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Iran/*contra*: 20 Years Later and What It Means
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=143725
By David Corn, of The Nation. Posted 11/28/2006.

It's the 20th anniversary of the Iran-contra scandal. Two decades ago, the
public learned about the bizarre, Byzantine and (arguably) unconstitutional
actions of high officials in the post-Watergate years. But many Americans
did not absorb the key lesson: the Iran/*contra* vets were not to be
trusted. Consequently, most of those officials went on to prosperous
careers, with some even becoming part of the squad that has landed the
United States in the current hellish mess in Iraq.

Before tying the then to the now, let's revisit the basic narrative. When
Congress, by fair vote, decided in the 1980s that the United States should
not assist the *contras* fighting the socialist Sandinista government of
Nicaragua, the Reagan White House concocted several imaginative ways to pull
an end-run around democracy. This mainly entailed outsourcing the job to a
small band of private sector covert operators and to foreign governments,
which were privately requested or pressured by the Reaganites to support the
secret *contra* support operation. The "Iran" side of the scandal came from
President Ronald Reagan's covert efforts to sell weapons to Iran to obtain
the release of American hostages held by terrorist groups supposedly under
the control of Tehran--at a time when the White House was publicly declaring
it would not negotiate with terrorists. The two clandestine projects merged
when cash generated from the weapons transactions with Iran was diverted to
the *contra* operation.

Conservatives for years--make that decades--have argued there was nothing *
really* criminal about the Iran/*contra* affair and that it was merely a *
political* dispute between the pro-*contras* Republicans in the White House
and the Democrats controlling Congress. Yet at the time the architects of
these schemes worried they were breaking laws and placing Reagan in jeopardy
of being impeached. Look at how the National Security Archive, a nonprofit
outfit that gathers national security records,
summarizes<http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB210/index.htm>a
memo documenting a key White House meeting on the clandestine
*contras* program:

*At a pivotal meeting of the highest officials in the Reagan Administration
[on June 25, 1984], the President and Vice President [George H.W. Bush] and
their top aides discuss how to sustain the Contra war in the face of
mounting Congressional opposition. The discussion focuses on asking third
countries to fund and maintain the effort, circumventing Congressional power
to curtail the CIA's paramilitary operations. In a remarkable passage,
Secretary of State George P. Shultz warns the president that White House
adviser James Baker has said that "if we go out and try to get money from
third countries, it is an impeachable offense." But Vice President George
Bush argues the contrary: "How can anyone object to the US encouraging third
parties to provide help to the anti-Sandinistas…? The only problem that
might come up is if the United States were to promise to give these third
parties something in return so that some people could interpret this as some
kind of exchange." Later, Bush participated in arranging a quid pro quo deal
with Honduras in which the U.S. did provide substantial overt and covert aid
to the Honduran military in return for Honduran support of the Contra war
effort.*

The Iran arms-for-hostage-deal was also illegal--or so Defense Secretary
Caspar Weinberger thought. At a December 7, 1985 White House meeting,
Weinberger argued the Iran missile deal was wrong and criminal, according to
his 
notes<http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB210/14-Weinberger%20Diaries%20Dec%207%20handwritten.pdf>of
the session. Weinberger pointed out to Reagan that selling missiles to
Iran would violate a U.S. embargo on arms sales to Iran and that even the
president of the United States could not break this law. Nor, Weinberger
added, would it be legal to use Israel as a cutout, as was under
consideration. Both Secretary of State George Shultz and White House chief
of staff Donald Regan, who were each present, agreed that a secret weapons
deal with Iran would be against the law. Reagan, though, insisted on
proceeding, noting he could answer a charge of illegality but not the charge
that he had "passed up a chance to free hostages." Weinberger then quipped,
"Visiting hours are Thursdays"--meaning the deal could land someone in jail.
After the meeting, Regan told Weinberger he would try to talk Reagan out of
the deal. He failed to do so.

Soon both the clandestine *contras* program and the secret Iran deal were
underway, with the relevant agencies--most notably, the CIA, the Pentagon
and the State Department--providing back-up and National Security Council
officers Robert McFarlane, John Poindexter and Oliver North overseeing
operations. In supporting the *contras* project, the CIA worked with
individuals it suspected of being involved in drug-dealing, according to a
subsequent CIA inspector general's investigation.

The skullduggery began to unravel in the fall of 1986. On October 5, 1986, a
C-123 aircraft ferrying supplies to the *contras* was shot down by the
Sandinistas, and an American named Eugene Hasenfus was captured. He told the
Nicaraguans that his flight was part of a CIA-approved operation. Days
later, Reagan said of the Hasenfus operation, "There was no government
connection with that at all." He was not telling the truth. Shortly after
that, Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams testified in Congress that
the administration had arranged for no foreign donations--"not a dime"--to
the *contras*--even though he had arranged for a $10 million contribution to
the rebels from the Sultan of Brunei.

On November 3, 1986, a Lebanese weekly revealed that the previous May
National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane had secretly flown to Tehran.
McFarlane's covert mission had been part of the arms-for-hostages
deal--which now stood exposed. On November 25, Attorney General Edwin Meese
held a press conference and disclosed that funds from the arms sales to Iran
had been diverted to the *contras* support program. (I happened to be
watching that press conference with Abbie Hoffman, the former Yippie, who
exclaimed, "I couldn't make this stuff up.")

A full-scale scandal was born. Investigations were convened. The Reagan
presidency was hobbled. But impeachment never became an issue--in part
because Democratic congressional investigators removed it from the table at
the start of their inquiries. White House partisans threw up a defense of
spin and obfuscation that turned the affair into a political muddle. (That
is, mission accomplished.) Oliver North became a hero to conservatives. Bush
the Elder, who lied about his involvement in Iran/*contra* (saying he had
been "out of the loop," though noting in a private diary that he had been
one of the few officials in-the-know), was elected president in 1988.

The investigations continued. Abrams, McFarlane (who botched a suicide
attempt), and a CIA officer named Alan Fiers pleaded guilty to withholding
information from Congress. Two other CIA officers--Clair George and Duane
Clarridge--were indicted on perjury-related charges. Former General Richard
Secord and Albert Hakim, who managed the secret *contra* supply operation,
pleaded guilty to minor charges. North and Poindexter were convicted of
various counts, but their convictions were overturned on legal
technicalities. Weinberger was indicted for illegally withholding his notes
from special counsel Lawrence Walsh.

The affair came to an ignominious finale on Christmas Eve, 1992. George H.W.
Bush, who had been defeated by Bill Clinton seven weeks earlier, issued
pardons for Weinberger, Abrams, McFarlane, Clarridge, George and Fiers. Only
Thomas Cline, a former CIA officer and partner of Secord and Hakim, who was
found guilty of tax charges, ended up going to jail due to the
Iran/*contra*scandal.

But history never ends. Twenty years later, Abrams is deputy national
security adviser for global democracy in the George W. Bush administration.
A fellow who admitted that he had not told Congress the truth and who had
abetted a secret war mounted by a rebel force with an atrocious human rights
record now is supposed to promote democracy abroad. Other
Iran/*contra*figures are leading players today. Here's a partial list
from the National
Security Archive:

** Richard Cheney - now the vice president, he played a prominent part as a
member of the joint congressional Iran-Contra inquiry of 1986, taking the
position that Congress deserved major blame for asserting itself
unjustifiably onto presidential turf. He later pointed to the committees'
Minority Report as an important statement on the proper roles of the
Executive and Legislative branches of government. *

** David Addington - now Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, and by
numerous press accounts a stanch advocate of expanded presidential power,
Addington was a congressional staffer during the joint select committee
hearings in 1986 who worked closely with Cheney. *

** John Bolton - the controversial U.N. ambassador whose recess appointment
by President Bush is now in jeopardy was a senior Justice Department
official who participated in meetings with Attorney General Edwin Meese on
how to handle the burgeoning Iran-Contra political and legal scandal in late
November 1986. There is little indication of his precise role at the time. *

** Robert M. Gates - President Bush's nominee to succeed Donald Rumsfeld,
Gates nearly saw his career go up in flames over charges that he knew more
about Iran-Contra while it was underway than he admitted once the scandal
broke. He was forced to give up his bid to head the CIA in early 1987
because of suspicions about his role but managed to attain the position when
he was re-nominated in 1991. *

** Manuchehr Ghorbanifar - the quintessential middleman, who helped broker
the arms deals involving the United States, Israel and Iran ostensibly to
bring about the release of American hostages being held in Lebanon,
Ghorbanifar was almost universally discredited for misrepresenting all
sides' goals and interests. Even before the Iran deals got underway, the CIA
had ruled Ghorbanifar off-limits for purveying bad information to U.S.
intelligence. Yet, in 2006 his name has resurfaced as an important source
for the Pentagon on current Iranian affairs, again over CIA objections. *

** Michael Ledeen - a neo-conservative who is vocal on the subject of regime
change in Iran, Ledeen helped bring together the main players in what
developed into the Iran arms-for-hostages deals in 1985 before being
relegated to a bit part. He reportedly reprised his role shortly after 9/11,
introducing Ghorbanifar to Pentagon officials interested in exploring
contacts inside Iran. *

** Edwin Meese - currently a member of the blue-ribbon Iraq Study Group
headed by James Baker and Lee Hamilton, he was Ronald Reagan's controversial
attorney general who spearheaded an internal administration probe into the
Iran-Contra connection in November 1986 that was widely criticized as a
political exercise in protecting the president rather than a genuine inquiry
by the nation's top law enforcement officer. *

** John Negroponte - the career diplomat who worked quietly to boost the U.S.
military and intelligence presence in Central America as ambassador to
Honduras, he also participated in efforts to get the Honduran government to
support the Contras after Congress banned direct U.S. aid to the rebels.
Negroponte's profile has risen spectacularly with his appointments as
ambassador to Iraq in 2004 and director of national intelligence in 2005.*

Another Iran/*contra* veteran has dramatically returned to the scene
recently: Daniel Ortega. On November 7, as the Bush White House prepared
itself for congressional elections that would be widely seen as a
repudiation of its war in Iraq, the morning newspapers carried the news that
Ortega, the Sandinista leader whom the Reagan administration had targeted,
had won a presidential election in Nicaragua. The old *contras* backers now
running the Bush administration had to watch their old nemesis (not that
Ortega was ever much of a threat) regain power, as their hold on power was
slipping. The arc of history is indeed long.

As for the current relevance of Iran/*contra*, one could argue that the
affair taught Reaganites and neocons a lesson, the wrong lesson: you can get
away with it. Though the operations ended up being exposed and the Iran deal
crashed and burned, the Reagan administration and the first Bush
administration did create enough pressure on Nicaragua and forced the
expulsion of the Sandinista government in a 1990 election. Perhaps more
important for this crowd, no one involved in the shady activity was held
accountable. Bush the First was elected. Abrams and other scandal vets were
rewarded with prominent posts in the next Republican administration--that of
Bush the Younger. The Reaganites had lied to Congress and the public about
Iran/*contra* and ultimately escaped retribution.

This sordid episode hardly served as a warning--either for the
Iran/*contra*alumni who would lead the United States into the debacle
in Iraq or for
voters who would support an administration staffed with people who twenty
years earlier had made their bones in a scandal involving war and truth. One
can hope, though, that the disingenuous, reality-defying engineers of the
current disaster will be too old or too discredited to return to power two
decades from now.

******

*DON"T FORGET ABOUT HUBRIS: THE INSIDE STORY OF SPIN, SCANDAL, AND THE
SELLING OF THE IRAQ
WAR<http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?link_code=ur2&tag=davidcorncom-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&location=%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0307346811%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fqid%3D1156557686%2Fref%3Dsr_1_1%3Fie%3DUTF8>
*, the best-selling book by David Corn and Michael Isikoff. Click
here<http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?link_code=ur2&tag=davidcorncom-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&location=%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0307346811%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fqid%3D1156557686%2Fref%3Dsr_1_1%3Fie%3DUTF8>for
information on the book.
*The New York Times* calls *Hubris* "the most comprehensive account of the
White House's political machinations" and "fascinating reading." *The
Washington Post* says, "There have been many books about the Iraq
war....This one, however, pulls together with unusually shocking clarity the
multiple failures of process and statecraft." Tom Brokaw notes *Hubris* "is
a bold and provocative book that will quickly become an explosive part of
the national debate on how we got involved in Iraq." Hendrik Hertzberg,
senior editor of *The New Yorker* notes, "The selling of Bush's Iraq debacle
is one of the most important--and appalling--stories of the last
half-century, and Michael Isikoff and David Corn have reported the hell out
of it." For highlights from *Hubris*, click
here<http://www.davidcorn.com/archives/2006/09/hubris_the_pres.php>
.

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*MMM (Global Million Marijuana March):
* http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cannabisaction
*Newsweek, Nov. 14, 2005, page 36:
"The most recent evidence comes from autopsies of 44 prisoners who have died
in Iraq and Afghanistan in U.S. custody. Most died under circumstances that
suggest torture. The reports use words like 'strangulation,' 'asphyxiation'
and 'blunt force injuries.' ... A few months before the [Abu Ghraib] scandal
broke [spring 2004], Coalition Provisional Authority polls showed Iraqi
support at 63 percent. A month after Abu Ghraib, the number was 9 percent.
Polls showed that 71 percent of Iraqis were surprised by the revelations."*


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