Word: scams
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Everyone's second favorite suffix, -scam, as in Abscam, has also had a heavy workout (Iranscam, or the rather infelicitous NSCam), as have various "connections" (the Contra Connection, the Swiss Connection, the Tehran Connection). More whimsical designations usually focus on the scandal's most intriguing character: Ollie's Follies, Oliver's Twist, Cuckoo Iran and Ollie, and even (for fans of '50s rock 'n' roll) the Buddy-Ollie Story. Reagan's foes have played the name game with partisan glee: Dutch's Clutch, Gippergate, Iranaround, Iranoutaluck . . . well, you get the idea...
...most startling of all, Reagan and Meese were asking the nation to believe something that seemed flat- out incredible: that Ollie North, a furtive, 43-year-old member of the NSC staff who operated out of an office across the street from the White House, had arranged the contra scam without the knowledge of the State Department, the Defense Department, the CIA, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House chief of staff or anyone in authority except his boss, Poindexter, who did nothing to stop...
...judgment can be, and in Reagan's case regularly have been, forgiven. But this disaster throws a pitiless light on the way the President does his job, confirming the worst fears of both his friends and his critics. Simultaneously stumbling into the Iran fiasco and allowing a bizarre scam to fund the contras to take place had an impact powerful enough to scar Teflon precisely because the events seemed to reveal personal characteristics that were both fundamental and worrisome...
...meantime, congressional committees are rushing to schedule hearings, many of which will focus on the possible involvement of other Government officials or agencies in the Iran-contras scam. First up: the Senate Intelligence Committee, which was scheduled to hold hearings Monday to investigate what might have been known by Casey and the CIA, which keeps close tabs on the contras and set up a Swiss bank account to receive money paid by Iran for U.S. arms. Says Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat: "I don't see how the money could be transferred, the logistics could be handled...
...murder case began when Hunt himself became the victim of a scam. Ronald Levin, a wealthy, self-styled free-lance journalist, told Hunt he had put $5.2 million in a brokerage account for Hunt to trade with. Hunt's investment decisions soon made the bundle grow to $13.5 million. When he began pressing Levin for his promised share of the profit, Levin would not pay up. There was no investment account, Levin confessed, only a fake one set up with the broker's cooperation on the pretense that Levin was doing a story about commodities. Hunt did not react kindly...