Tower Commission Report on Iran-Contra Scandal

With the hysteria and hype the media have generated about the Iran-contra affair, the underlying reasons have been forgotten while the media have gotten carried away with excesses that border on lynch-mob mentality.

Let us ask ourselves what is it that President Reagan has done that merits this all-out media attack on his integrity, with some calling for his resignation. Is it because he sought legal ways to help the anti-communist forces in Nicaragua during the two-year period the vague and ambiguous Boland Amendment was in force? I believe it is precisely because our President has integrity, that he refused to abandon the contras whom our government had encouraged and officially supported before and after the Boland Amendment was in effect. After all, we had committed to help them stave off communist domination and bring freedom to Nicaragua. We couldn’t expect to succeed with an on-again, off-again, on-again policy, especially against the combined strength of Sandinistas, Cubans and Soviet personnel and weapons.

If we abandoned them in the midst of their struggle, we would be duplicating a shameful episode in our history when we helped organize an invasion force to overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba and then left them floundering in the surf when President John F. Kennedy decided to withhold promised U.S. air support.

So, let it be known that President Reagan has far too much integrity to abandon those who are fighting for their freedom against communist rule.

JOHN HOPKINS

Northridge