From: nicanet@nyxfer.UUCP
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Date: 28 Dec 92 14:21 PST
Subject: Contragate Update 12/27/92
Nf-ID: #N:T2FiwB17w165w@nyxfer.uucp:1969708664:000:5792
Nf-From: nyxfer.uucp!nicanet    Dec 28 14:21:00 1992


Subject: Contragate Update 12/27/92
From: nyxfer!nicanet (NicaNet NY)


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

from...
         Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York
       339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499

            Weekly News Update #152, December 27, 1992

 
BUSH'S GENERAL PARDON COMPLETES IRAN-CONTRA COVERUP

On Dec. 24 US President George Bush granted presidential pardons
to six figures in the Iran-contra affair. Two still faced charges
of lying to or misleading Congress: former defense secretary
Caspar Weinberger, whose trial was to begin Jan. 5, and former
CIA official Duane "Dewey" Clarridge, whose trial was set for
March. Three more had already entered guilty pleas: former
Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, former CIA official
Alan Fiers, and former national security adviser Robert "Bud"
McFarlane. Clair George, another former CIA official, was
convicted by a federal jury on Dec. 9. [New York Times 12/25/92]
 
"The Iran-contra coverup, which has continued for more than six
years, has now been completed," the independent counsel (special
prosecutor) in the affair, Lawrence Walsh, said in a statement on
Dec. 24. The pardon "undermines the principle that no man is
above the law. It demonstrates that powerful people with powerful
allies can commit serious crimes in high office..." Weinberger's
role in the coverup "possibly forestalled timely impeachment
proceedings against President Reagan and other officials,"
according to Walsh, who also revealed what he called "President
Bush's own misconduct"--waiting until Dec. 11 of this year to
produce his notes on the affair. [NYT 12/15/92 from Reuters]
 
Walsh says that Bush is now a "subject of the investigation,"
while Democrats in Congress may hold hearings on the presidential
pardon. But Walsh says that the pardon "has a devastating effect
on the development of further facets of the inquiry," while
Congressional Democrats admit that they "botched" and "bungled"
(in the words of the New York Times) the 1987 Congressional
inquiry and wouldn't like to try another one. [NYT 12/26/92] (One
important question is whether blackmail from the executive branch
may have influenced the ability of Congress to investigate the
White House. The "botched" and "bungled" 1987 inquiry was chaired
by Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-IN) and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), who
has also been a vocal supporter of Weinberger against the special
prosecutor's office (see Update #126). Now it turns out that
Inouye's hairdresser accuses him of forcing her into what the
Times calls "nonconsensual intercourse" 17 years ago; the
hairdresser says she has experienced frequent sexual harassment
from Inouye since then, and nine other women are said to have
similar stories.) [NYT 12/14/92]
 

CONTRAGATE: A "DAMOCLES SWORD" OVER FOREIGN POLICY?

In the text of the Iran-contra pardon, Bush wrote that he was
acting in order to counter "a profoundly troubling development in
the political and legal climate of our country: the
criminalization of policy differences. These differences should
be addressed in the political arena, without the Damocles sword
of criminality [that is, the possibility of prosecution for
crimes] hanging over the heads of some of the combatants... It is
my hope that the action I am taking today will begin to restore
these disputes to the battleground where they properly belong."
[NYT 12/25/92 from AP]
 
In fact, the pardon completes a long process of putting US
foreign policy entirely above the law--above any law,
international or domestic. In 1986 the US defied a World Court
ruling by continuing the US war against Nicaragua. In 1989 the US
defied the UN and the OAS (Organization of American States)
charters by invading Panama. In diplomatic maneuvers leading up
to the 1991 Gulf War, the US turned the UN Security Council into
a rubber stamp for US military actions. Earlier this year, the US
Supreme Court ruled in the Alvarez Machain case that the US may
simply ignore its own treaties as it crosses borders and kidnaps
foreign nationals. With the Bush pardon, the US executive branch
now declares itself free to lie to Congress with complete
impunity. Ceasars, Kaisers and tsars would have every reason to
envy the present absolute power of the US president.
 
At the same time that the presidency sets itself above the law,
much of the potential domestic opposition has endorsed the
doctrine of "humanitarian intervention"--the idea that US-led
invasions are justified whenever the White House and the mass
media certify that the intentions are good. "Intervention is in,"
writes conservative columnist William Safire. "[T]he former
liberal doves and conservative hawks are now human-rights
bedfellows." The only opposition comes from "isolationists of the
resentful right, Perot protectionists, diplomatic
accommodationists, and the old New Left peaceniks now lying
quietly in the weeds." [NYT 12/24/92] If there is a "Damocles
sword" hanging over US foreign policy, it is clearly the power of
an imperial US presidency backed by history's largest and
deadliest military machine and unrestrained by laws or political
opposition.

                               -30-

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