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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SirRealist who wrote (87696)	3/29/2003 2:12:51 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 281500

Everyone who is effectual has a tendency to overrate his ability to influence events, and that was the essence of the problem with Iran- Contra. Since he was not responsible for the operational details, why would he have thought it through? The main outlines made sense: it is not self- evident, despite the hammering at it at the time, that dealing with supposed moderates within the Iranian regime, in the hope that they might influence kidnappers, is equivalent to "arms for hostages". It blurs the line, indeed, but it was still dealing with a third party. Also, the text of the Boland Amendent did not forbid the National Security Council from funding the Contras. It may have violated the spirit, but not the letter, of the law. Thus, it looked like a plausible solution to the problem of defunding on its face. How many statemen are "theoreticians"? And are they the people best put in charge? The qualities that make a good leader are not the same as would make a good academic. Besides, in the terms of Isaiah Berlin, he was the hedgehog, not the fox. Both have their role. (Incidentally, he was an honors student in high school and college)....