European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 11, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns William Safire the stars and stripes saturday october 11,1986 Kalb is spokesman for All who demand truth .4 a uht Irv in i q7fl Wal cat a birthday party Tor a former National Secu Rity aide state department spokesman Bernard Kalb was not Hii usual convivial self. The disinformation problem was bothering him. He was assured that the controversy Over a Reagan administration policy condoning deliberate deception of the american press to rattle Libya s Moa mar Gad Hafi would soon blow Over. It was an inside the Belt Way Story troubling to journalists but of Little con Cern to a Public that would soon be inundated with stories on he superpower Summit. He agreed with that estimate of news flow and the spar Ofa Lention. He loved his Opportunity to speak for Hii country and his admiration for his Shultz seemed undiminished. Vet on wednesday Bernie Kalb quit to make the Point that nobody who Speaks for the United states can tolerate official lying. What we were All missing and what Kalb principled resignation now illuminates is that the re action on High is vastly More important than the action Down below. As usual in matters of slate the cover up is worse than the crime. The wrongful act in this Case was the recommendation by the National Security adviser. Adm. John Poindexter. That disinformation the soviet Devin for Maurya be adopted to rattle the libyan dictator. Reporters trained to Trust the word of the american government wrote stories advancing the deception. Poindexter is an apparatchiks s apparatchiks he was Frederick Allen firs in his class at Annapolis excelling at nuclear physics but perhaps failing o absorb enough of the naval Academy s Central value of Honor. For this reason Many were prepared to give the administration the Benefit of the doubt of the too Long desk bound Admiral goofed in using the incendiary word disinformation in a memo and some while House aide became Overly enthusiastic. No policy decision was made to mislead the press we supposed it was a Cas of stupidity rather than venality. But then or. Reagan decided to hang what the president and his Secretary of stale seemed to say. We faked out the Media in the goo cause of confusing our enemies and will do it again. Serves pm right for publishing leaks. At a meeting of pundits in the White House family Heater president Reagan was Given five specific opportunities to disavow the policy and to defuse the Issue. How easy it would have been to say. Sure we May keep our enemies guessing about our intentions but when the source of information is the . Govern ment you can rely on the instead he bobbed and weaved and launched Petty personal attack against Bob Woodward the re Porter who uncovered the damning memo. Reagan challenged the veracity of the Story which was True rather than asserting his own commitment to truthfulness no matter what some aide says or does. In implausibly denying the existence of a plan to use the Media to scare Qadhafi. Reagan seemed to enshrine Black propaganda As policy. Incredibly the Secretary of state joined in. 1 remember sitting with George Shultz in 1970, watching Wandli Sieng to the film of the shot my at Kent Jefe stunned inc former Marine said that was Ai the sound he knew an order had been Given to fire at the students and a let tier but not one to March Over Cliffs he would Al accept explanations that the shooting had been sporadic. In this week s episode he failed 10 grasp in significance of the president s uncaring alignment with the totalitarian technique of disinformation. The rarest occasions do Call for a lie denying a plan to attack terrorists in order to save hostages or shrugging Otra Likely devaluation of currency but such exception Are no basis for policy. T instead of asserting one of America s greatest strengths Shultz spoke of psychological warfare and exhumed Churchill s wartime need for a bodyguard of lies to hide truth from enemies. Such Mirju figment served neither his president nor his country Well. Dil tracked by the spy for hostage criticism and Summit preparations Shultz does not see that his willingness to Jettison credibility has become a Low Point in his stewardship at the slate department. Perhaps the Kalb resignation will awaken him an through him the president to the values our diplomacy is supposed to Advance. Brazen deception is the Stockin Trade of our enemies honesty is still our bes policy. In his final official net Kalb Rose above state depart ment spokesman to become the spokesman for Oil americans who respect and demand the truth. Carter s directness remains a political attribute there Are times when Jimmy Carter Halfway Breaks your heart. The former president listened intently last week ashis successor. Ronald Reagan graced the dedication ceremonies of the Carter Library in Atlanta with surprisingly moving tribute in the form of a retelling of Carter s life. Moments later with a wry rueful smile. Carte turned to Reagan and said As i listened to you speak a few minutes ago i understood More clearly than Iever have before in my life Why you won in november 1980 and Host with that one remark. Carter in his turn reminded whole audience of listeners just As clearly How in was thai he had won the presidency Back in 1976, How i sewn flair for disarming Candor had gripped a nation that hungered for Plain honesty in its while House. It was hardly surprising of course that Carter and Rea Gan would be Nice to each other when it comes to dedicating their libraries presidents tend to be on their Best behaviour United in a goal of Mutual glorification that transcends Mere politics. Carter and Gerald Ford for instance have Long since discovered a brotherly Bond and have participated in a Home and away series of join programs at their presidential centers Here and in Michigan. Vet there was something deep and revealing inthe air. Out on the Hillside that overlooks Atlanta some thing More than Carter and Reagan displaying their warmest personal traits and in took form As Reagan began to speak. The Carter Library the president suggested serves its highest purpose and gives ill greatest gift by idling the Story of Jimmy Carter a Story of the South. In is hard to imagine anyone suggesting that the Kennedy Library to Coli a Story of new England or that the Ford Library somehow explains the psyche of the midwestern or but it is precisely the unique stake that southerner beat in Ibe presidency of Carter tha makes him eve today such a wet Spring of ambivalent emotions. Reagan stole the South from Carter Lack in 1980. But redid to without showing any special understanding of the Region. Indeed until wednesday All of Reagan s campaigning in the South had been scarred by a Reliance on superficial Vilics that bordered on pandering. At times preaching slates rights or lauding Jefferson Davis Rea Gan appeared to want to resurrect the confederacy. More than anything. Reagan seemed to think thai Bisnott Algte Small town picket Fence View of America was shared by southerners when in fact it was not. Old fashioned values May abound Here but Happy Mem ories do not. For inc first Lime at he darkened Back Lothe Rural Georgia of 1924 into which Carter was born. Reagan recognized an old South thai was poor and riven by segregation. Carter s Story culminating in his capture of the White House is As Reagan said a Celebration of the South the new South thai Jimmy Carter helped to More than thai it is a tale of a Region thai has fought to shed a form of second class citizenship that was in most respects unfairly imposed by the rest of the country. The South had entirely too much wrapped up inca Ter s presidency of course and its political failure triggered warring emotions. There was anger at carte for Messing up and turning Back the very clock he had helped to wind. And there was a sense of betrayal atthe Handi of a mocking nation that so often seemed to be blaming Carter s Birthplace for the failure. No bin Man ought to hive to carry a Region s Pride iphone shoulder and its inferiority Complex on the other Bur these were Carter s burdens in the White House and left Leaden Epa lets be has worn them Ever since. In one Way the tone of wednesday s Cert seemed merely to suggest that Carter s glory More in achieving office than holding it but in the focus ton carter1 life Story the ceremony to the curious satisfying effect of separating hit a Triumph and the concurrent Triumph of the , from the bitter lingering dispute Over hit Man and Region were the Load on Carter s shoulders was eased. And the rest of in fell lighter too. _ if a � Foi waa nos a to Alum journal and m . ,
