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Politics : Right Wing Extremist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (5732)	3/5/2001 12:00:36 AM
From: Mr. Whist	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 59480

Bush Sr. Used Power to Save Own Skin Papa's Pardongate By James Ridgeway Village Voice Asked at his press conference last week what advice he would give members of his "politically active family" who might—like Bill Clinton's relatives—seek to peddle influence, President Bush replied, "My guidance to them is, 'Behave yourself.' And they will." What then would Shrub say to his father, who left a legacy of handing out pardons to satisfy that most influential of special interests—his own? Bush Sr. wiped the slate for Reagan's Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and four other key officials in America's secret Iran-Contra war, during which the U.S. sold missiles to Iran and used the proceeds to help finance anticommunist guerrilla forces—which eventually toppled the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The Reagan administration regarded the Sandinista rule as an extension of the Soviet empire in Central America, fearing it would next move into Mexico and from there launch attacks on the Southern U.S. In pardoning Weinberger, Bush called him "a true American patriot," and said of the four, "The common denominator of their motivation—whether their actions were right or wrong—was patriotism. . . . I am doing what I believe honor, decency, and fairness require." Special Prosecutor Lawrence E. Walsh didn't see it that way. He charged Bush's pardon of Weinberger completed the Iran-Contra cover-up, erasing key proof that would not only have nailed Weinberger, but would also have caught Bush Sr. in lies. Weinberger, he charged, "radically altered the official investigations and possibly forestalled timely impeachment proceedings against President Reagan and other officials. Because the [Weinberger] notes were withheld from investigators for years, many of the leads were impossible to follow, key witnesses had reportedly forgotten what was said and done, and statutes of limitations had expired. Weinberger's concealment of notes is part of a disturbing pattern of deception and obstruction that permeated the highest levels of the Reagan and Bush administrations." Directing his remarks at Bush Sr., Walsh said on another occasion that he discovered the president "had failed to produce to investigators his own highly relevant contemporaneous notes, despite repeated requests." He noted, "In light of President Bush's own misconduct, we are gravely concerned about his decision to pardon others who lied to Congress and obstructed official investigations." Bush repeatedly denied any knowledge of Iran-Contra while it was going on, claiming he was "out of the loop." Bush pardoned the following people: * Weinberger, who faced an impending trial on five criminal charges of lying in testimony before Congress and in criminal investigations. * Duane Clarridge, formerly in charge of European covert operations for the CIA, who faced seven charges of lying to congressional investigators and the White House Tower Commission about shipping U.S. missiles from Israel to Iran in November 1985. * Elliott Abrams, a former assistant secretary of state, who pleaded guilty to twice withholding information from Congress in the midst of the scandal. * Robert McFarlane, former national security adviser, who pleaded guilty to cover-ups on four misdemeanor charges. * Clair George, former CIA deputy director of covert ops, who was convicted on criminal charges of lying to Congress. In what now seems a highly ironic comment, President-elect Bill Clinton once said he wanted to know more about the pardons before making an extensive comment. Yet he couldn't help weighing in. "I am concerned by any action that sends a signal that if you work for the government, you're beyond the law," he said, "or that not telling the truth to Congress under oath is somehow less serious than not telling the truth to some other body under oath." www.villagevoice.com/issues/0109/ridgeway.shtml