European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 24, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes monday March 24, 1986 William Safire Contra Aid fight reveals stresses on foreign policy consider the rejection of Reagan s Central american policy As a lesson in geology the political quakes and tremors that led to the decisive defeat of the president in Congress denying Aid to the anti communists fighting Nicaragua s dictator Lay Bare the two great stresses on the fundaments of our foreign policy. The first is the tension Between Hawk and Dove in the formation of Public sentiment that determines intervention or isolation. The american House has Long been deeply divided Over whether Early intervention ultimately saves lives the Munich analogy or leads to a quagmire the Vietnam analogy. Does this easy Hawk Dove classification ignore the subtleties of the argument Over when and where to apply . Power of course but there can be no denying the pervasive difference of mindset that identifies the opposing forces and underlies their arguments. The attitude of much of the younger generation of leaders and activists was hammered on the Anvil of Vietnam. The doves among them believe that the de feat of our intervention there vindicated their move ment the Hawks among them along with Many of the generation that Learned to dread appeasement of aggression believe with equal intensity that dovish defeatism and opposition emboldened the enemy and contributed to our defeat. In the Rise of Reagan ism and the rejection of Mcgovern ism we assumed that Hawks had made a comeback. Perhaps we have in the coming month a Campaign against top Little and too late from the while House along with specific Promise and denial of Reagan s Campaign help May reverse thursday s Triumph of the doves. But the refusal of so Many democrats to flinch at charges of being soft on communism in an instance ironically when the charge is not phony shows at least a perception by most representatives that the president has failed to Alert the Public to the danger he sees in our hemisphere. This Hawk Dove confrontation Over Aid to the contras was healthy. The Issue was clearly drawn accountability for isolationism is now clearly established not to be covered up by subsequent cosmetic votes. Hawks never consider defeat to be As bad As preemptive surrender and Are not ashamed at having fought the Good fight with vigor. If Reagan were to accept a thin Gruel substitute in a few weeks from doves with second thoughts who want to escape voter retribution he would humiliate himself and defeat his own purposes. Compromises Lead to de feat without accountability. We must help allies fight to win or not encourage them to fight at All not enough is not enough. The second great stress in our system revealed by the William f. Buckley in to skims am i m Apher debate and vote was the unresolved question of the War Power. The Congress says the Constitution has the Power to declare War and the president As commander in chief has the Power to conduct operations in such a War. But the War Power has never been that neatly divided Between branches. Our bloodiest War the civil War was never declared because the North would not recognize the South As a nation and Congress considered military operations and appointments to be Well within its Purview. In our time the senatorial descendants of Bluff Ben Wade and House successors to Thaddeus Stevens have wrested Back the War Power seized by Lincoln and for during the weakened presidency after watergate and Vietnam the ground shifted toward greater con Gressional War Power. In the 80s, the War Power along with National self Confidence started to shudder Back to the White House. Neither the president nor Congress is Ever going to win this struggle because limited War or informal War or proxy War is not covered in our Constitution. That Means the natural division Between Hawk and Dove is Likely to play out its drama in the same Arena where the president and Congress fight for institutional dominance. This is the Good fight with the word Good not meaning Lusty or exciting but ethical As in the Good but this constant political struggle within our polity is not Between Good and evil or dictatorship or anarchy. The policy and Power fight now under Way is be tween Good and bad judgment about protecting our Freedom and about checking executive Power without paralysing the nation. Let the specific fight about the contras proceed to a conclusion that does not split the Basic differ ence rather that ends the round with an accountable Victor. Then there will be another round. That Good fight is known As the american Way and it works Bette than any other. C new York times the question is Why did Marcos steal so much Newsweek Magazine in its spread entitled the treasure Hunt which recounts preliminary evidence of the scale in which Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos looted the philippine people and one must suppose the american taxpayer says but the first lady of the Philippines was generous to others not just to herself. Guests at the Palace were showered with clothes and Black philippine pearls they got to keep every thing they found in their in 1977 i travelled to Taiwan and the Philippines to do four hours of television. My wife and i were invited to stay at a guest House of the Palace did so and saw a Good Deal of president and mrs. Mar cos in the course of two nights and two Days. On the second evening we were asked to the private quarters before a dinner Given in our Honor and presented with a Large wooden Chest. I was asked to open it and it was crammed full of gifts. There was t time before the dinner to examine them but later we did. There were specimens of work done by philippine craftsmen handkerchiefs Bam boo Knickr Acks i forget. But then the following afternoon driving us to the air port mrs. Marcos gave us each a Little Box with the flourish you know we orientals Are obsessive my wife had modest Black Pearl earrings surrounded by Small diamonds. I had Black Pearl dress shirt buttons. We did what i should think anybody this Side of Stephen Solarz would do namely thanked her most kindly for her generosity. One supposed that such keepsakes were a tradition of the court so to speak and to be accepted As a matter of form. If we had been president and mrs. Buck Ley regulations would have required that we put the stuff away somewhere to end up in the Buckley presidential Library at Stamford conn., though i doubt the curator of that Library would have Given these trinkets much prominence. What truly a palls is the scale in which the Marc oses Are said to have operated. One morning in new York she would Purchase $1 million in jewelry that afternoon $2 million in Antiques. Three thousand pairs of shoes in the pal Ace. Sixty Gucci bags Many of them with the Price tags still on them unused. This is to say nothing of the real estate holdings and Bank accounts littering three continents. An american official is quoted in Newsweek the robber Barons took Over the government and declared martial what absolutely staggers is the ques Tion Why Why Why Why should a Cou ple so situated so precariously Situ ated so conspicuously situated indulge themselves so Orgias icly when 20 years ago the longtime Premier of Thailand died after an exemplary Public career it was discovered that he had stolen a few million dollars and news of this caused those of us on the calvinist Side of the ethical curtain to Grunt our disapproval and indeed he d have gone to jail in America for any such thing but then most of us shrugged our shoulders and forgot about it on grounds some people would Call racist namely our Ina Ticu lated Assumption that some people just Are traditionally that Way and Are expected to leave office Richer than when they entered office. When a president of Mexico on leaving the presidential Man Sion 20 years ago ordered that the Light bulbs should accompany him mexican editorial writers thought this hilarious. Why should anyone bother to become president if not to become Rich but a discreet few million is one thing. Estimates of what the Marc oses stole varies from $5 billion to $10 billion. That s the equivalent of an american president stealing $1.4 trillion. The ethical judicial and Diplo Matic complications Are overwhelming. In an Ideal world they would be Given a
