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History Revision
Caspar Weinberger died yesterday. Britain's newspapers are getting their version of history in fast. Here's the Guardian's World News intro:
"Caspar Weinberger, a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, dies at the age of 88."
So Ronald Reagan's former defence secretary - one of the leading players in the West's defeat of Soviet totalitarianism - is reduced to the detail of his role in a scandal? Only in the Guardian.
By way of contrast, here's how the Telegraph announced the news:
"Falklands ally dies: Caspar Weinberger, the American defence secretary who secretly supplied Britain with critical military assistance during the Falklands war, has died aged 88."
The Telegraph notes how Weinberger passed on US satellite information to Britain during the Falklands War, and shipped US air-to-air missiles to the Royal Navy, "borrowing" them from US fighters in the process.
He won a knighthood for his support during the conflict - though the Telegraph adds that he went on to become a "hate figure" for the European left, thanks to his determination to match, then exceed the Soviet nuclear build-up.
This probably explains the Guardian's sour note. That said, the Guardian's story comes from the Associated Press, so maybe we should blame the US newswire rather than the newspaper?
Let's have a look at Weinberger's obit in the Guardian instead.
Nope, not much better: It concentrates on Weinberger's huge increase in military spending - and the subsequent fraud that went on among contractors working on the Department of Defence's behalf. No mention that Weinberger's strategy paid off - or that the US was merely facing down the biggest threat in its history.
The Guardian highlights what it calls Weinberger's "waspish" and "abrasive" personality, and turns its attention to the Iran-Contra affair, which it claims ended his public career in "near ignominy."
Best then to turn to the Telegraph's obituary for a second opinion. The Telegraph pays much more attention to Weinberger's support for Britain during the Falklands War, a subject the Guardian's obit dismisses with a footnote. It also includes Margaret Thatcher's tribute to Weinberger in her autobiography, which throws more light on the Secretary's actions in the Cold War: "America never had a wiser patriot, nor Britain a truer friend."
The Telegraph scrutinises military spending under Weinberger in much more detail - there's a wry aside that his popularity among defence workers owed much to the size of the contracts he could bestow. Furthermore, it examines the philosophy of the much-derided "Star Wars" initiative, one of the key components of the Left's caricature of Weinberger as a Darth Vader figure. Beside, Weinberger was voted down on SDI testing - hardly the fate of an evil mastermind.
There's much more on his role in Reagan's White House - the head-to-head with the Soviet Union on missile deployment, which forced the Kremlin back to the negotiating table, Weinberger's courting of China and Japan, his support for the invasion of Grenada and, yes, his role in the Iran-Contra scandal.
It's a fascinating portrait of a controversial figure - who deserves much better than the Guardian's bitter little caricature.
