Dear Sir:
Up until now, my 36th year, I've been a loyal tax-paying American who believed she was living in the greatest democratic republic on Earth. Such a government is defined as one in which supreme power resides with a body of citizens entitled to vote for representatives and elected officers who, in turn, are responsible to them and govern according to law. Listening to Lt.-Col. Oliver North, I've finally had ENOUGH! Not withstanding his sincerity, where do people such as he get the notion that they're perfectly justified, even heroic, in using MY money to carry out a policy that I do not know about, or that my elected representatives have voted down? Even though I see the need for highly-selective secret government operations, the catch-phrase "covert policy" cannot disguise or excuse a self-serving asinine sequence of events.
North's lectures and homilies sound great until they are analyzed. Events and situations are not as simple as he makes them; not even all 535 members of Congress have been able to solve the problems with which he so blithely deals. "Oh, yes" he had authorization for every last thing he did, but "Oh, no" he can't say for sure whether that permission came from the President. Why can't he? ... because either the necessary documents were shredded OR never even written in the first place! With this kind of logic, how do we hold anyone accountable for all the idiocies and outrages that seem to be threatening to become the norm? We might as well drop the pretense that this is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people".
Apparently unlike all those publicized "citizens beyond the Beltway" who supposedly don't care, I've been avidly following the entire Iran-Contra proceedings. Still, I too wonder why bother with a ten-month farce of an investigation if the only purpose is to give President Reagan a basis for complaining that the press isn't reporting enough on North's alleged "exoneration" of our Chief Executive.
I doubt that I am the only citizen who is sickened by the complacency with which this complicated episode is being reported and examined. How dare it be compared to Carter's Desert One initiative! Robert McFarlane described the dangerous present mindset of this country when he explained why he didn't do something that made sense --- some members of the Cabinet would call him a "Commie". Also, the last two paragraphs of Gore Vidal's column in this week's Newsweek come pretty close to describing the serious nature of what is occurring. Someone better get more shook up; the stone wall of indifference to such a radical departure from Constitutional strictures is dangerous. I see a cause for radicalism if this is not properly attended to.
My husband says, "Oh, are you really surprised? I sort of expect this of politicians. What are you going to do about it?" I replied , "Well, maybe it's about time that we at least not pay taxes to finance such disgraces as:
I know in this letter my long-simmering anger and disgust have finally boiled over, but my motive is to shake someone awake from the complacent cynicism I see running rampant in today's America. Please, some government or media leader, acknowledge the seriousness of the derailment from our ideals that the Iran-Contra affair represents, and take actions to get us fully back on track --- even if this extends to impeachment!
Sincerely,
Barbara V. Smith
Dear Sirs:
I felt compelled to write concerning your poll results, especially relating to the ethics and security issues.
It's very scary that college-educated voters see no difference between the presidential candidates on ethics, and that the news media find this issue "belabored." Is it possible that the only reason Reagan wasn't impeached over the Iran-Contra affair was that his men learned something from Watergate: "Don't make tapes and shred the evidence"? The Constitution says that the president should, "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Can anyone really say that was done? Several recent books, including the report of the joint investigating committee, indict on this score, and go on to refresh memories and describe exactly where George Bush was.
Both parties have money and sex scandals, but the Nixon and Reagan administrations' extra-legal attempts to subvert our political process in their grabs for total power are extraordinary! It would take too much space for a long, reasoned expose of all the other shady goings-on in this administration, but the FBI investigating CISPES, the CIA paying Noriega, and the Ethics Division's report on Attorney General Ed Meese certainly add up to more than Bush's campaign can dig up on Dukakis.
I want to be able to trust our next president. I also want someone who can reason as to which weapons systems are worth their prices in security. The Pentagon's problems in the last eight years, including the recent procurement scandal, as well as the almost-tripling of the national debt, indicate to me that Dukakis could not do worse than the present administration in protecting our country. Japan may have lost forty years ago, but they're certainly winning now. How about all the good jobs lost to overseas, the 241 Marines killed in Beirut, innumerable others lost in training exercises, and the nine hostages still being held --- a couple of them three times as long as those under the Carter Administration?
The factor most important in our security is ultimately a concerned and vigilant citizenry, and your poll results indicate a dangerous complacency.
Sincerely,
Barbara V. Smith
To the Editor:
I just wanted to heartily endorse the sentiments of your Monday letter writer, Virginia Kantner, concerning the campus CIA protests and the agency actions which gave rise to them. In addition, I wanted to suggest to your other correspondent, Todd Fredricks, that it is he who shows the real ignorance. Like the latter, I've always been inclined to support a CIA that's function is intelligence-gathering; but, if he hasn't seen Bill Moyer's excellent documentary on the Secret Government, which has operated under the covers of that organization and its cohort in crime, the NSC (National Security Council), since the late 1940's, he owes it to himself to do so.
Our nation and the principles on which it was founded are in grave danger if naive citizens like Mr. Fredricks and Lt. Col. Oliver North's lackey, Robert Owen, don't learn to distinguish Reaganesque demagoguery and propaganda, with its uninformed disdain for liberals thrown into the mix, from truth. Does anyone wonder anymore how the German people got Hitler? It most certainly behooves the university, of which I'm a recent masters graduate, to unemotionally educate on this vital subject. A good place to begin might be Jonathan Kwitny's Endless Enemies . Just the waste of badly-needed taxpayer dollars is a travesty.
Sincerely,
Barbara V. Smith
To the Editors:
We strongly object to Rep. Bob McEwen's Feb. 7 "Forum" column, "Democrats' hostage probe is ploy to smear Bush." McEwen's position on the long-overdue House decision to investigate the possible stealing of the 1980 presidential election by the Reagan-Bush Campaign is reminiscent of recent Newsweek and New Republic articles, which were whitewashes. Citizens interested in the preservation of our Constitution should carefully read Gary Sick's book, October Surprise. Written by a former naval officer and member of the National Security Council, it thoroughly documents a story that many would rather not see revealed.
We watched, on C-Span, McEwen's performance in the House Rules Committee, where he was totally obstructionist to the governmental process, and were embarrassed to be Ohioans, fearing the day that we might become his constituents, if the Republican redistricting plan is put in place.
Every point McEwen makes could be refuted but, while prominent people are afforded entire columns, ordinary citizens are limited to only brief letters in reply. Suffice it to say that it is imperative that the House investigation go forward without the artificial limitations that have plagued previous investigations. A few examples of rebuttal would include:
Sincerely,
Barbara and Tim Smith
Dear All Things Considered,
As a former high school history and government teacher who has long been concerned with the unexamined question of whether the 1980 Presidential election was unfairly stolen from former President Carter by the Reagan Campaign Committee through an offer to trade future arms shipments for the longer holding of American citizens as hostages, I am deeply grateful to the media that, however tardily, it has finally begun publicizing this scary mess. I hope you will now continue the thorough investigation that this story deserves.
It is deeply troubling to me that I, an extremely patriotic and participatory and service-oriented American, cannot truly trust my government anymore to do the right thing. The enclosed article makes numerous important points on this subject, but several of the most pertinent include:
You wonder why kids don't give a damn about education? What is a teacher supposed to say about all this, and hundreds more examples --- such as the racist demagoguery passing as the "quotas" question, or the China "policy", or helping Iraq get chemical weapons (what the heck --- the entire Iraq policy, as well as what we're doing re Iran or the Philippines, or Nicaragua, etc.). Excuse my emotionalism and lost manners, but you all should get out the Declaration of Independence and peruse it one more time!
Sincerely,
Barbara V. Smith