European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 17, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes tuesday March 17.1987 columns Carl Rowan j. Baker appointees must reflect changed in . Have known while House chief of staff Howard Baker since world War ii Days when we were platoon match in Navy midshipman school Alibi i 43 years ago i can say now As i have writ ten before shout my fellow  thai Baker is one Classy fellow. And smart Wilh Damn near unerring political instincts i think 1 know him Well enough to offer some unsolicited advice Aslo tic ways in which the while House stiff must be restructured if this country is not to Wade in of one debacle after another Akin to the scandal involving arms to Iran and Cash to the Corneas. Aside from Reagan s personal Short comings this president never had a Chance of gelling the advice he needed up badly his National Security Council and the larger White House staff were created to produce a pro White anti Arab conservative almost blindly anti a communist View of the world. That in terms of both foreign and Domestic policies was an invitation to embarrassment. Israel has always had its strongly zionist boosters within the White House. Would Howard Baker dare to say we listen Loo much too exclusively to is Rael would he be so bold As to put an Arab american on the staff whose Mere expressions of doubt or dissent might prevent an arms for hostages outrage will Baker say frankly to the president. Yours in the first administration in More than three decades thai has not even pretended to have a credible voice of Black America on the White House Start in terms of foreign policy this administration needs some Blacks who Are not ideological charlatans to talk forcefully about whether the United states really is thwarting communism in Africa when America joins racist South Africa in giving Money and arms to rebels who Are trying to overthrow he government of Angola. Could Baker say that the new chief of staff ought to say to the president if we had someone Here who is Black Independent not afraid to be fired we might get some helpful advice about How to Deal Success fully with issues such As affirmative action welfare Reform health programs James Reston up 4 a the Federal role in education Sui you cannot go on rejecting can Maul Black advice while pursuing polio is that appear to much of americano be racist and sometimes venal a s As for Nicaragua cd the contras both so much a part the Reagan administration s grave crisis the new chief of staff need Dol ask the president to abandon his balt policy. He can serve this president it toy encouraging him to Stop making Jim and predictable speeches  he is obsessed with  the sandinista government a Nicaragua. Perceptions of this Obi san led he cowboys and ram bos of in Jisc to believe that they had a mandate to run amok this country has a huge and growing hispanic population. Among these immigrants from Mexico Guate Mala Al Salvador and other latin coun tries arc some very smart people who have ideas about How to Bridge the Polit ical economic and cultural gaps that Are so menacingly real from the Rio Grande Down to the southernmost reaches of Argentina and Chile. Would t it be Wise to have an american of hispanic descent in a respectable place in the while House machinery tokenism some form of discrimination no it would Only be common sense stalling and acknowledgement of the ways in which Bath America and the world Nave changed. In terms of policy substance it is essential. In terms or symbolism it would be a ten strike for America. Both president Reagan and Baker Are doomed if in the wreckage of this Iran arms disaster we get nothing More than the old ideological Bull and bluster from the president with Baker staffing the while House Wilh sycophants who meekly say amen the first dozen key appointments approved by Baker will Tell us whether my old Navy buddy is really facing up to what is genuinely wrong with the while House staff.  Andrt a synd calf inc. Reagan Wil be better prepared for next Summit Washington is sick of inc scandals Jow. It gave up when la. Col. Oliver North did t Vetn have the decency to take off his uniform but Tow the govern ment into court on allegations of Viola my the Constitution and the president s daughter a Juned even body off with a few ill chosen words so the focus of attention is shift the cellar of the White House to. The possibility of another Summit Gan and soviet Leader Mikhail suddenly there is talk of a Promise later this year or car of stale George Shuruz Girj cuss the procedures with t Ard Shevardnadze. Am past doings in Siai upstairs and tween president Rea lev.  nuclear com in 198 a Wilh Secretary. To Moscow soon to Dis Iel foreign minister Edu la May be hard to Kcf tvs that anything could have harmed the administration More than the Iran con Ira scandals but the Farris that its previous performance at the Reykjavik Sulf Imil damaged the Reagan administration even More in the eyes of the world. Both were the result of inc president s casual or careless style of control but with this diff Runci in the Iran con Ira affair the president was in part the victim of uncontrolled subordinates but Al Reykjavik he was the author of an ill prepared and ill conceived set of reckless proposals and responses that risked a Funda mental change in the balance of Power in the world. James Schlesinger former Secretary of de sense and Cia director observes in the current Issue of foreign affairs that Reykjavik combined the worst aspects of All previous summits As ill conceived As John f. Kennedy s Vienna Summit of 1961, with the shortcomings of Dwight Eisenhower s Paris Summit of i960, for a generation Scute Singer wrote the Security of the Western world rested on nuclear deterrence. But at Reykjavik inc president offered to change All this without prior consultation Wilh Congress inc allies or even his Awn military chiefs of staff. Sch Csinger added the full effects of Reykjavik will probably never be known As the Summit has been wholly superseded in Public discussion by the issues of arms for Iran and inc illegal funding of the contras. Admittedly these latter events appear More dra Matic. They do constitute a serious embarrassment for the United states. Nevertheless their inherent weight is much less than the negotiations at Reykjavik. They cannot significantly alter the military balance. By contrast Reykjavik had the potential for upsetting the military balance. And for destroying t he cohesion of the Western Alliance. Reykjavik was n near disaster and we should learn from it All thai we  presumably thai learning process has begun with a chastened bul disabled president a new staff in the White House and a More Alert democratic majority inthe House and Senate. The president is no longer going it alone or talking about a world without nuclear weapons that would leave Europe hostage to Moscow s vastly Superior Arsenal of conventional armies and weapons. He has promised to consult with Congress and the allies and will give priority at the next Summit if there is one to major reductions in intermediate nuclear forces and a so percent reduction in Long Range strategic weapons plus parity in conventional forces a ban on chemical warfare and a reduction in Short Range nuclear systems within the european theater. There will be no Rush to the Summit however his Lime. Congress will want to know whether the president has resolved the differences Between his Secretary of slate and Secretary of defense on these issues and whether it will know in Advance what his policies Are and even whether he proposes to bring experts in Congress such As sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia into inc negotiations. This will be the Central Issue of the president s last two years indeed it is the presiding question of world politics and will probably determine the judgment of history on Sii presidency. It is far too Early to guess where All this will come Oul bul if there is a Summit Washington will be better prepared than before