The Contra Tangle

By Robert T. Zintl

Classical tragedy demands a unity of time, place and action, a drama that unfolds in a day. In Washington last Wednesday, Ronald Reagan's flawed Iran- contra policy came close to just such a singular confluence. Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh announced his long-awaited criminal indictments of two of the President's former National Security Council staff members and their accomplices for diverting Iran arms profits to the Nicaraguan contras. Less than four hours later, the President ordered 3,200 troops into Honduras as a show of resolve against Nicaragua's Sandinistas, who once again had crossed the Honduran border to pin down the hapless contras in their main base.

As if the day needed any further hallmarks, several hundred people gathered at a church service in Georgetown to remember American Hostage Terry Anderson, 40, on the third anniversary of his kidnaping in West Beirut, a poignant reminder of the frustrations that underlay one leg of the Iran-contra affair.

Ten months before Reagan leaves office, the hostages, the contra question and the scandal that entwines them remain the most divisive and disabling issues of his presidency. Nicaragua, an irritant to Reagan since he arrived in Washington, clattered back to center stage. As in a tragedy, the President's past misjudgments were returning to haunt him. No matter how a jury votes on the charges against Oliver North, John Poindexter, Richard Secord and Albert Hakim, the verdict is already in on Reagan's handling of his contra policy.

; The President was determined to forge the contras into a weapon against the Marxist Sandinistas, but his shifting rationales for what he was doing undermined his credibility. When opposition from Congress kept him from supporting the contras openly, he tried to do so covertly. The Iran-contra scandal that ensued aggravated widespread public uneasiness over U.S. policy toward Managua and hastened the end of congressional funding for the rebels.

Now the contras are bereft of American aid, and may be threatened with extinction as a fighting force, eliminating what may be the only U.S. leverage for keeping the Sandinistas honest. Yet the Administration's cries of alarm have been met with widespread skepticism. Once again the President fudged his reasons for dispatching troops, offering the claim that the border battle represented a Sandinista "invasion" of Honduras. Two years ago he made the same assertion when he sent U.S. helicopters to ferry Honduran troops to the border. That crisis too had flared while he was pressing Congress to reconsider support for the contras. "We've heard the Administration cry 'Wolf! Wolf!' before," said Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd. "I hope it does not prove to be counterproductive ((and)) does not derail the peace process."

Yet the fighting in Central America was proof that the U.S. cannot simply declare victory for the peace process and get out. The Sandinistas' attempt to knock out the contras' remaining major supply base a week before peace talks were due to resume suggests that Nicaraguan Leader Daniel Ortega is no more interested in compromise than is the President. If Congress refuses to sustain the contras any longer, it must still come to terms with Reagan, or his successor, on a policy to contain the Sandinistas and foster democratic reforms in Nicaragua.

The other elements of the Iran-contra scandal will continue to play out even as the Reagan Administration is eclipsed by the election campaign. Last year public opinion was divided about whether the Iran-contra mess was a political dispute or a serious abuse of power. The charges against North and his associates mean that a jury must decide whether this national hero, as Reagan called him, is simply a criminal. North and Poindexter could be standing trial on Election Day, and the evidence against them -- as well as the suspicion that the President will pardon them -- could play a pivotal role in George Bush's campaign for the White House. So could North's attempts to subpoena Reagan and Bush, which he hinted at Friday.

The Administration and the public alike have done their best to draw attention elsewhere. North and the other characters in the Iran-contra drama dropped from sight after last summer's congressional hearings, and the House- Senate investigation seemed to come to an inconclusive end marked by partisan sniping. The Wall Street Crash and last December's Reagan-Gorbachev summit concentrated the nation's mind on larger matters. If the Iran-contra scandal has been a refrain in Democratic primary campaigns, and a stick that rivals have used to attack Bush, voters have seemed more interested in determining who can best protect their jobs and deal with Gorbachev.

Even when the House of Representatives voted against extending aid to the contras on Feb. 3, attention was focused on the indictment of Panama's Manuel Antonio Noriega on drug-related charges. The Canal makes Panama intrinsically more important than Nicaragua to American interests. Yet there too Washington has been embarrassed by its past policies: until evidence of Noriega's drug trafficking became too serious to ignore, the general had been a valued CIA asset. Last week the Administration continued to squeeze Panama's economy in an effort to oust Noriega, who hung on precariously despite widespread strikes, rioting and a coup attempt.

As the contra crisis swung the spotlight back on a half-forgotten drama, it also shifted public attention back to Ronald Reagan, who had seemed to be fading from view as the primary campaigns accelerated. Like his aides who now stand indicted, the President remained stubbornly defiant as his contra policy came close to collapsing. Although earlier in the week he assiduously lobbied leaders on Capitol Hill to renew the funding for his "Freedom Fighters," Reagan's attitude toward Congress and the contras remained unchanged. Former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, said the President, was guilty only of "not telling Congress everything it wanted to know. I've done that myself." Unlike the protagonist in a tragedy, he had learned nothing from his losses.

With reporting by Barrett Seaman/Washington