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Viewpoint 6 -* Monday, March 2, 1987 GAMEC0CK^*^^^^^^^^l^MgillMWWIiflilMtimMIWLMtoSEaKgg^g3S8B3BgMi8flW^BSBMrUWIBBr*r''ll Incomplete The report on Iran-Contra affair has many unanswered questions The Tower Commission report on the Iran-Contra affair was released Thursday after weeks of anticipation. It hlactcrl thp D?>!iu!)n aHminicfrafinn (hp Klatrip fnr tiiv 1 MVIIIIIIIJIIUIIVM) J/IUV1II5 HIV flUHIV ? V/l the scandal on a dangerously disengaged president and on White House aides who ran their own covert foreign policy. The report was extremely critical of former White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan and Lt. Col. Oliver North, who the report says was the man most responsible for the scandal. But there are some major areas where the Tower report didn't reach. First of all, the "big" picture has failed to materialize. The whole affair is still somewhat of an enigma. The commission had no authority to subpoena documents, compel testimony, swear witnesses or grant immunity. Former National Security Adviser John Poindexter and North pleaded the Fifth Amendment and refused to appear before the commission. Until they talk, or until the Tower Commission is granted the power it needs, the affair will remain murky. Secondly, the commission tried only to unravel the scandal; it did not try to determine whether any laws were broken. But there were laws broken. The Reagan ad ministration has violated the Boland Amendment, the Security and Development Act, the Intelligence Authorization Act, the Neutrality Act, and the Arms Export Control Act. Reagan also broke his much heralded 1983 arms embargo. The administration needs more than the Tower report's firm slap on the wrist. The administration must face the illegality of their acts and pay for them. The role Israel played in the arms-for-hostages scandal is still unclear because it would not cooperate in the commission's probe. Until the Israeli involvement is determined, no clear picture is possible. The commission also has not been able to conclude whether Reagan gave advance authorization for the 1985 arms shipments to Iran. He has said three different things. He first said he did. Then he said he didn't. Now he says he can't remember. In addition to the mystery surrounding the actual evolution of the affair, there is the matter of the missing millions. "Sizable sums" of money from arms sales to Iran are unaccounted for. This money is rumored to be in secret Swiss bank accounts, but it is likely that this money will never be found. So far, the Tower Commission has been able to topple Donald Regan. This is not only good for the Reagan administration, it's also good for America. Regan is the epitome of the strong arm hustler and sniveling deceiver nilt for nnwpr an (\ nrpctiof Mnw that fr>rmor lonalnr Howard Baker is at the helm, the administration will be able to construct some semblance of respectability. The major thing learned from the commission's report is the duplicity and deception of Oliver North. He "actively sought to conceal political information" about the programs, and if anyone should fall, it should be North. Earlier in the crisis Reagan called North a national hero. If North is anything, he is a national disgrace. The Tower Commission accomplished many things. But something must be done to address the remaining ambiguities. Clearly, North and Poindexter must be compelled to talk, but until they do, "Irangate" will simply remain a troubling and nagging reality. m m tun oweMNfc! v GONM WW WS . - *V > V&X>. K> !W Ytatt, \ > UK OOfte WiSO. NfcW KftUp... iL \ \ ,'k:s *~ ^^v'x^-v. ' * . ? ? ( n ?%& '_i > ^.'_ ^ 'I MiJU'< iK '*<*< iahtf'i /fl #?<jl U'vHM>lrt?W|>yruV 1 ty>vtr (.'^nuv w MMm' , .> ? /-} 1 H.?*mi> wuHurrjiwoH* i /~s MriHUMor m \ X?? lM*fJ/Vil<llliiMiM I Jy^ l|&faK#T&| t ^ '+mw*$' J 01>,V 1 TV '-/.HtWJlE L .- ' YJ MZ/{ [ '7*V V'tVI WWm rM m wfc dJ j&fyfs-. *? -n<AWJ ^*? VP I r huti x/.v < Write~us a letter Tell us what's on your mind. Letters must I here is a limit of tw be typed, double-spaced and no more than the same writer. 250 words. Include name, address and We reserve the right telephone number for verification. Names on nuiflattul inni<-?. tn will no! be withheld. Guest editorials are topics. limited to 500 words. Indicate whether you Write to: Viewi are a student, USC stall member, or com- Gamecock, Drawer A, munity member in letters and editorials. Columbia, S.C. 2920H ? Another kind of For no particular reason whatsoever, I stayed up the whole night last year and watched the Student Government Elections Commission count votes. 1 wasn't there to count votes. I wasn't there to write a story on the drama of the shifting tide as more and more results came in. I wasn't there as an official observer for anyone's campaign. I was just there. A friend of mine was giving election night coverage on WUSC-FM. and he told the nco pic in the SG office I was a reporter for The Gamecock, and they should let mc in. They did. It is a long and tiresome process. I wasn't doing it; I was just watching, but I was still beat at the end of the night, or rather, the beginning of the morning. I arrived at the office at 9 p.m. I left at 7 a.m. Throughout the night, the counters got more and more tired, and the votes more and more tedious. When someone decided to write in Mickey Mouse for SG president, one counter laughed hysterically for 15 minutes. Another screamed and shouted about how foolish the person was to actually waste a vote. Another just sal back and said he was tired and didn't need this. I just sat back and watched their tempers grow more and more frazzled, their eyes get more and more bloodshot, their hands more and more tired from constantly writing down each vote and flipping ballots, and their Letters to the A .L I apathy, Anathi# rnliimn nncdwii,., f RMkUj nm V WIC4IIIBI future p< was misguided (full-formu To the editor: In your Monday, Feb. 23, column, you speak of apathy; apathy of students toward Student Government and marches . for full-formula funding. The LfJVIfO reason for the apathy towards these things is that they have no IA/AQP impact on the students. Student Government officials will represent only themselves and the To the edit future political positions they I am resj hope to have. As for full-formula Traccy Grc funding, if you were making a 20 issue of decision on whether or not to give divorced m a man the same money he has child supp misused time and time again, sister to gi\ would you? Certainly not. It is ncighborhc Holderman's job to properly use work a full the money he has. and a part These things you see as tion center representing the worst possible arc limitec apathy for students do not come general cle close to the results of apathy on these areas other subjects, subjects such as skilled ant inhumanity in South Africa, the you deterr growing war the United States is been work building in Central America, and field to be the possibility of a total nuclear unskilled? holocaust. Where does such petty beginners ; apathy as you mention stand over, against the destruction of fellow I resent human beings and, possibly, minimum yourself? I simply ask that the because it next time you wish to write of whose ho ZZH [ThTc hdltor in Chief 'o letters per month by Horn lieu Kayne Managing Kdllor to stop printing letters y ? f ( (ipy l)eik ( hirf make room lor new Stephen (luil/oyl,e AntUlanl Copy ^oint Editor, The itok Chief , Russell House, USC, Andy Hechtel New* Mil or /'aula Wethinxlon J I I I all-nighter: coi Br. JwHk, ^ voices getting hoarse and scratchy from speaking out the count and rcchccking it. The observers from the presidential campaigns were on edge with each other, and it only got worse as the night progressed. I he "greek" observer for the "greek" candidate didn't want to help the other candidate, nor they him. Phrases like "greek geek," and "independent jerk" were whispered so low only the frequent eavesdropper might heai. I eavesdrop frequently. I left at 7 a.m. with the remaining counters and a couple of folks from SO. We were all bone-tired, beat, bushed, wasted, totally smeared. And they weren't finished. They had counted all the votes for the executive officers, but there was still a lot of work to be done lor the senate seats. It was a night full of interesting observations, funny jokes on occasion, but mostly the mind-numbing tedium of counting by hand editor you consider the dccicase. When that of tilings outside of might as well go on wc diticians (Student way I won't have to j ;nt) and marches month in child caie < t the wrong people can live in a public Ik la funding). ject near a mall so I w car. That way I woi Mli/uheth Johnson $74-a-month used ca Studio art, junior and $48-a-month car Also, living in public . . won't be paying $230 r minimum rent. My sister will hi m another roommate or i ffamamnn lowei standard ol hou udmdgmg won,t be buyiMg Fede Bonds in order to sen or: to college. I'll let Mr. jonding to the letter by other taxpayers pa; :cn in the Friday, Feb. education. Perhaps Ik The Gamecock. I am a on welfare for the res other who receives no and then his children tort. I live with my All the money I | /e my daughter a nicer child caic, car loan, >od in which to live. I and rent help sup -time job in data entry businesses. Without -time job as a recrea- me some of these cashier. My job skills would collapse. Ideas i (o tncse areas and only increase the eco rical duties. Which of fercnces between the r would be considered poor that much more 1 unskilled? How do Mr. Green and peop nine if someone has who support a lowerci ing long enough in a wage live as 1 do aw considered skilled or he'll see how losing th< There are always job and possibly my fi and people who start to those who will wc hurts the economy i the suggestion that more than helps it. wage be lowered is the jobs I work Dehoruh urly pay rates will Computer Servii iamecock Assistant Nrws hditori Sports Kdilnr Sherri Berry Jejf Shrewsbury Hrcndu lilylh Annlslanl Sports Kdllor Viewpoint hditor Wayne Washington Hal Millard Photography Kdllor Money Kdltor Thomas Humphrey Candy Ifarr Assistant Photo^r jpltv I Ui Features Kdllor Jennl/cr S/eib Tamara Willis Aftslfttanl Feature* I Patrick Jean VIE HAVE HO CHOICE- ill \i NIELSEN OVERNIGHTS If ARE W ],| intina ballots I I more than 2,(XX) votes for more than 50 different offices and senate seats. This process of written ballots is extremely wasteful of both time and energy. They do have machines to count votes nowadays. These machines, 1 am sure, could be bor- 1 rowed from Richland or Lexington counties. I When I was in high school, Spartanburg County was more than happy to lend us ^ voting booths. SG should begin a lobbying ef- p. fort with Richland for these booths. They might charge a minimal fee for programming, but look at the benefits: ? the counting process would be speeded up immensely, because the only individual writein votes would have to be taken care of individually. The machine would take care of the rest of the votes; ? the Elections Commission would not be turned into an angry horde of bloodshot, tired counters; ? the candidates would probably have enough time to rewrite their acceptance ^ speeches when they find out they lost; illlU I )c?l lICipUlKMI III I lie ciccnons would probably increase. Students ignore elections because voting areas are just tables with boxes on them. Students always sec and always ignore tables with boxes on them. The big green machines arc BIG and green and a huge advertisement for voting. And everybody loves to vote in them; they're a toy for adults. As it stands now, the process is too long, loo wearisome and just too inefficient. Getting the machines would change that. STSJ ZBT not liable ^1" ; for Brother Jim nising pro on'i need a n't have a To the editor: r payment I would like to clarify my insurance. fraternity's association with housing, I "Brother Jim" Gillcs. As was ||k a month in concctly stated in the Feb. 25 ediavc to find tion of The Gamecock, Jim was nove into a preaching on the Russell House sing. I also patio and was told to leave. The ral Savings crowd was having a good time, so d my child 1 decided to intervene and fill out ureen and me ncccssary paperwork, using / tor his niy title, so that the students : could live could continue to laugh at him. t of his life My chapter had no idea we for theirs. were "sponsoring" him. We were ~>ay out in responsible for his presence only insurance on I ucsday, not for the entire port these week as was reported in The people like Stale, which, as usual, had businesses nothing better to teport. We were such as this not endorsing the masochistic nomic dif- prcachcr, nor was he speaking as ich and the ??representative of the fraternity. :. 1 suggest Any individuals, organizations, le like him or religions insulted or slandered j minimum by this half-witted, quasi-cleric hile. I hen should be informed that Zeta it part-time Beta Tau was merely giving him iill-time job enough rope to hang himself. ?rk for less Besides, there was more student ind society support for him than for the tuition increase demonstration. I,. Hookter Mutt Anderson es Division President, ZBT 1 1 t.ruphlcs hdllor Director of Student Media Hob!) l.une Hill Clements Dalebook Kdltor (?raduate AiftUtunt Kutherine (iilbert Mary Anne Munich Comic* hdllor Production I racy Mixson Chuck N orris lor Wire hdllor Son Ha I (iillian Smith Advertising Manager JsL AdvWer Margaret Michel* Hill Honors Amintant Advertising Manager Jan Hodges