European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 18, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes saturday july 18,1987 James Kilpatrick president clearly vindicated by Poindexter until about 11 45 wednesday morning the Iran Contra hearings had been mostly porn langur. From now in the House and Senate committees will he writing epilogue. The key element in ilm drama came and went in a matter of seconds. Arthur Liman chief Senate counsel put the que lion squarely to John Poindexter the former National Security adviser did you Tell the. President that profits from the Sale of arms to Iran had been diverted to Aid the Contra in Nicaragua in the hearing room reporters noted a sudden absolute stillness. No shuffling of papers no clicking of camera shirt pm. Poindexter gazed in Volly a his inquisitor of did not he said. La was i moment of vindication that Reagan had sought since this ordeal began in november Over and Over Reagan has insisted that he never was informed of the diversion. Polls indicated hat half the country thought he was lying. We now know through Pijie testimony not Only of Poindexter but of other witnesses also Hal on this crucial Point the president has been telling the truth. I never doubled in. On the matter of Honor the vindication is Complete. My president ii not a liar. On the matter of executive competence the verdict is equally Clear. In an operation of this sensitivity Reagan should have insisted on being fully informed. He should have asked about disposition of proceeds from the arms sales. Poinc Eicr said he it Var asked. This was an executive failure for which the president deservedly May be criticized. La was an inept performance on his part and it cannot easily be excused. The hearings will drag along for a few More Days or weeks but baiting some Complete Surprise further Tes Timony will add nothing of significance to what is now known. The picture is dear. At the Center of the Slage we have a president who let his heart Rule his head. Many months ago Don Regan the former chief of the White House staff met with a group of senior Washington correspondents. He told us that the president was almost obsessed with ending the Captivity of the american hostages. Virtually a very morning Regan said the president would inquire of his advisers if there had been any change he grieved for the hostages families. He wanted those hostages freed. Reagan never concealed his feelings. Robert a Mcfarlane a former National Security adviser testified that the president wanted Stone in turned in this regard. Overriding the objections of such Wise old hands As Secretary of slate George Shulli and defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger the president unwisely authorized the arms Deal i am satisfied that the president believed he was telling the truth when he insisted that he had not tided arms for hostages and that he had not negotiated with As Reagan saw it he was negotiating not with terrorists but rather with iranian intermediaries and he saw the Token amount of arms As a kind of fee for helpful intervention. It is a Universal characteristic of Humankind to believe what we want to believe. The president made other desires equally Clear to the people around him. He wanted the cause of the Nicaragua resistance kept alive he pleaded this cause from one end of the country to the other. His wishes went Down the line to Mcfarland. To Poindexter to Cia director William Casey 10 it co. Oliver North. He wanted to preserve the contras As North put it body and soul. We know what happened. A their Zeal to serve their president the team Rode off in All directions. Everyone assumed he had authority for the actions that were taken. Poin Duxler and North mounted a Covert opera Tion. In the nature of such operations secrecy was imperative. A leaking and vacillating Congress they believed could not safely be informed. So icy lied. They set out to deceive and they wove a tangled web. What now eventually the joint committees will flip a portentous report huffing and puffing with out rage while acknowledging the need Tor just such Covert operations. Congress will adopt some of the commit tees barn door recommendations for procedural Safe guards. The legislative acts will be As misbegotten As the lamentable War Powers act. If criminal prosecutions Are undertaken the prosecutions will fail. The final curtain is months away but As of wednesday morning the curtain began to fall. Univ thu pm e Tom Wicker following orders is not acceptable defense the North hearings came to i end not with a whimper but a bang. Attorney Brendan Sullivan interrupted chairman Daniel Inouye s closing statement to make a last Effort to divert attention from it. Col. Oliver North s actual deeds to something More Savory in this Case the colonel s new found Public support. Inouye had mentioned the Nuernberg trials that followed world War 11, Point ing out Hal the United states had tried to extend to Oiher nations its military doctrine Hal Oill cers need not obey infant have a positive duty not to obey unlawful orders. Sullivan gratuitously objected 10 Whai he said was an implied linkage of North to the Nuernberg War crimes trials. Bui Inouye had not linked the colonel personally to those trials he had Only made the Point Hal it is not a sufficient Legal defense for any . Military officer to say to Only followed it was North advised by Sullivan moreover who had tried to establish that particular defense of his actions in sisting Ai every turn that he had Only followed orders although he never raised the question whether they were lawful orders. Sullivan claimed to be outraged More Likely he had recognized As a Good lawyer that Inouye was about to shred that part of North s defense Tatj it la on his claim merely to have Fol Lowed orders. The attorney May also have been upset because he foresaw that important Points in the colonel s testimony were soon to be contradicted by Robert me Farlane. The former National Security adviser who made a second appearance before the committees after North left the witness chair. Sullivan s outburst was also preceded by Lee Hamilton s withering and inexorable destruction of North s claims w have done nothing improper. In perhaps the most forceful statement of the hearings the committee s co chair Man pointed out that North s Good in Leni ions had led him into actions Hal damaged the president forced Cong res probably damaged he causes you sought to promote and brought about serious damage to our National secret urn Zialci to Iran he continued contradicted Public policy repudiated president Reagan s pledge not to make concessions to terrorists involved a democratic nation in dealing with a terrorist stale deceived . Allies and damaged the credibility of the nation in the Middle East and throughout the world. The Covert operations in which North participated Hamilton said had not been subject to necessary checks and bal ances and had been designed to do pc Crelly what Congress had tried to pre vent As Well As Vhal the Reagan administration had assured inc world Hal in was nol doing. And the policy the colonel had to cd to defend was driven by a series of lies to friends and allies 10 Congress and to the american people. These late developments overshadowed both the colonel s final testimony and the earlier efforts of a number of Republican committee members to show Hal the hearings had been unfair to North. Rep. Michael Dewine of Ohio most obnoxiously made the charge specific in an Exchange reeking with his eagerness to get on the North bandwagon. In fact it was the fairness of the committees and their procedures with the complicity of admiring television shots and comment that gave North the Opportunity on which he expertly capitalized to come Cross As a selfless Patriot acting Only in whal he considered the National one interrupted the colonel s fre quent speeches on patriotism. Middle East policy. Central american policy the need for coven action and a Crecy. No one slopped his repeated criticism and belittling of Congress. No one tried 10 Force him to answer yes or no rather than so often giving Long discursive often self serving responses. The committee tolerated Sullivan s frequent objection although most would have been More appropriate in a court proceeding than in a congressional hearing. He was Given ample leeway for inc whispered advice that guided he col Onel s answers to the most difficult questions. Republican partisans and North protectors on the committee were neither silenced nor restrained. North will be Lucky if he s to cried half so Well by the special prosecutor he has yet to face it Yolk a Mali soil of
