European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 23, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes sunday. November 23,1986 William Buckley questions never asked answers never Given twice in the past i have written that 1 thought the whole iranian business was a Lousy idea. But enough is enough. The Washington Post did a terribly right thing the morning of the presi Dent s press conference the editors collected questions from big names the questions hey would ask the president i they were at the press conference. The idea was to round up the toughest questions possible. Herewith a sampling wit what might have been appropriate an Swers by or. Reagan. Q. Walter Mondale do you really a relieve that there Are moderate elements within the iranian government and if there arc can there be any doubt that our association with them will diminish their influence if not eliminate their presence in the political Structure of Iran a. You never know. Everybody from time Magazine to Margaret thalcher gave the impression that Mikhail Gorba Chev was a moderate. Come to think of it Many people thought Yuri Andropov would be a moderate. The question really boils Down to this ought the United slates to have a hand in trying to influence the direction of Post Khomeini Iran we know the soviet Union is try ing to influence the future there. So should we. Q. John Steinbruner Brookings institution what provision have you made in your dealing with Iran to ensure that no More hostages Wilt be taken a. Iran has t taken any hostages since the . Embassy episode. Hostages have been taken by fanatical pro iranian groups in . There in t any Way to guarantee there won t be Mot Ameri can hostages taken in  except to keep All americans from going to Leb anon and we Don t have the Power to do this. Q. Norman Amstein political scientist among All of the issues and prob lems your administration faces in Defin ing the National interest in what order of priority would you rank the Freedom of the hostages in let,.ebanon? a. Freeing american hostages is not strictly speaking a National interest except to the extent that we Are viewed As impotent i we cannot protect our citizens. My administration will always attempt to help americans illegally detained and to punish those who detain them. But in terms of National interest they Are in a class with prisoners of War. Q. John c. West former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to saudi Arabia what effect did the United slates providing some military equip ment have on the behaviour of the iranian government a. None that we now know. Of. I could t Tell you what have been the beneficial effects of cultural Exchange trea ties with the soviet Union executed 30 years ago. The idea is to try energetically to Plant seeds and then nope. Q. Michael Kantor los Angeles at Torney and democratic activist you said this Trade was 10 help Start a Dia Logue with moderate political faction in Iran. How does giving weapons to the Khomeini establishment help this a. Can t answer that. Who under stands the Ayatollah the French who nursed him before he came to Power the politician who backed him and go executed by him the Carter administration that helped drive the than out of Iran the Only thing absolutely Predicta ble about the Aya Lottah is thai one Day Hewill no longer be with us. At that Point . Initiatives May have left a Mark. Q. John Brademas president of new York University and former democratic congressman in Light of the fiasco of Iran the Swap of a soviet spy for a american journalist the failure of Reykjavik to move toward effective arms control the skirting of . Lawi by sending an american arms Supply plane to Nicaragua and the Clumsy disinformation Campaign against Libya what changes do you plan to restore competence and credibility to the conduct of . Foreign pol icy a. Well John you were inc democratic majority whip when that whole Messin Iran happened. The administration you served swapped a couple of soviet spies for appropriate Favora in 1979,after an interval of a few months. On Reykjavik our position is thai when the communists meet with us and we fail Larrive at an agreement that s the fault of the communists not of the unite states. The disinformation Campaign on Libya was Clumsy i agree and i m going to ask Congress to Goolack and have an other look at that rash of Post watergate Post Cla Rockefeller hearings legislation to examine whether a commander in chief can effectively operate under restrictions whose constitutionally u infant problematic. At to credibility Well John you were Defeated for re election an experience i be never had. Any tips you want to give me about How to avoid your Fate would be Welcome. Thank you very much ladies and Gen Allemen. Cod bless you. Unn Erial priv  Jim Fain Reagan still has popularity but not credibility there stood the great communicator coming unglued on screen like capt. Queen in the Caine Mutiny  it was a pathetic sight he was defending a tissue of lies and All his actor training must have told him he was bombing. There was pain in his face and in his halting repetitious non answers. He would have done better to say we goofed and Well try not to do it again but he could t. He tried to Stonewall lost in the complexities of his byzantine justification so befuddled he four times denied the on record fact that Israel had been our principal arms conduit to Iran. It was impossible not to feel Pill at his Public humiliation and he will retain his personal popularity but it will be difficult for anyone Here or abroad to take him seriously again. The reason goes beyond duplicity to the sheer dumbness of risking american Honor for so Little. For that blame his romantic fascination Wilh cover actions fostered by fellow septuagenarian William Casey who took Over the Cia determined to re energize its dirty tricks department. Casey has succeeded famously with operations in Nicaragua Afghanistan and Angola. Though the Agency was Only marginally involved in the iranian caper Casey sparked it and was a key player throughout. There splendid irony Here. The Cia s first Covert Triumph was in Iran. Vermil Roosevelt grandson of Teddy organized a coup in 1953 to topple Premier Mostade Fiand install the Shah. Roosevelt s Success so transfixed the Brothers Dulles Allen and Foster that they Sel the Cia on a course of massive Clandestine actions thai climaxed in the Bay of pigs fiasco. Roosevelt saw such disasters As inevitable. He quit the Agency because he thought John Foster Dulles misconception of what intelligence operations could achieve would result in Large scale Covert actions thai were bound to fail. Here is Roosevelt s recollection As quoted in John Rane Lagh s Book the Agency Foster Dulles had been so pleased and mesmerized by the Success i d had in Iran that he just figured could solve any problem anywhere in the world. I tried to explain to him very carefully just Why it was we had succeeded in Iran because careful studies had con Vinced us that first and Foremost the army and secondly the people wanted the same things we did. Under those circumstances it s possible to achieve the results you want. This was something that could Bedone without sending the marines in. When i reported to the White House i could see Foster Dulles sitting there Licking his chops. "1 said if you Don t want something that the people and the army want Don l give it to Clandestine opera Lions give it to the marines and Foster Dulles sat there just obviously not accepting that at All actually with or without congressional leaks Hie Agency is not much better than the National Security Council when u conies to handling such things. We ought to develop i special operations Branch to the my fury to fight guerrilla wars and nip port int Urien Cirei. Political and economic components Are u important As grunts and gum a fact the Cia never by understood. Witness Vietnam and Nicaragua. Then the Cia could focus on its real Mission collecting and analysing intelligence while old boys Rea Gan and Casey doze off Wilh John be  nwis�tmlobii1klwnwnwyk Hunt i ohm w a we of Chuck