General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe first President Bush is very sick.
While not wishing the man ill, there's nothing wrong with wanting an honest accounting of his twelve years in the White House (and prior, for that matter). There's still much to be explained.
Remember Iran-Contra?
"The United States gives terrorists no rewards and no guarantees. We make no concessions; we make no deals."
--President Reagan, June 30, 1985
"...the moral equal of our Founding Fathers."
--Ronald Reagan, describing the Nicaraguan contras
"I guess in a way they are counter-revolutionary and God bless them for being that. And I guess that makes them contras and so it makes me a contra, too"
--Ronald Reagan
Thus did Reagan declare his support for the contras--remnants from the old Somoza regime--who were attempting to overthrow the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Reagan hoped to sway a reluctant American public to back the contra cause as well.
However, enlisting public support was turning out to be a hard sell. Many Americans were wary of the CIA-trained mercenaries due in large part to numerous reports of atrocities committed by the contras against Nicaraguan civilians.
More bad press came in the form of a CIA manual written for the contras. The manual instructed on such things as how to blackmail unwilling Nicaraguans into supporting the contra cause, how to create martyrs by arranging the deaths of fellow contras, and how to "neutralize" Nicaraguan government officials.
Public skepticism increased further when the CIA was caught mining Nicaragua's harbors. When Nicaragua brought charges in the World Court against CIA aggression, the Reagan administration announced that it would not be bound by the World Court ruling.
Many in Congress were growing weary of CIA recklessness, including Republican Senator Barry Goldwater. Regarding the mining of Nicaragua's harbors Goldwater wrote, "This is an act violating international law. It is an act of war." Later, CIA Director William Casey would apologize to the Senate Intelligence Committee for keeping the Nicaraguan mining a secret.
However, the U.S. Congress was not swayed by Casey's belated apology. In October 1984, Congress voted to cut off funding for CIA-contra operations.
With the Congressional cutoff, Casey decided to make an end run around Congress by "handing off" contra operations to the National Security Council (NSC). National Security Advisor John Poindexter and NSC member Lt. Col. Oliver North were placed in charge. North and Poindexter were soon employing every clandestine scheme they could think of to fund the contras.
During this period, unknown to the public, the Reagan administration was selling arms to Iran in exchange for American hostages held in Lebanon by pro-Iranian terrorists. North and Poindexter surreptitiously diverted money from these arms sales to help fund the contras--a crime for which they would later both be convicted.
The administration had tried to keep its weapon sales to Iran a secret. However, on November 3, 1986, the Beirut magazine, Al-Shiraa broke the story. This was the beginning of the Iran-contra scandal which would cause a political firestorm in the United States. The following quotes give a sense of the controversy:
"The charge has been made that the United States has shipped weapons to Iran as ransom payment for the release of American hostages in Lebanon, that the United States undercut its allies and secretly violated American policy against trafficking with terrorists.... Those charges are utterly false.... We did not--repeat--did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we."
--President Reagan, television address, November 13, 1986
"... was not fully informed on the nature of one of the activities."
--President Reagan, referring to the fact that money from weapons sales to Iran was diverted to the contras, November 25, 1986
"If he knew about it, then he has willfully broken the law; if he didn't know about it, then he is failing to do his job. After all, we expect the President to know about the foreign policy activities being run directly out of the White House."
--Senator John Glenn, November 25, 1986
"When someone says, 'But he was giving arms to people he knew had killed our Marines,' it's hard to respond to that."
--House Republican Robert Dornan, previously one of Reagan's most ardent supporters, December 11, 1986
"The simple truth is, 'I don't remember--period.'"
--President Reagan, responding to a question about when he authorized arms shipments to Iran, February 2, 1987
"A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not."
--Reagan in a television address is forced to acknowledge "the facts and the evidence" uncovered by the commission that Reagan appointed to look into the matter, March 4, 1987
"I told you all the truth that first day after...everything hit the fan."
--President Reagan, June 11, 1987
Four years after Reagan left office, more of the truth would come out. In 1992, former defense secretary Casper Weinberger was ordered to turn over notes of a January 1986 White House meeting. Weinberger's notes said, "President decided to go with Israeli-Iranian offer to release our 5 hostages in return for sale of 4,000 TOWs [U.S. missiles] to Iran by Israel. George Shultz + I opposed--Bill Casey, Ed Meese + VP favored--as did Poindexter."
Before leaving office in 1992, then-president George Bush pardoned Weinberger and five others who were facing felony charges stemming from Iran-contra. The Bush pardons effectively ended the Iran-contra investigation.
"If the American people ever find out what we have done, they will chase us down the streets and lynch us."
--George H. W. Bush, to White House correspondent Sarah McClendon, June 1992, in response to the question, "What will the people do if they ever find out the truth about Iraq-gate and Iran-contra?"
http://thereaganyears.tripod.com/foreignpolicy.htm
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BigDemVoter
(4,157 posts)But I'm 100% INDIFFERENT to what happens to him or his stupid wife, Barbara.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,341 posts)Initech
(100,103 posts)malaise
(269,157 posts)OKNancy
(41,832 posts)I am sorry he is sick. I'll be a good liberal and a good person and not speak ill of him.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)He was the first one to feel the wrath of what we would later come to call the tea party. His going back on the "no new taxes" pledge cost him his office, as his former supporters went for that idiot Ross Perot.
Bill Clinton got damned lucky in 1992. I guess the rest of us did by extension.
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)And that fucking POS Jed or Jeb or what ever the fuck that idiots name is...
DavidDvorkin
(19,486 posts)aquart
(69,014 posts)Let him recover.
DevonRex
(22,541 posts)is a truthful accounting of his activities regarding Jack, Bobby, Teddy and Jack Jr.
onecent
(6,096 posts)LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)Where was he on November 22, 1963?
DevonRex
(22,541 posts)Funny that he can't seem to recall his location.
ErikJ
(6,335 posts)madamesilverspurs
(15,808 posts)to elevate him to some kind of republican sainthood, given his veep status to Reagan.
But we need not do ourselves the disservice of granting him a benign characterization. His stamp on this country (like his offsprings' marks) is more depredation than benefit; the family history is not glorious, not by any stretch of the imagination. More softly spoken than his sons, he is very much the tutor of their venality and greed.
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OneMoreDemocrat
(913 posts)How will he be Sainted? I tried to figure out what he did that would differentiate him and allow him to be raised onto the inevitable pedestal.
The only thing I could really think of was that he was Reagan's VP and the first Gulf War, and as VP he was pretty invisible to the American public and as far as the war, General Schwarzkopf was the 'star'.
It will be interesting to see how they add to his 'resume' to make him seem larger than life.
I just hope he passes peacefully.
dflprincess
(28,082 posts)and the media will carry on like he was wonderful. And Babs will be able put on quite a show as the bereaved widow. I do hope her beautiful mind is not too bothered by this.
Though the most sickening part will be watching Bill Clinton go into mourning over the evil old troll.
Thank God for cable and Netflix I'll be able to skip the whole extravaganza.
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)but he is a bad man.
libodem
(19,288 posts)uppityperson
(115,680 posts)happened by the cabal.
Whovian
(2,866 posts)Chemisse
(30,817 posts)I no longer despise him, mostly because we have seen so much worse since his presidency.
I am thankful that he passed the Clean Air Act - the very one his own son attempted to dismantle.
Now if W was on his deathbed, I would have trouble wishing him well. I don't think he deserves anything good in his life - ever again - after the destruction he reigned over.
SHRED
(28,136 posts)Visions of parents in Nicaragua getting sliced open in front of their kids, by the "Contras", haunt me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Human_rights_violations
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Chemisse
(30,817 posts)leftlibdem420
(256 posts)He didn't wish African-Americans well in his anti-civil rights Senate campaign against Ralph Yarborough, by far Texas' finest Senator.
amuse bouche
(3,657 posts)That's the truth
SHRED
(28,136 posts)ReRe
(10,597 posts)....Madamesilverspurs. That was excellent. History tells a story. That's why the wingers don't like it (history). Our young DUers need to read this information. And go look it up, if they don't believe it. And there's a ton more I'm sure that will be revealed here in the coming days.About the only thing I can give the guy is that he didn't have the shit-eating-grin smirk that his son did. Death is the great equalizer.
tavernier
(12,401 posts)people said that GHWB always reminded everyone of somebody's ex husband.
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)I do not wish bad things on anybody. Everybody has bad and redeeming qualities.
valerief
(53,235 posts)2pooped2pop
(5,420 posts)then I guess death of him is the best we are going to get. May there be a hell for him to rot in.
larkrake
(1,674 posts)Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)is the child he fathered.