Pres. Reagan opened his office, gave testimony voluntarily, advised his people to cooperate...
Some testimony... the old "I didn't know nothin' 'bout none of that stuff" routine. And his people cooperated as far as taking the blame without passing the buck upstairs, knowing full well that those who were punished would be promptly un-punished:
The Men in the Shadows
Biographies of the six men pardoned by George Bush
for their role in Iran-Contra Scandal.
Casper Weinberger
Weinberger was Secretary of Defense during the course of the
Iran-Contra affair. In June, 1992, he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of concealing from congressional investigators and prosecutors thousands of pages of his handwritten notes. The personal memoirs, taken during high level meetings, detailed events in 1985
and 1986 involving the Iran-Contra affair. Weinberger claimed he was being unfairly prosecuted because he would not provide information incriminating former President Ronald Reagan.
Weinberger was scheduled to go on trial January 5, where the
contents of his notes would have come to light and may have
implicated other, UN-indicted, conspirators. While never directly linked to the covert operations of the Iran-Contra affair, he is believed to have been involved in the cover-up of the ensuing scandal.
According to Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, WeinbergerÕs notes Òcontain evidence of a conspiracy among the highest-ranking Reagan administration officials to lie to Congress and the American public.Ó Some of the notes are believed to have evidence against then Vice-President George Bush.
Elliott Abrams
Abrams was appointed by President Reagan in 1985 to head the State DepartmentÕs Latin American Bureau. He was closely linked with ex-White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver NorthÕs covert movement to aid the Contras. Working for North, Abrams coordinated inter-agency support for the contras and helped solicit illegal contra funding from
foreign powers as well as domestic contributors.
Abrams agreed to cooperate with Iran-Contra investigators and plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges. He was sentenced in 1991, to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service.
Abrams has been recently associated with the conservative Hudson Institute.
Robert C. McFarlane
McFarlane became ReaganÕs national security adviser in October 1983, and became well-known as a champion of the MX nuclear missile program in his role as a White House liaison to congress.
In 1984, McFarlane initiated the review of U.S. policy towards Iran that led directly to the arms deal. He also supervised early National Security Council efforts to support the Contras.
Shortly after the Iran-Contra scandal was revealed in early 1987, McFarlane took an overdose of the tranquilizer Valium, in an attempt on his own life. He explained, ÒWhat really drove me to despair was a sense of having failed the country,Ó upon his release from the hospital.
McFarlane plead guilty to four misdemeanors and was sentenced to two years' probation, 200 hours of community service and fined $20,000.
Alan D. Fiers
Fiers is the retired chief of the CIAÕs Central American Task Force. The ex-spy plead guilty in 1991 to two counts of withholding information from Congress about NorthÕs activities and the diversion of Iran arms sale money to aid the Contras. He was sentenced to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service.
Fiers agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, and his testimony gave a boost to the long-running criminal investigation. Fiers told prosecutors that he and three CIA colleagues knew by mid-1986 that profits from the arms sales to Iran were being diverted to the Contras
Ñ months before it became public knowledge. One of the officials implicated by Fiers was Clair George.
Clair George
George is the retired chief of the CIAÕs covert operations division.
In August 1992, a hung jury led U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to declare a mistrial in the case of George, who was accused of concealing from Congress his knowledge of the Iran-Contra affair.
In a second trial last December on charges of perjury, false
statements, and obstruction, the spy was convicted of lying to two congressional committees in 1986. Before BushÕs pardon, George faced a maximum five-year sentence and a possible $250,000 fine for each of the two convictions. His sentencing had been scheduled for Feb. 18.
Jurors cleared George of five other charges, including two counts of lying to a federal grand jury that would have carried a mandatory 10 months in prison upon conviction.
Duane R. ÒDeweyÓ Clarridge
Clarridge was the head of the CIAÕs Western European Division, and headed the CIAÕs counter-terrorism center.
He was indicted on Nov. 26, 1991, of lying to Congress and the Tower Commission that investigated Iran-Contra. Clarridge was charged with five counts of perjury and two counts of making false statements for allegedly covering up his knowledge of a Nov. 25, 1985, shipment of Hawk missiles to Iran. Clarridge is also suspected of diverting to the Contras weapons originally intended for the Afghan
mujahadeen guerrillas.
Clarridge, who later became an executive of General Dynamics Corp., has maintained his innocence. Before the Christmas eve pardon, he was facing trial in March.
Sources: The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Chronology (National Security Archive, Warner Books, 1987), Men of Zeal (US Senators William Cohen and George Mitchell, Penguin Publishing, 1988).
animal.iuma.com
The Weinberger pardon marked the first time a President ever pardoned someone in whose trial he might have been called as a witness, because the President was knowledgeable of factual events underlying the case.
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