By Eric Alterman MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR'

Twee boeven uit het tijdperk van pa Bush worden door W. Bush aangesteld in top-functies in zijn regering.

'March 12 —  George W. Bush seems intent on rewriting the history of the Reagan and Bush administrations, white-washing the scandal that almost toppled the Reagan Administration and may have cost his father his re-election. How else to explain his appointment of two of the central villains of Iran-Contra in his own administration as if their participation were badges of honor rather than shame?

BUSH’S CHOICE for United Nations ambassador, John Negroponte, was the Reagan administration point man for the contra wars in Honduras during the early 1980s. Otto Reich, his nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, headed up the Reagan Administration’s so-called Office of Public Information during those same years. Both men have a great deal still to answer for, as Papa Bush short-circuited Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh’s investigation with a timely pardon for former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger before the canaries could finish singing.

Dus nog voordat de verdachten in opdracht van onderzoeker Walsh konden getuigen over Iran-Contra en dus ook de grote baas Bush erbij konden lappen, sprak hij de boeven vrij. Clinton reageerde toenterijd op de vrijspraken van Bush, door te zeggen dat 'he was concerned "by any action which sends a signal that, if you work for the government, you're above the law, or that not telling the truth to Congress under oath is somehow less serious than not telling the truth to some other body under oath."'
Ook al ligt Clinton nu voortdurend onder vuur voor het vrijspreken van een hele rij boeven, Eric Alterman vindt de vrijspraken van pa Bush 'far more significant than any of the foolish pardons issued by Bill Clinton in the final moments of his term, despite hysterical press coverage indicating otherwise'. De vrijspraken van Bush en Clinton werpen op een bevrijdende manier een blik op de ware aard van beide mannen, ook al ging dat wat Clinton betreft kennelijk voorbij aan de juichende menigte die gisteren Clinton toezwaaide voor de deur van het Crowne Plaza Promenade Hotel in Den Haag.

De 'stunning absence of outrage' uit de kop van het artikel van Aterman, is ook van toepassing op de media ten tijde van de publicatie van het rapport van Walsh. Zo schrijft media-watchdog Extra! 'For most news outlets, it was a one-day story, over before any reporter possibly could have read the 2,500-page document.'

Naast Negroponte en Reich, noemt Alterman ook Secretary of State Colin Powell: '[He] was, like George Bush, fully aware of the secret 1986 sale of TOW missiles to Iran, according to the report of the Reagan-appointed Tower Commission, which investigated the scandal. Lawrence Walsh’s report found that Powell, too, had offered “misleading” testimony that could have been used “to impeach his credibility,” but decided against prosecution.

De rest van het artikel van Alterman bevat allerlei bewijzen over hoe fout beide nieuwe regeringsleden zijn.

DaanSpeak
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