Uh, as oft-time referrer to that past affair, I have to demur somewhat. It's not clear if Reagan was capable of lying on the matter, as it's not clear if he ever quite understood what was going on. There was a classic statement where Reagan went from total denial to "It was my idea", just like that. Nobody blinked.
The odd thing about Iran-contra was how it got hung up on the detail of whether the money from selling arms to Iran specifically went to the contras. What difference was that supposed to make? Was money from Iran gun-running supposed to be worse than money from CIA drug-running? Oh, but the drug running was into the Mena airport in Arkansas, so it was all Clinton's fault.
Then there was George "out of the loop" Bush, who probably understood about 1000x more about what was going on than Reagan. He probably couldn't do much about it, though, without being called a wimp. The Reaganauts at least had the grace to be embarrassed enough about the affair to sandbag Ollie North's Virginia Senate bid, as I've pointed out before.
And just to clarify, I wouldn't say Reagan or Bush should have been impeached or prosecuted later for that affair. Congress investigated, the Reaganauts tightened up the NSC operation a bit, and Ollie North moved on to the punditry, making the world a safer place. The whole thing did seem a bit more substantial than BJgate, though. And the coverup never ended.
Cheers, Dan. |
