European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 14, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns William f. Buckley . Owes Iron nothing for shooting Down Airliner moral mathematicians can conclude with some safety that the government of the United state does not owe the government of Iran anything at All Given the history of our co existence. The Khomeini government released our hostages after 444 Days and the terms of their repatriation were very specific. Not Only would the government of Iran decline to apologize the United states must Promise not to sue for reparations and to return to Iran a billion or two in Frozen funds. We could say to the iranians when you apologize for what you illegally did in 1979 not in the course of a combat squeeze with two minutes to de cide yes or no but Over a 14-month period in which there was time to deliberate every Page of the Koran we will apologize for the victims of flight 655. And when you come up with reparations for our diplomats we will discuss reparations for the 290 victims of your flight. That is one Way to go and we should reject it. It is misleading to attempt to develop formulae for prob lems of this kind. How much reparations would be appropriate to innocent japanese who died in Hiro Shima or innocent germans who died in Dresden modern War makes few allowances for involved and non involved forces and although even Patrick Buchanan who is miscast As a misanthrope and a Xeno Phobe recoils at Hiroshima and the moralists continue to talk about innocent victims the fact is that modern warfare does not always permit neat taxonomies. Arnold Sawislak the men women and children who died Over the information that suggests that the iranian govern _. F t 4 in of list n 4�irifir\ftollr it a for of 11 Tro it a t, Gulf Are victims of a complicated sequence of events. If there were no Khomeini there would Beno War with Iraq. If Iraq and Iran agreed to observe the Freedom of the persian Gulf for commercial ships and carriers there would be no . Military warships in the area. If the iranians had not attacked a . Military helicopter there would not have been a combat situation. If there had not been a combat situation the approach on the radar screen of a plane unidentifiable As a passenger Airliner  have caused fatal alarm. If the iraqis had not last year launched two exocet missiles resulting inthe death of 37 american sailors aboard the frigate Stark the commander of the Vincennes would not have acted As aggressively As he did. And there Are those whose profession is War Mak ing and self defense who Are reproaching capt. Will Rogers for waiting As Long As he did Bejre firing. They reason that the oncoming object was not palpably a passenger Airliner then therefore one should for safety s Sake assume that its attentions were aggressive. Having done so Why wait until the plane was nine Miles away Given our knowledge that the exocet dropped by the iraqis were dropped 10 Miles away by such calculations far from being trigger Happy capt. Rogers was slow in reacting. But of course All of the above while justifying what we did does not accommodate a tragic human Story. Yes the president s statement expressing Sor Row Over the loss of civilian lives was appropriate. And yes subject Only to the development of factual ment was being intentionally provocative or deceptive reparations should be proffered. The United states is confident enough to take positions that would appear to be paradoxical to Little minds. To say yes we re glad we did it. And yes we re sorry about what happened. The event focuses yet again attention on the War eight years old now with uncounted casualties Mili tary and civilian without any thought of reparation by anybody. In fact we Are performing a consider Able service for Iran in the Gulf. We in effect Chapur one iranian Oil to foreign markets the revenues fro which Are indispensable to Iran s continuing prosecution of War or for that matter peace. The iraqis with their pipeline Don t need the Gulf As desperately As the iranians do. And although it would be a Gran military gesture for Iran to inflict heavy damage on the Fleet it has Ever diminishing capacities to do so. There was triggered by the event something else namely a certain philosophical concern about Inex attitudes that could one Day have an effect devastating not to 290 lives but to 290,000 lives. Technology has not Given us a radar device that serves also As a lie Detector distinguishing innocent from aggressive equipment. We have been Given an idea of the hectic circumstances in which Cool decisions need to remade. It is time to review and re review procedures. We have one thing very much in common with the soviet Union and yes with Iran. We do not want accidental wars or indeed avoidable accidents. Universal press Syndicate Meese resignation a masterpiece of political or the first phase of de Meese s departure from government was a Politi Cal Public relations masterpiece. It has been obvious for some time that for the Sake of the Republican party if nothing else the attorney general ought to quit. The substantive question of Meese s conduct As White House Counselor and Ashead of the Justice department hardly entered into the political equation his Mere presence gave democrats the sleaze Issue to gnaw on during the Campaign. Meese understands politics and knew that his continued presence was perceived As an embarrassment to the Gorand its soon to be nominated 1988 presidential candidate vice president George Bush. But he was not about to be run out Carl Rowan of town election year or not. He was going to leave in his own time. So Meese who had a pretty Good idea from earlier Public statements of inde pendent counsel James Mckay that indictments were unlikely to result fro the Long investigation of his conduct decided to wait. It was known that the Mckay report was due in july and that it would not remade Public until released by the Federal court panel that selected the Independent counsel. So As soon As the 830-Page re port went to the judges Meese moved. Coincidentally or not he was in Cali fornia to take part in a carefully orchestrated drug crackdown when the report went in. Meese called a news conference in Sacramento. There he announced that because Mckay had not called for indictments he was vindicated. Now that he was cleared Meese said he could go ahead with his plans to leave government in july or August. Meese had two things going for him at the news conference. First he was no appearing before reporters who had Fol Lowed the Mckay investigation or were Likely to be fully versed in the charges that had been made against Meese. Second no one in either Sacramento or Washington had any sure knowledge of what was in the Mckay  the reporters could Only ask speculative questions about its contents which Are supposedly very critical of Meese s con duct. Meese simply said criticism was t Mckay s Job but if the report did have something bad to say he would respond when it was made  Meese got in the first and the last word at the news conference and Laid the grounds for dismissing any criticism from Mckay As out of order when the report is  Meese s Luck to hold the report would not be made Public until much of the Washington press corps had de camped for the democratic National convention which begins next week in Atlanta. That in Meese s terms would split the ranks of the enemy and dilute the Impact of any criticism in the , no matter How critical the report might be Meese already has answered the Bottom line question he is going to resign As attorney general. That alone makes the entire subject less newsworthy. United press International megabucks programs attract Crooks and cheats president Reagan says the widespread corruption within the Pentagon that is now being revealed should be understandable in something As big As our government  he is right. Just As Willie Sutton robbed Banks be cause that s where the Money is crooked americans flock to the big Money programs of defense health and human services housing and Urban development. That is in megabucks truth where the moneys. Consider the fact that in fiscal 1987 the Federal government spent the following on big ticket programs National defense $282 billion. Medicare $80 billion. Medicaid $26 billion. Food Stamps $11.5 billion. Welfare Aid to families with dependent children $10.5 billion. Every one of these programs has been hit with scan dals Over the last decade. A few doctors have billed Uncle Sam for treating patients they never saw. Laboratories have collected for tests that were uncalled Foror never done. Prominent people have gone to prison for food stamp frauds. Stories of welfare cheats Are legendary and not always True. But the reality is that it has become difficult to get the Congress and the american people to support so Cial programs that Are being exploited by conscience less Money rubbers. A shameful amount of hunger is Back in America because food stamp and other nutrition programs Are inadequately funded and because local officials deliberately refuse to Tell the neediest people that they Are eligible for Stamps. Now the cries of alarm go up that National defense is going to suffer because of the current Pentagon scan dals that weak kneed liberals Are going to use the stories of corruption to tear Down the Castle of Security that Reagan has built. Not to worry. Fear of the commies always has overridden american outrage Over $600 toilet seats on military planes or billions spent for weapon systems that turned out to be useless. The current Pentagon scandal May turn out to be bigger than any military procurement corruption in the nation s history but it can never become great enough to overwhelm the Power and influence of a group Dwight d. Eisenhower warned us about in his Farewell address the Mili tary Industrial Complex. Billions of your and my tax dollars Are being wasted or stolen every year because company a wins an exor Bitant contract for weapon x a Ripoff made possible by company a bribing a defense official who secretly reveals what company b is bidding. Can anyone Stop it when the Pentagon is Over funded with a budget that May be $50 billion More than what is needed to keep America Strong is there a Way to Monitor procurements and payouts in the Mili tary and in social programs so As to ensure that Colos Sal frauds do not become an american Way of life the problem clearly is larger than any watchdog apparatus that the Pentagon has devised so far. The greed is greater the Crooks of a higher class than most anyone imagined. Individual whist blowers Don t have enough breath to sing about All the bribe Sand bribe takers. But some highly visible prosecutions seem in the works and that could have a salutary effect on officials who think taking High office licenses them to raid the National Treasury. North american Syndicate