orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) (05/10/85)
Once again we have another example of Ronald Reagan's distortions of the truth. The following appeared in the New York Times, Wed. May 8,1985: AGAINST BITBURG VISIT, GIRL SAYS Washington, May 7 (AP)- A 13-year-old Jewish girl cited by President Reagan as supporting his decision to lay a wreath at the Bitburg cemetery honoring "the future of Germany" said today that she actually opposed his visit to the military gravesite. The girl, Beth Flom of Marlboro Township, NJ said that in a telex she sent to President Reagan on April 21, she made it clear she disapproved of his decision to visit Bitburg. She suggested that if he made the visit the wreath should be placed "in honor of the future of Germany". ....... During a speech afterward at the United States Air Base in Bitburg, Mr. Reagan said: "One of the many who wrote me about this visit was a young woman who had recently been bar mitzvahed. She urged me to lay the wreath at Bitburg cemetery in honor of the future of Germany, and that is what we have done." The President did not mention Miss Flom by name. But Dale Petroskey, a White House assistant press secretary, said today that Mr. Reagan was referring to Miss Flom's telex.