Robert Gates acknowledges that the CIA’s paramilitary force, the Contras, cannot overthrow the Sandinista government. the Monroe Doctrine and the U.S. loss in Vietnam, Gates argues that the CIA-run Contra war is “an essentially half-hearted policy.” He suggests that the Reagan administration allowed a “comprehensive campaign openly aimed at bringing down the regime,” including “the use of air strikes” in the opposition to Nicaraguan military targets. “The fact is that the Western Hemisphere is the sphere of influence of the United States,” Gates advises.
