Lessons of history

The CIA's role in the Iran-Contra scandal is worth remembering, particularly since a number of the same thugs that were responsible for it are again highly placed White House officials in this administration. Mr. Death Squad himself, Negroponte - God help us, is now in charge of homeland intelligence, Otto Reich - a coup monger who is still meddling in Latin American governments, and Elliott Abrams - slipped into the National Security Council without the tiresome necessity of Senate confirmation.

Four years ago, the press had this to say about Abrams but nobody listened.

As Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory recalled, "Members of Congress remember Abrams’s snarling appearances at committee hearings, defending death squads and dictators, denying massacres, lying about illegal US activities in support of the Nicaraguan contras. Abrams sneered at his critics for their blindness and naiveté, or called them ‘vipers’."

Abrams was not merely a mouthpiece or apologist, but an active collaborator in illegal actions which led to thousands of deaths and widespread devastation. He was a regular participant in meetings of CIA, National Security Council and State Department officials who planned the arming of the Contras.

The man is a liar's liar. He lied repeated under oath and got away with it. His "punishment," after causing the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians in Central America, is to sit in a high position of government overseeing human rights. If this was a satirical report on the Daily Show, where it belongs, we would be laughing.

But getting to the news that precipitated this trip down memory lane, here's another Iran-Contra player that slipped into this adminstration without my knowledge. He was a bit player but with a pivotal role.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Robert Earl, who destroyed national security documents during the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal, is working as chief of staff to acting Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, the Pentagon said on Monday.

Earl destroyed and stole national security documents while working for Lt. Col. Oliver North during a secret arms deal with Iran in which the United States passed money from those weapons sales to Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua, according to a report to Congress by independent counsel Lawrence Walsh. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman confirmed Earl was a senior England aide, a fact first reported in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday.

He added, "I wonder why it's an issue now."

It's funny. I never intended to get into the whole London bombing was a CIA conspiracy theory myself, it just sort of happened and I'm surprised to find how much resonance it has across the internet. It appears I'm not the only one who remembered that old US black-ops in Nicaragua.

Me, I'll never forget. I still have the tshirt I literally bought off Abbie Hoffman's back for eight bucks in 1987. It's green with yellow letters and it says: My country invaded Nicaragua and all I got was this lousy tshirt. They called Abbie a conspiracy theorist too.