Iran-Contra scandal,was it necessary?
450995
Probably not.\n\nHowever, people in power will always test the limits.\n\nPresident Reagan had a vision to rid this hemisphere of communists.  \nCongress had other ideas.  \nWithout $$$ from Congress there wasn’t going to be any Contra movement.\nEnter the rats, who did find the money, unfortunately they created even bigger problems.(drug and gun running, arming Iran, getting into bed with Saudi etc)\nGreat idea, poor execution, mixed results, lame hearings, few convictions, lots of talk, little historical value…, but it does show that the President can get things going that Congress don’t approve and end up hurting the country.
777946
He didn't get blamed..GMAB....besides he was given a full pardon by Bush Sr.\n\nHe took over where RM left off.....who had done the deal thru Israel.\n\nON came up with a hair brain idea to sell arms directly to Iran and to funnel the money to Nicaraguan guerrilla fighters....in hopes there would be no money trail...obviously that didn't work.\n\nOh...and they sold drugs too
167395
At the time of President Kennedy's assasination, there was speculation that the government itself was involved.  There also was speculation that Lyndon Johnson may have had something to do with it, or the Mafia, or Fidel Castro, or the unions, and the list goes on.  Evidently Mr. Kennedy stepped on a few toes along the way, so it's hard to know if there was a conspiracy.  The Warren Commission said there was no conspiracy, but then, just how deeply did they really dig to get to the truth?  We may never know the answer to your question!
922996
David Koresh wasn't against the US. He had his own agenda that was misleading himself and his followers. He didn't do anything illegal outside his "compound". If he did, it was never reported. The only thing he was suspected of was illegal weapons, and that is not known. Inside, he did have sex with young girls in his flock with girls and parents consent. Wrong for sure, but it wasn't known until after they died.\nWhat happened was a major blooper that Clinton and Reno got away with. He was given more freebies than any president in history. America let him get away with murderer; more than once. This one being the worse because of the number of people and the children.
133559
I remember when Clinton had a missile launched into a country without the declaration of war (Pakistan I think  it was). I remember it was mentioned on the news like it was nearly an everyday news item. They moved on to the next topic so fast that both my husband and I looked at each other and said, "That was odd." We were not stating that as much about the missile attack but that it didn't draw more of a story. A few days later the debris was on the news and it was a small story that there was misinformation and instead of it being a WMD (chemical weapons) production site, evidence showed that it was just a pharmacuetical maker. The news barely covered it and no one seemed ruffled that we shot a missile into a country without permission nor a declaration of war.\n\nSo no, I don't think there would be near as much media bruhaha if it had been Clinton.
213908
I think it was historically very necessary , though a lot of mistakes followed the wonderful destruction of Saddam and his cowered group who run away filled with fear hiding underground . The people there in Iraq deserves much of this sacrifice , keeping in mind , most of their misery was due to bad USA attitude in supporting Saddam and other\nprimitive regimens in arab world , without this support ,Iraqis possioly could at previous time get rid of this devil
710441
No, it was an important aspect of the overall story.  There was a need to explain how the Republic collapsed and the Empire rose. It also showed the brilliance and patience of Palpatine and how he was able to undermine an institution that stood for a thousand years.  It bridged the gap between the past and the future.  It was very essential.
1114262
NO - They violated laws and took short cuts\nWe need Honest Americans
1101466
Seems like a lecture to me. I do not need a lesture but thanks anyway. No tip of iceberg, Senate committee throwing around their weight & Safavian was convicted of lying to an ethics officer.\nIf they start convicting people for lying, they will empty DC & then come for the rest of us. Dull news!
1002203
Some dodgy defending and mis-understanding between goalkeeper and defender!\nThat was Iran's 'secret weapon'.
784898
Someone in the White House erased about fifteen minutes of tap that was the famous gap. That fueled everyone's suspicion that the White House was lying about the President's role in the Whitewater burglary at the National Offices of the Democratic Party in Washington DC.\nThe infamous plumbers went into the Democrats National Offices and got caught in the process. These hack spy's worked directly out of an office in the Whitehouse.\nPresident Richard Nixon was forced to resign his Office or face certain impeachment and undoubtedly stand trail for breaking the law.\nWatergate is an amazing story as interesting and disturbing as the Iraq War story is in terms of the health of our Democracy. In both cases, the President of the United States willfully broke the laws of the land and put the Country into a Constitutional crisis that undermined the confidence of the people in the nature and execution of the institutions of the United States Government.\nOf course the later crisis is not over yet, but there has been no official oversite over the conduct of President Bush leading up to the invasion of Iraq. (It is coming however, don't miss it!)
1103397
It is an issue in the past.  It was involved in the circumstances and political climate of its day, and there does not appear to be any sabotage intended.  It simply happened, in the open, up front.  There was nothing underhanded in that it was not ratified.
493013
perhaps, but it is up to us to help push for a full investigation of the administration. Fitzgerald may not have jurisdiction to investigate the entire story (only the leak part), so we need to write congress people and insist on a congressional investigation on this. if democrats get elected this November then this will also help make the investigation possible. these allegations should not be taken lightly nor dismissed as partisan tactics; we are talking about war crimes here. and most of all, i think US troops deserve to know that they were sent to Iraq through legal and legitimate means
1078476
Its a fine line between "information" and "need to know."  I think punishment might be warranted in this case because the data the government was snooping on is kept by private companies for marketing purposes anyway.  Now that al queda knows they can't move money around this way it hinders the governments ability to catch people bent on killing all of us.  I think they errored badly in this case; and should be punished.  However I reallly think the "leak" needs to be identified and imprisoned.  (even if its a Congressmen).  This kind of "leak" can cost people their lives.
790963
You know I  have often answered this question in my mind and thought how can Americans see what was happening in the Iran-Contra affair and not just gasp at the implications that were easily drawn from it as it came out. Watergate was a silly, doeflly stupid blunder of cops and robbers played out by wannabees yet it toppled a government and put the first unelected American President (Gerald Ford) into office. On the other hand the Iran-Contra Affair was a well conceived, devious attempt to forstall the will of the American people whose representatives had voted to stop funding the Contra cause. They felt so sure that they were right, that the conspiritors skirted around the law and did what they wanted too. Apply that to any other situation and see where it goes too. The Clinton thing was a set up from the power of the Congress. Warren G harding who died in office in 1921 was caught in one of  the closets of the the White House by his wife "pounding" his secratary Nothing was ever said to the press and she was surely not prosecuted. I mean what is the basis for "High crimes and misdomeanors." in that personal, private, consenting act? Ken Star spent $74 million dollars of our money prosecuting that case and found virtually nothing. now look at the progess of the mischief of the republicans from bumbling thieves to cunning conspiritors. why because they Republicans realized they needed to get work smarter not harder. So they created Republican "think tanks" which made their little mischief so much more effective as the last 40 years has gone by. Ben Franklin, Washington and Jefferson warned us not to be afraid of the outside enemies but be very afraid of the enemies from within. Learn history or relive it.
635426
No. Sounds comicly but if it is good - no trace. Just recall president Nixon's Watergate affair. It leaked out to publick after a very, very small possibility appeared.\n\nIf this leak failed, we'd never know of it. \n\nYour question in another way:\n\nHow much of the (high) politics remains "behind the curtain"?\n\nHow often our lives and wellbeing depends on hose "behind the curtain" facts?\n\nFor example it is very strange that such a higly civilized country like US, at first puts request to Iraq just to let inspector in. After Iraq let hem in to stay and inspect as much as they wished, the same civilizeed country changed it to "We have to attack Iraq because our inspectors failed"\n\nThat's a nonsense of the immense dimesnions. Some reporters did attack it. But with us, common people, majority simply missed to notice\n\ndon, toronto
605230
Getting caught \nHe should have had a buffer between him and the controversy \nand a patsy to blame it on.\nAbove all he should have not got involved and betrayed the voters that put him in office.