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• Tuesday, December 2, 2008 09:26 AM

  But but but...

  I understand that Eric Holder didn't exactly display Saturday Night Massacre morals in his handling of Marc Rich. I really do. I understand, and in fact believe, that the blogosphere should fully and deeply vet every nomination decision and statement by President-Elect Barack Obama. And keep on doing so when he becomes president. It's truth to power, and it is a good thing.

  What I don't understand, and haven't understood since Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, or maybe before, when he himself was being prosecuted for a blow job, or maybe even before that, when he Haircutgate and Travelgate and all the other -gates were being thrown up for 8 years, is this:

  Why is the pardon of Marc Rich an enduring and deep scandal worthy of 8 years of deliberation, and the pardon of Casper Weinberger, Elliot Abrams, Bud McFarlane, Duey Clarridge, Alan Fiers, and Clair George is not?

  I mean, to their credit, the Iran-Contra people were not multi-millionaires accused of cheating on their taxes and fleeing the country, so that must be it, right? Everyone knows that deliberately subverting the Boland Amendment and raising and spending funds not appropriated by Congress through sales of missiles to Iran and funding people accused of running death squads -- all just water over the dam, not worth the scrutiny of a foul and evil guy like Marc Rich, right?

  Only reason for bringing this up (except that someday I'd really like an answer) is that another appointment was involved with these other pardonees, he also argued vociferously, or perhaps à la Gonzales, rope-a-dopedly, on their behalf: In congressional testimony, under oath, case dropped without indictment due to Lawrence Walsh being unable to penetrate the defenses, à la Scooter Libby trial.

  Here's a link to Amy Goodman on Bob Gates approval processes in the past:

  http://www.democracynow.org/2006/11/9/defense_secretary_nominee_robert_gates_tied

  I am trying, I really am. I know that if torture is not as high a crime or misdemeanor as receiving oral sex, then it makes sense that supporting death squads, selling missiles, and subverting the express will of Congress with illegally raised funds aren't as despicable a pardon as Marc Rich. But the scholars of the law that are delving into Eric Holder need to explain the silence on Dr. Robert M. Gates to me, please, one more time. I sat through each and every minute of the Iran-Contra hearings, read the Tower Commission report, read Lawrence Walsh's book, read Mitchell and Cohen's book, and I just don't understand how Marc Rich ends up closer to Pol Pot than the guys George H.W. Bush pardoned.

  —ondelette Read ondelette's other letters
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