Word: contra
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Leaks are to Washington as cars are to Detroit. "Unauthorized disclosures" are the capital's chief commodity, and recently the city has had to cope with a surplus. Before the Senate Intelligence Committee managed to finish its probe of the Iran-contra affair last month, several versions of its report got into circulation prematurely. Minnesota's David Durenberger, the ranking Republican, even slipped the findings to Ronald Reagan; word of that indiscretion also leaked, provoking a minor uproar...
Gates' closeness to Casey has prompted speculation about his role in the Iran-contra scandal. The Senate Intelligence Committee has noted that Gates was aware of the possibility of illegal diversion of Iran-arms profits to the Nicaraguan contras last October, more than a month before Attorney General Edwin Meese discovered the scheme and reported it to the President. When Gates heard of the diversion from a CIA desk officer, the Intelligence Committee reported, he and Casey did nothing more than ask National Security Council Aide Oliver North if their agency was involved. After North assured them...
North's career and reputation have fallen into limbo since Nov. 25, when he was fired by Ronald Reagan for his central role in the Iran-contra scandal. The man whom the President described as a "national hero" has become a pariah to the embattled Administration. White House aides depict North as an overzealous underling who misled his colleagues and superiors and perverted the President's foreign policy. When a high-ranking Reagan official asked about inviting North for dinner, the State Department's legal adviser, Abraham Sofaer, told him to "forget...
...Trojes, however, is the closest journalists can get these days to covering the elusive war between the Sandinistas and the contras. For the past year, not a single reporter for a major U.S. publication or TV network has been allowed past Las Trojes to spend time with the contras. Questions about whether the contras received money from U.S. arms sales to Iran dominate the headlines and the Reagan Administration vows to seek continued aid for the rebels, but there is little reporting on exactly how the contras are faring in the field. Even after thousands of newly armed rebels began...
...officials in the region insist that they favor more coverage, but CIA officers apparently feel different. "There are turf and policy battles going on," says an observer familiar with the guerrilla operation. "The State Department wants to provide access for correspondents because it needs to convince Congress that continued contra funding is worthwhile. The CIA reckons the chances of winning are better without the press looking over its shoulder...