Word: contras
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...attempt to assure that CIA and NIC reporting conformed to certain key policies dear to the Reagan White House. An assessment of how well or poorly he fulfilled that responsibility may tell more about what kind of CIA director Gates would be than would any number of Iran-contra revelations...
...discussion about the CIA's future, however, has been overshadowed by questions about Gates' past, most notably the extent of his involvement in the Iran-contra affair. That issue scuttled his first shot at the job four years ago, when Ronald Reagan proposed him as agency chief following the resignation of William Casey. Gates had to withdraw because of skepticism in Congress over his claim that Casey had kept him in the dark about the contra-supply operation. The job went instead to then FBI Director William Webster. When Webster announced his retirement in May, Bush nominated Gates...
That might have been the case if Iran-contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh had not unveiled a major surprise in July. Just days before the scheduled start of Gates' hearings, Alan Fiers, a former top CIA official, pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress about his own knowledge of the contra- supply operation. With Fiers willing to testify about the involvement of former CIA colleagues, Walsh's investigation was suddenly rejuvenated: How much of the Iran-contra operation had been directed by the CIA? And just which CIA officials took part...
...Bush, political puppet master Charles Keating and junk-bond giant Michael Milken are among the reluctant celebrities honored in the latest offering from California's Eclipse Enterprises, whose previous politically risque parodies also feature palm-size portraits of front-page phenoms -- such as Neil Bush's dad in Iran-Contra Scandal Trading Cards...
...Clarence Thomas, Bush waited until last month to assign the task to Andrew Card, a Sununu deputy with little congressional savvy. Already facing opposition in the Senate, Gates, whose confirmation hearings begin next week, will find the going even tougher as questions about the agency's role in Iran-contra continue...