THE WEEK

□ Now we know why Lee Iacocca isn’t running for President.

□ It is midway through Colonel North’s debut aswegoto press. Two points have emerged so far. I) Reagan, whatever the extent of his knowledge—and his knowledge, in outline if not detail, was probably substantial—has deniability. Admiral Poindexter is still to testify, and what William Casey knew Congress will never learn. But North has no Oval Office memos lying around. He addressed five memos to the President. How far up the chain of command they went he cannot say. 2) North did not use the word “Contras,” consistently using the phrase “Nicaraguan resistance” instead. “Contras” is, of course, short for “contrarrevolucionarios,” the term coined by the Sandinistas and reflecting their Marxist interpretation of events. “Nicaraguan resistance” recalls the French Résistance—a more accurate formulation. A word can steal many bases. Suppose, for instance, instead of calling the whole scandal “Irangate,” we labeled it “Iranaquiddick”?

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□ Now we know why Lee Iacocca isn’t running for President.

□ It is midway through Colonel North’s debut aswegoto press. Two points have emerged so far. I) Reagan, whatever the extent of his knowledge—and his knowledge, in outline if not detail, was probably substantial—has deniability. Admiral Poindexter is still to testify, and what William Casey knew Congress will never learn. But North has no Oval Office memos lying around. He addressed five memos to the President. How far up the chain of command they went he cannot say. 2) North did not use the word “Contras,” consistently using the phrase “Nicaraguan resistance” instead. “Contras” is, of course, short for “contrarrevolucionarios,” the term coined by the Sandinistas and reflecting their Marxist interpretation of events. “Nicaraguan resistance” recalls the French Résistance—a more accurate formulation. A word can steal many bases. Suppose, for instance, instead of calling the whole scandal “Irangate,” we labeled it “Iranaquiddick”?