Judge John Roberts and the Iran - Contra Affair

[radio4progressives]

This morning i received an email naming John Roberts in reference to documents contained within the "Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters" - after checking out the source, and making a phone call to the FAS - i spoke with Steven Aftergood and he said he would research to confirm it was the same John Roberts. It is now confirmed, so I thought I post it here for public review. Follow the links for full text of documents.


From the Federation of American Scientist Secrecy News Letter :


SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2005, Issue No. 67
July 20, 2005


** JUDGE ROBERTS AND THE IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR
** FORMER INTEL OFFICERS SPEAK OUT ON THE PLAME LEAK
** RUMSFELD ON OPENNESS
** SELECTED CRS REPORTS


JUDGE ROBERTS AND THE IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR

John Roberts, the federal appeals court judge who was nominated by
President Bush to the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday, played a minor
role during the Reagan Administration in the chain of events that
became known as the Iran Contra affair.

In his 1993 final report on the matter, Independent Counsel Lawrence
E. Walsh mentioned Mr. Roberts in describing the illegal
fundraising activities of Clark R. "Spitz" Channell:

Mr. Channell approached the White House to "offer his assistance in
promoting President Reagan's contra policies," Mr. Walsh wrote in
Chapter 13 of his report.

"He was referred to White House political aide John Roberts, who in
turn directed him to Miller, a private public
relations consultant who ran a firm known as International Business
Communications (IBC)."

"According to Channell, Roberts told him that Miller and his partner
Frank Gomez 'are the White House -- outside the White House'."

Channell and Miller would later plead guilty to felony conspiracy
charges. Judge Roberts was not accused of wrongdoing.

See Chapter 13 of the Final Report of the Independent Counsel for
Iran/Contra Matters, volume I, here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_13.htm

Judge Roberts was Associate Counsel to the President from November
1982 to May 1986.


FORMER INTEL OFFICERS SPEAK OUT ON THE PLAME LEAK

"The disclosure of Plame's name was a shameful
event in American history and, in our professional judgment, may
have damaged U.S. national security and poses a threat to the
ability of U.S. intelligence gathering using human sources," wrote
eleven former intelligence officers in an open letter to Congress
this week.

<snipped>

See their July 18 letter here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2005/07/intlet.pdf


RUMSFELD ON OPENNESS

"I have long believed in the importance of granting the public
greater access to information about their government--the good and
the bad," wrote Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a Wall Street
Journal opinion article this week, noting that he had co-sponsored
the Freedom of Information Act as a member of Congress in 1966.

<snipped>

A copy of his July 18 Wall Street Journal article, "War of the
Words," may be found here:

http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/197

<snipped>

SELECTED CRS REPORTS

Some recent reports of the Congressional Research Service obtained
by Secrecy News include the following:

"Libraries and the USA PATRIOT Act," updated July 6, 2005:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RS21441.pdf

"Coast Guard Deepwater Program: Background and Issues for
Congress," updated June 28, 2005:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RS21019.pdf

"Military Base Closures: Role and Costs of Environmental Cleanup,"
updated June 27, 2005:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22065.pdf



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<snipped>

[Dems Will Win]

1. There was also a John B. Roberts

Policy Planner and political aide at the Reagan WH from 1981 to 1985. The quote says "political aide", not the associate counsel.

John G. Roberts, Jr. is the SCOTUS pick. Walsh may have been referring to John B. Roberts...

[radio4progressives]

2. Are you saying that there were Two 'John Roberts' linked

to Iran-Contra?

[Dems Will Win]

3. John G Roberts (SCOTUS) was not involved it seems

John B. Roberts was in the Walsh report it seems. He was the political hack.

There are 2 John Roberts and the Walsh Report is not making clear here which John Roberts in the White House it is referring to.

Doesn't mean you and your friend are wrong--but you might be...

[radio4progressives]

4. Just Received a Correction from FAS

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2005, Issue No. 67 - correction
July 20, 2005


** JUDGE ROBERTS AND THE IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR (CORRECTION)

JUDGE ROBERTS AND THE IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR (CORRECTION)

Supreme Court nominee John Roberts was not named in the
Iran/Contra Independent Counsel report, as Secrecy News
erroneously reported today.

There were two individuals named John Roberts who served in the
Reagan Administration -- John G. Roberts, Jr., the former
Associate Counsel to the President and present Supreme Court
nominee, and John B. Roberts II, who served in the White House
political office.

It was the latter individual who was named in the Iran/Contra
report.

Secrecy News regrets the error.



_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, send email to
[e-mail]
with "subscribe" in the body of the message.

To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a blank email message to
[e-mail]

[Dems Will Win]

5. We bloggers are just like a newspaper

only faster and sloppier because we are anonymous.

This was a good one, however because both of these guys had the same name. But at least we print the retraction within hours or even minutes. The KOS diary on this lasted less than an hour and the community self-corrected itself...