Summary of Prosecutions in IranContra (exposed by John Kerry)

[blm]

Summary of Prosecutions
After Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh's appointment in December 1986, 14 persons were charged with criminal offenses. Eleven persons were convicted, but two convictions were overturned on appeal. Two persons were pardoned before trial and one case was dismissed when the Bush Administration declined to declassify information necessary for trial. On December 24, 1992, President Bush pardoned Caspar W. Weinberger, Duane R. Clarridge, Clair E. George, Elliott Abrams, Alan D. Fiers, Jr., and Robert C. McFarlane.

Completed Trials and Pleas
Elliott Abrams -- Pleaded guilty October 7, 1991, to two misdemeanor charges of withholding information from Congress about secret government efforts to support the Nicaraguan contra rebels during a ban on such aid. U.S. District Chief Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., sentenced Abrams November 15, 1991, to two years probation and 100 hours community service. Abrams was pardoned December 24, 1992.

Carl R. Channell -- Pleaded guilty April 29, 1987, to one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. U.S. District Judge Stanley S. Harris sentenced Channell on July 7, 1989, to two years probation.

Thomas G. Clines -- Indicted February 22, 1990, on four felony counts of underreporting his earnings to the IRS in the 1985 and 1986 tax years; and falsely stating on his 1985 and 1986 tax returns that he had no foreign financial accounts. On September 18, 1990, Clines was found guilty of all charges. U.S. District Judge Norman P. Ramsey in Baltimore, Md., on December 13, 1990, sentenced Clines to 16 months in prison and $40,000 in fines. He was ordered to pay the cost of the prosecution. The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., on February 27, 1992, upheld the convictions. Clines served his prison sentence.

Alan D. Fiers, Jr. -- Pleaded guilty July 9, 1991, to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress about secret efforts to aid the Nicaraguan contras. U.S. District Chief Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., sentenced Fiers January 31, 1992, to one year probation and 100 hours community service. Fiers was pardoned December 24, 1992.

Clair E. George -- Indicted September 6, 1991, on 10 counts of perjury, false statements and obstruction in connection with congressional and Grand Jury investigations. George's trial on nine counts ended in a mistrial on August 26, 1992. Following a second trial on seven counts, George was found guilty December 9, 1992, of two felony charges of false statements and perjury before Congress. The maximum penalty for each count was five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth set sentencing for February 18, 1993. George was pardoned on December 24, 1992, before sentencing occurred.

Albert Hakim -- Pleaded guilty November 21, 1989, to a misdemeanor of supplementing the salary of Oliver L. North. Lake Resources Inc., in which Hakim was the principal shareholder, pleaded guilty to a corporate felony of theft of government property in diverting Iran arms sales proceeds to the Nicaraguan contras and other activities. Hakim was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell on February 1, 1990, to two years probation and a $5,000 fine; Lake Resources was ordered dissolved.

Robert C. McFarlane -- Pleaded guilty March 11, 1988, to four misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress. U.S. District Chief Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., sentenced McFarlane on March 3, 1989, to two years probation, $20,000 in fines and 200 hours community service. McFarlane was pardoned December 24, 1992.

Richard R. Miller -- Pleaded guilty May 6, 1987, to one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. U.S. District Judge Stanley S. Harris sentenced Miller on July 6, 1989, to two years probation and 120 hours of community service.

Oliver L. North -- Indicted March 16, 1988, on 16 felony counts. After standing trial on 12, North was convicted May 4, 1989 of three charges: accepting an illegal gratuity, aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and destruction of documents. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell on July 5, 1989, to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines and 1,200 hours community service. A three-judge appeals panel on July 20, 1990, vacated North's conviction for further proceedings to determine whether his immunized testimony influenced witnesses in the trial. The Supreme Court declined to review the case. Judge Gesell dismissed the case September 16, 1991, after hearings on the immunity issue, on the motion of Independent Counsel.

John M. Poindexter -- Indicted March 16, 1988, on seven felony charges. After standing trial on five charges, Poindexter was found guilty April 7, 1990, on all counts: conspiracy (obstruction of inquiries and proceedings, false statements, falsification, destruction and removal of documents); two counts of obstruction of Congress and two counts of false statements. U.S. District Judge Harold H. Greene sentenced Poindexter June 11, 1990, to six months in prison on each count, to be served concurrently. A three-judge appeals panel on November 15, 1991, reversed the convictions on the ground that Poindexter's immunized testimony may have influenced the trial testimony of witnesses. The Supreme Court on December 7, 1992, declined to review the case. In 1993, the indictment was dismissed on the motion of Independent Counsel.

Richard V. Secord -- Indicted March 16, 1988 on six felony charges. On May 11, 1989, a second indictment was issued charging nine counts of impeding and obstructing the Select Iran/contra Committees. Secord was scheduled to stand trial on 12 charges. He pleaded guilty November 8, 1989, to one felony count of false statements to Congress. Secord was sentenced by U.S. District Chief Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., on January 24, 1990, to two years probation.

Pre-trial Pardons
Duane R. Clarridge -- Indicted November 26, 1991, on seven counts of perjury and false statements about a secret shipment of U.S. HAWK missiles to Iran. The maximum penalty for each count was five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. U.S. District Judge Harold H. Greene set a March 15, 1993, trial date. Clarridge was pardoned December 24, 1992.

Caspar W. Weinberger -- Indicted June 16, 1992, on five counts of obstruction, perjury and false statements in connection with congressional and Independent Counsel investigations of Iran/ contra. On September 29, the obstruction count was dismissed. On October 30, a second indictment was issued, charging one false statement count. The second indictment was dismissed December 11, leaving four counts remaining. The maximum penalty for each count was five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan set a January 5, 1993, trial date. Weinberger was pardoned December 24, 1992.

Dismissal
Joseph F. Fernandez -- Indicted June 20, 1988 on five counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstructing the inquiry of the Tower Commission and making false statements to government agencies. The case was dismissed in the District of Columbia for venue reasons on the motion of Independent Counsel. A four-count indictment was issued in the Eastern District of Virginia on April 24, 1989. U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton dismissed the four-count case November 24, 1989, after Attorney General Richard Thornburgh blocked the disclosure of classified information ruled relevant to the defense. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va., on September 6, 1990, upheld Judge Hilton's rulings under the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA). On October 12, 1990, the Attorney General filed a final declaration that he would not disclose the classified information.


A still standing page from 1995 with links to the particulars of IranContra, who, what, where, when, how, why.

"http://www.afn.org/~dks/i-c/

[sandnsea]

1. Thank you

You are awesome!

[blm]

2. Well...it's not me who is awesome - it's Kerry.

Sad that so many are unaware that most of what we know here about the BFEE comes directly or indirectly from the efforts undertaken by John Kerry, even while most of Washington refused to support him or his work.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

3. And don't forget ...

The drugs/CIA/terrorists report:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB113/north06.pdf

& the BCCI report:
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/

[blm]

22. Thanks. Hope people read it.

Not only would they appreciate Kerry's work more, but they would get an even fuller view on the involvement of the Bush family and its loyalists.

[sangha]

4. Most people wouldn't even know about the BFEE

if it weren't for John Kerry

[DrFunkenstein]

5. John Poindexter Of Total Info Awareness And Terrorist Gambling Fame

WASHINGTON -- Retired Adm. John Poindexter will resign his position at the Pentagon after the uproar over a research project he was overseeing that included a kind of futures market on political violence in the Middle East.

In the 1980s Poindexter was national security adviser to President Reagan. He was a key figure in the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-terror-market-poindex...

An old Eric Alterman article provides a little background on Poindexter, who is also responsible for DARPA's Total Information Awareness brainfart:

"Oh, and guess who's in charge? John Poindexter, the man who, during the Reagan/Bush administration, claimed under oath that he approved the payoff to the Contras of the profits garnered from selling missiles to terrorists without even so much as mentioning it to President Reagan. He did this, he said at the time, 'on my own authority' in order to 'preserve deniability.'

"But Poindexter could not produce a single piece of paper to support this alarming contention. He also admitted to discussing the implementation of a 'fall guy' plan should the program ever become public, and repeatedly misled Congress about his own involvement in order to hide the illegal program. While being questioned during the Iran-Contra hearings, Poindexter helpfully explained: 'I didn't want Congress to know the details of how we were implementing the president's policy.' To prevent this, he was willing, as he put it, to substitute an 'untruth,' which he did repeatedly."

http://hughhewitt.com/past_news_links_11.02/11.20.02.Kerry_Rises.html

Moving right along memory lane:

Oliver North, who met with Noriega's representative, described the meeting in an August 23, 1986 e-mail message to Reagan national security advisor John Poindexter. "You will recall that over the years Manuel Noriega in Panama and I have developed a fairly good relationship," North writes before explaining Noriega's proposal. If U.S. officials can "help clean up his image" and lift the ban on arms sales to the Panamanian Defense Force, Noriega will "'take care of' the Sandinista leadership for us."

North tells Poindexter that Noriega can assist with sabotage against the Sandinistas, and suggests paying Noriega a million dollars -- from "Project Democracy" funds raised from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran -- for the Panamanian leader's help in destroying Nicaraguan economic installations.

The same day Poindexter responds with an e-mail message authorizing North to meet secretly with Noriega. "I have nothing against him other than his illegal activities," Poindexter writes.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm

Congressional leaders announced an investigation into North's National Security Council network by the newly formed Iran-Contra Select Committee...But from its inception, it was clear this investigation would be limited and sanitized.

For starters, the Democratic chairs of both committees--Sen. Daniel Inoue and Rep. Lee Hamilton--were falling over one another to assure the public this would not be "another Watergate." As Inoue told reporters, the country "isn't ready" for that. Having thus declared their limits, they turned to an investigator who could limit their vision.

http://www.flashpoints.net/anatomyOACoverup.htm

When congressional leaders chose the members of the elite Iran-contra committee, Kerry was left off. Those selected were consensus-politicians, not bomb-throwers.

The feeling among a disappointed Kerry and his staff was that the committee members were chosen to put a lid on things. "He was told early on they were not going to put him on it," Winer recalls. "He was too junior and too controversial . . .. They were concerned about the survival of the republic."

Even some Democrats "thought John was a little hotter than they would like," says Rosenblith.

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/062003.shtml

[yowzayowzayowza]

6. {insert...

banal grand-doublecross-fratboy-conspiracy epithet here}

edit for: :kick:

[blm]

21. hahah...

too true.

[JI7]

7. this is incredible

i love senator kerry. blm , thanks for all this info.

[RichM]

8. The word "Kerry" doesn't appear once in this entire post.

Thus, there's no basis here for evaluating what Kerry's contribution really was. (I know it's awfully tactless of me, to point this out.)

I guess all good little Democrats should just take it on faith, that Mr. Kerry was largely or solely responsible for all these prosecutions?

BTW - how many of them got off, ultimately, with little or no jail time served?

[Octafish]

9. Says Kerry right here. We'd know more but the BFEE killed the witness.

A Short History of Saddam-Bush-Noriega Business

Conspiracy Planet

EXCERPT...

"It should also be remembered how CIA doper George Morales supposedly slipped on a bar of soap in prison and was killed when his head hit the floor," Martin reminds his readers. "That was one day before he was due to be released -- when he was going to Washington to testify before the Kerry Committee hearing."

CONTINUED…

http://www.prisonplanet.com/12200saddamnoriega.html

[WheresWaldo]

spooky...

just out of curiosity, is the CIA known for having done anything right/good?

[Octafish]

12. No. The good things they keep quiet about.

You know how it is with good news. It's not going to lead the broadcast or make the front page.

Besides, I'd venture that 99-percent of CIA officers are good people. The one percent that need to be investigated in daylight call themselves "men of means."

[blm]

20. I don't know about 99% because I think the BFEE

has a few more loyalists than that....I'd guess that about 85% would be a closer figure. I do believe that this election is going to see the good guys in the CIA pitted against the Bush loyalists.

[RichM]

10. It's not the WORD 'Kerry' I'm looking for. It's something solid about

what he supposedly did, that justifies painting him as some sort of courageous fighter for truth. (Which of course he's not, but blm is asserting that he is - so I'm trying to establish on what basis she has formed this regrettable misconception.)

[WheresWaldo]

11. Documents related to the Iran/contra affair (KERRY LINK)

http://www.webcom.com/pinknoiz/covert/contracoke.html

Selections from the Senate Committee Report on
Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy
chaired by Senator John F. Kerry

I. INTRODUCTION
II. THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH RESPONSE TO CONTRA/DRUG CHARGES
III. THE GUNS AND DRUG SMUGGLING INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPS
IV. DRUG TRAFFICKING AND THE COVERT WAR
V. THE PILOTS
VI. U.S. GOVERNMENT FUNDS AND COMPANIES WITH DRUG CONNECTIONS
A. SETCO/HONDU CARIB
B. FRIGORIFICOS DE PUNTARENAS
C. DIACSA
D. VORTEX
VII. THE CASE OF GEORGE MORALES AND FRS/ARDE
VIII. JOHN HULL
IX. THE SAN FRANCISCO FROGMAN CASE, UND-FARN AND PCNE
X. THE CUBAN-AMERICAN CONNECTION
XI. RAMON MILIAN RODRIGUEZ AND FELIX RODRIGUEZ
FOOTNOTES
NARCOTICS TRAFFICKERS AND THE CONTRAS
I. INTRODUCTION
The initial Committee investigation into the international drug trade, which began in April, 1986, focused on allegations that Senator John F. Kerry had received of illegal gun-running and narcotics trafficking associated with the Contra war against Nicaragua.

As the Committee proceeded with its investigation, significant information began surfacing concerning the operations of international narcotics traffickers, particularly relating to the Colombian-based cocaine cartels. As a result, the decision was made to incorporate the Contra-related allegations into a broader investigation concerning the relationship between foreign policy, narcotics trafficking and law enforcement.

While the contra/drug question was not the primary focus of the investigation, the Subcommittee uncovered considerable evidence relating to the Contra network which substantiated many of the initial allegations laid out before the Committee in the Spring of 1986. On the basis of this evidence, it is clear that individuals who provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking, the supply network of the Contras was used by drug trafficking organizations, and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers. In each case, one or another agency of the U.S. government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter.

The Subcommittee found that the Contra drug links included:

--Involvement in narcotics trafficking by individuals associated with the Contra movement.

--Participation of narcotics traffickers in Contra supply operations through business relationships with Contra organizations.

--Provision of assistance to the Contras by narcotics traffickers, including cash, weapons, planes, pilots, air supply services and other materials, on a voluntary basis by the traffickers.

--Payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies.

These activities were carried out in connection with Contra activities in both Costa Rica and Honduras.

The Subcommittee found that the links that were forged between the Contras and the drug traffickers were primarily pragmatic, rather than ideological. The drug traffickers, who had significant financial and material resources, needed the cover of legitimate activity for their criminal enterprises. A trafficker like George Morales hoped to have his drug indictment dropped in return for his financial and material support of the Contras. Others, in the words of Marcos Aguado, Eden Pastora's air force chief:

... took advantage of the anti-communist sentiment which existed in Central America ... and they undoubtedly used it for drug trafficking.<1>

While for some Contras, it was a matter of survival, for the traffickers it was just another business deal to promote and protect their own operations.

[WheresWaldo]

13. From The Nation "What's Right With Kerry"

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040315&s=corn

<snip>

Kerry arrived in the Senate in 1985. This Vietnam War hero turned antiwar leader had been lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. But he entered the body more as the prosecutor he had been in the late 1970s after graduating from Boston College law school. In early 1986 Kerry's office was contacted by a Vietnam vet who alleged that the support network for the CIA-backed Nicaraguan contras (who were fighting against the socialist Sandinistas in power) was linked to drug traffickers. Kerry doubted that the Reagan Administration, obsessed with supporting the contras, would investigate such charges. He pushed for a Senate inquiry and a year later, as chairman of a Foreign Relations subcommittee, obtained approval to conduct a probe.

It was not an easy ride. Reagan Justice Department officials sought to discredit and stymie his investigation. Republicans dismissed it. One anti-Kerry effort used falsified affidavits to make it seem his staff had bribed witnesses. The Democratic staff of the Senate Iran/contra committee--which showed little interest in the contra drug connection--often refused to cooperate. "They were fighting us tooth and nail," recalls Jack Blum, one of Kerry's investigators. "We had the White House and the CIA against us on one side and our colleagues in the Senate on the other. But Kerry told us, 'Keep going.' He didn't let this stuff faze him."

Kerry's inquiry widened to look at Cuba, Haiti, the Bahamas, Honduras and Panama. In 1989 he released a report that slammed the Reagan Administration for neglecting or undermining anti-drug efforts in order to pursue other foreign policy objectives. It noted that the government in the 1970s and '80s had "turned a blind eye" to the corruption and drug dealing of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who had done various favors for Washington (including assisting the contras). The report concluded that "individuals who provided support for the contras were involved in drug trafficking...and elements of the contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers." And, it added, US government agencies--meaning the CIA and the State Department--had known this.

This was a rather explosive finding, but the Kerry report did not provoke much uproar in the media, and the Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill did little to support Kerry and keep the matter alive. His critics derided him as a conspiracy buff. Yet a decade later the CIA inspector general released a pair of reports that acknowledged that the agency had worked with suspected drug smugglers to support the contras. Kerry had been right.

<snip>

stuff like this makes me LOVE Kerry. He's the man, has idealism, conviction, and balls to go up against some of the unsavory characters that he's been up against. I'm hoping Kerry finds more of his old self in the coming weeks. This campaign is going to get ugly ugly ugly, with Repubs pulling every dirty trick in the book.

[Octafish]

16. What WheresWaldo said, plus the BFEE are Gangsters.

These BFEE people are murderers. Here’s one Kerry’s faced down:

John Hull's Great Escape
By Robert Parry

John Hull, the American farmer in Costa Rica whose land became a base for contra raids into Nicaragua, averted prosecution for alleged drug trafficking by fleeing Costa Rica in 1989 with the help of U.S. government operatives.

A report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich disclosed new evidence about Hull's escape from Costa Rica in a plane flown by a pilot who worked for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The report, however, could not reconcile conflicting accounts about the direct involvement of a DEA officer and concluded, improbably, with a finding of no wrongdoing.

The finding makes Bromwich's report the latest chapter in a long saga of U.S. government protection of Hull, a fervent anti-communist who became a favorite of the Reagan-Bush administrations.

For years, however, contra-connected witnesses also cited Hull's ranch as a cocaine transshipment point for drugs heading to the United States. According to Bromwich's report, the DEA even prepared a research report on the evidence in November 1986.
SNIP…

But Hull remained untouchable, although five witnesses implicated him during Sen. John Kerry's investigation of contra-drug trafficking. The drug suspicions just glanced off the pugnacious farmer, who had cultivated close relationships with the U.S. Embassy and conservative Costa Rican politicians.

CONTINUED…

http://www.consortiumnews.com/1990s/consor15.html

[blm]

18. Thanks for kicking.

I was hoping those who thought there were no indictments or convictions would weigh in.

[blm]

17. Hey, Rich, I guess you didn't click the link to read about IranContra.

I also guess you don't understand that this post was written for those Kerry detractors who claim that noone was indicted or convicted.

I guess you also had trouble reading the articles posted by others on this thread that point to Kerry's "dogged" efforts that led to the hearings and indictments.

It's regrettable that hatred for Kerry can incapacitate one's reading and comprehension skills.

[sangh0]

14. kick

.

[MessiahRp]

15. To add to blm's post

I posted this in another thread but it fits much better here...

There was a snippet of this in an article in TIME Magazine.. I actually have the magazine (but no access to the archives) so forgive me for reprinting it here myself by retyping the whole thing and linking to the archive article which you need a subscription to get.

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1101040209-586172,00....

From KERRY'S RECORD (Feb. 9. 2004, TIME)
by Nancy Gibbs and Douglas Waller

"Within weeks of his arrival in the Senate in early 1985, when he was still learning where the bathrooms were and how to make his way around the cavernous Russell Senate Office Building, Kerry got a tip from a Vietnam veteran that the Reagan Administration was illegally providing aid to the contra rebels, circumventing a congressional ban. Within weeks he was on a plane to Nicaragua with another freshman Senator, Tom Harkin, for a 36-hour fact finding trip. Secretary of State George Shultz accused the rookies of being "used" by the Managua regime. "It was a very painful time for us," recalls Jonathan Winer, Kerry's general counsel at the time. But that did not stop Kerry from spending the next 18 months trying to discover what White House aide Oliver North was up to in Central America.

Kerry and North were both sons of Vietnam, both winners of Bronze and Silver Stars and the Purple Heart (three for Kerry, two for North). But North viewed Vietnam as an honorable crusade against communism, and aiding the Nicaraguan contras as the next chapter in that fight. Kerry, for his part, had no tolerance for deception in pursuit of that goal. Kerry boasts on the campaign trail that he "led the fight to expose Oliver North and his private aid network," which is true up to a point. But "he wasn't the only one blowing the whistle," says William LeoGrande, dean of the School of Public Affairs at American University, who was tracking the issue at the time.

Once the entire arms-for-hostages scheme unraveled, it became clear there would have to be a full, formal Iran-contra investigation. But Kerry was kept off the resulting panel. His high profile and relentless digging had made him a little too radioactive by that time. As a consolation prize he was given the chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, which led to the next wave of investigations into Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega's drug trafficking, and money laundering through the Middle Eastern Bank of Credit and Commerce International."

I hope retyping that out for you helps you in your quest to find out more about JK.

[blm]

19. Here's bartcop's list of Reagan and Bush convicted.

http://www.bartcop.com/convictions.htm

And a handy chart:
http://www.law.wayne.edu/Faculty/Fac_web/rothchild/text/Con%20law/Ind%20Coun%20investigations.htm