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What kind of criminal prosecutions might grow out of the Iran-contra affair? The answer can be found in Title 18, Section 371 of the U.S. Code. In exceptionally sweeping language, that statute declares: "If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose . . . each shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both...
Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh has already used that provision to convict two minor Iran-contra figures. Fund Raisers Carl Channell and Richard Miller have pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to defraud the U.S. of tax money; the pair solicited supposedly deductible contributions for the entirely nondeductible purpose of buying weapons for the contras. In negotiations with congressional investigating committees, Walsh has left no doubt that conspiracy is the main charge he intends to bring against many more prominent people. Says a source close to Walsh's investigation: "Conspiracy could take in the whole picture." That was pretty much...
Walsh might also charge some people, particularly North, Richard Secord and others who shredded documents, with conspiracy to obstruct justice. Legal experts predict Walsh will further seek indictments against officials, including North and possibly Robert McFarlane, who helped draft a chronology of the Iran-contra affair that contained serious inaccuracies. The chronology was intended to prepare the President for his Nov. 19 press conference and to help guide the late CIA Director William Casey through his congressional testimony. Here the charge would be conspiracy to suborn perjury. Walsh would not have to prove that Casey or anyone else actually gave...
...more dire than the disease. Intellectuals reacted to the TV quiz-show scandals of the late 1950s with an outrage that now seems comically disproportionate to the offense; a prominent political science professor wrote at the time, "The moral fiber of America itself stands revealed." Just as the Iran-contra hearings began as a road-show Watergate, it is easy to find other 20th century parallels to today's eviscerated ethics. As New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan puts it, "If you want to read about Tammy Bakker, read Sinclair Lewis. If you want to read about insider trading, read...
...were to show a similar ability to understand their moral accountability for their actions, perhaps an air of redemption would ensue. But the new American gospel is damage control, using the arts of public relations to deflect blame. "Mistakes were made," was President Reagan's explanation for the Iran- contra affair. His absolute refusal to admit even the slightest responsibility for the ethical chaos around him is telling...