Word: contra
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...start of last week Baker did. Though Reagan claims that Fahd offered his contra contribution voluntarily, Baker asserted that the President would have been within his rights to ask for the money outright. "I've been absolutely astonished to hear people say that it was illegal for . . . the President to solicit funds for the contras," the chief of staff declared on NBC's Meet the Press. The Boland amendment, he said, "never mentioned the President...
Baker's remarks signaled a surprising new White House strategy in coping with what has emerged as a central question posed by Congress's hearings about the Iran-contra affair: Did Ronald Reagan violate U.S. law? Reagan and his aides have begun freely admitting that he was deeply involved in encouraging private support for the contras during the period when the Boland amendment barred "direct or indirect" U.S. aid. But they argued that the amendment simply did not apply to the President -- and if it had, it would have been unconstitutional...
This new "Yes, but it wasn't illegal" tack is part of a broader White House attempt to shift the focus of the Iran-contra drama. As long as Reagan and other top officials were pleading ignorance, each new disclosure about their ties to Oliver North's secret contra-supply network qualified as a front-page headline. Now the Administration is stipulating that it did indeed support the contra cause but that this was well within the bounds of the shifting congressional restrictions that existed between 1983 and 1986. Thus the very real moral and political questions about a secret...
Assistant Secretary of State Abrams is scheduled to testify June 2 and can expect tough grilling. Retired Army Major General John Singlaub testified that Abrams last March had "concurred in" his soliciting of contra contributions from two countries (Taiwan and South Korea) and had promised to send a "signal" that Singlaub had the Government's blessing. Later, said Singlaub, Abrams told him that solicitation of one country, apparently Taiwan, would be handled at the "highest level." Singlaub took that to mean "someone in the White House." Abrams disputes parts of this account...
...Boland amendment is far from the only statute that may have been violated by Government officials involved in the Iran-contra affair. Indeed, almost every day of the congressional hearings brings to light at least a hint of illegalities going beyond Boland. Some examples...