Cheney on Iran-Contra

In light of the new disclosures about Vice President Dick Cheney’s modus operandi in the ‘Washington Post,’ particularly the allusions to his indifference to public or Congressional opinion, his quotation from almost exactly 20 years ago on the significance of the Iran-contra scandal on future foreign policy-making takes on a certain irony.

“No policy can be effective for long without the wholehearted support of the Congress and the American people,” he concluded as the top-ranking Republican on the House Iran-contra committee.

His remark was interpreted by the New York Times at the time as meaning: “Rather than new laws, the most significant produce of the Iran-contra affair is likely to be a sharper awareness on the part of the White House – Reagan’s and those that follow – of the need to undertake policies that have political acceptance. Presidents and their aides will not be able to ignore the political hazards of pursuing secret policies outside the bounds of the system.”

Jim Lobe

Jim Lobe served for some 30 years as the Washington DC bureau chief for Inter Press Service and is best known for his coverage of U.S. foreign policy and the influence of the neoconservative movement.

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