14 RUTLAND DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY MORNING, JULY 21, 1987 Rutland Daily Herald FROM ARTICLE XVIII OF THE VERMONT BILL OF RIGHTS (Adopt) July. 1777) 'That frequent rocurrtnco to tundomcnto! principle ond lirm odhoronco to justice, moderation, temperance, industry and frugality are absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty and Seep government Iree." Foreign Affairs By FLORA LEWIS Paris Iranga te ROBERT W. MITCHELL Senior Editor tad Publisher KENDALL WILD NICHOLAS MONSARRAT Editor Msosging Editor Tuesday July 21, 1947 Chief Bensons Problems and that all means are justified to take advantage of big and little satans. Teheran understands perfectly the calculations and inhibitions of the West, and of the Communist and Arab states for that matter, and doesnt hesitate to play on them. It has its own neat ideas.
There is an irony in its warning to France that it will not allow Wahid Gordji, who is locked up in the Iranian Embassy in Paris, to be taken hostage that is reminiscent of Klaus Barbie, the Nazi Butcher of Lyons," complaining that his trial was illegal. The present crisis for France is evidently the result of unpremeditated escalation. The French were dealing with Gordji as part of their plan to normalize relations with Iran. Some aspects of the deal are known, such as the expulsion of the anti-Khomeini Muja-hedeen leader Massoud Rajavi and the repayment of $330 million on a $1 billion loan the shah had made to France. But there are doubtless other, probably shadier aspects that may never be known because France isnt given to serious public investigation of its dirty secrets.
Domestic politick and bureaucratic rivalries led France into the impasse. Premier Jacques Chirac wanted to show he could do better than his Socialist predecessors in liberating the hostages in Lebanon and making friends, despite his widely known role of having launched Frances huge arms deal with Iraq. 1 But on the home front, Chirac also wanted to show that he was tougher than the Socialists on internal security. The police were ordered especially to crack down after the wave of Paris bombings last September. The trail eventually led to Gordji, who says he took refuge in his embassy here when a French diplomat warned him he was wanted for interrogation.
Faced then with admitting failure of his diplomacy and supporting the police, or being seen to cave in to Iranian threats, the premier had little choice. President Francois Mitterrand agreed with him on standing firm, and so does the public, at least for now. The question remains whether the lesson has been learned. How many other countries, how many other politicians will draw the conclusion that they will fare no better than President Reagan or Chirac at trying to butter up Khomeinis regime? The price of self-delusion is high. PARIS France in its turn is learning the wages of trying to make what Ollie North called a neat deal with Ayatollah Khomeinis Iran.
Relations have now been broken and the French are hunkering down against the possibility of reprisals that could come anywhere against French diplomats in Teheran, hostages in Lebanon, ships in the Persian Gulf or in France itself. It may be of some help that the U.N. Security Council is about to vote a resolution demanding an end to the gulf war, with an implicit threat of a generalized arms embargo against Iran if it refuses. But that is likely to have very limited impact, if any. For one thing, the resolution has been watered down substantially so as to appear diplomatically evenhanded, as if that would matter to Teheran.
For another, even if the governments on the council could then be persuaded to vote the embargo in a second resolution, there is real doubt they would actually impose it. As a French diplomat noted last week, they all know that most of Irans arms supplies are delivered clandestinely, often with the knowledge of governments but through channels they dont admit. Iran And Iraq have become the worlds greatest consumers of munitions and there are thousands of jobs that depend directly on these secret exports, national arms industries that could not maintain competitive unit costs for their own countries defense needs without the lucrative Iran and Iraq markets. Over 30 countries engage in the trade, most with both sides in the war. But it isnt just current profits that motivate the reluctance of the rest of the world to face Iran in the one way that could be effective.
That would be to isolate it as completely as possible and then leave it to the quarreling factions inside the country to establish a regime that could work its way out of quarantine. It is a foolish arrogance that many countries have indulged, including the U.S. and Israel as well as France, to think they can sort out the reasonable from the unreasonable Iranian groups and buy them off. Iran is big and strategically important, and someday it will again become a viable diplomatic as well as economic partner. But it is a mistake to expect any long-term benefits from deals with a regime that operates with tactics as shrewd and unscrupulous as it is unswerving in its goal.
The fanatics are convinced they are serving a righteous cause Quoting an anonymous observer of Rutland City affairs and public personalities, Police Chief Paul Bensons problems seem to be mostly of his own making. Here is a city official who, coupled with his wife, is part of the highest paid combination in City Hall and claims to preside over an independent principality in city government, answerable only to himself Jand his wife. And hes complaining? Admittedly, his grievances are not exactly weighty. He accuses the mayor of leaking information to the Herald about the time he and his wife went out of town and his house was broken into. Thats two counts one against the mayor and another against the Herald.
It may not be headline news when a city official goes out of town but when one leaves town and takes his wife who is a city employee too, that may be a different matter. The chief seems to be as super-sensitive to leaks as either the Reagan or Nixon White House, although in this case its not the security of the nation at risk, its the Benson household. We sympathize with the family and regret any losses they may have suffered when their home was burglarized, but residential burglaries are not exactly unusual in Rutland. In fact they are so common that many homes are protected with burglar alarms. One such home, owner who installed an alarm system connected with the police station inadvertantly tripped the alarm when he returned home one evening, not realizing what he had done.
When a police officer came to the door, he was puzzled by the call. The officer explained that the alarm had sounded at the station. The householder retorted that a half hour must have elapsed since he hit the alarm and wondered why the response had taken so long. The officer explained somewhat sheepishly that he had made a mistake in the location and had gone to the wrong house. Where the leak issue is concerned, there was one bit of information at City Hall that apparently didnt get through to the chief himself.
When his secretary resigned last December, Benson said he was taken by surprise and had to replace her quickly because work was piling up in his office. That was when he hired his wife as a replacement. According to information current at City Hall, Chief Benson must have been the only person in the building who didnt know that his secretary had been looking forward to retirement in December for months prior to the event. Be that as it may, why the chief is so concerned about leaks and other controversy involving his department is something of a puzzle since he claims to be a power unto himself secure from interference by the mayor or the Board of Aldermen. CM', NO MORE MiNG' SHOWED You Turkey? ENOUGH HKElAKE A Ico*k -I XWE NCfDVNG TO SEE? Briefing Meese a Failure During Prohibition, a journalist penned a rhyme that came to symbolize the whole enterprise: Prohibition is an awful flop.
We like it. It cant stop what its meant to stop. We like it. Its left a trail of graft and slime, its filled our land with vice and crime, it dont prohibit worth a dime. Nevertheless, were for it.
With some slight modifications, that jingle could serve as a motto for the Justice Department under Edwin Meese 111. When Ronald Reagan nominated his old California political crony as attorney general, many members of Congress had reservations about Edwin Meese Ills integrity and depth. Unable to pinpoint what was wrong, they deferred to tradition and presidential authority, and confirmed the nomination. The sequel has confirmed the suspicions even leaving aside Meeses dubious role in the Iran-Contra affair and his relationship to the Wedtech scandal, the conduct of the Justice Department has been a disaster. For instance, there was the 128-page report the Justice Department churned out arguing that the Supreme Courts Miranda decision should be reversed, thus removing the requirement that police inform suspects of their rights to remain silent, have a lawyer at public expense if necessary, and so on.
A derelict on the seas of law, the report termed the Warren court ruling, though a long series of subsequent cases has over the past two decades reaffirmed its application. The reports author wrote: The interesting question is not whether Miranda should go, but how we should facilitate its demise, and what we should replace it with. Similar reports have challenged court decisions on abortion rights, affirmative action, and school prayer, to name only some of the cases. It seems the attorney generals role is to reverse the law, not to enforce it. The Carter administrations court nominees were 20 percent black and IS percent female; under Meese, this has dropped to 1.7 percent black and 9.4 percent female.
While Pentagon scandals have continued to unravel, the FBIs Miami office has charged that the Justice Departments refusal to prosecute Pratt Whitney for $22 million in overcharges between 1979 and 1984 is a flagrant abuse to decency and common sense. An assistant attorney general delivered a harsh attack on the independent counsel system this June, before Sen. Carl Levin. The senator said it sounded as if the Meese department hankered for a return to the Nixon years of cover-up. And on and on.
But the Justice Department has found a wonderful way around the prtss they release the bad news stories late Friday afternoon, when most reporters are busy trying to meet deadlines and when the stories will be buried in less-read Saturday editions. By The New York Times Taking A Break could well be Drew Barrymore, the child who befriended the outerspace creature in the movie E.T. Miss Barrymore will explain the pledge campaign. One school of thought in the White House is that humor can counteract the of daily disclosures in the Congressional hearings on the Iran-contra affair. One senior aide, welcoming visitors to his office recently, showed them his desk and said that it was the same one used by H.R.
Haldeman, President Nixons chief of staff before he was felled by Watergate. The Reagan aide explained how Haldeman had gadgets attached to the desk that allowed him to monitor who went in and out of the Oval Office. But of course we disconnected them, the aide continued, with a sudden look of ernestness. The White House press spokesman. Marlin Fitzwater, faced a combative press corps with seemingly endless questions about the testimony of the youthful-looking Lt.
Col. Oliver L. North. After Rear Adm. John M.
Poindexter replaced Colonel North at the Congressional witness table, Fitzwater, a balding man, began one briefing with a quip that Ive got my John Poindexter haircut. WASHINGTON President Reagan is planning hi9 annual summer visit to his California ranch, in the Santa Ynez mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Last summer the president spent three weeks there. This timehe will extend that a bit, leaving Washington Aug. 13 and returning 24 days later, on Sept.
6. Reagan last visited his ranch at Easter, and White House officials say that in itself more than justifies the extended break this summer. Meanwhile, the Reagan administration, aided by private industry, is linking its anti-drug campaign to the start of school in the fall. On Wednesday its chief spokesman against drug use, Nancy Reagan, will lead a White House forum that starts a campaign to persuade 10 million schoolchildren to sign just say no pledge cards before school starts. The project is sponsored by Procter Gamble, with several other major businesses participating.
To bolster public interest, the administration is planning remarks by several high-ranking officials, including Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d and Education Secretary William J. Bennett. But the main at least to the school-age children,.
