President Ronald Reagan with Attorney General Edwin Meese

On the 25th anniversary of the Iran-Contra affair, the Freedom of Information Act has allowed the public to view a document that exonerated President Reagan for his actions taken during the Iran-Contra scandal.  A previously classified report, written by Associate Independent Counsel Christian Mixter in 1991, concluded that:  

It would be difficult to prosecute Reagan for violating the Arms Export Control Act mandating congressional notification of arms transfers through a third country — Israel in the case of the Reagan White House's secret arms sales to Iran in 1985. The reason, said Mixter, was that (Attorney General) Meese had told Reagan the National Security Act could be invoked to supersede the export control act. 

The independent investigator concluded that President Reagan was not guilty of any criminal activity even though he found that, “Reagan was briefed in advance about every weapons shipment.”  And, he was not guilty only because the Attorney General stated after-the-fact that he “could have” invoked the National Security Act to supercede the legal requirements of the Arms Export Control Act. 

That is absurd. 

What does selling arms to Iran and using the proceeds to support the Contras in Nicaragua have to do with the national security of this country?  Plus, if Attorney General Edwin Meese really felt that it was justified, then why didn’t he inform Congress and invoke the National Security Act at the time that these actions took place? 

The answers to these questions are obvious.  The Reagan Administration knew that the National Security Act did not apply, and they knew that if they would have tried to invoke it at the time of the shipments that Congress would have prevented them from implementing their illegal scheme. 

What is even more absurd is that the results of the independent counsel’s investigation were not made available to the public decades ago.  If the American people would have been informed of this extremely questionable exoneration shortly after the Iran-Contra scandal took place, there would have been public protests calling for full accountability.    

As it is, last Friday’s article received back page coverage in the media.  Front page news was dominated by the Euro crisis, Newt’s rise in the polls and a potential civil war in Egypt.  The Reagan exoneration article was lost in the media minutiae. 

People simply shrugged their shoulders and asked, “What is Iran-Contra?” 

What this does demonstrate, however, is that America has a gaping hole in its “Checks and Balance” protections provided in the U.S. Constitution.  The executive branch of our government can claim that its rights under the National Security Act trump any existing law in regard to any action they may take, regardless of how blatantly criminal or heinous that act may be. 

In effect, the foreign rights provided to the president by the National Security Act of 1947, and by extension the domestic cover provided by the Patriot Act of 2001, have given any presidential administration a “Get out of Jail Free Card.” 

In the event of an alleged illegal act by the executive branch, all that any administration needs to do is call for an investigation by an independent counsel.  The independent counsel will, of course, investigate the actions taken by the Attorney General at the time of the alleged transgression.  The AG will simply state (ex post facto) that, “We could have invoked our rights under the National Security Act, and/or the Patriot Act, which would have negated any other applicable laws,” and “Presto,” the president and his staff would be in the clear.  This would be followed by a 25 year "Top Secret" classification period for the independent counsel’s report, to allow time for the events to vanish down the memory hole of public concern. 

A recent example of the use of this “Get out of Jail Free Card” by the executive branch is evidenced by the actions that have been taken in regard to the torture, habeas corpus suspension, and illegal detention acts conducted by the Bush administration.  In August of 2009, Attorney General Holder appointed John Durham, a federal prosecutor from Connecticut, to be the independent counsel investigating the torture allegations against the Bush administration. 

Almost two and a half years have gone by, and the public has heard nothing from John Durham.  And, we never will – at least until decades from now when his report is declassified.  Durham has interviewed Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales. Both AGs most certainly stated that the alleged abuses would have been negated had they invoked the presidential rights under the National Securities Act and/or the Patriot Act.  And, Durham’s classified report now rests in a locked file cabinet at the Department of Justice.   

In 2035, during the second term of President Jenna Bush, the ACLU will finally obtain the right to view the Durham report through the Freedom of Information Act, and the Associated Press will write an article about the exoneration of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Addington and Yoo.  It will be a side-panel report on our home Cyber News Wall.  The main-panel cyber stories will be dominated by the "real" news of the day:

o  The recently announced timetable for pulling our troops out of Pakistan.

o  The Israeli expansion of settlements in the Lebanon and Syrian territories acquired during the Six-Day War of '27.

o  The recent ruling by SCOTUS allowing capital punishment sentences for doctors found guilty of performing abortions.

o  The recent NRA victory in acquiring legal protection for university professors who bring hand grenades into the classroom.