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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, DECEMBER
16,
1986
PAGE
15
ON THE WORLD SCENE
THE IMPACT OF THE IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR
subject has achieved liftoff and a bloodlust
is
in the air." That
is how William Safire,.the NEW YORK TIMES' token conservative columnist,
analyzed the current uproar in Washington over the arms-to-Iranlmoney-
to-Nicaraguan-contras affair. "The scandal train has already started
rolling," a d d e d A L L STREET JOURNAL'S Suzanne Garment.
Investigations by Congressional committees have begun, even prior to the
convening of a special counsel which President Reagan, anxious to clear
up the matter, has requested. The machinery of government
for
much of
the remaining two years of the Reagan administration could grind down to
a
crawl as energies are expended in public hearings and secret
testimonies--which Congressmen, eager to discredit the President's
policies, will leak to an anxious press corps.
T h v will be three main areas of impact of the Iran-contra controversy.
Th first centers on the ability
o
he
U . S .
to maintain its leadership
role in the Western Alliance. Th econd involves the conduct
of
the
administration's foreign policy in Central America (simply put, the
backed Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries,
or
contras, have lost!).
is
the domestic political impact--from taxes to trade to who
will likely capture the White House in
1988.
Regarding the impact on
America's allies, especially in Europe, the December
15
issue
of
TIME
as follows:
question that dominated foreign ministries in capitals
around the world last week, as the Iran-contra scandal
continued to explode, was whether it would have the same kind
of disabling effect on Ronald Reagan's presidency
as
Watergate had on Richard Nixon's. That was a matter of great
concern to both friends and foes, but particularly to
U.S.
allies. "There
is
a basic given within the NATO alliance,"
said a French official. "This is that we rely on the
solidity of the American regime."
h'is
unspoken point was
that, temporarily at least, this basic stability has come
into question...
.
The allies proved reluctant to say anything officially
abou t
the mounting crisis. At a European Community summit in
London last week the twelve leaders agreed to avoid
criticizing Washington. In France, an assistant to Premier
Jacques Chirac said, "We don't intend to add the least little
America's allies in Europe are concerned over the possibility of another
time of "rudderless America." This will accelerate calls for closer
cooperation among the Europeans in the political and military sphere.
"The loss of trust [in Washington1
is
much greater than the objective
damage from this affair," observed West Germany's Franz Josef Strauss.
"American foreign policy must be dependable and predictable."
19
rain
of
salt" to the Reagan Administration's wounds.
The most immediate foreign policy impact will be on Central America.
Had the "Watergate 11" affair been limited to the Iran arms deal alone,
there
is
little doubt that the crisis would have been quickly resolved,