European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 06, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday january 6, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 Anthon Lewis when president Clinton last month chose Bobby Ray Inman As his next Secretary of defense establishment Washington gushed. Politicians and journalists vied in their adjectives for the re tired Admiral Brilliant shrewd masterful. Why the awed response has Inman showed himself to be another George c. Marshall a former military officer with the vision of a statesman is he a Henry l. Stimson a great Republican figure under pres ident William Howard Taft who can help bring the country together on issues of War and peace no the most enthusiastic Inman fan would not make such claims. Inman is rather what Washington admires most an inside Man someone who knows the players and How to move them. Over the years he has made friends among politicians and the press he is a master at massaging those egos. He said it himself at the news conference with the president i am an there is no doubt that he is smart. His congressional briefings without notes or aides have impressed members on All sides. But there Are questions important ones about his judgment. He was Deputy director of Central intelligence in the Reagan administration under William Casey. When he re signed in March 1982, he got credit for leaving in disgust at Casey s penchant for free Wheeling and often Lawless Covert operations. But the real reason was More Likely that Casey a Lone Wolf had Cut him out of decisions. Just weeks before leaving at a Cia press briefing Inman produced photo graphs that he said showed How the sandinista in Nicaragua were lengthen ing Airport runways to accommodate new soviet Mig fighters. The briefing was part of the Reagan propaganda Campaign for its Covert War on Nicaragua. In fact the soviet Union did not Send migs to Nicaragua. When he left the Cia and went into business Inman remained a consultant to the House intelligence committee. He resigned from that role in september 1982 because the committee issued a staff report on . Intelligence in Cen trial America that Inman considered deeply so he told a group of retired intelligence officers. Intelligence officers the re port said had Given briefings indicating that salvadoran guerrilla officers had been trained in the soviet bloc. But when questioned intelligence people withdrew that implication. The report found that . Intelligence had not considered right Wing violence in Al Salvador a serious subject for attention. It found that documents captured when right Wing Leader Roberto d Dubuisson was charged with plotting to overthrow the salvadoran government were not examined. It criticized state department officials for their dismissal of newspaper reports of a massacre in the Village of Al Mogote. Inman considered All that deeply but the staff report s main Points have Long since been confirmed. Then there is Inman s role As a proxy director of International signal and control. The company s head James Guerin is now serving a 15-year prison term for illegal military exports to South Africa and for what a Federal judge called the largest fraud Ever perpetrated in North How could that have escaped the attention of a very smart Man c the new York times a mrs Isi. Management a new chapter in the history of stars and stripes the year known As 1993 was a Rock and roller coaster affair for the stars and stripes. As the year began the command then in charge of . Troops in Somalia was excluding stripes from that humanitarian combat zone in favor of Usa today. As the year ended the Congress had just taken away from stripes the bookstores that had Long provided the paper with an operating , while 1994 is still saying Howdy stripes readers might like to know that there were seeds of Hope embedded in both of those 93 events. It is quite possible that stripes will wind up during this new year in strengthened position to continue serving troops Over seas for years to Silver lining in the Somalia business had to do with the fact that before it was Over it was Clear that the denial for Access for stripes to . Units there rep resented the notion of a single commander not . Military the . Command in Somalia later changed hands Gen. Colin l. Powell then chairman of the joint chiefs of staff asked for a review of the policy barring the paper. The new commander reversed the lockout ordered by his predecessor and opened thedoor to regular distribution of stripes in Somalia which is still going on. ,. There was also a Clear note of Basic support Tor stripes tucked away in the very congressional act that stripped the paper of its bookstores. That act it should be acknowledged seems to have had its origin in a display of obstinacy by stripes itself. Several members of a congressional panel had let the paper know some years ago that As a matter of policy it should discount every Book in the bookstores not just Best Sellers and periodic Sale items. But stripes managers were desperately battling red Ink due to troop draw Downs and a smaller Pool of readers. They kept putting off establishment of Blanket discounts they feared would Worsen their Bottom , the congressmen exasperated by what looked to them like slow motion intransigence began reporting the idea of taking the bookstores away from stripes and giving them to the military Exchange systems. But in the ensuing legislative process the lawmakers also made it Clear the did not want the Bookstore surgery to damage the newspaper Early House report on the Bookstore legislation contained a clause proposing a Pentagon study of pos sible alternatives to stripes for getting news to overseas troops. This seemed to hint that at least some Congress men entertained doubts about whether stripes had out lived its usefulness. But it also gave stripes supporters a Chance to make a Case for the paper s unique role no other publication matches the stripes format in its approximation of a service member s Hometown newspaper extensive wire service coverage of . News and sports staff coverage of the european and Pacific military communities Salty letter column debates of hot National and military issues and familiar stateside features ranging from dear Abby to two pages of comics. Troop support of stripes could hardly be More solid. Stripes actually distributes Over seas both its own paper and Usa today. They Are sold fro the same Newsstands. But stripes outsells Usa today among military readers abroad by30-to-l. Bill Monroe ombudsman Gen. John m. Shalikashvil then european com Mander and now chairman of the joint chiefs wrote congressional military committee leaders last augus that i place a very High Premium on stripes for its contribution to Quality of life. Commercial newspapers cannot duplicate its the final congressional vote to put the bookstores under new management was in a sense a vote against stripes but Only in its capacity As merchandiser of books and magazines. The legislation in fact was protective of the future of the newspaper itself. House an Senate conferees concerned about the funding of stripes after the loss of Bookstore Revenue specifically recommended that the defense department allocate adequate appropriated funds for the papers As is done for the radio and television services. The exact funding process and the support Levels necessary for the two stripes papers european and Pacific will have to be worked out within the defense department in the months ahead. Until that is accomplished stripes staffers in Darmstadt Germany and Tokyo May continue to suffer some uncertainty As to whether there s Light or Murk at the end of the 1994 Tunnel. But under a new defense department regulation the stripes papers Are now free to carry More Advertis ing than in the past. They will retain both circulation Revenue and that Revenue. And appropriated funding depending on How it is set up can cover the Gap Between stripes income and the actual Cost of producing the paper and do it in fact in a More dependable Way than the variable intake from bookstores. So if 1993 was a Bruiser for stripes and if 1994 arrived under a Large Olive drab question Mark this old paper flying the name of the Flag is nevertheless circulating among american troops in Somalia. And More important it May be about to acquire a new firm Struc Tural basis on which to pursue its mandate of providing . Military men and women overseas All the news the Good and the bad in the same unvarnished Way it reaches civilians Back Home. That Promise of Independent uncensored news As offered by the first amendment has been made Good to service people abroad by the Congress and the de sense department since the Days of Eisenhower. Nei ther institution shows signs of backing away from that Promise As of 1994. Monroe As ombudsman is an Independent observer of the editorial process involving this newspaper and the military Community it serves. His personal views on issues of interest to our readers will appear Here from time to time unedited by the newspaper
