A couple of lessons from the 1990 news report below. First, the violation of law by high government officials illegally selling shoulder fired missiles and other arms to Iran, and using the illegal profits to fund the illegal state-supported terrorism against Nicaragua, is not punished, as usual (Poindexter won on appeal based on his claim that he wouldn't have been convicted except for testimony given to congress under a grant of immunity). Second, you need not face any public accountability and arms for hostages, and profits for terrorism in Nicaragua need not be a barrier, in fact it is a qualification, for building a big brother system to surveil US citizens (except of course those breaking the law at the behest of the government itself).
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- John Poindexter, one of President Ronald Reagan's highest-ranking aides and the last of the original Iran- Contra defendants, was the first person sentenced to prison in the arms-for-hostages scandal. Poindexter, 53, who was Reagan's national security adviser, was sentenced to six months in jail Monday for masterminding the effort to cover up White House involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. U.S. District Judge Harold Greene said Poindexter should be imprisoned because he was ``the decision-making head of the Iran- Contra operation'' in the White House. Greene sentenced Poindexter to six months in prison on each of five felony counts, but allowed the sentences to run concurrently. Because of Poindexter's huge legal fees, the judge did not impose a fine. But the retired Navy rear admiral was required to pay a standard $50 court assessment for each of the five counts. Poindexter was convicted April 7 of conspiring to deceive Congress, making false statements to lawmakers and obstructing congressional inquiries into the Iran-Contra scandal. Although Poindexter is the last of the original Iran-Contra defendants, a special prosecutor is still investigating the case and new indictments are still possible. What Poindexter did when he lied to Congress was ``not a part of the normal political process,'' said Greene. The judge said Poindexter, Lt. Col. Oliver North and others in Reagan's White House tried to ``nullify'' a decision by Congress to cut off aid to the rebel Nicaraguan Contras. Congress is elected by the American people, Greene said, and its decisions cannot be ``nullified by appointed officials.'' Furthermore, he said, Poindexter and North ``engaged in the destruction of evidence on a large scale.'' Poindexter headed the White House effort to subvert Congress, Greene said, and a ``meaningful'' penalty was necessary to deter future activity by public officials. Poindexter stood stiffly as Greene imposed the sentence. But he smiled at his chief lawyer, Richard Beckler, who said he would appeal. Poindexter was accompanied by his wife, Linda, an Episcopal priest who wore her clerical collar, and his large legal team. He remained free, pending his appeal. Beckler had asked Greene not to send Poindexter to prison, saying ``he has served his country for 33 years'' and made no personal profit from his actions in the Iran-Contra scandal. ``The world is a somewhat different world today than it was when John Poindexter entered the White House,'' Beckler said. ``The world is safer,'' terrorism is on the decline and there are free elections in Eastern Europe, Beckler said. Before imposing the prison sentence, Greene asked Poindexter if he wanted to speak. Poindexter stood up and said softly, ``Your honor, I don't have any comment.'' Chief prosecutor Dan Webb asked Greene to put Poindexter behind bars, saying he and ``a very misguided and confused Marine lieutenant colonel'' -- North -- ``operated a private war in the nation of Nicaragua.'' They kept that war hidden from Congress, Webb said, through a deliberate campaign of lies, deception and obstruction. Webb also noted that Poindexter ``destroyed the single most important document in the case'' -- a document signed by Ronald Reagan authorizing a direct arms-for-hostages deal with Iran in an effort to free Americans held in Lebanon. Although Poindexter did not testify during his trial, he told Congress in nationally televised testimony during the summer of 1987 that he never told Reagan about the subsequent diversion of Iran arms sale profits to assist the Contras. Congress had banned such Contra aid. Poindexter said he destroyed the diversion document because it would cause grave political damage to Reagan. Webb later told reporters: ``We think the sentence imposed today by Judge Greene is a fair and proper sentence.'' Poindexter was the head of his class at the Naval Academy and had a brilliant Navy career until the Iran-Contra scandal erupted in November 1986. He faced a maximum possible sentence of 25 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines. Greene said he would have imposed a harsher sentence -- 21 to 27 months in prison -- if Poindexter's crimes had occurred during the effective date of federal sentencing guidelines. But using a 21- to 27-month sentence as a comparison, Greene said he reduced Poindexter's sentence to six months behind bars because he served as a Naval officer, conducted a ``responsible'' legal defense strategy and no other Iran-Contra figures had gone to prison.
