From: ww@nyxfer.UUCP
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Date: 31 Dec 92 13:06 PST
Subject: Bush Pardons Contragate Cronies
Nf-ID: #N:PcHNwB6w165w@nyxfer.uucp:44763165:000:3513
Nf-From: nyxfer.uucp!ww    Dec 31 13:06:00 1992


Subject: Bush Pardons Contragate Cronies
From: nyxfer!ww (Workers World Service)


Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit


Bush Pardons Contragate Cronies

By Rebeca Toledo

On Dec. 24, President George Bush used his authoritarian powers 
to pardon former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and five 
others charged in the Contragate scandal. With Weinberger set to 
stand trial Jan. 5, Bush's pardon was an attempt to squash any 
further investigation into the scandal and the crimes committed 
by the executive branch of the U.S. government.

It was in 1986 that news broke about the U.S. selling arms to 
Iran in its effort to prolong the Iran/Iraq war by arming both 
sides. If that weren't bad enough, the Reagan administration took
the profits made from the arms sales and illegally gave them to 
the Nicaraguan contras.

Under pressure from the growing Central America solidarity 
movement, Congress had passed the Boland Amendment in 1982. This 
outlawed any aid to the counterrevolutionary forces trying to 
overthrow the legitimate Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

Although thousands had voted with their feet in marches and 
rallies and demanded no aid to the contras, the Bush 
administration sought ways to bypass the people and continue to 
arm the contra gangs. And when those mostly unelected officials 
were called to pay for their crimes, Bush, with the stroke of a 
pen, again showed his contempt for democracy.

As with the war against Iraq, the invasion of Somalia, and now 
these pardons, the president has exercised dictatorial powers 
without regard to Congress and the legal system. More important, 
he has disregarded the mass of the people in the U.S. 

If Bush had been ready to pardon some really innocent prisoners, 
internationally renowned political prisoner Leonard Peltier would
have been on the top of his list. Instead he leaves liberation 
fighters from Puerto Rico and African American prisoners in jail 
while calling criminals such as Weinberger "patriots" and placing
them above the law.

Although Congress' investigation into Contragate was feeble at 
best, it was an attempt to rein in the executive branch. All 
those later found guilty by independent counsel Lawrence Walsh 
were members of or aides to the executive branch. For the nine 
felons convicted, the most common sentence was two years' 
probation and/or 100 hours community service.

So even though the investigations have dragged on for seven 
years, many questions remain unanswered. What role did President 
Reagan and Vice President Bush play in all the illegalities? It 
is hard to believe that they had no knowledge of these events. It
is even harder to believe now that Bush has attempted to kill the
investigations, as limited as they have been.

The answers don't lie in Walsh's lap, but instead in the strength
of the people. And to look for answers in capitalist "democracy" 
is to put on blinders. Bush has again proven what workers have 
known for years: This is no democracy for the many, but for an 
elite few, who don't even stand trial for their crimes.

                               -30-

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; email: ww%nyxfer@igc.apc.org; "workers"
on PeaceNet; on Internet: "workers@mcimail.com".)


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