of the Nicaraguan rebels, the contras.
Kerry supported a deal that would see the Sandinista government agree to a cease-fire and restore civil liberties in exchange for the United States ceasing to support the contras.
"If the United States is serious about peace, this is a great opportunity," Kerry said at the time, according to the Caller.
But Kissinger blasted Kerry on "Face the Nation," saying: "He's not secretary of state, and if the Nicaraguans want to make an offer, they ought to make it in diplomatic channels. We can't be negotiating with our own country and the Nicaraguans simultaneously. My own view is that what we want from the Nicaraguans is the removal of foreign military and intelligence advisers."
On Wednesday, Kerry told the Senate Armed Services that he was in "utter disbelief" about the GOP letter to the Iranian leaders.
"During my 29 years here in the Senate I never heard of nor even heard of it being proposed anything comparable to this. If I had, I can tell you, no matter what the issue and no matter who was president, I would've certainly rejected it."
"No one is questioning anybody's right to dissent," he added, according to the Caller.
"Any senator can go to the floor any day and raise any of the questions that were raised. You write to the leaders in the middle of a negotiation — particularly the leaders that they have criticized other people for even engaging with or writing to — to write then and suggest they were going to give a constitutional lesson, which by the way was absolutely incorrect, is quite stunning.
"This letter ignores more than two centuries of precedent in the conduct of American foreign policy."
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