European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 21, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 a the stars and stripes thursday May 21, 1992 commentary William Safir Saddam Bush and the blunders of Ira Gat sure i Vns Iraq Folsom. \ Movo think Samm Sot All those my yet Bluto Smiths ass americans now know that the War in the persian Gulf was brought about by a colossal foreign policy Blunder George Bush a decision after the Iran Iraq War ended to entrust regional Security to Saddam Hussein. What is not yet widely understood is How that benighted policy led to the Bush administration s fraudulent use of Public funds its sustained deception of Congress and its obstruction of Justice. As the saudi ambassador Prince Bandar was urging Bush and Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii to buy the Friendship of the iraqi dictator in August 1989, the Fri uncovered a huge scam at the Atlanta Branch of the Lavoro Bank to finance the buildup of iraqis War machine by diverting  Grain Loans. Instead of pressing the investigation or curbing the appeasement the president turned a Blind Eye to lawbreaking and directed another billion dollars to Iraq. Our state and agriculture departments complicity in iraqis duplicity transformed what could have been dealt with As a a Saddam a Lavoro scandal Quot into George Bush a Ira Gate. The first element of corruption is the wrongful application of . Credit guarantees. Neither the commodity credit corp. Nor the Export import Bank runs a foreign Aid program their purpose is to stimulate . Exports. High risk loan guarantees to achieve foreign policy goals unlawfully endanger that purpose. Yet we now know that Bush personally leaned on fax in to subvert its charter a not to promote our exports but to promote relations with the dictator. And we have evidence that Baker overrode worries in agriculture and bomb that the Law was being perverted bakery a closest aide Robert Kimmitt wrote triumphantly a your Call to. Yeutter. Paid  former agriculture Secretary Clayton k. Yeutter is now under White House Protection. The second element of corruption is the misleading of Congress. When the charge was made two years ago in this space that the slate department was improperly intervening in this Case bakery Stop Middle fast aide denied it to the Senate foreign relations committee. Meanwhile Cutter aides deceived the Senate agriculture committee chaired by sen. Patrick j. Leahy about the real foreign policy purpose of the commodity credit corp. Guarantees. To carry out Bush s infamous National Security directive 26, lawful oversight was systematically blinded. The third area of Ira Gate corruption is the obstruction of Justice. Atlanta s assistant . Attorney Gail Mckenzie Long blamed Here for foot dragging would not withhold from a grand jury what she has already told friends that indictment of Lavoro officials was held up for nearly a year by the Bush criminal  h. Gelb the Long delay in prosecution enabled Baker to shake credits for Saddam out of Mal peasant agriculture appointees. When House banking chairman Henry b. Gonzalez. A Texas gathered documents marked a a secret showing this pattern of corruption he put them in the congressional record. Two months later As the Media awakened Bush gave the familiar a a Gate Quot order Stonewall. A Public disclosure of classified information harms the National Security a attorney general William p. Barr instructed the House banking committee last week. In Light of your recent disclosures the executive Branch will not provide any More classified information a unless the wrongdoing is kept secret a your threat to withhold documents a responded Gonzalez a has All the earmarks of a classic Effort to obstruct a proper and legitimate investigation. None of the documents Compromise in any fashion whatsoever the National Security or intelligence sources and  Barr. In personal jeopardy has Flung Down the Gauntlet. Gonzalez tells me he plans to present his obstruction Case to House judiciary chairman Jack Brooks a Texas probably flanked by reps. Charles e. Schumer . And Barney Frank d-mass., members of both committees. A i will recommend that judiciary consider requiring the appointment of an Independent counsel Quot said Gonzalez who has been Given reason to believe that judiciary a capable of triggering the ethics in government act a will be persuaded to act. Policy blunders Are not crimes. But perverting the purpose of appropriated funds is a crime lying to Congress compounds that crime and obstructing Justice to cover up the original crimes is a criminal conspiracy. C the new York time Rich owe it to poor to curb arms spending poor countries now spend about $175 billion yearly on arms and soldiers. That is More than double the development Aid they receive from All sources. With growth slowing in Rich nations and with new demands for Aid by states of the former soviet Empire poor countries have Only one place to turn for big government Bucks a themselves. To avoid deeper poverty they will have to shift their own funds from military accounts to economic development. International lending institutions such As the world Bank and International monetary fund have recently begun prodding poor states to think about this Trade off. The Bankers use common sense and moral suasion a not exactly heavy artillery. Germany and Japan have just adopted a tougher and More direct approach. They Are now explicitly tying their development Aid to cuts in recipient military spending. The idea is daring and promising if they stick with it a and More important if the International Banks play an even bolder role. It then could prove to be a major step Forward in Post cold War diplomacy whose Core will be to use economic Power for both economic and Security ends. Tokyo and Bonn know that this Power must be employed delicately. No nation no matter How destitute likes to be told How much military a a Security to buy. So Japan a strategy is mainly to Reward not bully. A if the recipient makes some Effort to Cut military expenditures and spend More on economic development we appreciate that Effort and give some kind of Bonus a explained a japanese Diplomat. Germany also prefers rewards for cuts but is prepared to play rougher. One of its criteria for giving Aid is that the recipient concentrate resources on health education and the like. A in Many countries a reads the official German policy a it will not be possible to achieve this without reducing exaggerated defense  for this and other reasons Bonn has announced reductions in Aid to the likes of India China and Pakistan. Tokyo threatens Stern measures when weapons of mass destruction Are involved. For example Japan delivered this hard Public message to North Korea no diplomatic recognition or Aid unless you open up All your nuclear facilities to International inspection. But the Issue Here for Tokyo was the nuclear weapons not Pyongyang a Overall military budget. In any event Germany and Japan cannot take on the military spending development Challenge alone. It might help if the Bush administration Lent its weight. But the United states is not the problem Here. Contrary to Liberal hand wringing America has been pretty Good Over the years in not hawking arms to the poorest countries. Egypt and Pakistan have been the notable exceptions. The principal arms merchants to the poor have been the old soviet Union Britain France China India Brazil and Czechoslovakia. These countries Are not about to forfeit Cash and restrain their sales. The Bush administration is urging limits anyway though it is not pushing very hard. And it is right not to invest much time or Hope in such a complicated Enterprise. The problem is not going to be dented by individual donors and arms suppliers putting on a pretence of restraint a or with and hoc restraint by enlightened states such As Germany and Japan. Which brings the discussion Back to the big International Banks. A these Banks have to take More of the Lead a argued c. Fred. Bergsten a formidable International economist. A a it a easy for Japan or the . To Tell others not to sell arms but  sell anyway and poor nations will buy anyway. The Banks give everyone an umbrella for agreeing on a consistent and comprehensive policy Quot the Appeal of this approach is that no one nation has to be out front. The if and world Bank provide a cover for individual lenders to Collar their own arms Sellers and be tougher on buyers. Lewis t. Preston president of the world Bank and even More so Michel Ca Dessus the i mfg a managing director have already got their boards to agree on pressing borrowers to curb their defense spending. And Bank officials have been rightly attentive to the complexities and sensitivities of the Issue. But they owe it to the poor now sinking further into despair to press harder still. C the naw York times