Tower Commission Report on Iran-Contra Scandal
Columnist George Will’s long history of cogent support for Ronald Reagan gives him a base from which he can now dare (Editorial Pages, Feb. 27) to be more frank than members of the Tower Commission. Where that panel blamed Reagan’s dishonest arms-for-hostages swap on his “management style,” Will blames it on his “laziness.”
Will sees the Iran-contra scam as “not an aberration (but) part of a pattern that was visible even before . . . the Nicholas Daniloff debacle . . .” He points out that Reagan’s “careless and intellectually dishonest handling of the Daniloff affair--denying there was a deal; denying that the swap the deal produced WAS a swap--reflected self-indulgence.”
All that remains is for Will to point out to his right-wing following that such laziness and self-indulgence is so deeply ingrained in the Reagan character that we’ll not have an effective White House until--not just Donald Regan--but Ronald Reagan, himself, is out of there.
Does Will have the guts to say this? Voters of all political complexion might then have the guts to demand it.
HAROLD WATERHOUSE
Pacific Palisades
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