European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 19, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a the stars and stripes Colum Santhony Lewis the cold Light of history will not flatter Reagan history is closing in fast on Ronald Reagan. Fifteen months ago he left office in a glow of Public affection today he is increasingly identified with greed corruption and conspiracy. Conspiracy was one of the five felony counts on which a jury convicted his former National Security adviser John Poindexter. The jury found that there had been a conspiracy in the Reagan White House to cover up the truth about arms sales to Iran and Aid to the nicaraguan contras. Reagan has denied that there was any Effort to deceive Congress and the such e Public. The. Jury that his denial _ verdict meant either was false or that he did no to know what was going on a that he was either a liar or a fool. In a sense the jury verdict was a comment on the failings of the american political process. For it was the political system that should Long ago have dealt with Reagan a performance in the Iran Contra affair. Consider just one item the shipment of american Hawk missiles from Israel to Iran in november 1985. The White House and various Security agencies were involved in the Deal. President Reagan knew about it. He later signed an intelligence finding that said the shipment was expected to Lead to the release of . Hostages in Lebanon. Poindexter according to the prosecution destroyed that document. When the Iran Contra affair first began to emerge publicly in november 1986, Reagan said a we have not a i repeat did not a Trade weapons or anything else for hostages nor will we he denied knowing about the Hawk shipment before it happened. The political system dealt with those absurd misstatements by treating looked distaste fully like repayment for sympathetic policies while in office. Money rather than service has been the theme of this sex president. In february he spent an hour at a Florida convention of hamburger franchise operators and collected $60,000. Sued that the president had not been informed by Poindexter Oliver North and others. With All the polite evasions it was Plain enough that Reagan had not lived the Grin and the wave have faded now. The less pleasant realities of the Reagan years Are becoming evident to More people. Then there Are the larger economic consequences of Reagan ism. For one the 1980s saw the Boom in leveraged buyouts financed by imposing huge debts on the acquired companies. Now some of those companies Are having trouble meeting the debt obligations. And the junk Bonds used for the deals Are ticking time bombs in Many investors portfolios. There is a risk of Large scale failure and economic distress. The leveraged buyout craze was encouraged by Reagan a exaltation of the Market As the final judge of what is Good for society and by his treatment of government As the enemy. His administration did All it could to weaken government regulation by amending Laws and appointing spineless regulators. The most disastrous single result of weakened regulation was the savings and loan morass which is going to Cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars to Correct. Then there is the corruption at the department of housing and Urban development still unfolding. The environment is another area Hurt badly by Reagan a assault on government regulation. A commission that investigated the alaskan Oil spill for example said that conditions for the spill were created by the collapse of the Oil Tanker regulatory system in the 1980s. Of course there Are a Good Many americans who Are still contented that Ronald Reagan was president. But Warren g. Harding was popular too. My guess is that history will be not much Kinder to Reagan than it has been to new York times greed is one of those realities. In that those a Sura misstatements of treating of be pro re the form or president has done the president of the United states Asig up t0 minimum responsibilities of g much in Surv As Avorie else no rant. The Tower commission used the the presidency. But his amiable style his himself As much injury As anyone else. Euphemism of Reagan so management hold on the Public a affection made last fall Reagan went to Japan where _ ,. Style the congressional investigating Congress shy away from the impeach he was paid $2 million from a comm Harding. The process committees focusing on the diversion of ment process or any serious political a cations conglomerate to give a speech has begun. Iranian arms funds to the contras As Challenge. To Many including republicans it Flora Lewis politicians must ensure no repeat of War in Europe Verdun France a nowhere in Europe does the brute Memoir of War assault the eyes More than in the tortured Fields and acres of Plain White crosses near this medieval town. Now military analysts jokingly ask each other if they expect to keep their jobs much longer. They do but for Europe at least president Woodrow Wilson a Ideal of the a War to end War never seemed closer. It was mocked 20 years later but next month is the 45th anniversary of be Day world War ii Victory in Europe. The analysts Are grappling with ideas on How to turn rival alliances with the most devastating arsenals Ever assembled into a system that guarantees peace for Europe. The balance of terror did keep Europe peaceful though there have been 125 wars elsewhere since world War ii. A soviet strategist wrote recently a earlier even in peacetime it has been necessary to conceal military information because politicians viewed peace As merely an interval Between wars and it was necessary to prepare As Many surprises As possible to keep the future antagonist off balance. A now that we have come to the conclusion that military solutions to political problems Are impossible completely different criteria must be that is the heart of the matter. It Isnit just atomic holocaust but War itself that this continent is learning to reject for the reasons to which Verdun gives testimony. It took a Long time. The 8 tins fell mute then roared again then lowered silently through the cold War. Now the diplomats Are Are talking about taking them away. The Little museum Here includes two air planes a truck artillery pieces bombs. To anyone who has been in a Modem tank or warplane they look like toys simplistic models for games angry children play. And yet of the 5 million men who fought in the Battle of Verdun 300,000 were killed and a million were wounded Many invalids for life. In the first nine hours of Battle 2 million shells were shot 10 million in a july counteroffensive 60 million in All. Half a million acres of land were ravaged never to produce again and several villages disappeared. Trenches those hellhole of mud and pain still Snake across the cratered land. Local fighting lasted lasted 10 months from february to december 1916. The Village of Fleury changed hands 16 times. This in the strategists language was a War of position. The men fell but did no to move. The Battle really ended Only in september 1918, when an american offensive nearby broke German lines and relieved and germans englishmen and americans Are buried Here. On some monuments it says in German a died for the on others in French a dead for there is a plaque facing a big cemetery in front of the ossuary at Dou Aumont commemorating the Day in 1984 when president Francois Mitterrand and Chancellor Helmut Kohl consecrated their countries reconciliation. It says in French and German a we Are when the War broke out in 1914, the heavily fortified Border was Only a few Miles away. Alsace and Lorraine had been annexed by Germany in the 187071 Franco prussian War and were regained by France Only after 1918. Now while old bunkers overgrown by weeds remain on the Rhine the defense Border is much farther East on the Elbe which still a not for Long a Marks the division of Germany and Europe East and West. There is a mixed French German brigade on yes Man territory symbolic of the fact that the Security of both countries can no longer be imagined separately. Mitterrand May propose a similar multinational Force on French territory As a move to a euro Peanie defense. ,. The present question is How to spread across the continent the sense that Borders must longer be lines of fear., Max Kohnstamm a dutchman who . Jean Monnet on creating the ties of peace and Prospe Ity for Western Europe put the German Issue this a a the need is to create the circumstances in w no future German government might threaten i fhe engines of War Are so powerful now that any a a glory and a a Honor and a a sacrifice Are be Raj evoked in the inscriptions on Verdun s memorial a even with the blossoms of Spring on the Trees a outbreak of fighting risks mass destruction. A a a a sacrifice Are Hber any even inn me opossums of Spring a a it a a a in in quiet of the Countryside the message of Vera sneer horror. ,. Re Nona Europe is seeking the Vay la App a the Continental scale at n t in it will take time and a borate adjustment u see now that the Solutin n can Only be politic. Purpose is dear no Lon be just deterrence by Ance that the last War in Europe remains
