Iran-Contra Hearings Look Inside the Administration

The Iran- contra hearings make it so obvious that we are being led by a bunch of liars that one can only say the nation is getting what it deserves. The trouble is that the rest of the world doesn’t deserve what this nation is doing to it. It’s time to put an end to just being ashamed of ourselves and to begin to change our ways.

The first thing to change is the policy which is at the bottom of the whole debacle. Our leaders are trying to decide, by hook or crook, how people in another country, Nicaragua, should be governed. There’s a very old name for this kind of conduct; it’s called imperialism.

Imperialism and democracy just can’t go together; that’s the reason for the lies. When the Athenians tried to unite the two, many centuries ago, they violated their own best selves and turned into a society of killers. Their historians and dramatists, especially Euripides, have recorded the tragic results.

Tragedy is not inevitable; it flows from choices. Democratic Athens became a cruel empire when its leaders decided to use the Delian League to enrich Athenians at the expense of the other cities of the Aegean world. Similarly, the U.S. is an empire because its giant multi-nationals are determined to loot and plunder weaker Third World countries.

This was an evil choice and we should change it. We should decide to let Nicaragua and the other countries of Central America govern themselves. Once we do this, once we say no to imperialism, our leaders will not have to shame us with their endless lies.

BILL DOYLE

Los Angeles