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SINS OF THE FATHER GEORGE THE 1ST
   George the First

1988 AD - ?

IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR

The United States foreign-policy scandal known as the
"Iran-contra affair"
came to public attention in November 1986...
when President Ronald Reagan confirmed reports that the United States government had secretly sold arms to Iran.
Reagan's excuse?
that the goal was,"to improve relations with Iran, and not to obtain release of U.S. hostages held in the Middle East"...
(although he later admitted that the arrangement had in fact turned into an arms-for-hostages exchange. )

Public outrage regarding dealing with a hostile Iran was widespread.


Later in November, Att. Gen. Edwin Meese discovered that some of the arms profits had been diverted to aid the Nicaraguan "contra" rebels--

at a time when Congress had outlawed such financial aid.


An independent special prosecutor, former federal judge Lawrence E. Walsh,
was appointed to investigate the activities of those people involved in the arms sale, or contra aid, or both,
including marine Lt. Col. Oliver North of the National Security Council (NSC) staff
( now an MSNBC pundit most recognized for his rabid critisism of Bill Clinton's sexual affair.)
Reagan personally, appointed a "review board" headed by former Republican senator John Tower.
The Tower Commission's report in February 1987 strongly criticized the president's "passive management style."
In a nationally televised address and on March 4, Ronald Reagan could not dispute that judgment with a straight face.
Select Congressional committees conducted joint televised hearings from May to August.
The committees heard rather dubious evidence that
"but a few members of the NSC staff,set Iran and Nicaragua policies and carried them out with secret private operatives,
and that the few officials who knew about these policies lied to congress and others,
and that the contras received only a small part of the diverted money."
Former national security advisor John Poindexter
stated that he personally authorized the diversion of money and withheld that information from the president.
William J. Casey, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, who died in May 1987,
was implicated in some testimony, but the extent of his involvement remained unclear.
Special prosecutor Walsh continued his investigation.
On Mar. 11, 1988,
Poindexter's predecessor as national security advisor, Robert McFarlane, pleaded guilty to criminal charges of withholding information from Congress
on secret aid to the contras.
A year later McFarlane was fined the mere sum of $20,000
and given two years' probation.

On Mar. 16, 1988, a federal grand jury indicted North,
Poindexter, and two other persons on a number of charges
including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.

The trials were delayed by legal maneuvering that in part involved questions of releasing "secret" information by the Bush administration.
In May 1989 a jury convicted North of 3 of the 12 criminal counts he was ultimately tried on;
in July the court fined him only $150,000 and gave him a three-year suspended sentence.
On Apr. 7, 1990, Poindexter was convicted on 5 counts of deceiving Congress
and sentenced to only 6 months in prison.
Both the North and Poindexter convictions were conveniently set aside "on the grounds that their immunized congressional testimony
had been unfairly used against them."
In July 1991, Alan D. Fiers, Jr., chief of CIA covert operations in Central America in 1984-86,
admitted that he had perjured himself before Congress concerning CIA involvement.
Shortly thereafter, his CIA superior Clair E. George was indicted for perjury.
George's first trial ended in a mistrial.
In 1992 former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger was indicted on 5 counts of lying to Congress.

In a crafty move on Dec. 24, 1992, President George Bush pardoned all the principals charged in the scandal.

Walsh's eventual report, released in 1994, blasted Presidents Reagan and Bush,
for their roles in events related to the scandal
but did not charge either with criminal wrongdoing.

My Nicaragua "Rant"
( after all this IS a rant page)

A brief history of United States Nicaragua Relations

Report of the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations.

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