Word: roles
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Only 22% think North's actions in diverting Iran arms profits to the contras were legal; 58% say he acted illegally. Nevertheless, 69% answered no when asked whether North "should be sent to jail for his role in the Iran-contra matter...
...government of Nicaragua. But North declared, "I never in my wildest dreams or nightmares envisioned that we would end up with criminal charges." Now faced with that dire possibility through the investigation of Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh, North made it clear that he had rebelled against his self-described role as the Administration's appointed "fall guy." He would go, all right, but not alone...
Whatever the President's role in the diversion, North's sweeping testimony left the firm impression that the late CIA director William Casey had masterminded the covert operations that were designed to achieve two of Reagan's most cherished policy goals: to win the release of U.S. hostages in Lebanon, and to keep the contras fighting in Nicaragua, even if Congress would not provide U.S. funds for that purpose. When Congress passed the Boland amendment in 1984, specifically banning all agencies "involved in intelligence activities" from providing military support to the Nicaraguan rebels, Casey simply shifted his previous contra support...
Rather than apologize for lying to congressional committees about his role in the contra military effort, North boasted, "I didn't want to show Congress a single word on this whole thing." Said he: "Lying does not come easy to me. But we all had to weigh in the balance the difference between lives and lies." Yet North seemed caught in a contradiction between this assertion and his insistence that his support for the Nicaraguan rebels was always in full compliance with...
Still, Liman and House Chief Counsel John Nields managed to sketch some broader themes than North's more limited view of how a democracy functions. Nields pounced on North's complaint that his contra support role had been publicized in Moscow, Havana and Managua. "All our enemies knew it," replied Nields solemnly, "and you wanted to conceal it from the United States Congress...