An Unconvincing Gesture

Robert C. McFarlane, President Reagan’s former national security adviser, has loyally tried to take upon himself all responsibility for the clandestine efforts by the White House to get around the ban once imposed by Congress on aid to the Nicaraguan rebels. Some may see this as a brave and selfless gesture, but it is also an unconvincing one. The policy McFarlane helped carry out, as his testimony before congressional investigating committees suggested, was not something whose means he always understood nor, at least in retrospect, that he always believed in. Certainly McFarlane can be faulted for failed judgments, and maybe worse. But he cannot by any means be held wholly accountable for the broader failure of executive responsibility.

McFarlane’s testimony, the weight of which was to confirm information obtained earlier, further supported indications that William J. Casey, the late director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was a principal figure in the affair. But the secrets that Casey knew--along with the chance to defend himself against charges of possible wrong-doing--went with him to the grave. Evidence of Casey’s involvement in efforts to circumvent and deceive Congress is strong, even compelling. But so also now is the suspicion that others may be tempted to heap an excess of blame upon a man who can no longer answer his accusers.

The central figure in the affair, Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, is due to be heard from next month, provided investigators don’t change their minds about granting him limited immunity. Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter, McFarlane’s successor in the White House, is also scheduled to testify. Between them these two can probably provide the most definitive answers to the most crucial questions, high among them just what Reagan knew and approved of in the whole shady business of channeling aid to the Nicaraguan rebels.

Meanwhile it’s hard, after observing his four days of testimony, not to feel some sympathy for McFarlane. The portrait that emerged is that of an essentially decent man who dedicated his life to public service, but who in the end let his commitment to honor be compromised by the far less noble cause of trying to protect his boss--and by his odd fear that if he spoke out against a bad policy he might be denounced as a “commie” by Administration hard liners. Robert McFarlane deserved a better end to his public career than the one he invited.