Reagan and the Unfolding Iran-Contra Story

This has been a busy year for Ronald Reagan.

First, he gets Congress to give $100 million to a mob of mercenary thugs who now terrorize both sides of the border between Nicaragua and Honduras.

Next, in a quickie summit in Iceland, he practically concedes Western Europe to the Eastern Bloc before somebody pulls him away from the table to explain the situation to him.

And now we discover his policy of providing sophisticated military hardware to the most bloodthirsty anti-Western regime on the planet.

There were a lot of people who worried about this Administration’s talent for foreign policy years ago. They were worried that too many mistakes might hurl us into World War III. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Since the Reagan Administration has been in power, the Soviets have made amazing strides in the diplomatic propaganda war with the West.

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his pals from the “Evil Empire” are enjoying Russia’s best public relations standing in this century. They are really no more or less dangerous than they ever were, but compared to the bizarre plots being hatched at the White House, they are looking like mature statesmen.

I believe the Soviets are too busy celebrating their good fortune to plan any serious global adventures for a while. Therefore, superpower tensions are relatively calm right now. In fact, we may soon hear the “Four More Years” chant ringing out in the Kremlin.

WALTER WILLIAMS

Long Beach