Word: iran-contra
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...British do not have to worry about their lack of a written constitution. They have in Parliament what is known as a question hour, which acts as a check on executive power. Our history with Watergate and the Iran-contra affair makes me think it might be a good idea for our President to appear monthly before a congressional committee to report what he knows about this or is doing about that. We separate our governmental branches a little too much...
Lieut. Colonel Oliver North spent nearly three years coordinating arms purchases and helping to raise money for the contra rebels fighting in Nicaragua. But none of North's secret activities may prove as vital to the rebels as his testimony before the Iran-contra committees. As millions of Americans watched on television, North pleaded passionately for support of efforts to overthrow Nicaragua's Marxist Sandinista junta. He was even permitted to deliver his patented fund-raising pitch, minus the projection of 57 slides that usually accompany the spiel. Holding a photograph of a makeshift contra grave, North, his voice choking...
...mere fact that the tranquil-looking admiral could claim that this was the case illustrates what was so dangerously wrong about the Iran-contra operation. At every step of the way, it was designed to avoid the political accountability that is at the heart of American democracy. The authorizations and findings required for the Iranian arms deals either were never sent to the proper officials or were destroyed and conveniently forgotten. Gunrunning to the contras was handled by a network of ragtag profiteers coordinated by a colonel on the National Security Council staff. And the President...
...fate of any of these reforms will ultimately depend on officials whose sense of patriotism is informed by a sincere belief in the rule of law and the workings of democracy. The relentless Iran-contra testimony has been a painful as well as prolonged process, but it has also offered up a sound civics lesson to a nation celebrating the 200th anniversary of its Constitution: that + America is a nation of laws, of checks and balances, and of policies that must be accountable to elected officials and ultimately the people...
Balancing a democracy's demands for public accountability with its need to conduct covert activities in a dangerous world has always been maddeningly difficult. But if the Iran-contra affair proves anything, it may be that policies able to stand up under democratic scrutiny tend to be better, even wiser, than those designed to avoid it. Operating the shadowy network that handled arms deals with Iran and funneled funds to the contras required a prolonged series of lies to Congress and the American people, the deception of U.S. allies, and keeping top Cabinet officials and perhaps even the President...