European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 25, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes thursday june 25,1907 Carl t. Rowan Iron Contra scandal a sordid Lawless mess americans who arc serious in their Celebration of the 200th birthday of the Constitution had better Pray that our children and grandchildren will not Sec for two a Cluries crore a mess As sordid Lawless and dangerous As the Iran Contra scandal. Phase one of the sran Contra hear Ings has established beyond doubt that arrogant people in the while House were waging a Clandestine War on the Constitution and its delicate Frame work of Cheeks and balances As they tried to wage War in Centra America while defying the Congress and Ameri can Public opinion. These hearings have revealed a White House directed fiasco that included tying the misuse of Public funds obstruction of Justice through a Brazen cover up hat included the doctoring shredding and theft of documents and the surrender of . Foreign policy to a venal band of private profiteers. During this hiatus before it. Col. Oliver North and rear attn. John a poin Duxler arc forced to testify let s Lake a look at some of the characters who already have crossed the stage of inquiry retired maj. Gen. Richards Cord and his iranian american partner Albert Hakim who were allowed to set up the Enterprise cloak ii in he american Flag gouge inc iranians by sell ing them arms at obscenely High prices All the while Squir reling away millions of dollars in secret Swiss Bank accounts. Elliott Abrams an assistant Secretary of state who cat Oul lied to con Gress about the scheme to rearm the con tras because he did t have authority to ill the truth my wound up with sen. Howell Heflin a Farmer chief jus lice in Alabama saying sarcastically you see no evil hear no evil speak Nevil and inquire of no evil Secretary of state George Shultz who was protected by Abrams lies insists that Abrams has done Well and that the administration supports him lop to  Fawn Hall North s 27-year-old Secretary who testified after a Grant of James Kilpatrick immunity that under direction of her dream Boss she doctored official documents shredded Many and smuggled other top secret National Security coun cil papers out of the old ecu rec of fice building in her boots and the Back of her Blouse. She said there Are limes when you have to go above the written Law then tried to Back away from that bit of arrogance into 3 delicate posture of saying she did not know the. Severity of what i was  still this testy Young woman who said she never read the documents she typed or newspapers and was not a policy person dared to lecture members of Congress about North s right to a Grant Ofin irn Unity and to argue hat White House people would not have had to violate the Law if the Congress had passed the right Law. We have seen 18 witnesses give to hours of testimony about such Sleazy schemes As transferring High tech items to Poland in Exchange for soviet made weapons thai the United states could give to the contras to South african backed rebels . Freedom fighters in Angola and to other insurgents around the Globe. This surely would not preclude planting some soviet nude weapons in Central America and other places so As to dramatize  magnitude of the soviet  those who find this sordid mess depressing must remember that yet to come is  or Goode blood and guts and the self styled fall Guy All of these being one and the same col. North pc can shudder at the possibility that we Ain t seen of heard nothing  North Ait  sym Cal. In. Dredging the soup of five to and amendments As the Iran Contra hearings resume it May be useful id Lake a look at Laws that May have applied to the principal characters in the unfolding Story. The Legal situation has All the Crystal clarity of a can of vegetable soup. We have heard much talk recently about the to land  it is widely and recklessly said that just about everyone from the president Down to a Lis some Secretary in the National Security Council Vio lated the Boland amendment Alabama s sen. Howell Heflin in an uncharacteristically thoughtless remark was ready to vote indictments. Hawaii s Daniel Inouye chairman of the Senate s investigative panel began the hearings by impliedly convicting the whole Countryside of Lawless conduct under the Boland amendment. Let us recur As the venerable George Mason advised us so Long ago to fundamental principles. One fundamental principle is that before a person May be convicted of a crime he must be proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Guilty of what guilty of violating the letter not the spirit but the letter of a criminal statute. And what does the Law each us of criminal statutes it is elementary that such statutes must be strictly construed. A criminal statute to pass judicial Muster must spell out precisely the conduct that is forbidden the Law must define the class of persons to whom it applies if the saw is of temporary or limited duration the period of applicability must be defined. And so Forth. This is the stuff of first year criminal Law. Now what about the Boland amendment the first relevant fact is that in the period under review there was not just one Boland amendment. There were five Boland amendments. All of them were the Handiwork if so they May be described of 75-year-old Edward p. Boland of Massachusetts an inconspicuous Liberal Democrat who has been around so Long thai he ranks sixth in seniority in the House. Botand i became effective on dec. 21, 1982, As Sec lion 793 of Public Law 97-377. It is important As part of inc legislative history. It began in this fashion none of the funds provided in this act May be used by the Central intelligence Agency Cia or the department of defense Dod for furnishing military equipment military training or military advice to the contras of Nicaragua. Such assistance was to be prohibited Only if its purpose was to overthrow the government of Nicaragua or to provoke a military in change Between Nicaragua and Honduras. Boland ii which seems to be regarded As the Boland amendment became Law on oct. 12, 1984, As Section 8066 of Public Law 98-473. It began in this fashion during fiscal year 1985 ending sept. 30, 1985 no funds available to the Cia the Dod or any other Agency or entity of the United Stales involved in intelligence activities May be obligated or expended for the purpose or which would have the effect of supporting directly or indirectly military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua by any nation group organization movement or  Boland ii continued with a Long Section inducting the presi Dent on How 10 achieve peace in Central America by reaching an agreement based upon inc Concadora document a document never defined. Boland Iii became Law on aug. Is 1985, As sectioni06 a of Public Law 99-88. It Call Wilh the handling of a congressional Resolution if the Contador negotiations failed. Boland in became Law on dec. 11, 1985, As Section 105 of Public Law 99-169, it tracked Boland ii in dealing Wilh funds available to inc Cia the Dod or any other Agency involved in intelligence  the act named 10 such agencies. Neither the National Security Council nor the White House was included inthe list. Boland v became Law on oct. 27, 1986, As Section 106 of Public Law 99-569. Its terms expire sept. 30. In prohibits the 10 designated agencies from obligating or expending Public funds to provide Materiel or other assistance to the nicaraguan democratic  notice that the directly or indirectly language appears Only in Boland ii. Notice thai the several acts Deal Only with spending Public funds the Laws have nothing to do with soliciting or accepting private funds. Notice that As a matter of criminal Law involved in intelligence activities has All the statutory Charm of an egg that has been squashed in its Carton. Now having noticed All these things let us Tak sensibly about Send ing someone to prison Uris Varvil Gnu synd Dot