zfl MEMORANDUM THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON 1 QEPD December 21 1979 Lu MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI 1 2 SUBJECT NSC Weekly Report #122 1 Opinion Difficult Choices in Iran Let me just add the following to Our discussions this morning because I know that this matter is very much on your mind 1 It may well be that Khomeini cannot be moved by economic pressures in which case military action which is merely an ex- tension of economic pressure blockade or mining will not move him either In the meantime such action could provoke widespread international reactions against us and thus be self-defeating Because of that we need to consider military actions which contribute to his downfall and thus secure the release of hostages as a consequence of attaining the other objective his downfall I have set up a very small held group to see whether we could somehow mesh covert political action designed to create an alternative to Khomeini with a series of military steps which contribute to that end In other words our military options would not be primarily either punitive or designed to apply economic leverage but would be more deliberately geared to attaining a-political objective 2 In that connection I will think further about some forms of military action which give us more direct bargaining leverage Khomeini-is not entirely immune to military threats as we already know because he apparently was influenced by our very secret threat of November 23 You felt strongly today that taking the islands would be the wrong course of action and you ma y well be right My only point was that we ought to think of some military steps which have the effect of imposing a Joe seems30 12953 539 335 Reason NSC l l3 b PER Classified and Extended By Z Brzezinski BY From the National Security Archive 2130 St NW Suite 701 Washington DC 20037 protracted humiliation on Khomeini which can only be terminated through the release of our hostages Taking some territory such as the islands might have that effect perhaps mining w0uld also in any case as above I will be seeking to define for you some military options which reinforce our political strategy rather than being either retaliatory or merely an extension ofseconomic pressure 3 With regard to Iraq in addition to the military aspects that we discussed this morning I have checked with Cy Vance and he agrees with the notion that it might be useful for Jim Schlesinger to pay a personal visit to Iraq early in 1980 and to engage the Iraqi leaders in a wider discussion I am So informing Schlesinger 2 Vance Brown-Brzezinski Luncheon Cy Harold and I reached the following decisions at our weekly luncheon today -- DOD Proposals for Improving_Covert Action In response to a proposal from the Department of Defense we agreed to es- tablish a screening committee to review expedite and stimulate better covert action proposals The Committee will meet prior to SCC meetings and will be authorized to return inadequate proposals to CIA for revision if it deems them inadequate for SCC review The committee will be composed of David Aaron Robert Komer and Ronald Spiers S Sale of French Computer IRIS-80 to USSR we agreed that Cy will protest the sale of this advanced computer to the French Ambassador here Meanwhile I will be in touch with my counter- part in the Elysee Jacques Wahl to indicate that French handling of this matter could affect our attitude on sensitive elements in our relationship including certain obvious kinds of coopera- tion We noted that a decision on a telephone switching system now pending at COCOM is also part of the problem S IBM Computer Supplies to KAMA River Also with respect to technology transfer Harold Brown agreed to look into licenses for IBM computer parts and supplies to the KAMA River plant in light of recent publicity and concern over the military signifi- cance of truck production at the plant C 3 National Security Affairs Calendar attached zy ac #6 457 Auwuafb A a'rx any awe 4 aaw' 4 2404 Wu From the National Security Archive 2130 St NW Suite 701 Washington DC 20037 This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu