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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 02:06 PM
Original message
It's 1991 - Lee Hamilton (Coverup Dem) and Henry Gonzales (anti-corruption Dem)
are deciding whether or not to run for president. They both know that Bush1 is guilty of all sorts of crimes against the Constitution - BushInc knows it, too, and that Bush's poll numbers will be going down as more is revealed, especially now that Iraqgate scandal is heating up, too - Henry Gonzales is trying to get books opened on that matter.

BushInc would prefer that Hamilton get into office because they know he will keep their secrets.

Is there a difference from what Bush1 needed covered up and what Bush2 will need covered up in 2009?

Not just ANY Democrat will do, yet so many seem resigned to accepting that fate already.

And what good is it to have a Dem in office when they don't do the RIGHT thing and expose BushInc fully, when another member of BushInc can come along and detroy and dimantle what little good WAS accomplished by a Dem administration?

There IS a difference. Does anyone believe that the New World Order of fascists are going to let their 50yr machinations be revealed, let alone go to waste?


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grizmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 02:14 PM
Response to Original message
1. bartcop's take on Hamilton
this graphic has stayed appropriate for years and will for years to come

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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 02:21 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. I wish bart would open his eyes to the other Dems doing the covering up for BushInc.
Edited on Mon Nov-27-06 02:21 PM by blm
Bartcop has a blind spot for the Clintons. IMO, it is hard to justify believing the Clintons' relationship with the Bushes is just a matter of keeping your enemies close, while also claiming that Rober Parry's news site is the most important one on the internet.

I agree completely with Bart that Parry is the truthteller of the internet.

Why he doesn't see that Clinton has enabled the Bushes more than even Hamilton is a mystery.

Democrats, the Truth Still Matters!
By Robert Parry
(First Posted May 11, 2006)

Editor's Note: With the Democratic victories in the House and Senate, there is finally the opportunity to demand answers from the Bush administration about important questions, ranging from Dick Cheney's secret energy policies to George W. Bush's Iraq War deceptions. But the Democrats are sure to be tempted to put the goal of "bipartisanship" ahead of the imperative for truth.

Democrats, being Democrats, always want to put governance, such as enacting legislation and building coalitions, ahead of oversight, which often involves confrontation and hard feelings. Democrats have a difficult time understanding why facts about past events matter when there are problems in the present and challenges in the future.

Given that proclivity, we are re-posting a story from last May that examined why President Bill Clinton and the last Democratic congressional majority (in 1993-94) shied away from a fight over key historical scandals from the Reagan-Bush-I years -- and the high price the Democrats paid for that decision:

My book, Secrecy & Privilege, opens with a scene in spring 1994 when a guest at a White House social event asks Bill Clinton why his administration didn’t pursue unresolved scandals from the Reagan-Bush era, such as the Iraqgate secret support for Saddam Hussein’s government and clandestine arms shipments to Iran.

Clinton responds to the questions from the guest, documentary filmmaker Stuart Sender, by saying, in effect, that those historical questions had to take a back seat to Clinton’s domestic agenda and his desire for greater bipartisanship with the Republicans.

Clinton “didn’t feel that it was a good idea to pursue these investigations because he was going to have to work with these people,” Sender told me in an interview. “He was going to try to work with these guys, compromise, build working relationships.”

Clinton’s relatively low regard for the value of truth and accountability is relevant again today because other centrist Democrats are urging their party to give George W. Bush’s administration a similar pass if the Democrats win one or both houses of Congress.

Reporting about a booklet issued by the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank of the Democratic Leadership Council, the Washington Post wrote, “these centrist Democrats … warned against calls to launch investigations into past administration decisions if Democrats gain control of the House or Senate in the November elections.”

These Democrats also called on the party to reject its “non-interventionist left” wing, which opposed the Iraq War and which wants Bush held accountable for the deceptions that surrounded it.

“Many of us are disturbed by the calls for investigations or even impeachment as the defining vision for our party for what we would do if we get back into office,” said pollster Jeremy Rosner, calling such an approach backward-looking.

Yet, before Democrats endorse the DLC’s don’t-look-back advice, they might want to examine the consequences of Clinton’s decision in 1993-94 to help the Republicans sweep the Reagan-Bush scandals under the rug. Most of what Clinton hoped for – bipartisanship and support for his domestic policies – never materialized.

‘Politicized’ CIA

After winning Election 1992, Clinton also rebuffed appeals from members of the U.S. intelligence community to reverse the Reagan-Bush “politicization” of the CIA’s analytical division by rebuilding the ethos of objective analysis even when it goes against a President’s desires.

Instead, in another accommodating gesture, Clinton gave the CIA director’s job to right-wing Democrat, James Woolsey, who had close ties to the Reagan-Bush administration and especially to its neoconservatives.

One senior Democrat told me Clinton picked Woolsey as a reward to the neocon-leaning editors of the New Republic for backing Clinton in Election 1992.

“I told that the New Republic hadn’t brought them enough votes to win a single precinct,” the senior Democrat said. “But they kept saying that they owed this to the editors of the New Republic.”

During his tenure at the CIA, Woolsey did next to nothing to address the CIA’s “politicization” issue, intelligence analysts said. Woolsey also never gained Clinton’s confidence and – after several CIA scandals – was out of the job by January 1995.

At the time of that White House chat with Stuart Sender, Clinton thought that his see-no-evil approach toward the Reagan-Bush era would give him an edge in fulfilling his campaign promise to “focus like a laser beam” on the economy.

He was taking on other major domestic challenges, too, like cutting the federal deficit and pushing a national health insurance plan developed by First Lady Hillary Clinton.

So for Clinton, learning the truth about controversial deals between the Reagan-Bush crowd and the autocratic governments of Iraq and Iran just wasn’t on the White House radar screen. Clinton also wanted to grant President George H.W. Bush a gracious exit.

“I wanted the country to be more united, not more divided,” Clinton explained in his 2004 memoir, My Life. “President Bush had given decades of service to our country, and I thought we should allow him to retire in peace, leaving the (Iran-Contra) matter between him and his conscience.”

Unexpected Results

Clinton’s generosity to George H.W. Bush and the Republicans, of course, didn’t turn out as he had hoped. Instead of bipartisanship and reciprocity, he was confronted with eight years of unrelenting GOP hostility, attacks on both his programs and his personal reputation.

Later, as tensions grew in the Middle East, the American people and even U.S. policymakers were flying partially blind, denied anything close to the full truth about the history of clandestine relationships between the Reagan-Bush team and hostile nations in the Middle East.

Clinton’s failure to expose that real history also led indirectly to the restoration of Bush Family control of the White House in 2001. Despite George W. Bush’s inexperience as a national leader, he drew support from many Americans who remembered his father’s presidency fondly.

If the full story of George H.W. Bush’s role in secret deals with Iraq and Iran had ever been made public, the Bush Family’s reputation would have been damaged to such a degree that George W. Bush’s candidacy would not have been conceivable.

Not only did Clinton inadvertently clear the way for the Bush restoration, but the Right’s political ascendancy wiped away much of the Clinton legacy, including a balanced federal budget and progress on income inequality. A poorly informed American public also was easily misled on what to do about U.S. relations with Iraq and Iran.

In retrospect, Clinton’s tolerance of Reagan-Bush cover-ups was a lose-lose-lose – the public was denied information it needed to understand dangerous complexities in the Middle East, George W. Bush built his presidential ambitions on the nation’s fuzzy memories of his dad, and Republicans got to enact a conservative agenda.

Clinton’s approach also reflected a lack of appreciation for the importance of truth in a democratic Republic. If the American people are expected to do their part in making sure democracy works, they need to be given at least a chance of being an informed electorate.

Yet, Clinton – and now some pro-Iraq War Democrats – view truth as an expendable trade-off when measured against political tactics or government policies. In reality, accurate information about important events is the lifeblood of democracy.

Though sometimes the truth can hurt, Clinton and the Democrats should understand that covering up the truth can hurt even more. As Clinton’s folly with the Reagan-Bush scandals should have taught, the Democrats may hurt themselves worst of all when helping the Republicans cover up the truth.

Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq, can be ordered at secrecyandprivilege.com. It's also available at Amazon.com, as is his 1999 book, Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth.'

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grizmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 02:46 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. I'm no bart worshipper
but he does have amusing takes on somethings. As to Hillary, when I'm on his site I skip right over anything he has to say on the subject.
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 03:57 PM
Response to Reply #7
10. I loved bart, and part of me still does. Before I read Clinton's book, I agreed w/bart
about 95% of the time. Now I find myself only agreeing about 80% of the time.
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grizmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 04:45 PM
Response to Reply #10
11. I'd rate it a similar percentage drop
in my eyes too over the last couple of years.
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 08:45 PM
Response to Reply #11
14. Must say it hurt my heart a bit every day I found myself disagreeing with him more
and more.

It's like he believes the VRWC exists only when it attacks the Clintons, but doesn't mind joining them when it comes to bashing Democrats.
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BridgeTheGap Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 02:22 PM
Response to Original message
3. What do you think the DLC is for?
Running interference on core Democratic values and Plutocracy machinations. Can you spell g-l-o-b-a-l-i-z-a-t-i-o-n?
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 02:46 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. Not all Dem globalists are fascist, but some are definitely treasonous.
.
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nam78_two Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 02:23 PM
Response to Original message
4. ugh...Lee Hamilton/nt
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EST Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 02:23 PM
Response to Original message
5. There are differences but they are both guilty of high
Edited on Mon Nov-27-06 02:24 PM by EST
treason. I don't know if a trial and execution would hurt the country more or not.
After all, it was pappy who said, in 1992, I think, if the American people knew what all the BFEE had done to this country there'd be lynch mobs chasing him down the street.
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-28-06 04:25 PM
Response to Reply #5
25. So he found himself a coverup Democrat to make sure it stayed whitewashed.
.
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KT2000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 02:59 PM
Response to Original message
8. Henry Gonzales wa s great
We need more people like him in our party.
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 03:03 PM
Response to Original message
9. Hamilton "for the good of the country" keep 'em in the dark!
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/hamiltoniran-contra.htm

"......former Congressman Lee Hamilton, chairman of the House select committee investigating the Iran-contra affair, was shown ample evidence against Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, but he did not probe their wrongdoing. Why did Hamilton choose not to investigate? In a late 1980s interview aired on PBS 'Frontline,' Hamilton said that he did not think it would have been 'good for the country' to put the public through another impeachment trial. In Lee Hamilton's view, it was better to keep the public in the dark than to bring to light another Watergate, with all the implied ramifications. When Hamilton was chairman of the House committee investigating Iran-contra, he took the word of senior Reagan administration officials when they claimed Bush and Reagan were 'out of the loop.' Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh and White House records later proved that Reagan and Bush had been very much in the loop. If Hamilton had looked into the matter instead of accepting the Reagan administration's word, the congressional investigation would have shown the public the truth. Hamilton later said he should not have believed the Reagan officials. However, today, George W. Bush is considering appointing Hamilton UN ambassador."
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 07:46 PM
Response to Reply #9
12. Beware the good for the country argument - it means a coverup is happening.
.
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happydreams Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 07:49 PM
Response to Reply #9
13. K&R. For the good of the country.
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bobbolink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 09:30 PM
Response to Reply #9
17. And if it's a Dem playing the part of Hamilton this time???
Then what?

:scared:
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 09:59 PM
Response to Reply #17
18. Hamilton WAS a coverup Democrat - and there WAS a coverup Democrat who
did run in 1992. We just didn't know it then.

Democrats, the Truth Still Matters!
By Robert Parry
(First Posted May 11, 2006)

Editor's Note: With the Democratic victories in the House and Senate, there is finally the opportunity to demand answers from the Bush administration about important questions, ranging from Dick Cheney's secret energy policies to George W. Bush's Iraq War deceptions. But the Democrats are sure to be tempted to put the goal of "bipartisanship" ahead of the imperative for truth.

Democrats, being Democrats, always want to put governance, such as enacting legislation and building coalitions, ahead of oversight, which often involves confrontation and hard feelings. Democrats have a difficult time understanding why facts about past events matter when there are problems in the present and challenges in the future.

Given that proclivity, we are re-posting a story from last May that examined why President Bill Clinton and the last Democratic congressional majority (in 1993-94) shied away from a fight over key historical scandals from the Reagan-Bush-I years -- and the high price the Democrats paid for that decision:

My book, Secrecy & Privilege, opens with a scene in spring 1994 when a guest at a White House social event asks Bill Clinton why his administration didn’t pursue unresolved scandals from the Reagan-Bush era, such as the Iraqgate secret support for Saddam Hussein’s government and clandestine arms shipments to Iran.

Clinton responds to the questions from the guest, documentary filmmaker Stuart Sender, by saying, in effect, that those historical questions had to take a back seat to Clinton’s domestic agenda and his desire for greater bipartisanship with the Republicans.

Clinton “didn’t feel that it was a good idea to pursue these investigations because he was going to have to work with these people,” Sender told me in an interview. “He was going to try to work with these guys, compromise, build working relationships.”

Clinton’s relatively low regard for the value of truth and accountability is relevant again today because other centrist Democrats are urging their party to give George W. Bush’s administration a similar pass if the Democrats win one or both houses of Congress.

Reporting about a booklet issued by the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank of the Democratic Leadership Council, the Washington Post wrote, “these centrist Democrats … warned against calls to launch investigations into past administration decisions if Democrats gain control of the House or Senate in the November elections.”

These Democrats also called on the party to reject its “non-interventionist left” wing, which opposed the Iraq War and which wants Bush held accountable for the deceptions that surrounded it.

“Many of us are disturbed by the calls for investigations or even impeachment as the defining vision for our party for what we would do if we get back into office,” said pollster Jeremy Rosner, calling such an approach backward-looking.

Yet, before Democrats endorse the DLC’s don’t-look-back advice, they might want to examine the consequences of Clinton’s decision in 1993-94 to help the Republicans sweep the Reagan-Bush scandals under the rug. Most of what Clinton hoped for – bipartisanship and support for his domestic policies – never materialized.

‘Politicized’ CIA

After winning Election 1992, Clinton also rebuffed appeals from members of the U.S. intelligence community to reverse the Reagan-Bush “politicization” of the CIA’s analytical division by rebuilding the ethos of objective analysis even when it goes against a President’s desires.

Instead, in another accommodating gesture, Clinton gave the CIA director’s job to right-wing Democrat, James Woolsey, who had close ties to the Reagan-Bush administration and especially to its neoconservatives.

One senior Democrat told me Clinton picked Woolsey as a reward to the neocon-leaning editors of the New Republic for backing Clinton in Election 1992.

“I told that the New Republic hadn’t brought them enough votes to win a single precinct,” the senior Democrat said. “But they kept saying that they owed this to the editors of the New Republic.”

During his tenure at the CIA, Woolsey did next to nothing to address the CIA’s “politicization” issue, intelligence analysts said. Woolsey also never gained Clinton’s confidence and – after several CIA scandals – was out of the job by January 1995.

At the time of that White House chat with Stuart Sender, Clinton thought that his see-no-evil approach toward the Reagan-Bush era would give him an edge in fulfilling his campaign promise to “focus like a laser beam” on the economy.

He was taking on other major domestic challenges, too, like cutting the federal deficit and pushing a national health insurance plan developed by First Lady Hillary Clinton.

So for Clinton, learning the truth about controversial deals between the Reagan-Bush crowd and the autocratic governments of Iraq and Iran just wasn’t on the White House radar screen. Clinton also wanted to grant President George H.W. Bush a gracious exit.

“I wanted the country to be more united, not more divided,” Clinton explained in his 2004 memoir, My Life. “President Bush had given decades of service to our country, and I thought we should allow him to retire in peace, leaving the (Iran-Contra) matter between him and his conscience.”

Unexpected Results

Clinton’s generosity to George H.W. Bush and the Republicans, of course, didn’t turn out as he had hoped. Instead of bipartisanship and reciprocity, he was confronted with eight years of unrelenting GOP hostility, attacks on both his programs and his personal reputation.

Later, as tensions grew in the Middle East, the American people and even U.S. policymakers were flying partially blind, denied anything close to the full truth about the history of clandestine relationships between the Reagan-Bush team and hostile nations in the Middle East.

Clinton’s failure to expose that real history also led indirectly to the restoration of Bush Family control of the White House in 2001. Despite George W. Bush’s inexperience as a national leader, he drew support from many Americans who remembered his father’s presidency fondly.

If the full story of George H.W. Bush’s role in secret deals with Iraq and Iran had ever been made public, the Bush Family’s reputation would have been damaged to such a degree that George W. Bush’s candidacy would not have been conceivable.

Not only did Clinton inadvertently clear the way for the Bush restoration, but the Right’s political ascendancy wiped away much of the Clinton legacy, including a balanced federal budget and progress on income inequality. A poorly informed American public also was easily misled on what to do about U.S. relations with Iraq and Iran.

In retrospect, Clinton’s tolerance of Reagan-Bush cover-ups was a lose-lose-lose – the public was denied information it needed to understand dangerous complexities in the Middle East, George W. Bush built his presidential ambitions on the nation’s fuzzy memories of his dad, and Republicans got to enact a conservative agenda.

Clinton’s approach also reflected a lack of appreciation for the importance of truth in a democratic Republic. If the American people are expected to do their part in making sure democracy works, they need to be given at least a chance of being an informed electorate.

Yet, Clinton – and now some pro-Iraq War Democrats – view truth as an expendable trade-off when measured against political tactics or government policies. In reality, accurate information about important events is the lifeblood of democracy.

Though sometimes the truth can hurt, Clinton and the Democrats should understand that covering up the truth can hurt even more. As Clinton’s folly with the Reagan-Bush scandals should have taught, the Democrats may hurt themselves worst of all when helping the Republicans cover up the truth.

Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq, can be ordered at secrecyandprivilege.com. It's also available at Amazon.com, as is his 1999 book, Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth.'

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bobbolink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 10:06 PM
Response to Reply #18
19. You're right... I screwed up the wording.
I'm so afraid of a repeat.
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 10:08 PM
Response to Reply #19
20. You and me both - I think more will read the tea leaves if we do our part
Spreading information is key.
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bobbolink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 10:16 PM
Response to Reply #20
21. Here's my part.... 1-877-851-6437, 1-877-762-8762, 1-800-828-0498
Those are the toll-free Capitol Hill Switchboard numbers.

Call, and call repeatedly, and thank Waxman and his staff for what he is putting together on his to-do list! You can be sure they are/will be receiving much hate mail, and we need to let 'em know we have their backs!

Again, make note..

1 877 851 - 6437

1 877 762 8762

1 800 828 0498


Don't know how to make it bigger type.. feel free to do that if you wish.

We need to let our work-donkeys know we appreciate 'em!!

:kick:
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Jcrowley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 09:20 PM
Response to Original message
15. x-cellent observation
What we are involved in at present is that tension and what we are seeing to date is more of the same. The likes of Henry B and Wellstone and McKinney and Kucinich are rare in these days of corporate dominion.

I see no "viable" candidate that is going to take it on. I also don't see the urgency and understanding in the body politic to force the issue.

Excellent, excellent post.
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 09:22 PM
Response to Reply #15
16. There is a viable candidate but corpmedia is working overtime to take him out -
I just don't think the corpmedia will get its way.
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Octafish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-27-06 11:19 PM
Response to Original message
22. Henry Gonzalez wanted to impeach George H W Poppy Bush
Iraqgate was one reason.

Tom Lantos brought the matter to light in the House.



Iraq-gate, BNL & Arms to Saddam

Just how do you think Iraq managed to run its war against Iran for all those years? Saddam had to get juice from somebody, and George Bush wanted to sell him the arms he needed to kill the Iranians he attacked. So, George got the US taxpayers without their knowledge, to loan (read: "give") Saddam $5 billion in "agricultural credits." Meanwhile the Iran-Iraq war is prolonged by years and several hundreds of thousands of lives are lost. Of course, Bush needed a patsy, so his henchmen found a low-level banker in Miami to take the fall. His bank, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, got a slap on the wrist. Notice, too, how they cover up their criminality by labeling public information "secret." Neat, that BFEE.

Here's what the great Liberal thinker and ex-Agnew speechwriter William Safire had to say on the subject. It's from the Congressional Record, entered by Rep. Tom Lantos and the late Rep. Henry Gonzalez.


THE ADMINISTRATION'S IRAQ GATE SCANDAL

(BY WILLIAM SAFIRE)

(Extension of Remarks - May 19, 1992)



HON. TOM LANTOS

in the House of Representatives

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1992

* Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, just 1 year ago, Americans were flush with the glow of the military victory over Saddam Hussein. Parades were held in the largest of cities and in the smallest of hamlets. New York and Washington were trying to outdo each other in the splendor of their competing celebrations of victory.

* This year, however, we are wallowing in the sordid aftermath of the revelations of the misguided administration policy that brought about that war. We have been treated to details of how the administration bent over backwards in its misguided effort to support the regime of Saddam Hussein on the very eve of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

* Mr. Speaker, William Safire summarized this squalid tale of policy run amuck in an excellent article that appeared in yesterday's issue of the New York Times. I ask that this article be placed in the Record, and I urge my colleagues to read it carefully.

(BY WILLIAM SAFIRE)

Washington: Americans now know that the war in the Persian Gulf was brought about by a colossal foreign-policy blunder: George Bush's decision, after the Iran-Iraq war ended, to entrust regional security to Saddam Hussein.

What is not yet widely understood is how that benighted policy led to the Bush Administration's fraudulent use of public funds, its sustained deception of Congress and its obstruction of justice.

As the Saudi Ambassador, Prince Bandar, was urging Mr. Bush and Mr. Baker to buy the friendship of the Iraqi dictator in August 1989, the F.B.I. uncovered a huge scam at the Atlanta branch of the Lavoro Bank to finance the buildup of Iraq's war machine by diverting U.S.-guaranteed grain loans.

Instead of pressing the investigation or curbing the appeasement, the President turned a blind eye to lawbreaking and directed another billion dollars to Iraq. Our State and Agriculture Department's complicity in Iraq's duplicity transformed what could have been dealt with as `Saddam's Lavoro scandal' into George Bush's Iraqgate.

The first element of corruption is the wrongful application of U.S. credit guarantees. Neither the Commodity Credit Corporation nor the Export-Import Bank runs a foreign-aid program; their purpose is to stimulate U.S. exports. High-risk loan guarantees to achieve foreign-policy goals unlawful endanger that purpose.

Yet we now know that George Bush personally leaned on Ex-Im to subvert its charter--not to promote our exports but to promote relations with the dictator. And we have evidence that James Baker overrode worries in Agriculture and O.M.B. that the law was being perverted: Mr. Baker's closest aid, Robert Kimmett, wrote triumphantly, `your call to . . . Yeutter . . . paid off.' Former Agriculture Secretary Clayton Yeutter is now under White House protection.

Second element of corruption is the misleading of Congress. When the charge was made two years ago in this space that State was improperly intervening in this case, Mr. Baker's top Middle East aide denied it to Senate Foreign Relations; meanwhile, Yeutter aides deceived Senator Leahy's Agriculture Committee about the real foreign-policy purpose of the C.C.C. guarantees. To carry out Mr. Bush's infamous National Security Directive 26, lawful oversight was systematically blinded.

Third area of Iraqgate corruption is the obstruction of justice. Atlanta's assistant U.S. Attorney Gail McKenzie, long blamed here for foot-dragging, would not withhold from a grand jury what she has already told friends: that indictment of Lavoro officials was held up for nearly a year by the Bush Criminal Division. The long delay in prosecution enabled James Baker to shake credits for Saddam out of malfeasant Agriculture appointees.

When House Banking Chairman Henry Gonzalez gathered documents marked `secret' showing this pattern of corruption, he put them in the Congressional Record. Two months later, as the media awakened, Mr. Bush gave the familiar `gate' order; stonewall.

`Public disclosure of classified information harms the national security,' Attorney General William Barr instructed the House Banking Committee last week. `. . . in light of your recent disclosures, the executive branch will not provide any more classified information'--unless the wrongdoing is kept secret.

`Your threat to withhold documents,' responded Chairman Gonzalez, `has all the earmarks of a classic effort to obstruct a proper and legitimate investigation . . . none of the documents compromise, in any fashion whatsoever, the national security or intelligence sources and methods.'

Mr. Barr, in personal jeopardy, has flung down the gauntlet. Chairman Gonzalez tells me he plans to present his obstruction case this week to House Judiciary Chairman Jack Brooks, probably flanked by Representatives Charles Schumer and Barney Frank, members of both committees.

`I will recommend that Judiciary consider requiring the appointment of an independent counsel,' says Mr. Gonzalez, who has been given reason to believe that Judiciary--capable of triggering the Ethics in Government Act--will be persuaded to act.

Policy blunders are not crimes. But perverting the purpose of appropriated funds is a crime; lying to Congress compounds that crime; and obstructing justice to cover up the original crime is a criminal conspiracy.


SOURCE:

http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1992/h920519l.htm

MODS: The above is an official government document and is not restricted by copyright considerations. Thanks for all you DU!



These are some serious crooks, Poppy and his masters.
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-28-06 09:14 AM
Response to Reply #22
24. Thanks for getting it - the anti-corruption, open government wing of the Dem party
is the only faction that can truly save this country's too fragile democracy at this point.
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bobthedrummer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Nov-28-06 09:11 AM
Response to Original message
23. kick
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