Rebels, Good and Bad

There is much discussion in Washington these days about Third World insurgencies. Should the U.S. help them, or not? Should any aid given be open or covert? What criteria should govern such aid?

Not long ago, in what I thought was a valuable exercise, two Washington Post reporters looked at the present situation in some detail. The Senate appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, at its hearings on this issue in May, brought out two contradictory doctrines (with a good many variants).