European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 18, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes tuesday november 18.1986 conf mrs Anthony Lewis Iran arms Deal reveals dangerous abuses Day by Day we learn Mere about the web of deceit and Folly spun by the Reagan White House. And Day by Day the real import of the Iran affair the abuse of the office of president looks More danger Ous. A president makes a drastic change in foreign policy against the advice of his secretaries of state and de sense. He acts through personal aides with Little experience in foreign affairs. Though his action May have profound military consequences he keeps it secret from in joint chiefs of staff. He orders the director of Central intelligence to ignore the Law requiring him to report to Congress what we learn from this is that a handful of men at the lop of the United slates government can take their country into the most treacherous Waters on their can act in Defiance of Law in Defiance of under takings to allies in Defiance of respect for relationship in their own government. In the 200th year of the american Constitution its careful checks and balances Are thus treated with con tempt. Men who teamed nothing from Vietnam and watergate Tell us. Again thai to meet the problems of the world we must have an Imperial presidency. Folly is a Likely result when a Small group of ill informed people act in secret on great mailers and it was the result Here. Sen. Barry Goldwater called the decision to Send arms to Iran in the Hope of wheedling help for american hostages a dreadful mistake prob ably one of the major mistakes the United Stales has Ever made in foreign offence to allies encouragement to terrorists loss of belief in America s word those Are some of the re sults. But they Are less important than the Issue of presidential Power. It is not jus thai Reagan and his Palace guard acted in Defiance of the constraints thai have kept us free. It is that when caught they unashamedly asserted the right to do just that. Donald Regan the White House chief of staff put it this Way the president has certain Powers that Are Given to him to do things in foreign policy thai arc not Given to Ordinary citizens and he s not above the Law. Buti m saying thai he has Powers that Are More than nor Mal of course the president has Powers and duties far beyond those of the Ordinary citizen. That is a truism not Worth uttering the real Point of Regan defensive statement despite its reference to Law was that a president is beyond the usual rules when he decides what is Best for the country. Docs thai have a familiar ring to it indeed it docs. William Safire ii is the very theory that we heard from Richard Nixon in watergate that the president acting in higher inter ests that he alone defines is exempt from Ordinary rules of Law. The supreme court rejected thai theory in United states is. Nixon. The House judiciary com Millee rejected it in approving the articles of impeach ment. Presidential contempt for the rules would have con sequences As bad now As in 1974, if it were accepted. The Justice department is prosecuting a considerable number of americans on charges of sending arms to Iran in violation of a Legal embargo on such shipments. What will this country be saying to the world and to itself if it sends people to prison for violating a Law that the president breached presidents it is True have great Power in foreign affairs. But there Are limits and the very scope of the Power makes in vital that the limits be observed. The tension of Power and restraint was Well de scribed by Justice William h. Rehnquist. Now chief Justice in a 1981 opinion for the supreme court. The Case As it happens arose from Iran s holding of Ameri can diplomats As hostages. In 1936, Rehnquist said the supreme court had spoken of the president s plenary and inclusive Power in foreign affairs. But in 1952, in the steel seizure Case it rejected a claim that the Power was virtually Rehnquist quoted the opinion in thai Case of Justice Robert h. Jackson whom he served As a Law clerk the example of such unlimited executive Power that must have most impressed the forefathers was the prerogative exercised by George Iii and the description of its evils in the declaration of Independence leads me to doubt that they were creating their new executive in his w Vowk Tom a Flea s my forgone led Reagan from straight and narrow who is this fellow that Ron Aid Reagan trusts More than his cab inet secretaries history will want to know what sort of Man was Able to per Suade his president to turn away from a lifetime of straight dealing. Marine it. Col. Robert Mcfarl Newas an assistant to sen. John Tower at the armed services committee in the Carter years and came to the attention of Reagan men with a report castigating the Carter administration for its Mili tary ineptitude in trying to free hos tages at desert one in Iran. He deserved a political payoff for that helpful judgment but Richard Allen did not want him on the National Security Council staff. Al Haig welcomed him at state however where the tight lipped Mcfarlane soon cultivated William Clark. President Rea Gan s Haig watcher at slate and through him Michael Deaver. When Allen came under fire at the Csc Deaver urged the president to dump him and bring in Clark and Mcfarlane when the hapless judge Park wore out Deaver increasingly inter ested in foreign affairs appointments helped Slot his Friend Bud into the sensitive spot at the Csc. The Mcfarlane sojourn at the while House was disappointing. Hews an apparatchiks with a geopolitical vocabulary pontificating at Roosevelt room briefings of pundits who rolled their eyes Ai his pretensions. When All the Power flowed to George Shultz Ai state the frustrated Mcfarlane quit on his departure i characterized him and his successor a naval officer named John Poindexter who shined at note taking As option three men who tended to split the differences be tween state and defense and Cia in advising the president. They were More brokers than players 1 thought Al the Lime. That stung. Mcfarlane May appear to be a Cool and level headed Man and he works hard Al that appearance on television by never taking Issue Prats ing questioners for Good questions and calling All interviewers by their first names. Underneath this Bulto cd up fellow seethes with envy at the respect Given Henry Kissinger and lashes the bile of thwarted ambition. In Mcfarlane s mind Csc predecessors suffered from Spengler an pessimism or lacked strategic reach it was the belittled Mcfarian despite the reluctance of touted Pentagon strategists who saw How High technology leverage could stress the soviet econ omy and Force the russians to retrench and who sold Reagan on Star he did Grant Kissinger the Bril Liance of the secret China opening. And that was How the rejected Mcfarlane saw he could gain the credit Given con what he needed to break out of the apparatchiks Mold was a secret Mission to the forbidden City of the 80s, Tehran. When the feeler for hostage Ransom came from Howato islam a Sfanjani who saw a Way to match his country s immediate need for arms with its Peri Odic need to humiliate . Presidents Mcfarlane was ready. He Twan ged Rea Gan s hostage Heartstrings and always Low key persuaded him to make the worst mistake of his presidency to authorize a Down payment of 250,000 pounds of arms to establish the Mcfear Iane Bona fides in bickering for hostage releases. When the iranians arms in hand made the Ransom Public the Public revulsion began to set in. It urns out the president had underestimated the Downside risk in giving Iran the Chance 10 show him up As liar softy and dupe. The rest of the Story will unravel along with the Reagan prestige. The saudis Tusl have been mightily impressed by Iran s ability to swing the United slates around and suddenly dumped Sheik Yamani and changed their Oil Price policy to appease the winners. Open Price hikes would not Only Benefit Iran but help most the so Viet Union largest Oil seller and drive up . Prices. The damage done by Mcfarlane s lust for strategic stardom 11 not limited to the loss of respect for America s word. Nor should investigators forget that saudi Arabia is still Michael Beaver s largest and most Loyal client. Mcfear Lanc told me Las Spring he could no remember 1985 conversations held with the new lobbyist and foreign a genl his memory May have improved under oath. Perhaps a grand jury providing life time employment for a special prosecutor can discover the details of a Back Channel Between the United slates the saudis and Iran that the tarnished Rea Gan wants so desperately to hide. The tightly controlled colonel has much More to Tell. New Vort Tumi Hamwi Baith
