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Iran contra men return power { August 20 2001 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4241959,00.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4241959,00.html
Iran-contra men return to power
Bush appointments tainted by Reagan-era scandal
Special report: George Bush's America
Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles
Monday August 20, 2001
The Guardian
The resignation of one of the first major officials to be appointed by the Bush administration has thrown fresh light on a series of other controversial choices by the president which are causing dismay among human rights activists.
John Dilulio, director of the new office of faith-based and community initiatives, quit his post last week claiming continual frustration with Washington red tape. He had also faced strong opposition from those who believed that the activities of church and state should be separate.
Now other controversial Bush appointments may come under scrutiny.
Elliott Abrams, a former assistant secretary of state under Ronald Reagan, was appointed earlier this summer by Mr Bush to the office for democracy, human rights and international operations. In 1991, Mr Abrams, who once described himself as a "gladiator" for President Reagan's policies in Central America, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanours. He had illegally withheld information from the investigation into the Iran-contra affair, in which arms were sold to Iran and the proceeds illegally funnelled to contra forces waging war against the leftwing Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
Mr Abrams was sentenced to two years' probation and 100 hours of community service, but was pardoned by George Bush senior in 1991.
On one occasion during the affair, Mr Abrams flew to London under a false name to seek a $10m (£7m) contribution to the contras from the Sultan of Brunei. When Mr Abrams was later questioned by a Senate hearing about concealing information, Senator Tom Eagleton warned him that his lack of cooperation could lead to "slammer time". Mr Abrams responded: "You've heard my testimony", to which Mr Eagleton replied: "I've heard it and I want to puke."
Mr Abrams' appointment has come on the heels of the reintroduction into politics of a number of other figures tied to the issue. They include John Negroponte, President Bush's choice for UN ambassador, Otto Reich, his nomination for assistant secretary of state for western hemispheric affairs, and John P Walters, his choice for anti-drugs chief.
Robert White, the former US ambassador to El Salvador who became critical of Mr Reagan's policies in the region and who now works at the Centre for International Policy in Washington, said of Mr Abrams's appointment: "To qualify for public office by lying to Congress is not an example you want to trumpet." Of Mr Reich, he said: "He was part of that team that put into being a policy that was illegal."
Mr White said he believed that the appointments sent a message to Latin America that a hardline faction had taken over. "A huge number of the appointments of George Bush are people associated with his father, so it is inevitable that they will be tarnished by the Iran-contra affair."
Larry Burns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, said: "It's a rather scary script. All of a sudden we have the 'contra alumni association' being brought back into government. It will distort US policy in a number of ways, from debt relief to giving access to rightwing causes for US funding." He described as "jocose" the appointment of Mr Abrams, "a man who is the apotheosis of democracy", to a post in an office for democracy and human rights.
"Bringing all these people who are so associated with a polarised ideological crusade that committed human rights abuses threatens to rekindle that partisanship," said Reed Brody, legal director of Human Rights Watch in New York. "What is very unfortunate is that history has revealed American complicity in serious atrocities in the 1980s and, in effect, all these nominations may serve to rewrite history and rehabilitate a very unfortunate period of our history."
Mr Abrams's appointment did not need Senate approval but a major battle is expected in that arena over two other appointments which, more than seven months after Mr Bush took office, are still to be confirmed. Mr Negroponte is still to face Senate questioning over his role as the US ambassador in Honduras at the time of the contra affair. He is accused of having ignored human rights atrocities so that the Honduran government would remain agreeable to having a contra base on its territory.
By coincidence, the appointments are being made just as Nicaragua prepares for a presidential election in November. Ahead in the latest opinion polls is Daniel Ortega, the leader of the Sandinistas whom the Iran-contra effort, and the millions of dollars and lives invested in it, was designed to eradicate.
Four of a kind
Elliott Abrams Ex-assistant secretary with Ronald Reagan, backed invasion of Nicaragua and Panama. Witheld information during Iran-Contra scandal but was pardoned in 1992. A protege of Reagan's UN envoy, Jeane Kirkpatrick
John Negroponte Bush choice for UN ambassador. Was US envoy to Honduras from 1981-85 during illegal war on Nicaragua. Accused of misleading Congress about abuses in Honduras
Otto Reich Bush choice for assistant secretary of state for western hemispheric affairs. Anti-Castro hardliner who led state department from 1983-86. Accused of covert propaganda campaign against Sandinistas
John Walters Choice for drug tsar. Wants jail for users and opposes medicinal use of cannabis. Son of General Vernon Walter, Nixon's deputy chief of the CIA
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003
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