European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 26, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes William Safire secret afghan sellout could t survive scrutiny Here is How our stale depart ment s secret agreement id sell out tic afghan Freedom fighters Wai slopped by the Light and heal of pitiless publicity. Laic in 1985, As the Reagan admin ii Iraklion i foreign policy makers were wad ing into the morals of supers Cryl mis takes three slate department functionaries cooked up a plan to accommodate soviet demands about withdrawal from Afghanistan. The key conces Sion permit the russian to continue arms shipments to its puppet govern ment while the United states Cut off Aid to inc Mujdah Cicen affectionately known i n Washington As the Woodge. A letter to the . Mediator a pre pared by Robert Peck Arnold Raphel and Charles Dunbar for the signature of our . Delegate Etmon Walters to whom diplomacy is no fun units it it Covert. The secret letter assured Moscow that upon the Day its troop withdrawal began foreign interference would Stop meaning that the Cia Chann Clad Aid to the Moo Dee now More than a half Bil lion dollars in weaponry each year. Would be terminated. That Walters letter with an escape Hatch Reading if All the elements of the Accord arc satisfactory commits the United Stales to be a guarantor of the agreement Between the warring parties. It is known to insiders As the Day on Deal american Aid to the afghan Resis Tance but not soviet Aid to the puppet Kabul regime would Stop on Day one of inc yearlong soviet troop pullout. Diplomats like to Call such a lopsided agreement  who knew about this asymmetrical Day one Deal the , knew and the russians along with their Kabul puppets. But the hard fighting Moo  did t know inc . Congress was not in formed of inc secret Deal it May be that not even the White House knew. State officials claim privately that Bud Mcfarland s Deputy at the National so curly Council Don Fortier. Had been filled in but he s dead now. James Kilpatrick i m puzzled by that Mcfarland Ells me. The cutoff agreement was a Funda mental change in policy but Don never raised it with me. 1 would have thought that George Shultz who 1 saw several limes a week would have brought it to my attention. That something Onisim Ortance was proposed without the chief executive knowing is Well  does t Puzzle me 1985 was the year of one Reagan hand not knowing what the other was doing. But in Earl the russians in Geneva started to hold us to the understanding in the Walter idler and the odor from this Day one dead fish began to Rise. The conservative 4-h club Sens. Gordon Humphrey Chic Hucht Orrin Hatch and Jesse Helms began in february to denounce the indecent sellout scheme and to de Mand answers on what secret commit ments had been Given to Moscow on Afghanistan. The majority Leader Robert Byrd announced lie would hold the inf treaty hostage to a full understanding of the agreement. Two powerful columns by my new York times oped colleague . Rosenthal focused Washington s attention on the incredible secret Deal. Even presi Dent Reagan after a couple of year in the dark finally saw the contradiction Between Moo  sellout and Contra sup port he said it was his understanding that Aid to the afghan rebels would continue until All soviet troops were with drawn. All this political heal and oped Light overwhelmed the secret dealers. The state department spokeswoman goaded by Humphrey announced that the . Would not end Aid to the Mujahideen without a symmetrical cessation of Mil itary supplies to the regime in  the Day one Deal was dead. Great chunks of fudge arc being skewed out of the fudge factory to cover its embarrassment. Tick Tolu Are being prepared 10 show How the Day one Deal to being renegotiated Back at the november Summit meeting and How a symmetrical cutoff had been expected All along. Besides we Are told the Woodge will surely defeat the Well armed Kabul regime As Toon As the Ruisi Aiu have gone presumably with Bare Hinds. Unfortunately this frantic posterior covering causes the new York times to deplore the pandering to Congre tonal pressure to toughen up the terms Gorbachev s Retreat it says must not be put at risk by bargaining for cosmetic  accommodation Isle fret because the soviet negotiator is understandably sore we reneged on a secret Deal. Heed he lesson in his watershed episode nose Cret deals repugnant to american values will be honoured. The Only covenant to be kept arc the ones dragged out into the open. It Tou Timte h Federal Santo Claus should Check gift list twice it was a merry merry Christmas on Capitol Hill bit december. Three months later we Are just begin Ning to discover what a wonderful Lime was had by All. The Story is developed in a document bearing the exciting title of request for certain rescission and repeals of  president Reagan sent the request to Congress a few Days ago. What fun on . 23, Congress dumped on the president s desk a massive continuing  the Bill funded the essential operations of govern ment la also funded scores of outlays that were not essential at All. Before examining some of these pretty presents let me make two Points. The first is that the Constitution authorizes Congress to Levy takes Only to pay for out lays that promote the general welfare. The second is that waste is waste whether an outlay involves $100,000 or is million. We ought to rid ourselves of the extravagant state of mind in which an unwarranted item is excused because it s Only a drop in inc Buckel or just an infinitesimal sum in a trillion Dollar  thus consider a few goodies. The Bill contained an Mem of  to assist the town of Harper s ferry w.va., for police Force use How in the name of the founding fathers did the Harper s ferry cops gel to be a responsibility of the Federal government no Way. Here is a present for Maricopa county aril., amounting to 1300,000 toward the costs of a solid waste disposal facility. Surely this is inc sole responsibility of Maricopa county. What about a Gondola transportation system in Kellogg Idaho in nil message the president describes this a million item As a prime example of use of Federal tax dollars to finance a local project which benefits a very limited  the idea is to promote tourism in a resort area. The system would run for three Miles but less than one fourth of a mile is on federally owned land. Fun and games the Bill sets aside 1500,000 for the Seal Lac Goodwill games organizing committee for cultural Exchange. When inc government is run Ning si50 billion in the red How can this expense be justified some of the items recommended for rescission or repeal Are Large the president would wipe out an indefensible $100 million subsidy for sugar producers thai goes by the euphemistic Nantt of sugar Export in  the program benefits a handful of sugar producers and imposes an enormous Burden on Domestic Consumers. Most of the items Are relatively Small. The Bill com Pels Hie government 10 Purchase 110 million in surplus Sunflower Oil. The government has no use whatever for j10 million in Sunflower Oil. The department of de sense is ordered to buy 300,000 tons of Anthracite Coal but the department has a four year Supply of Anthracite Coal on hand. It will come As no Surprise that influential lawmakers tucked dozens of Finler projects into inc can slams party. Here is an item of s47 million to enhance a water Supply in Oklahoma City. Here is a Friendly gift to Cleveland $35 million for local economic development and recreation facilities in go Ucland Harbor. Here is something for East is. Louis for pcs Moinot for Harlan and Barbourville. By. The Bill sets aside s3 million toward a regional Public Park in Dade county Fla. The project provides no net National benefits and should be the strict responsibility of stale or local in  our congressional Santa Ciauri provided sugar plums that were not even on departmental Christmas lists. The department of housing and Urban development operates certain Public and Indi an housing programs. For these programs the depart ment had asked for a work Force of 1,055 employee. Hoho hoi Congress ordered the department 10 hire 246 More. The department of the Interior fell that 13 workers were plenty to provide service at ill Wilkes Barre office of surface mining reclamation. Congress ordered a staff of 23 full time people instead. The president had asked for 13,089 full time workers in the Bureau of customs. Congress raised the figure to 16,099. If Reagan had his Way he would cancel Federal out lays for a dozen Highway projects that Are state responsibilities. He would rescind Duplica Tive research pro Grams that never have passed peer review. He would not hit All the taxpayers in the United slates to support Heaters in Washington . He would recoup 14.3 billion that Congress spent on its Christmas party. Let us see How far he gets. Nobody has shot Santa Dau yet