Iran /Contra: Where are they now:

[Pisces]

For those of you interested in what prosecution for crimes looks like. Here is what happened to the scapegoats of Iran/Contra ( remember no one high up in the White House was ever implicated)


Oliver North and John Poindexter were indicted on multiple charges on March 16, 1988.<53> North, indicted on 16 counts, was found guilty by a jury of three minor counts. The convictions were vacated on appeal on the grounds that North's Fifth Amendment rights may have been violated by the indirect use of his testimony to Congress which had been given under a grant of immunity. In 1990, Poindexter was convicted on several felony counts of conspiracy, lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, and altering and destroying documents pertinent to the investigation. His convictions were also overturned on appeal on similar grounds. Arthur L. Liman served as chief counsel for the Senate during the Iran-Contra Affair.<54>
The Independent Counsel, Lawrence E. Walsh, chose not to re-try North or Poindexter. Caspar Weinberger was indicted for lying to the Independent Counsel but was later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush.<55>
In 1992 George H. W. Bush pardoned six convicted administration officials, namely Elliott Abrams, Duane R. Clarridge, Alan Fiers, Clair George, Robert McFarlane, and Caspar Weinberger.<56>
George W. Bush selected some individuals that served under Reagan for high-level posts in his presidential administration.<57><58> They include:
Elliott Abrams:<59> under Bush, the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director on the National Security Council for Near East and North African Affairs; in Iran-Contra, pleaded guilty on two counts of unlawfully withholding information, pardoned.
Otto Reich:<60> head of the Office of Public Diplomacy under Reagan.
John Negroponte:<61> under Bush, served as the Ambassador to Iraq, the National Intelligence Director, and the Deputy Secretary of State.
Admiral John Poindexter:<62> under Bush, Director of the Information Awareness Office; in Iran-Contra, found guilty of multiple felony counts for conspiracy, obstruction of justice, lying to Congress, defrauding the government, and the alteration and destruction of evidence, convictions reversed.
In Poindexter's hometown of Odon, Indiana, a street was renamed to John Poindexter Street. Bill Breedan, a former minister, stole the street's sign in protest of the Iran-Contra Affair. He claimed that he was holding it for a ransom of $30 million, in reference to the amount of money given to Iran to transfer to the contras. He was later arrested and confined to prison, making him, as satirized by Howard Zinn, "the only person to be imprisoned as a result of the Iran-Contra affair."

[blm]

1. You prefer Kerry never uncovered or investigated IranContra because citizens didn't need to know

what their government was doing and the accuracy of the historic record is unimportant? Afetr all, your point is that since people don't GET the jail time then why waste time and money on putting actual evidence into the HISTORIC RECORD?


BTW - you want to know what BCCI figures Bush, Bin Laden, AQ Khan, Marc Rich, and Dubai and Saudi royals have been up to the last 17 years?

Get REALLY realistic - there would have been NO Bush2 and NO 9-11 event and NO Iraq invasion if BCCI matters, including IranContra, had been fully revealed to the American people.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. it would be nice if the president could 'unpardon?'

[leftofthedial]

3. PROOF of the necessity of holding criminals accountable for their crimes.

it doesn't matter what their title was.

If the "democrats" (who started dying as a party in the wake of Iran-Contra) had applied principle instead of playing politics during Iran Contra, there would have been no bush-cheney overthrow of our democracy, no illegal invasion of Iraq, no 9-11, no PATRIOT Act...none of it.

And yet Obama wants to "look forward."

The repuke criminal shit escalates every time they get away with it, so the next round is nothing to "look forward" to.

If Obama does not wise up and start taking a hard line in favor of Justice, he does not deserve our trust, our respect or our support.

I think Jonathan Turley is right. This is the biggest Bait and Switch in history.

[ShortnFiery]

4. How about our PRESENT Secretary of Defense? What's OLD is NEW again.

:crazy:

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_16.htm

http://www.democracynow.org/2006/11/9/defense_secretary_nominee_robert_gates_tied


JUAN GONZALEZ: But questions are already being raised about Gates’s role at the CIA in connection to the Iran-Contra scandal and the secret arming of Saddam Hussein. In 1987, President Reagan nominated Gates to become CIA director, but the nomination had to be withdrawn because of stiff opposition in the Senate. Four years later, President George Herbert Walker Bush re-nominated Gates to be CIA chief, and this time he was confirmed.

[justinaforjustice]

5. Lesson of Iran-Contra: Convict Or The Crooks Come Back To Repeat Crimes.

Thanks for bringing up some of the facts of Iran-Contra, wherein the Reagan administration illegally sold arms to Iran in order to fund a war against the duly elected Nicaraguan government. This occurred after the crooks insured Reagan's election by negotiating with the Iranian Mullahs to with-hold the American hostages seized after an attack on the American embassy. George H.W. Bush met with Iranian representatives in Paris a month prior to the November election, assuring them of future cooperation if Reagan won the election. The failure of Carter's negotiations to get the hostages released virtually assured his defeat. On the very that Reagan was sworn into office, the Iranians duly released the hostages.

Having successfully defeated Cart, Reagan went on to illegally sell arms to Iran, using the funds to pay for the Nicaraguan Contras fight against their elected government, although Congress had previously passed legislation to prohibit U.S. aid to the Contras. The creatures who committed this litany of illegal acts never saw a day of jail, and came back to power in the George W. Bush administration to lie us into the illegal invasion of Iraq.

We must prosecute all those who lied us into an illegal war and killed over a million Iraqis, injured and exiled millions more, and killed and injured thousands of U.S. soldiers. Their torture of detainees is almost a small footnote to all the horrendous crimes they committed. If they are not convicted, they and their progeny will be back to do it all again.