European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 6, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 blur wins the stars and stripes saturday june 6,1987 Martin Gottlieb cont Agate an american tale about betrayal if you be been watching Crouch of the right Channel lately you arc by now qualified 10 write a Book about con Iron at. If you choose to please consider this Lilc betrayal it would be one of i Host cute ironic . There is first the betrayal being talked about by some of the members of the cont Agate congressional committee. They re eager to talk about anything other than private citizens conducting our foreign policy and about the administration pretending it did t know. In choosing another subject they arc hard pressed to come up with one that s relevant. After All. If congressional policy on Nicaragua is wrong that s a reason to change the Laws not to subvert them. After due consideration however Orrin Hatch Henry Hyde and some Junior duller colleagues have decided hat if you have to change the subject Well you just have to change the subject. They talk about the need for american support of the contras. They present that support As the alternative to be trayal. The contras As they ill it deserve our support because they have been encouraged by inc United Stales to fight and have been led to believe that . Support would be forthcoming. For 40 years he american political right has been lecturing the non right about its alleged tendency 10 betray he Roic Ami communists. Non rightists stand accused of sequentially betraying the East europeans the nationalist chinese the hungarians who revolted in 1956, inc Bay of pigs invaders inc Viet namese the angolans and others we have not Only betrayed but forgotten. Now up for betrayal is the american commitment to the contras. What commitment who made i ? if to gel the anti sandinista to talc up arms some americans promised More than they could deliver then the charge of betrayal should be aimed at Ihm. Thav s the second meaning of be the third one is better for the Reagan supporters of All peo ple to raise the subject of betrayal is Odd. La s As if the Ninon supporters on the Senate watergate committee just to pick an analogy out of he air had said Lei s Lalk about cover-." the cheat betrayer in Contra Gale is Ronald Reagan. Anybody who Lis tens to the testimony of the people who were trying to help the contras Nusl conclude that those people had excellent reason to believe they were doing some thing that Ronald Reagan Ard Cully de is red them to do. Ardently they read the papers and heard Reagan s stirring speeches. They knew thai for him Nicaragua was not some insignificant Little country but was a problem he was passionately concerned about. And they knew where Oliver North worked. Retired maj. Pen. Richard so Cord actually sat in on important administration meetings. And he got help from the Cia. To ask what the president knew is pointless. This president does t know much. He prides himself on that appoint the Best people you can find then Don t interfere that s his self described style. The question is what did he want he wanted to get help to the contras Testi Mony reveals that he made that desire Clear. It. Col. North was having difficulty doing it he figured out a Way to have the Ayalo lab pay the contras Bills. He and his helpers knew thai revelation of the scheme would cause a lol of trouble but they apparently fell that at least inc president would defend them. When the president heard about the scheme he freaked out. He did t suspend people pending an investigation. He did t Lake responsibility. The political heal was on him and he dumped messes. Poindexter North and Secord hard and fast. He betrayed them. Betrayed the anti comm Nuis talk about irony. What a title. Cain a service William Safire aids hysteria is behind mandatory testing when people become frightened terrible things can be done in their name. Mayor de Koch of new York attuned to inc Buzz about testing for aids has proposed Ivai foreign tourists be forced to undergo a blood test before entering Hii City he is willing to event pm the Pope. Dandy. Thai would not Only empty new York of foreign visitors and destroy its position As an International Trade Cen Ter but trigger retaliation abroad new yorkers would be targeted for similar Crami Talion at every foreign Border. Farewell to overseas travel. President Reagan has also responded. Officials at the notional institutes of health can pinpoint the moment additional Federal Money became available for any new aids research the scientists recommended it was the Day last year that Rock Hudson went overseas for treatment. That impetus to research was Laud Able but Reagan has evidently fell the politic at heal to do More to assuage pub Lic fears. One Way to do something is to help peo ple discover if they have the disease and then somehow to prevail on those who Leam they Are carriers not to spread it Fine so far As Long As testing is voluntary it serves a Public health purpose without undermining Freedom. That s the route urged by surgeon general Koop for the practical reason that homosexual and intravenous drug users who arc most Likely to. Be victims of the disease Are also those most Likely to evade forced testing. But the president goes further. He has decided to begin testing routine Lesting of immigrant and Federal prisoners. The word routine has been chosen because it avoids harshness and suggests Normal but in Reagan s Lexi con routine Means mandatory com Gary Bauer his Domestic adviser and about the Only person in the White House Noi winging to Venice Forth rightly informs an inquiring Seman Tigist that routine testing at the Federal level does not include the right to opt in the cases of convicts aliens and members of the armed forces Feder Al precedents exist for mandatory testing. Convicts do not have Freedom and can be segregated As the government sees fir aliens seeking Freedom Here do not Sci have the rights of americans and servicemen voluntarily give up some of i hair Freedom the problem comes when we go fur ther Down testing s Slippery slope a Case can be made for Lesting everyone who enters a Hospital for aids As Well As other communicable diseases but what Aboul everyone who enters the Federal employ or anybody getting a new job7 or enrolling in a school or College or applying for a. Passport similarly a Case can be made for Stales to require a test before issuing marriage licenses As Many have Long done to combat venereal disease. But what about the live together couples who ignore Wedlock is it fair to allow them to escape the aids net ultimately he Issue Wil come Down to these questions does anybody have the right to have this disease with out telling anybody else Aboul it does anyone have the right to refuse to find out if he or she has aids if Black headlines have persuaded you that aids is an incipient Black death thai we Are in danger of the equivalent of the plague thai wiped out so much of Mankind centuries ago you will hold that the Public health overrides every other consideration of personal Freedom. Such a panicked mindset would re quire everyone to be tested and would demand that every person found carry ing the disease be isolated from the Nan aids population. I am not so persuaded. Public health officials and scientists Tell me that while the epidemic is real the number of deaths in the United states from aids in five years May be As much As one fourth the deaths from cancer. This Means we face a serious threat but it does not mean we must scare each other with visions of cans Laden with corpses rolling through the streets. Should we modify our behaviour to Cut Down sharply on promiscuous sex we publicize and subsidize the wearing of condoms yes. Should slates make it a crime to knowingly transmit the disease with malice aforethought you bet. Should we spend All that is needed on research 10 find a cure absolutely. Should we Force each other to find out who is a victim with criminal penalties to those who resist the government s de Mand for blood no. We re not that kind of country. We will overcome our hysteria and and a cure for Yolk tier we Nwa
