European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 12, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars a no stripes William f. Buckley or. Armenian toll fraction of Afghanistan deaths it was an ironic master stroke Mikhail Gorbachev Rushing Home to superintend humane Aid for he afflicted armenians struck by one of the worst earthquakes in the Century. Initial Esti mates spoke of 20,000 dead but the Fig ure quickly climbed and at the end or the second Dayt Moscow was talking about the possibility that the figure would reach 80,000 dead. Multiply that highest estimate by 15, and you reach the figure of men women and children killed by the government of the soviet Union in Afghanistan which next March will have been four years under the com Mand of Mikhail Gorbachev. Earthquakes arc the acl of an ins Crula Bli cod. The genocide in Afghanistan is the act of political Man. And the Retreat from Afghanistan is the result not of Dis May Over the killing of the incremental afghan civilian bul of exhaustion de feat. The Western world hails the Alluis tic instincts of Gorbachev interrupting his triumphal Lour in order to console the survivors of what by soviet Stan Dards was a mini holocaust for which he was not responsible. The major Slaughter for which he has been directly responsible receives no negative attention More afghans have been killed by panicked soviet military in Retreat during the past month than in any other month since the soviet ret real began. And another arresting coincidence. The same Day that Gorbachev spoke to the United notions and prom ised peace and predictability and continuity by who offer to Cut Down the size of his armed forces by 10 percent by the end of 1991 and to reduce his conventional military preponderance in tanks from 3-to-1 to 2.5-to-1. Yasser Arafat met in Stockholm under the auspices of the swedish government with five american jewish leaders. Arafat prom ised in effect to turn Over a new Leaf. He would absolutely recognize the legitimacy of Israel and forswear inc use of terror. Gorbachev s popularity soared to All Lime highs. He was toasted and All bul publicly embraced by the Leader of the Western world and his approval rating in West Germany climbed to 70 percent. Arafat s approach to a fresh plan in the Mideast was scorned by inc government Anthony Lewis of Israel As so much diplomatic Bun Combe and the american jews who trav eled to Stockholm were widely criticized by jewish leaders in America and in is Rael As dupes for Palestine propaganda. Now we do not know do we whether Arafat really Means it about Israel. Bul Wedon t even ask inc question about Poland. We arc determined to help Israel retain its Independence to which end we spend Bil Lions and fashion our diplomatic strategy. Who Ever thought to demand of Gorba Chev that Poland should be free As far As Western diplomacy is concerned we arc willing to treat Poland As an internal prob Lem of the soviet Union also Estonia and what is left of Armenia. And then through inc Diapason chords of Gorbachev s ode to peace the trained car hears certain old dominant tones. We must proceed with Start the program of nuclear reduction. The Ssler the Bow is Loose. Effect of across the Board nuclear reduction is always to the disadvantage of the superpower unlikely to initiate a first strike. And we must abide by he abm treaty. Abiding by the abm treaty is soviet shorthand for denying ourselves the testing in space of technology de signed to protect us from stray nuclear missiles from nth Power nations and to Render ultimately a first strike by the soviet Union inconceivable. The soviets have never for one moment strayed from their goal of dismantling our strategic defense initiative and the March together taken by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev toward peace in our time is designed to further that Effort. And designed above All to weaken the Western  already West Ger Many is complaining about 3 percent of ils Gross National product devoted to its military. Gorbachev might Well be will ing to tear Down the Wall in Berlin in return for regional disarmament and the effect be dismantlement of nato All of which is Brilliant diplomacy. What especially irks is inc ask with which the soviet Union s weakness has manipulated Western weakness. Because totalitarian socialism is a total mess they Are driven to cautious retreats Here and there and these Are now parlayed into vigorous attacks on Western strategic arrangements and inclinations. We appear ready to eliminate half our nuclear weapons scrap ski enfeebled nato aban Don any Hope for East european liberation All of it in Exchange for he reduction of 300,000 soviet soldiers by 1991, we demobilized 8 million men in one year after the fall of Japan what the United states could do if Only Israel managed our for eign policy. A Una writ prow synd Cilo North was Power hungry and pathological liar president Reagan has done few things As sharply disappointing to Many of his conservative sup porters As his decision not to Pardon Oliver North before trial. A Pardon for the former Marine colonel had become she passion of he political right. What a strange hero for conservatives. Can they have any real idea of the Man they Are romancing can they understand the implications of his conduct Tor the conservative idea of checks and balances on govern ment Power the Case of Oliver North is a telling Corr Stmary on modern american conservatism someone on the right As it happens has Given us an exceptionally revealing picture of North the Man. Con Stanlin c. Mencs was a special assistant to president Reagan for National Security affairs from 1983 to 1986. In his Book inside the National Security  excerpted recently in the Washington Post he describes Oliver North in he while House North once told  mencs writes Complete with highlights of inc conversation about a dinner he d had with then ambassador Jane Kirkpatrick i later asked her if a certain subject had come up during that dinner. The ambassador looked Blank i be never had dinner with Oliver North she said such self promoting inventions were a Staple of North talk. He said thai Maxwell Rabb the . Ambassador to Italy had telephoned to congratulate him on he capture of the Achille Laura crr arises when someone mentioned this to ambassador Rabb he said. Who is Oliver North. When North spoke of his weekend spent writing the Kissinger commission report.". Mencs says col leagues concluded Hal these were rather childish examples of an overactive  but As he got More authority he deceived his superiors in a More serious Way about important facts and his own actions. For example North told his Superior. Vice adm. John Poinc Klyr that with the approval of assistant Secretary of slate Elliott Abrams he had telephoned the president of Costa Rica. Poindester wrote Back you did the right thing bul let s try to veep it  Abrams said he had not authorized the Call and doubted that North had made it. V moreover North seemed to believe some of his own fantasies. A colleague on the Csc staff Jac Queline Tillman finally Lold mencs i be concluded thai not Only is he a liar but he s delusional Power hungry and a danger to the president and the  Man Gas was a Strong  the Contra War against the nicaraguan government As was North. Out As mencs describes it they differed on Means and ends in shaping White House policy on Central  their conversations Menges writes he said the role of he staff was to give Reagan the facts and policy alternatives. North replied. No is have to make the right things happen and make sure that the president goes inc Way we want.,. We have to Box him in so there s Only one Way he can go the right  that is the real danger of an Oliver North inside the White House not the pathological lies the tales of Abu Nidal but the acquisition and abuse of Power. In the name of the president. North began to operate on his own and for a Long Lime there were no effective checks on hint. Thus he became directly involved in tunnelling third party funds to the contras after Congress slopped , Aid. Thai was wrong Menges says because the presi Dent had not authorized  North had also been warned thai it might be an impeachable  in and event in was bound to outrage Congress. In May 1986, Nonh went to Iran with Robert me Farlane then inc president s National Security adviser. When me Farlane broke off negotiations North report edly reopened them in secret and told the iranians that Reagan wanted them to win the War with Iraq. A Cartone had been a fan of Nonh. After that Epi Sode mencs Wrilon. He changed his mind. He suggested that Nonh might go on disability leave to Beth Ida naval Hospital where he had been treated for emotional distress in 197-t,. Presidents nowadays do Manj things in secret beyond effective Check by Congress. That pro found departure from our constitutional premise be comes far More dangerous when a White House staff member takes Radical Steps without authority from the president that some conservatives should want to make a hero of such a figure is amazing