European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 12, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the staks and stripes wednesday. August 12.1987 columns Martin Gottlieb Reagan s defenders Locking Oil perspective those spirited folks who Lake up the unpleasant task of defending the Reagan administration in the Iran Contra affair often say that Reagan critics Lack perspective. They say that if the president is judged comparatively and in contest his mistakes look pretty minor. That rebuttal is not completely wrong but it has one major flaw it lacks All perspective. It holds for example that excessive charges have been made against the president. This May Well be True. The Public congressional hearings have offered respectable evidence that or. Reagan did not after Ali know about the diversion that he did not after All always understand that the iranian Deal was arms for hostages and that he did not participate in a cover up after the situation exploded. Fine. But in the name of perspective we should recognize that excessive charges Are always made in political scandals. It happened in watergate with president Nixon being accused of making plans to cancel the 1972 election for example. It happened to Billy Carter once the subject of five front Page stories in in Washington Post on one sunday and to Bert Lance and it happened in the late 1970s in some dimly remembered thing called  when a scandal Breaks it is a murky Pool of charges. The nation including the press gels to the Bottom of the Pool by diving off the deep end often creating a mess. Frequently the truth emerges Only when the bystanders and participants dry them selves of the water that docs not belong on them. What mailers if one is committed to the Pursuit of a reasonable perspective is what charges survive when All the drying is done. As to hot see below administration defenders also make some legitimate complaints about the techniques of the congressional joint committee on the Iran Contra affair. At one stage for example he committee staff presented for propaganda purposes an official document that the staff had doctored very bad form. But would t it have been amazing if the whole congressional investigation had come off with no counter charges being made against the i Vesliga 1013? their comb aliveness is part of the process. Who should Congress hire to conduct a difficult investigation the league of women voters finally Reagan defenders argue aggressively that congressional disarray contributed la the problems that eventually became known As con Agate. Congress was indecisive it passed murky legislation and it has trouble keeping a secret. Bit again where s the news Here congressional disarray is Normal. With 535 people representing every District in the country if there were not disarray that would be news. White House disarray however is not Normal. In an administration that has been in office for six years it is amazing. When perspective is applied what stands out about the Iran Contra affair is the White House disarray. The disarray was multifaceted. There was first administrative disarray the president insisted that the Iran con Ira events would have to be investigated by outsiders before he could know what had been going on. And there was intellectual disarray the presi Dent apparently could not be convinced no matter what that he was essentially trading Arm for hos tages and that whatever he was doing it could not be squared with what he was saying about Iran and terror ism most important there was moral disarray people were misleading Congress were keeping major policy secrets from others in their own administration were destroying official documents and Wen lying in foreign negotiations. It is sometimes said mainly by those calling for the deployment of perspective that hit All could have been worse thai president return could have stonewalled rather than cooperate u he did with full investigations. Perhaps. But the leadership of his own party Wai calling for a full airing of the facts. Stonewalling would have isolated him. At any Rale before the investigations the president was still saying there was no arots for hostages Trade. His posture invited some of the excessive charges that were made. The investigations served him Well Ai Low Els. Without them he d still be All wet. New tort Thwin was rvs James Kilpatrick time to move on from Iron Contro controversy we Are it seems to me pretty much Back to Square one. After All the hours of testimony the thousands of questions the millions of words of newspaper copy the nation now knows of the Iran Contra affair largely what the nation knew last december. Nothing has altered the essential facts. Eight months ago we Learned that the president in violation of his Public Posi Tion privately had authorized the sate of arms to Iran. In effect he had negotiated with terrorists for the release of Ameri can hostages and this he had said he would not do. We Learned toward the end of novem Ber that unknown to the president his aides had diverted profits from the arms Sale to help the anti communist Conlu in Nicaragua. It was evident before Christmas Well before the Tower com Mission made in report that the presi Dent had acted unwisely. He bad let Bis heart Rule i head be but rejected the counsel of Secretary of Situ George still la and defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. In a lamentable Ute of executive responsibility the president had tailed to ask the questions he should have asked. It was unclear then and it is unclear now whether any criminal taws had been broken. This is for the future but questions of criminal conduct involve questions of intent. There was no Evi Dence none at All that such key players As u. Col. Oliver North and re tired maj. Gen. Richard Secord intended to embezzle Public funds. Neither was there evidence that rear adm. John up indexer former National Security adviser engaged in conduct that remotely could be termed  yes the whole lot of them lied deceived and dissembled. Their defense is i plausible defense they were engaged in a secret operation of the utmost Deli Cacy. There is nothing novel in secrecy Al the highest Levels of our  Jefferson negotiated in secret for the Louisiana Purchase. Franklin Roosevelt negotiated ii in Crew to provide arms to Britain before world War ii. Dwight Eisenhower lied about the lt-2 spy plane. Jimmy Carter s people lied about his Effort 10 Rescue Kosuge held in Tehran. If president Are to Nave the Power to act covertly and they must have that Power they must be Able to keep secrets. Members of Congress know thai Rule. The Constitution itself authorizes con Gress to meet in secret session. But some members of Congress notoriously Are unable to keep secrets of state. Because of thai irrefutable fuel North and the others kept Congress in the dark. Their conduct fouled elementary principles of democratic government but under the circumstances it was nol altogether unconscionable conduct. Intention is the key. When the Story of this fiasco began to unfold Many months ago everyone s intentions were Clear. The president intended to win re lease of the hostages. He intended to explore openings to moderate element in Iran. His aides intended to carry out what they assumed to be the pros Ideal i wishes in Nicaragua. The intention was to keep the contras cause alive to support them Ai North said body and  the Inte Lioni were sound. I can and no fault with what the president mean to do or hoped to do or tried to do. Ii is of the utmost importance that the Sovi ets be prevented from establishing a Mil Ilary and naval base in Nicaragua. To the extent that North s impassioned testimony aided the Contra cause some goo has come from it All. It is not enough to seek agreement on ends. What of the Means toward those ends with in marvelous clarity of 20-20 Hindsight almost everyone would now agree that the Means were ill chosen. Doubt Sci the president i conduct Cost us something in the Confidence of our allies though i suspect this charge is vastly overblown. What cannot be Justi fied in seems to me is the humiliation imposed upon Shultz end Weinberger. They deserved something belter. To the president s credit he locked the barn doors last december. In is inconceivable that any such operation will again be undertaken by the Cia ind the National Security Council. To the credit of the joint committee the bearings were conducted fairly and thoroughly. The democrats May have wrung Tome Politi Cal advantage from the administration s embarrassment but this will be Tempo Rary. A chastened r resident Hai Learned some Bilter lessors. Enduring National interests have not been significantly harmed. On thai note i suggest we get on to other things. Time s a wasting and there is much to be done