-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 21, 2007 2:06:39 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: What Is Bush Hiding?
Nixon Waived Executive Privilege in Watergate, So Did Reagan in
Iran-Contra
WHAT IS BUSH HIDING?
Jon Ponder | Mar. 21, 2007, 8:25 am
http://www.pensitoreview.com/2007/03/21/nixon-waived-executive-
privilege-in-watergate-so-did-reagan-in-iran-contra/
If you think Bush’s prosecutor purge is a minor imbroglio compared
with presidential scandals like Watergate and Iran-Contra, consider
the fact that in both those scandals the presidents who were under
fire waived executive privilege and allowed their top aides to
testify before Congress.
Ronald Reagan waived all executive privilege at the start of the
Iran-contra investigation, which arguably dealt with the very
matters of national security and diplomacy in which executive
privilege is most legitimate.
Bush’s messagemeisters are tap-dancing as fast as they can away
from the responses of Nixon and Reagan to scandals in their
administrations. Take for example White House spokesman Tony Snow’s
moment of truthiness the other day: "[It] has been traditional in
all White Houses not to have staffers testify on Capitol Hill."
In fact, presidents Nixon, Reagan and Clinton all waived the
privilege.
At the height of the Watergate scandal, in 1973, Richard M. Nixon
allowed his closest advisers H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman and
their aides to testify. President Gerald Ford testified before
Congress to explain his pardon of Nixon. And President Bill
Clinton’s National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger testified in
1997 before a House investigation of Clinton’s 1996 campaign fund-
raising.
[In fact, 31 of Clinton’s top aides testified before Congress on 47
occasions.]
“The most dramatic was Ronald Reagan, who waived executive
privilege for his entire staff during Iran-Contra,” said Louis
Fisher, senior specialist in the separation of powers at the
nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. Congress had created a
special committee to investigate allegations that Reagan had
authorized the sale of weapons to Iran in return for cash for the
Contra guerrilla war effort in Nicaragua.
Reagan’s waiver was sweeping:
Ronald Reagan waived all executive privilege at the start of the
Iran-contra investigation, which arguably dealt with the very
matters of national security and diplomacy in which executive
privilege is most legitimate. He turned over his documents and
diaries; he told everyone, including White House lawyers, to do
likewise, because he said he wanted the facts to come out.
Pres. Bush does not want the facts to come out, from which we draw
the conclusion that he is attempting to cover up a serious crime —
perhaps a concerted effort to shut down corruption investigations
by fired U.S. Attorney Carol Lam into powerful California
Republicans including Rep. Jerry Lewis, the ranking member on
Appropriations.
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