Ben Linder's brother explains national tour

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Socialist Action interviewed John Linder while he was on a recent speaking tour in Northern California. John is the older brother of Ben Linder, who was murdered in a contra ambush in Nicaragua on April 28, 1987.

Ben Linder built one power plant in the rural town of El Cua and was working on another hydroelectric plant near San Jose de Bocay when he was killed. Medical evidence and press reports now confirm that Linder was assassinated at point-blank range as he lay wounded.

The interview, by Carl Finamore, was conducted on July 18, 1987.

Socialist Action: How did people the United States respond to the murder your brother?

Linder: Andrew Young [mayor of Atlanta, Ga.] summarized it best the day after Ben was killed. He told an audience in Nicaragua that "the people of the United States are the people of Ben Linder, and not the people of Ronald Reagan."

I found that to be very true. In the week and a half following Ben's death, tens of thousands of people participated in memorial meetings, condemning not only his murder and the murder of the two Nicaraguans who were working with him, but also the entire policy which led to those murders.

Socialist Action: Your whole family has been very outspoken against the government's pro-contra policies. What kind of feedback have they received?

Linder: My parents' house is filled with eight boxes of support-letters from throughout the country. Many of them are simply addressed to the "Family of Ben Linder, Portland, Ore." Over $40,000 was received almost immediately after the announcement of a Memorial Fund to continue Ben's work.

... Contragate (continued from page 1: “[from the start. The investigation looked for scapegoats…]”) foreign-policy initiatives from the American people. Nobody, for example, challenged Rear Admiral John Poindexter's contemptible statement that "the American people don't want to know the details" of the government's foreign affairs.

U.S. foreign policy follows the needs of the capitalist class to safeguard its economic and political interests. Secrecy in carrying out these objectives becomes more necessary in those circumstances where the government is unable to mask its imperialist forays with "democratic" or One for the Gipper.

We have now raised $80,000 toward our $200,000 goal. [Tax-deductible contributions should be made out to: Ben Linder Memorial Fund/Earth Island, P.O. Box 6443, Portland, OR 97228] Socialist Action: Has this positive reaction continued throughout your tour?

Linder: I have spoken in several cities like Miami, Fla., and Witchita, Kan., where the anti-intervention movement is not very strong. The organizers in those places have been flabbergasted at the large size of the meetings.

My meetings in Northern California have been standing-room only.

Socialist Action: Who comes these meetings?

VIETNAM rileg Linder: We are talking to people who have not necessarily been that interested before. I think the death of Ben has hit home.

Socialist Action: Then how do you account for the polls which claim increased support for contra aid in the wake of the Contragate congressional hearings?

media attention given to the 400 people who said "We love Ollie" outside the White House than to the 200,000 anti-intervention activists who demonstrated on April 25 in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

But there is a certain House, would have turned control of the government over to a little-known department, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The proposed state-of-emergency decree was intended to facilitate sending U.S. troops to invade Nicaragua. According to testimony before the iran/contra congressional committee and the Tower Commission, North proposed that the contras claim a portion of the northeastern coast of Nicaragua as a "liberated territory." The land would then serve as a beachhead [Lieut. Col. Oliver] North and I think it's based on several things. One is that North took a stand and nobody challenged that stand. He argued politics and ideology while the congressional-committee members argued legality.

There was nobody to say, wait a minute, 48 out of 50 contra military commanders are ex-Somocista National Guardsmen. What about the 15,000 to 20,000 Nicaraguans who have died as a result of your "neat idea?"

What about the role of the CIA in organizing the contras in 1981—which the contra commanders themselves concede is the way they were pulled together into the FDN (National Democratic Force)? What about the CIA murder-manual written in 1983?

I didn't have five days on television, but if I had even five minutes I would bring before people in the United States some of the 15,000 Nicaraguan families who have lost relatives to the contra war. I would like to have them describe the thousands of rapes, kidnappings, and tortures that the contras have carried out.

And then I would like to ask Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, and every congressperson who voted to aid the contras, if they think that's a "neat idea."

But, unfortunately, nobody challenged North. As a result, there was only an appearance of a two-sided debate between him and the congressional committee. In fact, it was a one-sided debate as far as the contra war is concerned.

Socialist Action: Undoubtedly, there was a certain amount of confusion caused among the American people by the fact that North and the other Contragate witnesses were not politically challenged when they openly campaigned for pro-contra policies. How deep do you think this confusion goes?

Linder: The American people have been polled saying that they believe Oliver North. Well, I also believe Oliver North-on two counts.

One, he said that he lied and lied repeatedly. Second, he said that he is a "fall guy." I believe that also. He is a criminal, but the crimes were initiated by the highest officials in the land.

The majority of Americans already believe, more than ever, that the government is lying to them.

Socialist Action: What impact will the Contragate exposés ultimately have on the American people?

Linder: Eventually, the government will pay a price for its secret and illegal contra war. The American people have gotten a glimpse of not only an outlaw colonel but of an outlaw government.

for a U.S. invasion.

An official familiar with North's proposal told the San Francisco Examiner (July 18, 1987) that North had "dreamed it up some time in late 1985 after it became clear that the contras could not oust the Sandinistas without American troops."

Although the Contragate committee was informed of these proposals for an invasion of Nicaragua and for emergency rule in the United States, it refused to question Oliver North any further. All of the committee members share North's goal of rolling back the Nicaraguan Revolution. In fact, over two-thirds of the committee panelists voted for contra aid in Congress.

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" Ben's death has hit home."

Linder: There is a lot of hype about "Olliemania." First of all, there was more