European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 28, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Paga 10 columns1 the stars and stripes William Buckley Reagan should Pardon Iran Contra defendants will Ronald Reagan Pardon the Iran Contra defendants the answer to thai question transcribed by press Secretary Martin Fitzwater. Is we do not talk about pardons. this will not Deler the prurient or the morally inquisitive from asking the question ought the president to Pardon them the Public s knowledge of the Case is pretty Well limited to the television extravaganza of ibs summer. On the basis of Nat one saw there the impulse let us focus on it. Col. Oliver North and rear . John Poindexter the other two Are More complicated would clearly be yes he should Pardon them. But there is a complication. Ii is this were their misrepresentations a plausible understanding of their duty to presidential foreign policy vectors the initial impression is that this was so. Why because or. Reagan says he thinks of colonel North Ai a hero and knows of no crime committed by either of the two men. This does t mean that they did t commit a crime or. Reagan cannot be expected to be fully familiar with what North Poindexter said under Caln to prosecutor Lawrence Walsh. The most that we can safely infer from apparent relationships is that although or. Reagan did not know that surplus funds from a Covert operation in Iran were being used o help to subsidize the Contra operation the Success of hat operation was dear to his heart and the tangle in Congress yes to Contra help on monday no on tuesday yes on wednesday was responsible Tor the executive pre sumption that he was never actually defying the settled will of Congress. At some Point if they Are convicted or. Rea Gan will need to concentrate on the question whether his subordinates were acting in Defiance of the Law. And most important whether their acting in Defiance of the Law is the principal criterion he needs to consult. After All the whole idea of granting inc president the right to Pardon acknowledges that the president s judgment is. On his own initiative permitted to Iron so and the Law. Pride Here is How one observer who has published eight novels attempting to probe the mind breaking problems of a democracy that seeks to be governed by the Law and to engage in certain kinds of Covert Cliv ily views inc political implications of inc prosecution. Reagan s opponents who tend to be anti Contra for various reasons arc Good and sore about the popular Triumph of Oliver North while on the stand Llis appeals to patriotism duty and the cause Fantl communism struck these observers As fundamentalist . Rosenthal and corrosive of the majesty of the Law. It ii for that reason that for every million viewers North won Over 100,000 viewers were determined that ultimately he should be punished for his contumacious Bravura. That passion was married to the passion of Walsh. Inevitably Pride Here also plays a part. It is profession ally embarrassing to Lead a team of 29 lawyers on a 14 million paper Chase and not come up with something. So he has done so enough counts if North were found guilty of All of them and Given the maximum sentence Tor each to Send him to jail for 85 years Walsh recognizes thai there is always the threat that the entire Case will be thrown out on inc grounds that the immunities granted by Congress to North Poindexter would Only be exercised if the government came up with a jury that spent last year in a Trappist monastery in Terra Del fungo. Everybody else it will be argued would proceed to pass judgment with some reference to his ire exposure to the arguments in the Case. But of course egging on the prosecution especially on the Mailer of scheduling is the ensure democratic political engine. If a jury can be persuaded to pronounce North poin Duxler guilty of fraud per jury obstruction of Justice then it is hoped the tonic exhaust from the episode will decontaminate the Reagan administration and most important the Sec Ond most important figure in in George Bush,.candi Date for president. One can imagine the Boon to the Democrat if the Campaign and the trial ran concurrently permitting reporters Al every press conference to ask candidate Bush Day by Day his opinions of the preceding Day s developments. Never mind that he will have inc packaged and proper answer that he can not comment an a trial in motion. The audience is there heard the question was reminded of its embarrassing implications. If defense counsel s motions fail and it goes to trial and Reagan concludes that a Pardon is in order would he then give it preemptively no. Thai would be psychologically impossible. H is appalling and humiliating to contemplate but in is True thai the next occupant of the while House might Bounce Oft this fascinating but historically trivial Legal carnival. Elf Livial in spa Taal papal encyclical disturbing to Many in the West. Over a month ago a slate Mcnol was issued that will be discussed for i ars. It a null influence the Way people All Over the world think and act. It makes moral judgments about the great nations that Are seen by was Lem diplomats As a stunning unexpected Boon for the soviet Union. It still gets minute examination in government offices in every major capital in private. But relatively Little has been it written publicly. In the West the statements of Pope John Paul ii generally receive and frequently Merit Only the most Deli Cal of criticism because he is the spiritual Leader guide and Hope of so Many millions throughout the world. But his very importance Calls for Frank talk when he makes a pronouncement that can affect the world particularly when it has startled some Catholic of consequence and angered so Many West Ern diplomats including some As signed to the Vatican itself. Of feb. 19 the Pope issued on encyclical equally condemning Liberal capital ism and marxist criticism of existing economic systems has been a theme that has run through papal encyclicals for decades. But the new encyclical contains Lan Guage and thinking that disturbed Raman Catholic and others who arc quite sophisticated enough to under stand that no existing system meets i ther the needs of All the poor or the Stan Dards of All religious doctrines but believe Here arc moral and political differences Between marxism and Liberal capitalism that make the suggestion of equivalence shockingly wrong. The Pope said inc world was divid cd into two blocs. West and East Liberal capitalist and marxist which compete for Power in the underdeveloped coun tries. Each bloc he said Harbor Imperi Alist tendencies and creates structures of sin that deny Freedom and development to poor nations. Therefore he says the Church adopts a critical Altitude toward both systems. There is More obviously in inc pronouncement including some references to the importance of economic initiative and human rights. Bui All Good journalists would put the same headline on the Story Pope condemns marxism and capitalism equally says both Are imperialistic and sin against poor. Even Mikhail Gorbachev might be surprised by the Pope s finding that marxism and Liberal capitalism arc equally bad economic systems. Capital ism created a degree of economic decency in the West Only dreamt of in the soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In has brought new life and Opportunity for millions of poor in Japan South Korea Taiwan. Malaysia and other nations impoverished or War Lorn. Liberal capital ism has failed often. Marxist collectivism has never succeeded a difference in mention cd by the Pope but which is Gorbachev s galvanizing motivation. But the reason that Western diplomats and a number of Catholic thinkers arc so unhappy is that the Pope did scent to say that both sides were morally equivalent. At the very least the failure to draw the difference plainly in a critique of both leaped out. Michael Novak the Catholic theologian in a hopeful but plainly Wor ried analysis said there was no excuse for the few careless passages on parallel ism Between East and West. Nor for the Plain hostility of the United states in such in inc world of nations and Power Little counts More than the moral differences Between democracy and communism. Moral equivalency is what Gorba Chev is trying to achieve in the mind of the world. If both systems arc basically equivalent the West should logically accept communist dictatorship in the soviet Union and the captive nations. Why . Why struggle for political Freedom for others How is i possible that this Pope son of Poland could write about the two sys tems without troubling to make it utterly Clear that under one religion is oppressed Freedom denied police Rule imposed whole nations imprisoned including his own it seems a lapse of political sensitivity whatever his intent. There Are Catholic critics of the encyclical who fear he is trying to pacify the Radical liberation theology growing in inc Church. Some supporters argue Hal the encyclical docs not imply moral equivalency but just Points to inequities in both systems and thus is consistent with Catholic doctrine. But surely in must be seen now in the Vatican that the Pope has caused deep confusion about what he docs mean on a matter of great moral and political moment. William f. Buckley or. Wrote recently one prays that the holy father will move quickly to Correct an encyclical cart searingly amen. New Vok t the opinions expressed in Ibe column and cartoons of Hli Page represent Tho of he authors and an a no Wiy to be considered t
