European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 4, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes thursday. December 4.1966 columns James Reston quelling Iran Contra crisis is Reagan s test. To _ .,.,Bover Ament s misconduct and six or seven cola. President Reagan has changed his tune an moved part Way to quell the crisis Over Iran and Nicaragua but the uproar goes on a week ago the president was defiant. The Cadillac were circling the White House stockade and the presi Dent was confidently telling time Magazine thai the american people would support him. Since then he has plunged in the popularity poll further and faster than any other president and has appointed Frank Carlucci a no nonsense former de sense and Central intelligence Agency official As head of the National Security Council. He has also name former sen. John Tower of Texas to head a review Board to study the activities of the Csc. If we re to maintain Confidence in our govern ment s foreign policy apparatus the president told the Tower review Board there must be a Fuu and Complete airing of All the that is precisely what the leaders of both parties in Congress Are demanding and that is also hat they re wondering whether they la get. Even from a spec Al Independent prosecutor,1 which Reagan reluctantly approved or from the Tower review Board. " my Veu Tiwu Imit ,.--.-for the Central question is How to gel a the facts and la. Col. Oliver North who knows them better than anyone else has invoked the fifth amendment to avoid self incrimination. Neither the president nor North s former Superior sin the Marine corps can compel him to testily oui Lluc can Promise him immunity front criminal Means fire us Regan the White he prosecution if he will talk or put him in danger of. F of s afr and v5iyjarn Casey the head of the of charges of obstructing Justice if he refuses to Tell what be suspect cd of knowing Elxnit the Deal for touche did. And with whose approval. A a a --1 misconduct and six or seven of mules promising to Cany out Irir rate investigations no Mailer How Long a when the democrats will be in control on a investigative committees of Congress. V to Many leaders of the president s own party to a a Nightmare. They Are urging him to i make a Jata weep of All the principal official of the capstan the while House who had anything to do with approving this secret shipment of arms to Iran and Mon to the nicaraguan what started As an adventure within the White House and developed Mio both farce and a tragedy is now a tangle of Legal obscurities with the attorney general hoping to investigate his own Josh mistakes Over no kit make slur of Ake mistakes. Saw Ted f knowing Alx for Iran even if they did not know about All of North i ammo ivors to get Money to the contras. The president however is in an awkward petition10 clean House even though he fired North Afeffa proclaimed North a National hero before Damu lbt. Him and he still insists that this whole disaster warn1a fiasco or even a mistake or a failure but merely a procedural misjudgment that was earned out without his Complete knowledge. Unfortunately the White House adventures in Iran and Nicaragua Are being compared to president no on s calculated deceptions at watergate. This i a bid analogy for several reasons. Nixon covered up his illegal activities but Reagan and his announced the follies of Iran and Nicaragua. The main question for Nixon was what did he know and when did he know to the embarrassing question for Reagan is what did t be know and Why did t he know it. Yet there is one danger for Reagan As there we to Nixon namely that this scandal unless it is quickly admitted and corrected by new officials and new procedures will dominate More important affairs for the rest of his time in the Oval office. I have a lot of things to do in this Job be told Hugh Sidey of time. That is undoubtedly True be ginning with the Central question of the control of nuclear weapons which despite some mistakes and Mil under standings made More Progress in the Reagan Gorbachev Summit meeting in Iceland than since the invention of the atomic bomb. How to get out of this latest problem and Back to the Central questions of world affairs is now the final test of Reagan s presidency. Now a it a a Newi serve it George will Nunn would provide a steady hand at the Helm on monday morning As usual the senator was sipping decaffeinated Coffee. Washington is stimulating enough especially for Sam Nunn. The Georgia Democrat has been carrying around with him the Calm of the Eye of the Hurricane his steadiness being brought into High Relief by the shortage of that Quality elsewhere. He speculates the 1988 election like almost All elections will turn on economic issues. The current crisis could be the Needle that punctures Ronald Reagan s balloon of Confidence that has Kepi the Economy buoyant in the face of chilling fiscal facts. Nunn believes thai if a democratic president had adopted Reagan s fiscal policies even including Reagan budget allocations. Wall Street would Long since have panicked driving the Dow Jones average below 1000. The vagaries of presidential leadership May become intensely practical concern for Nunn. If the democrats had Noi re capt it the Senate making him chair Man of the armed services committee he would be wore inclined to run for president than he now is. Until recently he had decided to decide one Way or another in the next few weeks. The cur real in she changed his timetable however in surely has not made Hun less inclined. He is skilled and among democrats conspicuous for being skilled at mastering the difficulties military Politi Cal budgetary of maintaining Strong defense policies. He is Loo Little appreciated for his rounded View of govern Ance. He is quietly but passionately alarmed by the fiscal polices that have derailed the defense program. The most important congressional speech of recent years was Nunn s of aug. 5, 1986. In was a withering analysis of How defense has become an easy tar get caught Between the Gramm Rud Man requirement to reduce the deficit the political impossibility of significant spending cuts and the president s pledge to veto any tax increase. President Reagan who endorse Gramm Rudman without understanding Ili Basic mechanism did not understand that it would mean a minimum Cut of $325 billion from his defense plan Over five Yean. Nunn illustrated the devastation service by service. For example to Cut in required$55 billion the Amy could terminate All ah-64 and uh-60 helicopters the Backbone of army aviation1all 2,500 m1 tanks and All 3,200 m2 fighting vehicles the Backbone of our armed combat modernization program and every sin Gle army Muile 290,000 i Wiki and would thereby save $27.4 billion Only half the requirement regarding the two great entangled is sues of governance today defense and deficit reduction Nunn is manifestly More serious than president Reagan impart because Nunn More fully under stands the entanglement. The one reason he might be difficult to nominate is also a very Strong reason for nominating him he has cast some votes that violate he strict catechism of the democratic party s left Wing. This is the catechism favored by the democratic activists who have nominated candidates who in three of the last four elections 1972, 1980 and 1984 have carried just one Southern state Georgia in 1980. Nunn has voted for Aid to the contras and probably will do so again. He has voted not to restrict abortions but to restore Stales jurisdiction for abortion policies. He has thought hard enough about running for president to have decided thai if be docs he will Start in new Hampshire whose primary has the first Road to those who wan Der if you can skip the Iowa caucuses and win the nomination he Tays with characteristic concision if decide to run Iii find out Given the Southern regional primary the political potential for a southerner i Clear As is the Cue for nominating one. It is Northern parochialism and condescension to say the South is joining we mainstream. The South can fairly Eugun to typify the mainstream in size and Dis position As Well. As David Broder notes in every presidential election since 1956, the candidate who has won the largest Nimby of of electoral votes in the 11 Southern states has walked into the White Haw that is True of no other Region. If Efeme West and West voted for lot it lf90 and 1976 the Northeast in 1w8.1So by 1988 in will have been 3jpft the first Eisenhower Stevenson since the South supported a loser. However the Southern fickle. Neither the republicans no democrats have been Able to Wil South three times in a Row. In 1911 republicans will be trying for their consecutive Victory. The importance of the South impotence of Democrat in recent dental elections Fiere among democrats to this Sam Nunn would make. Mate for a democratic nominee that s True. And rate pitch batting practice Tor would be a waste. "
