European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 12, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 Jim Fain the stars and stripes a ,-.- a s lies about Iran Confra fuming voters info in is i Ricc i to i ans Nohle into of official lying about Vietnam cambo such papers still is common practice finds terms Ruhse my to so me unless historians stumble into a Langley sub basement even our great great grandchildren May never know the extent of White House skulduggery in the Iran Contra affair. Fierce layering for Ollie North joined with massive use of state secrecy by Ronald Reagan s Palace guard Tob lock any Chance of disclosure in court. Not that people mind. Americans Long ago decided probably accurately what happened. Most believe Reagan and George Bush were fully clued in and arc lying. Nor Are they surprised. Years o l t Dia watergate and the like conditioned them to expect no better. Whether any legitimate secrets Are at Issue is hard to say. Some of the Classi fied material such As nations 1,2,3 etc., already is Public. Most probably could easily be sanitized. Abuse of secret Stamps to hide blunders is an old device. As a reservist years ago i read Many top secret documents of no value to an enemy. They detailed matters frequently political that were Embarrass ing but otherwise harmless. Classifying ours drown in it. How Are they to separate secrets from garbage probably it was naive to Hope a court could probe Iran Contra. The interests of Reagan Bush coincided perfectly with those of North. Both wanted to avoid the Naa Ohal Security Council. D such papers still is common practice. It s one reason we re so helpless against Jyo go after Richard Secord an spying. Because we Over classify almost any Albeft Hakim no dealt in big Bucks one working on defense has to be cleared Lor there s no Point in trying North now secret matter. That makes policing workers that h of laying Bare the Reagan Bush and material almost impossible., our rest connection has vanished. However overzealous Ollie was just a Spear Carrier either obeying explicit orders or doing what he knew his commander in chief wanted. He obviously got direction from Bill  Casey told Reagan is the miss ing link. Given their relationship my guess is yes. The notoriously drowsy Reagan slept through much of his watch but North was action officer on two obsessions that could always Wake him hostages and contras. Reagan and Case enjoyed passing jokes. They surely laughed Over the irony of having the Ayatollah pick up the Contra Tab. That s been the Public consensus from the beginning. But by the same 2-to-l margin people approve of Reagan As president an feel he is More honest than most other politicians probably because unlike Bush he been consistent in what he stands for. Before he basks in this unprecedented approval Reagan would do Well to re member however that fewer than half his eligible countrymen voted in novem Ber. That s the lowest percentage since1924, when women first became eligible. Other than 24, it s the lowest in history. Reagan blasted Jimmy Carter during the Campaign for trying to Ransom hos tages. He promised he d never do such Athing. He was still parroting this vow Long after the Ayatollah snookered him into shipping missiles. When the mess blew into the open he lied repeatedly about it. No wonder people Are  they say they approve of Reagan the logical next question is compared with what Cox news service the opinions expressed in the column Sand cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to reconsidered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government. Tom Wicker Walsh eyeing others for Iran Contra charges Oliver North will probably not be tried on the most serious offences alleged against him and that s too bad. Substantial charges remain however and it reassuring that he benefits from constitutional and Legal technicalities of the kind he tried to sub9rdi-Nate to patriotism during his congressional testimony in 1987. May it Ever be so with the rights of americans not least the right to a fair trial. Those who spurn such rights when they appear to allow the guilty to go free or the non conforming to March to their own drum Mer or National Security to be threatened Are them selves protected by the same rights. Like patriotic self sacrificing North they Seldom fail to assert those right when they themselves Are in jeopardy. No doubt Many will believe that the Reagan administration has cleverly spared itself further examination and one president or another the political quandary of whether to Pardon North. That s a logical but probably unwarranted inference from the refusal of the administration to release classified documents needed As Evi Dence apparently both for and against North in atrial on the Iran Contra charges. Such a conspiracy would have to be More adroitly managed than this administration has shown itself Ca Pable of. It would require too a degree of cynicism and self Protection that no one can reasonably charge to men like George Shultz and Frank Carlucci who joined in the unanimous decision not to release the documents. The special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh has re fused to make such an accusation and apparently agrees that some of the documents involved should not be made Public. A better question to which we probably never will have an answer is whether these unknown documents really Are All that vital to National  Are prone to overrate or overstate government secrets both their importance and their actual secrecy. In this Case they concede that some of the Iran los Angeles a production will begin this week on cbs1 miniseries guts & glory the Rise and fall of Oliver  David Keith will Star As North with Barnard Hughes playing Cia director William Casey Peter Boyle As National Security Council adviser John Poindexter and Paul Dooley As Csc adviser Robert Mcfarlane lbs said monday. Newcomer Amy Stock Poynton will be featured As Secretary Fawn Hall. The four hour special whose broadcast Date was t announced is based on the Book by newspaper reporter Ben Bradlee or. It will be filmed in los Angeles and Washington . Contra secrets already have become Public but the chose not to confirm or condone the original disclosures or further endanger sources and methods of intelligence collection even if their decision made it impossible to try North. All this May remind old timers of 1971, when the Nixon administration tried to enjoin the new York times from publishing the Pentagon papers. Dire con sequences to National Security were alleged to be Forth coming but nearly 20 years later no one has demonstrated any such consequences at All. Might a trial on the charges Walsh has dropped have disclosed More about the participation of George Bush and Ronald Reagan in the Iran Contra fiasco Possi Bly although attorney general Richard Thornburgh pointed out in a television inquiry that the strict rules of evidence in a criminal trial probably would have worked against such  North in any event is not the Only Way to pursue the larger truth of the Iran Contra  testimony already is on the record but not yet fully Analysed. In an article in the Washington Post on sunday for example Walter Pincus pointed out an apparent contradiction in statements by Dona Dregan the former White House chief of staff. In his Book for the record Regan recalled that at the Geneva Summit conference in 1985 he and presi Dent Reagan were briefed by Robert Mcfarlane on the november 1985 missile shipment to Iran before it took place. Fifteen months after that shipment but before Hisook was published Regan told the Tower commission that there was nothing said to the president in Advance about the november 1985 arms  and much other evidence already available Pincus wrote suggest a broader pattern of deception by the White House Cia and other administration officials than previously acknowledged. Because Osuch evidence Walsh still is considering whether to bring charges against other officials. New York times