Word: contras
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...former National Security Adviser John Poindexter accomplish what Oliver North could not: force Ronald Reagan or George Bush into a courtroom grilling about the Iran-contra scandal? Last week Poindexter's lawyer, Frederick Robinson, insisted that Reagan had ordered the admiral to tell Congress that the NSC staff was not violating restrictions on U.S. aid to the contras at a time when, in fact, it was. He also contended that Poindexter had briefed Bush about each White House meeting on Iran-contra that the then Vice President had missed. If so, Bush's knowledge might be far more extensive than...
Silber's outspokenness is not limited to educational matters. Whether writing or speaking, he characteristically offers opinions on everything from Nicaragua (pro-contra) and Gorbachev (don't trust him) to abortion (pro-life) and Jesse Jackson (full of "mindless, rhyming pieces of nonsense on which he has built a career"). One of his central philosophical tenets is the necessity of accepting hardship and disappointment. "I'm sorry I didn't put 'death' into the index," he said in an interview. "I really believe that confrontation with death and with reality is necessary to moral education...
...contra war winds down to a whimper, so too does a U.S. policy that preoccupied the Reagan Administration through two terms. The seeds of disengagement were sown last April, when President Bush secured $49.75 million in nonlethal aid for the contras in exchange for a guarantee that Congress could review -- and sever -- the aid package this November. Since many in Congress support the Central American leaders' desire to disband the contras, the Bush Administration seemed to capitulate without a fight. "Our intention is to play it straight and stick with the ((peace)) process," said a State Department official...
This time around, in writing Clear and Present Danger (Putnam; $21.95), which is being published this week, Clancy got mad. Not at his usual villains, like the Soviets or international terrorists. Instead, what aroused his ire was what the Iran-contra affair revealed about "how the Government makes decisions, what kind of people make those decisions, and what happens when things go wrong." That is what settling insurance claims teaches: how often in real life things go wrong. And when that happens to soldiers and spooks, Clancy says, "very often you get hung out to dry. All those Marines...
...book that arose out of these emotions is Clancy's most politically sophisticated and philosophically complex. (Beach readers, have no fear; this is not Sartre.) There are no direct references to Iran-contra, no arms-for- hostages deals and no Ollie Norths; Clancy is too accomplished a craftsman for such overt gambits. The closest parallel comes in the fictional National Security Adviser, Vice Admiral James Cutter, who is reminiscent of John Poindexter. Almost from the moment the admiral is introduced, readers can sense Clancy's scorn: "Cutter was the sort of sailor for whom the sea was a means...