Word: contras
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According to George Bush, the true nature of the Iran-contra scandal was only revealed to him on Dec. 20, 1986. That Saturday morning, nearly a month after Edwin Meese had rocked the nation by disclosing the diversion of Iranian arms- sale profits to the contras, Minnesota Senator David Durenberger, then chairman of the Intelligence Committee, drove to the Vice President's home. "Not until that briefing," Bush says, "did I fully appreciate how the initiative was actually implemented...
...Arias peace plan signed in Guatemala by five Central American Presidents has made one certain contribution to the endless debate about contra aid: a new vocabulary. All sides must now make their case in the ritual language of the Guatemala accord. Opponents of contra aid say they are simply fulfilling the part that calls for an end to outside aid to insurgents. (Cutting off Nicaraguan aid to the Salvadoran insurgents is left to the appropriate Nicaraguan parliamentary committees.) The Administration, for its part, portrays contra aid as a mere "insurance policy" to save the peace plan in case the Sandinistas...
...formally abolished its international verification commission. And three weeks ago it, in effect, abolished itself: the plan, said the communique of the five Central American Presidents gathered to assess its progress, had not been implemented, but no deadlines were extended. The U.S. Congress, with its vote this week on contra aid, has by default been designated to make the final judgment on Sandinista compliance...
...even if the Arias plan were still a going concern, a question remains: Why should the U.S. allow its interests and policies in Central America to be determined by others? House Speaker Jim Wright was asked about putting contra aid in escrow, to be released depending on future Sandinista behavior. Perhaps, said Wright, but only "if we're willing to abide by the determination of those Central Americans themselves . . . rather than allowing someone in the State Department simply on his whim to say who is complying...
Given Congress's performance over the past seven years, any Central American must anticipate that the future will include a Nicaragua run by Sandinistas. To be the architect of a plan that saves the Sandinistas from the contra threat (and, en passant, softens some of the rougher edges of Sandinista rule) will serve Arias and Costa Rica well in a Central America destined to be dominated by Nicaragua...