‘Reagan’s Just an Old Softie’

Of all the speculation generated by the Iranian arms disaster, surely the least plausible is Bethell’s thesis that Reagan was chiefly motivated by compassion for the families of hostage. This is sheer nonsense. If Reagan were truly concerned with us ordinary folk, he would not be continually bashing our “safety net” programs and widening the disparities in our society. I suspect he sees most of us only as prospective voters and as useful subjects of fanciful anecdotes and photo opportunities.

A more rational explanation is that Reagan simply wanted to avoid the domestic political fallout from an acutely embarrassing situation. The most likely source of this mess was his obsession with Nicaragua, which led him and some of his more free-wheeling henchmen to use and abuse the device of deniability in circumventing Congress’ denial of aid to the contras.

Reagan himself has now given the lie to his original claim that his chief goal was to establish relations with Iranian “moderates” (aptly defined by one cartoonist as extremists who have run out of ammunition). In his prepared statement of Nov. 25, he spoke of “a policy aimed at resolving a truly tragic situation,” an implicit admission that the hostage ransom scheme--with its significant fringe benefit of funds for the contras--was his true purpose.

MARSHALL PHILLIPS

Long Beach