Editorials
II II Ill CONTENTS Volume CXIV, Number 14 Correspondence 434 Editorials 435 Pressing North: questions they didn't ask: John Garvey 437 A study in contrast: Central...
...Capone, that it constitutes a considerable intrusion into the private behavior of the American people...
...I would go further, and say I think they constitute patriotism of the highest order...
...First of all, only figures from the administration or agents of its policies gave testimony...
...Capone...
...funding for the contras...
...about the contras, who they are and what they are really likely to accomplish...
...HATCH: I agree with you...
...CAPONE: I have tried for several days to explain my motives...
...Give the microphone to everyone from former U.S...
...We are not complaining, rat least not about the way the committee chose to conduct its hearings, nor even about the administration officials' determination to plead their case at every opportunity, certainly not about the American public's shift of opinion...
...HATCH: Thank you again, Mr...
...HATCH: OK...
...10038...
...CAPONE...
...No doubt, some American opposition to contra aid has been based on sheer ignorance, thoughtlessness, or native isolationism, and hearing half of the debate so relentlessly articulated sufficed to push people into the administration's camp...
...But the truth is that the hearings did touch repeatedly on the substance of U.S...
...Now, it has been suggested that these hearings have gone out of their way to impugn your motives in supplying the American people with this aid to normal living habits...
...should legally fund the contras is not under examination here...
...Give them a second chance to convince Congress and the voters...
...The appropriate House and Senate committees should be gearing up...
...Third, unlike the witnesses, the examining lawyers and congressmen stuck to business...
...CAPONE: Yes, sir, I do...
...Let the country get the full-fledged hearings on the substance of U.S...
...CAPONE: Exactly...
...ne of the criticisms of the Iran-contraspiracy hearings is that they failed to examine the "substance" of America's foreign policy choices toward Iran and Nicaragua...
...What is your response to that...
...dollars by International Money Order or by check on a U.S...
...The administration is asking for $105 million or more, and perhaps not for one year but two or longer...
...Now, Mr...
...No one asked General Secord what his credentials were for pronouncing on Central America...
...No one asked for substantiation of claims that the contras were actually a"democratic resistance' "or even had genuine prospects militarily...
...Still, the procedure gave the administration an extraordinary platform...
...Yes, bring back George Shultz, Elliott Abrams, even Ollie North...
...I just have a few questions for you, on which I'd appreciate your views...
...Violence is abhorrent to me as a means of doing business...
...Single copy, $1.50...
...But this time invite critics of the White House's policy as well...
...policy in Central America and toward Iran, terrorism, and hostages as well...
...And the reason is obvious --I was not associated with them...
...Canada, $53...
...Ask all of them the tough but essential questions: about the nature of the Sandinista regime II I Senator Hatch questions AI Capone i ATCH: I'll be honest with you, Mr...
...Such latitude was no doubt the better part of wisdom, since drawing the line between relevant and irrelevant testimony might not have been easy and would certainly have provoked charges of muzzling the witnesses...
...What is your response to these allegations...
...Chairman, I have no further questions...
...about alternative policies the United States might pursue...
...Capone, I admire the way in which you have presented your testimony at these hearings...
...III II Iir Encore...
...And the tragic violence that has occasionally been associated with this traffic might also have been avoided...
...Canada, $30Z foreign, $33...
...II II Ill CONTENTS Volume CXIV, Number 14 Correspondence 434 Editorials 435 Pressing North: questions they didn't ask: John Garvey 437 A study in contrast: Central America & the Persian Gulf: J. Bryan Hehir 439 I IIII Prayer & the pursuit of public virtue: Frank Macchiarola 440 Baby-boomerang: why the Democrats can't count on generational politics: Fred Siegel 442 Out of India: Karma & Christ: Maura Moynihan, 446 Not a syllogism but a poem: Christopher Buckley 452 Screen: Tom O'Brien 457 III I BOOKS "i'he Futurist Movement: Illusion and Truth on the Psychoanalytic Stage Timothy Materer 459 Of Love and Shadows: Sonia Gernes 460 Theaters of the Mind: Michael Eigen 462 I II STAFF Editor: Peter Steinfels Assistant Editors: David Toolan, Karen Sue Smith, Patrick Jordan Production Editor: Anne Robertson Poetry: Rosemary Deen Movies: Tom O'Brien Columnists: John Garvey, J. Bryan Hehir, Abigail McCarthy, David R. Carlin, Jr...
...HATCH: OK...
...10038...
...I leave it to you and the members of this committee to determine whether they are legitimate...
...POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Commonweal, 15 Dutch St...
...No one asked Colonel North to explain his faith in the contra leadership despite the negative reports he had received...
...HATCH: And that was a principal concern of yours in the activities you undertook, was it not...
...Now, it is alleged that you undertook violent acts against certain merchants of the city of Chicago when they resisted your attempts to provide them with a means of contributing to your cause...
...NIEL GLIXON NieI.Glixon, formerly of Scholastic Magazine, has written for Dissent, Fellowship, the New York Times, and other journals...
...On the contrary, congressmen frequently went out of their way to indicate agreement with the administration's policies so as to lend credibility to their own questioning of the White House' s methods...
...Yes, it was, as I testified...
...Capone, I think they are...
...Now it's time for those Americans to hear the other half...
...Congress could get the request any day now, and there is talk of expediting action so that a vote can be taken by October...
...No one confronted witnesses with contradictory analyses and asked for their responses...
...HATCH: Neither do I. And do you feel, Mr...
...But that's not enough...
...HATCH: And no evidence has ever been adduced to indicate that you were associated with these violent acts, these abhorrent acts, as you describe them...
...policy and, thanks to quirks in the hearings' structure, did so in a very one-sided way...
...CAPONE:No evidence whatsoever, Senator Hatch...
...Second, the chairmen obviously felt obliged not to restrict the witnesses' testimony even when they ranged from the issues at hand to indulge in emotional pleas on behalf of administration policy...
...Thank you, Senator...
...HATCH: Speaking just for myself, Mr...
...All Canadian and foreign subscriptions must be paid in U.S...
...Special two-year rate: U.S., $49...
...New York, N.Y...
...CAPONE: No, Senator Hatch, I do not...
...Staff: Karen F. Silva, Harriette Balsky, Janice Gates Advertising Manager: Ruth E. Taylor Publisher: Edward S. Skillin Commonweal, [ISSN 0010-3330] A Review of Public Affairs, Religion, Literature, and the Arts, is published biweekly, except monthly Christmas-New Year's and July and August, by Commonweal Foundation, 15 Dutch St., New York, N.Y...
...CAPONE"[ reject them...
...CAPONE:Whenever you thwart the wishes of a majority of the people, you can expect a certain amount of violence, Senator...
...Let the victims of atrocities on both sides tell 'their tales...
...But a matter of this importance, following the revelations of the last few months and the public's heightened interest, calls for a thorough airing...
...bank...
...Yearly subscriptions, U.S., $28...
...Usually, they're lucky if they merit medium-sized stories on page twelve, a few seconds on the evening news, and a bit of television exposure via C-Span...
...The criticism was often made by defenders of the administration, as though questions of circumventing constitutional and democratic controls on government action were only minor matters of procedure and not "substan~z" enough to occupy our attention...
...CAPONE...
...First, do you feel that the Prohibition amendment was a wise choice of the American people...
...officials and Latin American scholars to representatives of church groups and human-rights organizations...
...And I don't think the laws of this land, or the interests of the American people, are well served when members of a congressional committee come down so hard on patriots of your stripe--er, type...
...Ness and others have been interdicting, would have been above ground if 436" Commonweal and the threat it does or does not pose to the U.S...
...It's essential that the media give any hearings on contra aid something like the the Prohibition amendment had not been passed...
...Congressional hearings go on all the time...
...foreign, $59...
...Ill ,.,I • ...., COMMONWEAL...
...Capone, is it your feeling that the traffic in spiritous liquors, which Mr...
...No wonder that after a few weeks of this one-sided show, public support for funding the contras, although still far from overwhelming, increased sharply...
...The most 14 August 1987:435 pressing and controverted item is, of course, U.S...
...Not once did Senator Inouye or Representative Hamilton cut short these declamations with a brusque, "Whether or not the U.S...
...Telephone: (212) 732-0800...
...HATCH: OK...
...The American people could have made their own choice...
Vol. 114 • August 1987 • No. 14
