Shades of Reagan, shades of Nixon?
In this 1992 review of Theodore Draper's book A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs, the reviewer says,
"Draper thinks there is much to learn from the Iran-Contra affairs. Above all, despite the reforms of the seventies, few formal restraints exist to halt another Oliver North from running covert foreign policy from the NSC. The Reagan White House had contempt for Congress and suspected the loyalties of the bureaucrats of State, Defense, and the CIA -- shades of the Nixon White House. Reagan and Vice President George Bush knew about the general outlines of North's activities in Iran and Central America and approved of them. They did not find it difficult to convince themselves that they were acting legally and properly.
And North and his cronies almost got away with it. Suppose they had been cleverer and more professional, or Hasenfus had not been shot down, or all of the hostages had been freed? Draper suggests improvements in Congress's oversight functions as one possible future fail safe. But he worries that an authoritarian president willing to wield arbitrary power would still be able to foil legaslative and judicial attempts to restore the constitutional balance. Whatever reforms result from the Iran-Contra affairs, Draper has performed a most valuable service indeed working his way through mountains of documents to make sense of this astoundingly complicated scandal."
Is this what's coming? As I was reading this all I could think about was the secrecy and self-righteousness of the Bush Administration. If they've done it once -- and many of the top people in this current Administration were in the Reagan Administration -- then they'll do it again. All that will change will be the details; the theme will stay the same.
If one or both houses of Congress go Democrat, will the Administration be forced into doing even more things covertly? Will Congress ever provide ANY oversight of this Administration?
Source: Small, M. (1992, June). The new adventures of Larry, Moe, and Curly: Oliver North's private enterprise. Reviews in American History, 20, 270-275. Retrieved November 1, 2006, from JSTOR database.
"Draper thinks there is much to learn from the Iran-Contra affairs. Above all, despite the reforms of the seventies, few formal restraints exist to halt another Oliver North from running covert foreign policy from the NSC. The Reagan White House had contempt for Congress and suspected the loyalties of the bureaucrats of State, Defense, and the CIA -- shades of the Nixon White House. Reagan and Vice President George Bush knew about the general outlines of North's activities in Iran and Central America and approved of them. They did not find it difficult to convince themselves that they were acting legally and properly.
And North and his cronies almost got away with it. Suppose they had been cleverer and more professional, or Hasenfus had not been shot down, or all of the hostages had been freed? Draper suggests improvements in Congress's oversight functions as one possible future fail safe. But he worries that an authoritarian president willing to wield arbitrary power would still be able to foil legaslative and judicial attempts to restore the constitutional balance. Whatever reforms result from the Iran-Contra affairs, Draper has performed a most valuable service indeed working his way through mountains of documents to make sense of this astoundingly complicated scandal."
Is this what's coming? As I was reading this all I could think about was the secrecy and self-righteousness of the Bush Administration. If they've done it once -- and many of the top people in this current Administration were in the Reagan Administration -- then they'll do it again. All that will change will be the details; the theme will stay the same.
If one or both houses of Congress go Democrat, will the Administration be forced into doing even more things covertly? Will Congress ever provide ANY oversight of this Administration?
Source: Small, M. (1992, June). The new adventures of Larry, Moe, and Curly: Oliver North's private enterprise. Reviews in American History, 20, 270-275. Retrieved November 1, 2006, from JSTOR database.
posted by a librarian at 9:50 AM
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