European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday january 11,1993 i commentary the stars and stripes Pago 15 s scorn the problem is not Caspar w. Weinberger. The problem is not George a a a the a a a a Bush. The real problem that was revealed a again a by the. Presidential Pardon of former defense Secretary Weinberger and those other Iran Contra figures is bigger and More bothersome. The real problem is that we have not found any effective method to instruct White House and executive Branch officials on their duty to obey the Law because we have failed As a society to express our contempt and disgust for those who i amp late their oaths of office with such impunity. The record is depressing. All those top White House and Justice department off Cias in the Nixon administration. Covering up watergate. You would have thought that would Send a message Clear a a a a the . David s. Broder went to jail for their parts in planning a i would in enough for anyone to grasp. But attorneys and special prosecutors have been kept Busy by successor administrations. The crimes and the cover go right on. The deterrent effect of these much publicized cases has been minimal. It May be As some suggest that the Impact would be different if the White House Crooks were sent to the Slammer with criminals of less distinction instead of being allowed to do their time at Al Lenwood or other prison farms where the amenities Are not so scare. But in a not sure that even the threat of Stateville or san Quentin would convince these characters that americans mean what they say when they talk Abott this being a government where no one is above the Law. Frankly they have Good reason to doubt it. The criminal Justice system works Only when the crimes involved Are those that evoke genuine Abhorrence from the society. Murder rape kidnapping aggravated assault distribution of Nard drugs a these Are the easy cases. The perpetrators Are locked up a sometimes even put to death a because we think their actions abominable. Ropte to demonstrate How gym Petely out of touch i Bratly am but the real difficulty arises when the crime is not against an individual but against the society As a whole its vital institutions or its Constitution. That is where we go Squishy soft and lose our moral of the watergate figures became celebrities who stepped out of jail into lucrative work on the Book and author lecture circuit or As permanent fixtures on the to and radio talk shows. Marine it. Col. Oliver l. North who was convicted of a obstructing Congress by giving false testimony in the Iran Contra Case was in great demand As a fund Raiser for congressional candidates. His conviction was overruled by an a Eeals court finding that the Trail May ave been tainted by witnesses knowledge of the statements that North had made under a Grant of. Immunity to congressional investigators. Now he is getting ready to run for the . Senate in Virginia. Jefferson and Madison must be spinning in their Graves. Far worse look at the Case of Richard m. Nixon the a Sun indicted co conspirators in the watergate cover up forced to resign from the presidency Ana then pardoned. Here is a Man who sanctioned a secret police operation from the White House itself a Man who subjected his country to two years of incredible stress and division while trying to protect himself from the consequences of his own crimes. So what happens to him after a minimal period of penance he resumes his role As commentator in chief on National and International affairs welcomed with standing ovations by such organizations As the american society of newspaper editors and the american newspaper publishers association a the very people whose reporters were wiretapped by the Nixon White House. Today Many of those newspapers Are condemning Bush for pardoning Weinberger and for failing to acknowledge the wrongdoing in the Iran Contra affair. They should look to their own behaviour. And so should we All. The voters were outraged by the Petty Fina gling of the House Bank scandal but they forgive far More serious breaches of Trust unless and until this society is prepared to condemn and to shun those who abuse their governmental authority there is no Point in having special prosecutors or others trying to squeeze these cases through the criminal Justice system. We done to need More convictions and pardons of government officials. We need scorn and shame for those who violate their oaths of office. And that is a penalty that the american people a and Only the american people a can invoke. C the Washington pos Bush extols path Between isolation intervention the president speaking at the . Military Academy gave an eloquent address in which he struggled with the tip odes. The first might just As Well be called isolationist though there Are shades of his political philosophy. George Bush ame right out and said that although Jeorge Washington when he gave his Farewell address was Correct in warning against any a entangling alliances Quot this Vas not the proper counsel for the end of the 20th Century. This would seem to be obvious but for iome reason is not. Nato is an entangling Alliance an attack on any of our nato partners would be viewed As an attack on the United states. But Bush told cadets at West Point n.y., the United states is not going to be the policeman for the world sending its troops Here and there to oversee Good government. On the other hand neither will the United states desist from proclaiming standards by which men ought to govern themselves. This needs to be done obviously with tact and understanding. We Are not about to Tell the saudis How backward Muslim habits Are in the treatment of women nor is it America s business to deplore tribal loyalties in Africa. But Bush was saying something important in reaction to the kind of moral isolationism that prospered during the 1960s. In those Days critics of american policy in Vietnam got so carried away that they publicly doubted whether life in America was Superior to life in Vietnam a or for that matter some went so far life under Mao tsp Tung. A who hoho Chi Minh a the Elf is Gonna win Quot was More than merely a military judgment. It was Jane Fonda ism a sense of shame about being an american Bush qualifies As an american exceptionalism when he says that the United states defends certain ideals that Are universally venerable. His departure is from the kind of exuberant cultural evangelism associated with Woodrow Wilson. A Wils onanism without the marines a his address might Bave been titled. It is or a thing to deplore events in Bosnia arid Herzegovina but another to reach into Bosnia and do something about it. It is Good that he listed countries by name rather than As abstractions. In Panama he told the cadets he Felt it his obligation As commander in chief to move the troops. This was also the Case in operation desert storm and is so now in Somalia. What you need to have is a a Clear and achievable the a a complexity of the situation in former Yugoslavia makes military involvement there imprudent. That judgment is reviewed every Day however and what appears imprudent today May not be so tomorrow he stressed. Again this would seem to be obvious. After All we did not move against panamanian Gen. Manuel Antomo Noriega on Day one or into Somalia on Day one. To begin with it is hard to know when exactly Day one is. And the crystallization of Day one often comes Well after the fact. What was Day one for Hitler his election his March into the Rhine land Kristall nacht sudeten land the major problem of Ali statesmen is that when they perceive Day one if indeed they do it is almost always before the Public perceives the importance of that Day. If we had that kind of foresight we could have kept Vladimir i. Lenin Josef Stalin Adolf Hitler and Fidel Castro in jail which had we had the foresight to do so would have meant that their names would not now be recognizable. William of Buckley so said Bush a decision today not to move is not to be understood As a decision binding us tomorrow not to move. He then entered a very Welcome qualification. Almost All his references to foreign ventures Ever since desert storm have suggested that the acquiescence of the United nations is politically essential. Given the record of the United nations Over most of its lifetime a record of slavish concern for the third world and slavish unconcern Over the communist world it will take a great Deal of practice to think of it As a reliable moral arbiter. The Day May come when Bill Clinton has to act in a decisive International event even when the United nations opposes action. After All China has a veto Power in the , Security Council. Bush has Nev. Tical to United states can and should Lead but Las never acknowledged any such hypothetical possibility but he did say the we will want to act in concert where possible involving the United nations or other multinational China might very Well have vetoed intercession in Somalia a genocide does no to bother the rulers of the country that continues to shelter and provision pol pot. At least we have now the qualifier a where possible Quot George Bush is going out in High style. Furi iveral pret synodical of
