Show £Ik gait £akc Sri ban c Friday Section 6 Morning-Ma- rch 1987 Page 10 A President Is Making Amends But More Answers Needed It’s never easy to acknowledge er-rpublicly For a head of state such penitence is even more difficult But to his credit President Reagan Wednesday night acknowledged on national television his responsibility a mess How he for the his vows of fulfills and compensates contrition will be the next perfor- pr Iran-Contr- mance worth watching In accepting without quibble findings of the Tower Commission an investigation of the National Security Council whicli he assembled Mr Reagan acknowledged it was a mistake to approve covert activities for the NSC and that he was less than diligent in keeping tabs on how that agency’s staff conducted those activities And finally if a little weakly President Reagan agreed he must have wanted the arms sales to gain freedom for American hostages in Lebanon although that exchange would violate previously enunciated US policy It could not have been an easy speech to deliver Recall that as details of the embarrassment emerged the president insisted no arms had been sold to Iran as ransom for the hostages Moreover he tended to insist no mistakes were made which required confessions or apologies from Iran-Cont- ra him By Wednesday it was a more subdued Ronald Reagan Conceding the Tower Commission’s description of an NSC staff out of control the president said such mischief would not again occur during the remainder of his term io office But while he was able to confess that he had not asked enough of Me right questions about the “Iran imitative” the chief executive declined to go quite as far as former US Sen John Tower’s group in faulting the Reagan management style Rather the president seemed to allow only that in this particular instance he had been misserved by people he relied on to carry out his expectations Which prompts a still pertinent question Although he said there are explanations as to why the Iran arms sale idea went haywire Mr Reagan did not share those reasons So what is he doing to get to the bottom of the matter? Why for instance does he not summon the fired NSC adviser Rear Adm John Poindexter and the resigned deputy Lt Col Oliver North to the White House and order a full accounting from these military officers? Able as he was Wednesday night to say he and the nation were let down by NSC staffers Mr Reagan is strangely reluctant to make them pay the piper Some say the president can’t interfere as long as congressional investigations and a special counsel probe of continue Nonsense The NSC is a White House adjunct answerable to the commander-in-chie- f If Mr Reagan got some answers now from those he claims misled him he could forestall an indefinite period of repeated chagrining disclosures In any case Mr Reagan stepped strongly to the plate Wednesday night and took a powerful swipe at pitches capable of seriously damaging what’s left of his presidency He got a hit but the game isn’t over He still must do — g some skillful actually implementing his pledge to comply with the Tower Commission report — before he reaches home safely on-du- ty Iran-Cont- ra base-runnin- pan-tomimi- § st Life of Mitty” he was the nation's clown prince and Entertainment USA would never be the same again Combining facial contortion and exquisite manual dexterity with ung and high vecanny Mr locity lyrical gibberish Kaye created a newly polished and stylized form for jesterism which immediately appealed to an amused public fors ever established to the benefit of qiail the other day rr The box felt unusually light for its Size and expected contents a hardbound atlas from Barnes & Noble booksellers of New York The reason SDon became clear Stamped in red dear the address label was the com-itte“Opened by parties unknown by EM’‘ A similar stamp stated “Damaged in accident air rail truck ship tjdyond control of USPS" nt Inside were 50 or so Easter-orienteleaflets from the American Bible Society A religious service somewhere was shortchanged Also nestled among the Styrofoam stuffing was a headless plaster figurine of a baby in a basket Near the bottom was a Barnes fcNoble catalog But no atlas 7 The package conjured some weird possibilities Perhaps it was caught in one of the country’s recent train of an wrecks Or the roll-ovroad The on an have popped open packimpact might of the clean-u- p A member seals age cfrew wasn't particularly impressed With the broken baby and churchy pamphlets so he stuffed them in the nearest box The atlas though looked kind of interesting While a little sfcbrched around the edges it just d er checkbook” Raymond Coffey ‘Duck Soup’: Groucho North Reagan Chicago Tribune Service The choices on Marine Lt Col Oliver North seem to be narrowing swiftly and drastically He clearly is not by any stretch of imagination or goodwill the "national hero" that President Reagan proclaimed him to be immediately after firing him late last year for a scandal his role in the And what we are left with now — given the brutally devastating report on that scandal by Reagan’s own handpicked and impeccably expert Tower Commission — is a choice it would seem among North being (a) an ideological cowboy run amuck (b) an habitual and determined liar (c) a calamitously ignorant naive and delusionary operative with approximately the same qualifications for working at the National Security Council as Walter Mitty or (d) all of the above At least some of those same choices of course would seem to apply to some of the other players principally involved in the scandal that has paralyzed the Reagan administration The commission report — issued by former Republican Sen John Tower of Texas Democratic of State Edmund Muskie and Gen Brent Scowcroft NSC chief for former President Gerald Ford — blistered just about everyone a mess starting involved in the with the president himself for perpetrating disaswhat became a major foreign-polic- y Iran-Contr- ter The best the commission could say for Reagan was that he "did not seem to be aware” of what was going on in his own White House or of "the full consequences” of what his underlings were up to But none of those involved appears in the commission report to come close to North in being totally unsuited for a major role in the conduct of American foreign policy The best we can hope for probably among the choices left —’and it is of little comfort — is that North was only an ideologe ical cowboy running a largely operation in the White House basement North who has so far invoked the 5th Amendment and refused to answer any questions about the whole affair is depicted in the Tower Commission report as a back-stag- e manipulator Among other things according to the commission North: — Once told an assistant secretary of defense about the illegal operation: "It's going to be just fine as soon as the Ayatollah everyone knows that Khomeini is helping us with the Contras” Can you imagine any even normally informed normally intelligent normally politically astute American being that detached from reality? — "Misrepresented his access to the president and attributed to the president things the president never said” while meeting with Iranian representatives in Germany last October the meeting at which the American delegation presented the Bible inscribed by Reagan North told the Iranians there had been “a very angry debate inside our government” over whether Reagan should authorize North to tell the Iranians that "we accept the " Islamic Revolution of Iran as a fact He went on to elaborate that Reagan "went off one whole weekend and prayed about what the answer should be and he came back almost a year ago with the passage I gave you that he wrote in front of the Bible I gave you And he said to me ‘This is a promise free-lanc- Iran-Cont- ra that God gave to Abraham Who am I to say that we should not do this?' " The commission said it was North who suggested the Bible and the inscription to his boss Adm John Poindexter last Oct 2 Poindexter approved and the president signed the Bible the next morning — Also during the meetings in Germany twice told the Iranians stories of private discussions with Reagan at the Camp David presidential retreat both of which suggested stance in the Reagan was taking a pro-Ira- n Iran-Ira- q war Both stories Reagan told the commission were "absolute fiction” and the meetings at Camp David never took place — Wrote a chronology of events in the operation that was full of inaccuracies lending credence to "the proposition that Lt Col North either on his own or at the behest of others actively sought to conceal important information” — Failed on one occasion to tell his boss at the time NSC chief Robert McFarlane that only one American hostage in Lebanon instead of all of them would be released if just part of a US shipment of missile spare parts was delivered "This led Mr McFarlane to refuse an even better Iranian offer than the one Lt Col North and his associates had reason to expect: two hostages immediately and the remaining two after delivery of the rest of the spare parts" On top of all of this North — keeper of many of the nation’s most important secrets — had a secretary who was involved with his knowledge in a romance with the son of a principal Contra leader It all makes Reagan's NSC look like a Marx Brothers movie Iran-Cont- ra dialect-vocalizin- audi-ence- and Kaye-influence- d entertainers alike More than a performer however Danny Kaye contributed his time talent and energies to worthy causes particularly UNICEF the United Nations agency specializing in help for disadvantaged children worldwide His many awards include those for high accomplishment in the humanitarian as well as performing arts Danny Kaye became and remains the sort of public figure who perpetually deserves the standing of celebrity honored for both genuinely earned fame and the distinctive responsibility with which he graced it On Your Own With USPS Something strange arrived in the back from the Legislature so soon? Be a dear and balance my Iran-Contr- Kaye’s Success Danny nonsense cret Walter to an Raising wonderful art form was Danny Kaye’s most endearing and enduring achievement The comedian vocalist dancer and dialectician par excellence who died this week at age 74 Bequeathed to American entertainment permanent respectability for the clown performance As his career lengthened into the triumphant decades Danny Kaye’s versatility earned as much acclaim for serious acting as for comedy Yet his singular place in the history of entertainment was assured when he first Appeared strictly lor laughs on stage Ahd screen ZZ The United States no less than the test of the world was ready for a good time as World War II reached its end The likes of Danny Kaye uniquely perfectly obliged Outrageously mugging gesticulating and pratfalling on stage Danny Kaye subsequently farmed the movie-goin- g public with fiis appearance in the 1944 film "Up In Arms” When after three more films fie starred in the 1946 classic a screen of James Thurber’s "The Se- version t “Hi Norniy might make a classy addition to the family bookcase By the time the battered box flaps aflying arrived at the nearest post office distribution center in Denver it was obviously missing something But workers decided it should be delivered anyway Unless a parcel’s appropriately insured it apparently isn’t the US Postal Service’s responsibility to see that it arrives at its destination in one piece So the box was resealed with cellophane tape stamped with a terse excuse and sent on its way Calls to Salt Lake City’s main post office were met with cryptic confusion One federal worker couldn’t be bothered referring the caller to claims and inquiries An employee at that office couldn’t find anything resembling an atlas so he referred the caller to the Denver office Of course he couldn’t offer the caller the phone number If the missing atlas wasn't in Denver he pointed out there was nothing more the federal agency could do about it The customer had better luck with the atlas seller A call to Barnes & Noble produced a promise to replace the lost merchandise promptly The company would be well advised to use another parcel service this time Gorbachev’s Offer Opens West’s Defenses Universal Press Syndicate Gorbachev sleepeth not when the West is having a little problem with seasickness He has grabbed the headlines on two fronts First he proposes an isolated treaty aimed at reducing sharply the number of intermediate-range missiles in Europe and next he with the sometime proposes a mad dogs in China The explanation for this being in the estimate of “an East European source” that "the Chinese are now emphasizing ideology more and the Soviets feel this creates more common ground” Another way of saying this is that the uglier life is in China the more the Soviet Union has in common with it The instinctive reaction to the proposal is that its timing can hardly be a coincidence The Reagan administration is in desperate need of a little ballast and until this happens cannot maintain a steady course Presumably that is the reason the Soviet Union is taking this initiative But we are required to ask What is its purpose? And Why is the proposal apparently agreeable to the same five West European powers so shocked by the proposals floated at Reykjavik? Pause for a moment over the skeletal terms They are: The United States withdraws its IRBMs from Europe (316 cruise and Pershing II missiles already deployed each with one nuclear warhead) and the Soviet Union withdraws its IRBMs from Eueach with three rope and Asia (441 warheads) That would appear to be a very generous exchange would it not? Now Richard Perle Assistant Secretary of Sanity in Disarmament Conferences is quoted as calling Gorbachev's offer "a constructive step that should open the way to concluding the remaining issues leading ultimately to a treaty" One needs to know Mr Perle to understand the caution impregnated into this statement A "step" is all that he calls it and he uses the subjunctive "should” which is to be distinguished from "will" The easiest way to collapse any synthetic optimism based on Mr Perle's initial statement is to remind ourselves that the Soviet offer is meaningless without effective verification and that Mr Perle said not very long ago that "verification isn’t difficult it isn't even very difficult it is impossible” The next question to ask is: Assuming the proffered exchange were to be consummated what then would be the resulting status quo? Gen Bernard Rogers the retiring NATO commander in Europe was quoted in Die Welt before the Soviet announcement Asked to comment on the hypothetical arrangements which of course were discussed in Reykjavik he said "If we agree to an zero option without isolated medium-rang- e balanced and verifiable restrictions in the two other areas then we would be in a worse SS-2- Toxin Weapons Convention) how long would it take the Soviet Union to redeploy its IRBMs? Answer: As long as it takes a train to travel from Siberia to East Germany — call it one week How long would it take us to redeploy? We would have an ocean to cross and the governments of five countries to ne- position than in 1979” By "the two other arand eas” the general refers to short-rang- e conventional forces The objective of any movement toward disarmament is after all the safety of Europe The French stand out in responding to the Soviets’ latest proposal by making the critical point that a reduction in nuclear arms needs to be accompanied by relevant cuts in conventional weapons Every now and again we need to remind ourselves that the atom bomb has been the friend not the enemy of Western European independence There is an element of fetishism in disarmament talk Those afflicted with the superstition that fewer weapons mean more safety avoid the most rudimentary thinking For instance if the Soviet Union were to decide to violate this treaty as it has violated most treaties we have engaged in (ABM SALT II the Helsinki Final Act the Biological and gotiate with A second point: What security would say a Parisian be entitled to feel if he knew that there no longer existed any IRBMs? An ICBM has the range to go from the heart of Russia to Detroit But there is no technological obstacle to instructing a missile capable of flying 7000 miles to fly only 2516 miles dropping in on Paris What reassurances are we expecting on the strategic front? And of course the point already raised involving conventional forces Does Mr Perle count their reduction by the Soviet Union as one of the necessary "steps" to the conclusion of a satisfactory treaty? And will our verification rights permit little Richard Perles armed with sensitive instruments to hire Hertz cars in Moscow pack up for a k bivouac and snoop away to their hearts’ content? two-wee- Mr Reagan has much to worry about Add to that the impulsiveness of those who would disarm at any price 't' - Another Viewpoint EPA Cleans Up Its Priorities From The New York Times don’t often radically their priorities AH the more credit to Lee Thomas head of the Environmental Protection Agency for asking how well his agency's efforts correspond to real threats to health and environment An EPA report offers disturbing answers Consider radon the radioactive gas that seeps into homes in places like Pennsylvania's Reading Prong Radon poses a high risk of lung cancer yet receives relatively little attention Other problems of high risk and low effort the agency’s reviewers note include destruction of the ozone layer by refrigerant chemicals that waft up to the stratosphere the ozone layer absorbs and screens out ultraviolet light which otherwise would induce skin cancer Also neglected is the "greenhouse effect” a feared warming of the atmosphere caused by carbon dioxide from coal combustion and burning forests The warming could melt the Antarctic icecap raise the sea level and flood coastal cities The cleanup of abandoned hazardous-chemicdumps mernwhile poses relative-' Federal agencies al ly low risk to the public yet commands high levels of EPA's time and money Why the mismatch? EPA's priorities are set by Congress and not surprisingly correspond to public concern Opinion polls list hazardous-wast- e dumps as the public's leading worry while the greenhouse effect ranks last That's understandable: most people find a stench in the back yard to be more pressing than speculation that the ice sheets may start to melt away in a century or so Yet Thomas makes eminent sense when he notes that resources should be matched to true risk as well as to public perceptions The new report deserves Congress' attention as it sets EPA's future goals Nothing Serious® Nowadays it seems like a kid goes right from a Big Wheel to a motorcycle Questioning of your credibility sounds a lot nicer than not being trusted Opening a pickle jar is too much to ask ol anyone on a salt-fre- e diet |