|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Iran-Contra |
|---|
| Reagan's hypocrisy |
|
This is Dark Cloud on Wednesday, November 26, 1986. Well. Finally. The Reagan Administration got caught and got caught bad. Good, not a moment too soon. Ollie North may be James Bond incarnate, but anyone who believes that North and North alone knew about this incremental financing of the Contras by an arms deal to Iran will believe anything. It speaks to the fear within the administration that the Contra connection was volunteered before the press found out about it. This must be a true horror show. The antics of what will be provide the comedy relief will be the antics of Attorney General Edwin Meese, in comparison with whom A. Mitchell Palmer was a moderate, calming influence. Meese is, without doubt, the least appropriate head of our nation’s legal system ever, no small accolade. Meese will run Mr. Reagan’s defense, so we can expect equal parts denial of the obvious, strained if not wholly fabricated legal insights, and rhetoric unmatched since Watergate’s lesser moments. Behind all this is the cherished belief that spying and allegedly covert operations work and are necessary. There is no sure way to prove this wrong, but there are precious few examples of where covert actions by our government, or any government, did anything that panned out in the longrun. Presidents seem to love these things because it precludes the bureaucracy and gives them a feeling of having a direct effect. But one wonders. Reagan lambasted Carter for being a weak President, but in truth Carter was a multiple of Reagan. Carter got 44 hostages back by waiting. He lost eight servicemen and some planes in the desert. Reagan, in order to buy the affections of voting public before the last election, jeopardizes his own and the nation’s worldwide credibility to get eight Americans back by bribing the Iranians with weapons. He has also lost hundreds to no clear purpose in Lebanon. Carter spoke softly, and Reagan rants and errs. If the process does reveal Reagan knew, approved of, and was incompetent to run this Iran deal, I suggest an appropriate punishment. Let Reagan duckwalk to Plains, Georgia and apologize for his hypocrisy to the man I, among others, have missed. |
| Post your views and reviews on The Boulder Lout Forum. |