European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 16, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns James j. Kilpatrick putting North s convictions in perspective Many months have passed since Oliver North last wore his Marine corps uniform. He May never Wear it again. If his vengeful and vindictive foes have i hair Way. He will wind up in prison fatigues a Felon deprived of the pension he earned. By in the glory Days Long before the Iran Contra affair that uniform blazed with the ribbons of a first class fighting Man. There were two purple hearts on his breast reminders of wounds suffered in combat. The Bronze Star. The Silver Star. They Call these service  thai was North s role in life he served. Well what Price glory it was precisely because of North s reputation As a Loyal Soldier As a Man who could gel things done that he was summon did by his commander in chief. Take charge said the president to the Admiral. Take  said the Admiral to the Lieuten ant colonel. And North obeyed. During his two Days on the witness stand last month North wearily voiced a metaphor. He was a Pawn in a chess game played by giants. Exactly so. A Pawn never moves backward or Side ways. A Pawn moves Forward toward its sacrificial Fate. Few pawns remain when a game goes to checkmate. When the ordeal began North faced 16 felony counts. Four were dismissed out of hand. He went to trial on the remaining 12. The jury acquitted him on nine. Before the Book is closed we ought to put the three verdicts of guilty in perspective. He was convicted on count six for aiding and abetting in the obstruction of Congress. This is a Pawn s role. The charge had to do with misleading con Gress on a shipment of Hawk missiles to Iran in 1985. The arms Deal was undertaken on the specific orders of Ronald Reagan As president and commander in Chick. The operation had to be conducted in absolute secrecy if it were to have any Chance of Success. North acknowledged on Cross examination that he knew his concealment was wrong he did not know it was illegal. Pawns arc not known for lawyerly skills. Count nine charged North with Ille Gally destroying documents of the National Security Council in 1986. We Andrew j. Glass Honor kmn6  and cml. Should remember the Datura of these documents. They involved intelligence sources they involved other nations that had responded under a pledge of Confidence. In the hands of the president s political enemies the documents amounted to abandoned weapons. It was count 10 that Hurt most cruelly. This was the charge that North accepted an illegal gratuity in the form of a $13,800 Security Fence at his Home in suburban Washington. North had in fact behaved badly in this matter. Funds to pay for the Fence had been withdrawn by North s civilian confederates from a Contra account and North foolishly had attempted to cover up the gift by Back dated letters. It was foolish. Was it criminal was it felonious was it the kind of conduct for which one should be sent to prison North s life had been threatened by terrorists. His wife and children were in real danger of abduction or worse. His Marine corps salary could not afford such Security and his grateful government re fused to provide it. Given these Harrow ing circumstances Many of us might have done the same thing. These were the heinous offences of Oliver North officer and criminal. So found the jury. It is no excuse of course but it docs contribute to perspective to note that obstruction of Congress is a Way of life on Capitol Hill it is nothing unusual for documents to be altered or destroyed it happens All the time. And let us relate a life protecting Security Fence to $55,000 in bogus royalties skimmed off by the speaker of the House. Let us give at least a fleeting thought to the millions of dollars in contributions to members of the House and Senate. Oliver North never pocketed a dime Worth of personal enrichment the jury specifically acquitted him on counts ii and 12, involving such charges and he never acted wit criminal intent. There will be appeals further trials further appeals perhaps a renewed investigation in Congress. Key democrats Are lusting to get at presi Dent Bush. This sad affair May be pro longed for years and All for what the prosecutor who compared Oliver North to Adolf Hitler says it is to demonstrate that no Man is above the Law. It says to me that this prosecution is beneath contempt. Universal press Syndicate communists seem to fear their own reforms for american politicians signs of failure arc often heralded by comic ridicule on late night television. The chinese do things differently they gather amid shrines in Tiana men Square to break Small bottles. China s Leader Deng Xiaoping had threatened to shoot students unless they halted their protests. The students responded by cracking objects of Glass a dig at Deng whose first name in chinese Means Small  the concept of face is supposedly an important one in Oriental societies. So Why have China s beleaguered rulers created even deeper problems by issuing empty menacing pronouncements the answer China scholars suggest rests within the intense Power struggle under Way in the world s most populous nation. Basically it pits the champions of Reform against those who cling to the ways of Mao and Marx. The outcome of this High stakes struggle at once generational political and economic remain sin doubt. But it is not an Accident As communists like to say that quite a few chinese protesters carry banners with slogans such As we want to Tell the truth and overthrow the dictatorship written in English. Such signs arc no doubt meant to be read by a worldwide audience in television s global Village thereby putting added pressure on backward peddling authorities. Whoever wins the current round the Era in which Mao could Seal off his entire country from outside View appears to be gone for Good. Some 40,000 chinese students arc enrolled in . Universities a larger foreign contingent than from any other nation. Most will return to their Homeland imbued with american moral values As Well As some More mundane ideas evident in both Beijing and bos ton on How to make a Buck. In a recent visit to Harvard where some of the Best and brightest of the Young chinese scholars arc quartered i encountered pc minx in a political scientist who came there last year from Shanghai. We Call our friends regularly and Tell them How their efforts play on to Pel informed me. The be Lief in China is that the government is discredited people laugh at Deng s  should Deng cancel his promised crackdown it May be because he fears what Pei Calls a trial by  recent marches on behalf of Freedom and democracy commemorated a 1919 nationalist student move ment against a corrupt government in Beijing then under the thumb of the japanese. Shooting peaceful protesters could create a fresh generation of martyrs. At worst As in the French revolution 200 years ago it could sow the seeds of official ruin. Similar thoughts must also be going through the mind of China s recent visitor soviet president Mik Hail Gorbachev s mind As he ponders his problems in such places As Armenia Georgia and the Baltic. As in Russia China s bold economic changes have so far proceeded largely in an ideological vacuum. Leaders rationalize strategies by speaking of the need for pragmatic solutions. They adopt enigmatic slogans such As we shall Cross the River while grop ing for  there s a lot of official hand wringing in both Socie ties Over what Marx really meant or which marxist principles Are relevant to current conditions or How much Mao or Stalin distorted socialism. Yet Deng and Gorbachev both seem to fear the final implications of their own per Stroika that most things Don t work and can t really work until economics still largely driven by authoritarian decisions from above Are supplanted by ones driven by Market forces from below. For All their talk of change these arc Radical remedies that both leaders appear Loath to Swallow. The ironic result May be More of the kind of chronic shortages towering inefficiencies and technological backwardness that they abhor. 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