European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes monday March 9.1987 go Hlll by Kiwi Huhm a my huh pm la by a he Wpm a Mph he a i up 1 " m Wicker Tower report does t end Reagan s ordeal spite inc Tower comm Timon report he popu he did t know about any diversion of funds to the acc morn Lyle Wai ignorance and of Howard Baker to be White House contras the Tower report scarcely reached these if proper records of major Security actions we despite the commission report h popular appointment hour chief of staff and Ronald Reagan s artfully crafted an delivered speech the president s ordeal by investigation ii by no Means Over. Why firsts Reagan himself Laid us the twin scandals of arms to the iranians and funds to inc Nio Aragyan contras happened on his watch. They no amount of moving More furniture or prom discs of future Reform or calculated imagery can Chang that admitted fact second what exactly did happen on Reagan s Waichmas nol been adequately explored or fully reported As again his speech made Clear. For Only the most glaring examples what became ofic millions collected from the arms sales and from older governments that were supposed to go to the contras can Reagan s sketchy memory and shaky command or Facia both now acknowledged by the president himself be relied on when he insists that h contras Tri in Eccl Rathe questions. Reagan confessed to the nation that in Man aging the National Security Council his management style did l work then he defined thai style As to identify the problem find the right individuals to do the Job. And then let them go to it if he really did identify the problem in Iran As on requiring arms sales to those who might assume leadership in a Post Khomeini government he failed Loc Onvey Illo inc right instead he said himself thai he let his personal concern for the hos tages override his geopolitical that can t fairly be blamed on some who serve me or activities undertaken without my his account suggests that Reagan either mandated failing Rescue operation carried out by people he designated doing what they understood him to want done or that what he and the Tower report called his Man revue Mission acc mini style an Dothi were nol kept As he complained that s not Jusi oversight that bad administration or cover up. If Reagan has now ordered that the Csc refrain from undertaking cover actions and that Congress be consulted nol Only in letter but in spirit he s sin years too Laic and raise himself the question whether he has been taking care that the Laws be faithfully executed. Lawrence Walsh the special prosecutor the administration wanted has not impressed close observers As vigorously pushing his investigation. But the congressional inquiries now taking shape have constitutional Public interest and political reasons to move beyond the Tower commission s self admitted limit Senate committee will Grant limited use immunity for example to both Oliver North and John poin Dexler the former Csc officials who have so far re fused on fifth amendment grounds to give their versions of events. Thai should open leads to the miss ing Money since North controlled one of the Swiss Bank accounts at Issue poin Doxter s testimony Proba Bly will be More valuable disclosing far More than Isnow known Aboul the extent of the president s involve ment he Csc iranian and nicaraguan operations. This will not prevent prosecution of either i necessary. Senate investigators think Here May already be a cose of obstruction of Justice against North. Be sides they can tailor their Public interrogation to per Mit later prosecutions. In any event leaning he truth of what happened with its constitutional and other implications outweighs the value or prosecution against relatively minor figures. Nor will Senate investigators be diverted to narrowly focus on Covert operations when the More important problem is coven policy say the Public assertion by the administration thai it would not sell arms to Iran or Ransom hostages when it was covertly doing both. Similarly while the administration pro fessed publicly to be abiding by the Lew forbidding military Aid can Las in was covertly using Pri vate Means and foreign governments to provide jus such Aid. Former sen. John Tower bos insisted thai the presi Dent did not knowingly mislead the Public. But that is precisely what Covert policy does which is another Good reason that Reagan s ordeal is not Over and May be just beginning. Naw Loftt limn a wis rec the of none in arum in you column and cartoon on hit Paga no to a conic Naiad Ai Capra Zettl renal r in no Way 10 o Conn ing the Brinn of tin Stan and bar thai or it Omed slant James Reston american voters have Only themselves to blame everything has been exam ined now about what happened to the . Government except the role of in american people. We have earned everybody but ourselves. It s almost As i the american people had taken inc fifth amendment or been granted immunity from explaining Why they elected Ronald Reagan in the first place. We could t really say he deceived Tower commission complained Aboul his ignorance of the facts his carelessness with the truth his excessive Reli Ance on subordinates but we knew Al that Back yonder when he was merely the governor of California. He was the Good looking easy talking Hollywood Type every Mother warned her daughter to avoid irresponsible but irresistible. We did t just elect him we fell in love with him. He followed every old movie script Toich filter. He sold us inc Brooklyn Bridge in his first term and look us tothe stars in his second. He hawked the family jewels and mortgaged the old House and got Money the new fashioned Way he borrowed 11. But nothing broke the spell. We knew he could t balance the budget by cutting loses or gel its peace and Prosperity witha credit card but in was such a Nappy idea and he was such a Nice Man and i made us feel so Good. It was t until he was discovered sell ing guns backstage to the terrorists in Iran of All people that we woke up atthe beginning of the last act stunned by the crash. How could in have happened what did the american people know and when did they know it they knew everything from inc Start and did nothing Aboul it. They like him because they re like him Well meaning optimistic credulous stubborn Ana a bit dumb. In s not new either. We knew inc Japa Nese would t dare attack us at Pearl Harbor that the chinese would t Crossie Yalu when Macarthur went beyond the 38th parallel in Korea that we could rout inc cubans at the Bay of pigs that the North vietnamese would run away when they saw our Lanks and planes that Beirut would Settle Down when the marines landed and with our Money and our guns the Freedom fighters would Triumph in Nicaragua. We knew too thai what is popu Lar is not always right that we tolerated slavery for 100 years and had 10 fight civil War to get and of it that winning an election is nol the same As governing nation and that sometimes As Leo do Roche said Nice Guys finish we still Don t know who went South with Oliver North s Money or who those moderates were who were supposed to Swap hostages Tor guns in Iran but we know governments often Drift into Trou ble and that there s enough blame around now to cover us All including the people. We have another election coming up however and it will break our hearts if we Don t learn the lessons of these recent events we must adopt the habit Walle Lippmann wrote More than 40 years ago of thinking As plainly about the Sov Ereign people As we do Aboul the politicians they it will not do to think poorly of the politicians and to talk with baled breath about the voters. No More than inc King before them should the people be hedged with divinity. Like All princes and rulers they arc ill served by flattery and Adula Tion he said this suggests nol Only taking a differ ent look at our officials but at ourselves in the 200th Yosr of the cons dilution. Our Low voting record is an acknowledged disgrace and the method of Choos ing and nominating candidates is Littlemore than a television show. It will probably be even worse in1988 when the candidates Are flying around 13 Stales on super tuesday appealing to local prejudices instead of the National interest. We will need to know far More this Lime about the character and age and health of he candidates and about in people they propose Tor their Cabinet and staff positions. This will or should mean earlier exam Ina lion of the personal and political re Cord and More direct debates Between he nominees without the intrusion of reporters. In Short More attention by the people Ai the beginning of the election process rather than Al the end. For if we did t know before we should know now thai history Means something thai scandals Don t just Hap pen by Accident but have deep roots and thai governments and even civilizations have the same fragility As a life. Hew Tat Tambi no5 or
