Where I Stand — Columnist Brian Greenspun: A devoted patriot

Saturday, June 12, 2004 | 12:11 p.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

WEEKEND EDITION

June 12 - 13, 2004

Editor's note: Former President Ronald Reagan was buried Friday with high honors and all due respect owing to a beloved president. Since his death at age 93, there has been much written about his life and his leadership at the height of the Cold War. As is often the case when there is a momentous passing, bad memories fade and the good ones are recounted. Rather than add my own version of the President Reagan as I remember him 16 years after he left office, I am reprinting a column my father wrote on Jan. 18, 1989, when President Reagan was about to pass the torch to his successor. It is contemporaneous, it is accurate and it is history as it occurred rather than as it is remembered. It follows:

By Hank Greenspun

Hail to the chief, the old one, that is.

Before we hail the new chief, he'll have to prove himself to the American people, a task we believe he will accomplish quite handily. And before President Ronald Reagan turns over the White House to George Bush tomorrow, he deserves another hail for the job he has done as leader of the Free World.

President Reagan leaves office with high marks in the national security and foreign relations areas. His leadership has returned the United States to its former status as a beacon of hope and a symbol of freedom to the other nations of the world.

There is a cloud, however, which has darkened his final term of office and under which he turns over the mantle of power to George Bush. Two separate yet interrelated events this month require the setting straight of the record which has been clouded by the Iran-Contra affair.

The first was a Christmas greeting from Adnan Khashoggi who recalled "precious moments and cherished memories" in a message which bore a picture of his hopes for the future, his son, Ali.

The second was this week's "60 Minutes" program which featured an interview with President and Mrs. Reagan by Mike Wallace. No matter how many times President Reagan repeated his answer, Wallace insisted the American public did not believe him when he said the Iran-Contra mess was not about hostages.

I can attest to a significant number of Khashoggi's "precious moments and cherished memories" because on more than one occasion, I witnessed high-level meetings amongst leaders of the Arab world, Israel and the United States which occurred as a result of Adnan's direct intervention.

The United States has its patriots and so, too, does Saudi Arabia. While Khashoggi's commercial ventures involved the buying and selling of arms for countries in the Middle East, when it came to the future of his beloved Saudi Arabia, there was no price too great for him to pay in the name of peace.

And so it was through his motivation combined with Israel's inspiration that the United States re-entered the picture in Iran in a genuine effort to move that strategically vital country back into the Western camp and away from its charted course toward the Soviet Union.

The details, which I may tell at a later date, concerning the efforts by officials of Israel and the United States would fill a fast-paced spy novel with all the intrigue and cunning associated with the best of such stories. The bits and pieces picked up by the congressional hearings portrayed these efforts in the worst light, making the hearings farcical because of what they didn't learn.

It was a matter of the gravest national policy that an Iran we lost -- one we gave away by giving up the Shah -- was making overtures to return to its onetime American friends. It was a policy facilitated by Khashoggi, a man who this country has now turned against, and approved at the highest levels of this government.

I, personally, related the entire plan to the CIA's Bill Casey who gave his approval to go ahead with the project which required supplying some arms to the embattled Iran. When that was accomplished, a suggestion was made that a hostage should be released as a sign of good faith. It was a suggestion made not by the United States but by Israel, who felt the gesture would facilitate Iran's movement back into America's sphere of influence.

It is easy for the media and other detractors of Mr. Reagan's to twist the facts around to portray the chief as a man who would trade arms for hostages. The story plays well on the national news and during election time. But the truth is that the hostages had nothing to do with Reagan's decision to move forward on the plan to turn Iran westward.

Just as Adnan Khashoggi gave his all for the betterment of Saudi Arabia, so, too, did President Reagan do his best for the United States through his decision to pursue the Iran adventure. They are both patriots and they have both paid far too great a price for acting in the best interests of their countries.

Iran-Contra turned messy only because the amateurs got involved, forcing the pros to flee the area with their lives. It has been a hallmark of American foreign policy that our U.S. fools rush in where only wise men should tread. It has caused many a blunder and cost many innocent lives over the years.

As President Ronald Reagan turns the mantle of leadership over to George Bush tomorrow, he will be turning over a legacy filled with determination and the resolve to do what is right for America's future.

George Bush should follow that course regardless of the perils which may crop up out of ignorance or worse. And if he learns the lessons of the recent past, he will become a chief worth hailing from the highest mount.

But, for tomorrow, it is Ronald Reagan who should be hailed -- loudly and proudly -- by a country virtually unaware of the good our chief has really done to further peace across the globe.