Caspar Weinberger died ??

[Radio_Guy]

I just heard on the radio here (Fox News Radio, so consider the source) that former Reagan Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger died this morning. Looking for a link now.

[rurallib]

1. Lyn Nofzinger died yesterday. Maybe that's what you heard.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

22. I missed Nofziger. I did hear about Cap.

Hey, they are running out of ye olde farts to try to right Bush's sinking bathtubship.
Baker is what, 85-7? A couple of usual suspects were rounded up and refused. (Thompson and Gergen) They are running out of bodies as they are running the country into the ground.

[Atman]

2. CNN just confirmed it

Casper is a ghost.

[PCIntern]

3. That's very funny...n/t

[Solly Mack]

10. Oh damn

I just laughed my idiot head off

Guess Caspar lived a full life after his Presidential pardon for his crimes. More than I can say for those dead because of Iran-Contra.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

4. Also, on msnbc.com's homepage.

[Catchawave]

5. MSNBC just confirmed it. n/t

[BlueManDude]

6. 256 Marines die in Beirut and he gets the Prez Medal of Freedom

remember how les aspin had to resign in disgrace after somalia?

the double standards never cease to amaze me.

[Catchawave]

8. Didn't we "cut and run" in Beirut ?

That was a horrible tragedy :cry:

[BlueManDude]

11. We invaded Grenada a week after the Marines were slaughtered in Beirut

a coincidence? yeah right.

they were sent with no mission. they were hunkered down in a compound. they were slaughtered. they came home.

yet reagan was a great american and cap get the prez medal of freedom.

[underpants]

7. Damn they really screwed up THAT e-mail

I thought Card was the one who had run out of time.

[Mithras61]

9. Link

http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/8314567/detail.html

Caspar Weinberger, Reagan's Defense Secretary, Dies

POSTED: 11:17 am EST March 28, 2006
UPDATED: 11:25 am EST March 28, 2006
Email This Story | Print This Story
WASHINGTON -- Caspar Weinberger, who played key roles in the shaping of the so-called Star Wars missile defense program and the Iran-Contra affair during the Reagan administration, has died. He was 88 years old.

Weinberger is best known as United States se cretary of de fense under President Ronald Reagan from 1982 through 1987, and for his related roles in the Strategic Defense Initiative program, known as Star Wars, and in the Iran-Contra Affair.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

Hope it ain't too warm there, Caspar...

[Coventina]

12. Anybody remember that great Bloom County with Opus reciting the poem?

That was the first thing that popped in my head.

[UpInArms]

13. Bush Pardons 6 in Iran Affair, Aborting a Weinberger Trial; Prosecutor Ass

Bush Pardons 6 in Iran Affair, Aborting a Weinberger Trial; Prosecutor Assails 'Cover-Up'

http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/29/reviews/iran-pardon.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

December 25, 1992

Six years after the arms-for-hostages scandal began to cast a shadow that would darken two Administrations, President Bush today granted full pardons to six former officials in Ronald Reagan's Administration, including former Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger.

Mr. Weinberger was scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 5 on charges that he lied to Congress about his knowledge of the arms sales to Iran and efforts by other countries to help underwrite the Nicaraguan rebels, a case that was expected to focus on Mr. Weinberger's private notes that contain references to Mr. Bush's endorsement of the secret shipments to Iran.

In one remaining facet of the inquiry, the independent prosecutor, Lawrence E. Walsh, plans to review a 1986 campaign diary kept by Mr. Bush. Mr. Walsh has characterized the President's failure to turn over the diary until now as misconduct.

Decapitated Walsh Efforts

But in a single stroke, Mr. Bush swept away one conviction, three guilty pleas and two pending cases, virtually decapitating what was left of Mr. Walsh's effort, which began in 1986. Mr. Bush's decision was announced by the White House in a printed statement after the President left for Camp David, where he will spend the Christmas holiday.

Mr. Walsh bitterly condemned the President's action, charging that "the Iran-contra cover-up, which has continued for more than six years, has now been completed."

Mr. Walsh directed his heaviest fire at Mr. Bush over the pardon of Mr. Weinberger, whose trial would have given the prosecutor a last chance to explore the role in the affair of senior Reagan officials, including Mr. Bush's actions as Vice President.

...more...

I hope Weinberger keeps a place by the fire for GHWB.

[QuettaKid]

14. Hey Casper. . . .

at times like this I wish there was a hell. If anyone deserves an eternity of fire and brimstone it is people like you and ronnie.

[PunkPop]

17. Really pays to have friends in high places doesn't it.

Another great American gone. Oh darnit. :eyes:

[MountainMama]

23. Ah, yes....

it was also the first thing I thought of as well. Unfortunately, I don't have it memorized, but here is a part:

"The wind doth smell so bittersweet,
Like jasper wine and sugar.
It must've blown through other's feet
like those of Caspar Weinberger."

Whereupon Milo yells at him, "Start over!"

I miss Milo.

[maddezmom]

15. here'a link, please edit your subject line and add link

Thanks in advance :hi:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12050783/from/RSS/

[Shakespeare]

30. Why was this moved from LBN?

I think it certainly qualifies, especially on the same day that Nofziger dies. Two cold warriors, gone almost simultaneously.

[sattahipdeep]

32. Scratching head....See post#29

Baker Botts? :hi:

[Radio_Guy]

31. I can't. Time expired

That's what happens when I go to lunch. :shrug:

I'm curious as to why this was moved as well. It is today's news. Alas, the mods know better than I.

[meegbear]

16. You are correct, he bit the big one

[madinmaryland]

18. Here's a link from cnn

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/28/weinberger.obit.reut/index.html

[Frank Cannon]

19. Take a look at the smug guy's face when he was pardoned...

by Bush I on Christmas Eve for the Iran-Contra mischief.



What a mug. Say hi to Beelzebub for me, Cap.

[UpInArms]

25. " forestalled timely impeachment proceedings against President Reagan ..."

Independent Counsel's Statement on the Pardons

By REUTERS
Following is a statement by the independent counsel, Lawrence E. Walsh, regarding pardons granted today by President Bush.

President Bush's pardon of Caspar Weinberger and other Iran-contra defendants 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 -- deliberately abusing the public trust without consequence.

Weinberger, who faced four felony charges, deserved to be tried by a jury of citizens. Although it is the President's prerogative to grant pardons, it is every American's right that the criminal justice system be administered fairly, regardless of a person's rank and connections.

The Iran-contra cover-up, which has continued for more than six years, has now been completed with the pardon of Caspar Weinberger. We will make a full report on our findings to Congress and the public describing the details and extent of this cover-up.

Weinberger's early and deliberate decision to conceal and withhold extensive contemporaneous notes of the Iran-contra matter radically altered the official investigations and possibly forestalled timely impeachment proceedings against President Reagan and other officials. Weinberger's notes contain evidence of a conspiracy among the highest-ranking Reagan Administration officials to lie to Congress and the American public. Because the notes were withheld from investigators for years, many of the leads were impossible to follow, key witnesses had purportedly forgotten what was said and done, and statutes of limitation had expired.

[sattahipdeep]

20. Good. The little turd.

These men were involved in a secret and illegal covert military
operation, whereby weapons were being sold to an enemy state, Iran,
and the profits from those sales were going to illegally fund an army
of rebels the CIA was building in Central America.

http://www.hereinreality.com/irancontra.html

[superconnected]

24. I see George Bush is in that pic.

And he's the one who pardoned them..

I really believe he is the leader of the thugs - a collection of ex-dictators, current presidents - like Blair and huge corporation heads, steering most of the worlds trouble in the name of money.

That man has a whole lot of blood on his hands.

[Deep13]

21. Hope they remembered to drive a stake through his heart. nt

[Faygo Kid]

26. I used to be furious with these guys. Then W came along.

Guess I will just say RIP. Don't have room to hate a figure from the past when the present is so dangerous. Flame away, but I will spend my emotional energy on the here and now, as we say farewell to the '80s.

[superconnected]

27. Really, W is an idiot.

It's his father running the whole thing.

See my above post.

The problem is these thugs' leader is still at large. George H. Bush.

[regnaD kciN]

33. Not really...

Chimpy and dad have never gotten along, from the former's boozing days (remember him challenging his father to a fistfight, "mano a mano"...?). Bush Sr. has complained that, since becoming President (and especially since the ex-prez advised against the Iraq invasion), Junior won't even take his calls anymore. It is said that the Global Village Idiot will only speak to his father during family get-togethers, and has publicly ridiculed the notion that he listens to Senior's advice, on one occasion claiming that "I listen to a higher Father" (i.e. God). :eyes:

There are a lot of Oedipal issues at work in the Bush family, IMHO. From what I've read, FratBoy has always been his mother's favorite, and set out to "not make the same mistakes" as his father in the White House. In his opinion, those "mistakes" lay in neglecting the "conservative base" (particularly the Religious Right) and not following through on his "no new taxes" pledge. In other words, Junior thought his father failed to win re-election because he was too moderate, and vowed not to make the same mistake.

Even the Iraq invasion (which, as I noted above, his father was very much opposed to) has been seen by many as driven at least in part by a desire for one-upmanship, to "accomplish what my father wasn't able to."

I'm not saying that GHWB was some sort of hero, but he was head-and-shoulders above Boy George.

[ABaker]

28. I thought this was DU, not Free Republic. n/t

[sattahipdeep]

29. Our lips are sealed.n/t

[Theide]

34. You seem to be reinforcing my original opinion

that no one who has been a part of the intelligence apparatus should be eligible for public office. Does anyone remember that Bush 1 was part of the intelligence apparatus that apparently leaked information about Carter's rescue attempt in 1979? Or that that leak enabled the Iranian government to kill the mission?

Does anyone remember that that led to a deal with the Reagan campaign to release the hostages the moment Reagan was sworn in? This led to the scandal later to be called Iran-Contra.

You can call it a scandal, I call it a coup d'etat. Reagan's campaign, with the help of the CIA, made a deal with Iran to hold the hostages until Reagan was sworn into office, then release them as a triumphal entry for the new Presidential Hero. In return, they got weapons to fight a monster we made, one called Saddam Hussein. Since they were not allowed to sell weapons to Iran, they financed this deal by the dual expedient of facilitating the production and export of cocaine from south america to the USA and effectively taking over several governments in the region under the name of the Drug War.

The fellow who was responsible for much of this later became President George Bush the 1st. We are now saddled with his son, who is, if possible, even more venal than his father.

Please, somebody wake me up from this nightmare...!!!!!

[Gabi Hayes]

35. may his crooked corpse rot in hell for eternity

just one of the myriad reasons, Iran Contra

"Recall that Bush and his minions did everything possible to obstruct Walsh's investigation. Walsh's team had discovered notes written by Caspar Weinberger which disproved Bush's claim that he had been "out of the loop." These notes proved that Weinberger had knowledge of $25 million in Saudi Arabian contributions to the Nicaraguan contras. . . .
"According to Brosnahan, the trial would have shown that Weinberger knew as early as summer 1985 that President Ronald Reagan had personally authorized missile shipments to Iran in violation of the Arms Control Export Act, and that this potentially impeachable act was concealed by constructing a false record. `The August <1985> meeting discussed having Israel send the missiles to Iran and replenishing them out of U.S. stocks,' says Brosnahan. `Weinberger is responsible for all missiles. The Secretary of Defense is the guy.'
"Another guy who stood to lose his exalted standing in Washington if the trial took place was General Colin Powell, who was Weinberger's principal aide in 1985. In an affidavit, Powell said he `saw virtually all the papers that went in and out of office' and thus would have had direct access to the evidence of missile replenishment. Early in the investigation, Powell gave conflicting accounts of his knowledge of Weinberger's extensive personal notes, denying knowledge of their existence (when Weinberger was claiming he didn't take any), and then saying in 1992 that the notes were no secret and describing them in detail (after Weinberger was forced to cough them up)."
--Larry Chin, "`Marin hot tubbers,' Iran-Contra ghosts and other fears
of the Bush clan, YellowTimes.org, 27 Jan 2002
--Robert Parry, "The White House cover-up that no one
wants you to understand, Mother Jones, July 1993

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/cahBCF.html

if 41 hadn't pardoned him and the other five, they'd ALL have gone to jail, including poppy. Weinberger held the key. the story of how they put the screws to GHWB on the pardons is pretty interesting