Friday, November 24, 2006
A Confederacy of Dunces
NS Archive has a valuable retrospective telling us where they are now:
The [Iran Contra] scandal was almost the undoing of the Teflon President. Of all the revelations that emerged, the most galling for the American public was the president's abandonment of the long-standing policy against dealing with terrorists, which Reagan repeatedly denied doing in spite of overwhelming evidence that made it appear he was simply lying to cover up the story. ...
Elliott Abrams - currently deputy assistant to President Bush and deputy national security advisor for global democracy strategy...
David Addington - now Vice President Cheney's chief of staff...
John Bolton - the controversial U.N. ambassador whose recess appointment by President Bush is now in jeopardy was a senior Justice Department official ...
Richard Cheney - now the vice president...
Robert M. Gates - President Bush's nominee to succeed Donald Rumsfeld...
Edwin Meese - currently a member of the blue-ribbon Iraq Study Group headed by James Baker and Lee Hamilton...
John Negroponte - the career diplomat who worked quietly to boost the U.S. military and intelligence presence in Central America as ambassador to Honduras...[now in charge of wiretapping Americans]
John Poindexter - who found a niche deep in the U.S. government's post-9/11 security bureaucracy as head of the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness ...
Otto Reich - President George W. Bush's one-time assistant secretary of state for Latin America
George Bush's advisors belong in the Big House, not the White House.
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Including Dick Cheney with these other Iran-contra figures is a bit of a stretch as he was neither in the Reagan administration nor any executive branch agency when the scandal unfolded but rather he was merely a minority party member of the joint congressional committee that investigated Iran-contra. It was the buzz at the time that the joint committee decided early on to limit the scope of its investigations in the matter to avoid creating a failed Reagan presidency (and a failed G.H.W. Bush vice-presidency). But that was a decision reached by the Democrats who controlled both the House and the Senate at the time of the hearings.
Here's an interesting coincidence. One of the Democratic co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Intelligence that investigated Iran-Contra in 1987 years later was named to be the lead Democratic member for and serve as the vice-chairman of the 9/11 Commission and today is serving as the Democratic co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group. That would be Democrat and ever the Bush family godsend Lee Hamilton.
Here's an interesting coincidence. One of the Democratic co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Intelligence that investigated Iran-Contra in 1987 years later was named to be the lead Democratic member for and serve as the vice-chairman of the 9/11 Commission and today is serving as the Democratic co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group. That would be Democrat and ever the Bush family godsend Lee Hamilton.
Ah, yes, Lee Hamilton, media darling, who was a "FOX Democrat" before FOX News ever existed. His presence on this "bipartisan" committee is the icing on the frame-up cake. Thanks for the reminder, CMike.
According to Robert Parry, Cheney was not merely a congressman, but the Reagan Bush point man for producing a watered-down report. His subsequent promotions may well be the payoff for having done that.
But, yes, Whitewash Lee Hamilton and Sen. Akaka hold ultimate responsibility.
But, yes, Whitewash Lee Hamilton and Sen. Akaka hold ultimate responsibility.
The Democratic senator from Hawaii who served as co-chariman for the Joint Intelligence Committee which investigated Iran-contra was Daniel Inouye.
Now this is what I wanted to see when I founded MR 3200-odds posts ago: A nice, substantive discussion.
Not an Amen Corner. Not a piece of flypaper for trolls.
An actual discussion, with people bringing differing points of view and evidence to it. The Soviet Union post I did is turning out much the same way.
I don't care who "wins" or loses. I've learned a bit from everyone who's posted comments, and that's the important thing.
Not an Amen Corner. Not a piece of flypaper for trolls.
An actual discussion, with people bringing differing points of view and evidence to it. The Soviet Union post I did is turning out much the same way.
I don't care who "wins" or loses. I've learned a bit from everyone who's posted comments, and that's the important thing.
You're right, of course, CMike. It was Senator Inouye, not Senator Akaka. Akaka was elected in 1990.
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