Clair E. George, CIA officer who figured in Iran-contra scandal, dies at 81

Source: The Washington Post

Clair E. George, a widely respected veteran of the CIA’s clandestine service who oversaw all global espionage activities for the agency in the mid-1980s and was later convicted of lying to Congress during investigations into the Iran-contra scandal, died Aug. 11 at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.

He was 81 and died of cardiac arrest, said his daughter Leslie George.

Mr. George was the highest-ranking CIA official to stand trial over the biggest White House scandal since Watergate: a White House-led operation to covertly sell weapons to Iran and divert the profits to right-wing Nicaraguan rebels known as the contras.

Mr. George presented himself as someone who never supported the operation. It had been engineered out of the White House by Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, who served on the National Security Council staff. North was then aided by CIA Director William Casey.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/clair-e-george-cia-officer-who-figured-in-iran-contra-scandal-dies-at-81/2011/08/12/gIQAADpzBJ_singlePage.html

were investigating.

seem to live long lives of their own choosing before death or the law catches up with them, unlikeir the victims.

one of the ten best Presidents in all of American history.

Inasmuch as Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, Truman and maybe JFK are pretty much obligatory on any Democrat's list, St. Ronnie got one of Obaam'a remaining 4 or 5 slots.

With deepest apologies to the late Molly Ivins:


The next time I tell you no Democrat who has St. Ronnie on his short list of Presidential heroes should get the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, especially in tough economic times, please pay attention.


Of course, I did not tell anyone, even myself, that last time, but I am say it now. (Btw, Hillary put St. Ronnie on her list, too--and she had one less optional slot than Obama did, which means we really blew our most recent primary big time.)

the Pentagon, it's not good.

And think of all the things I never have read, and never will read about.

We need another Orwell. Seems so 20th century to keep referring to 1984.

He was one of the people who interviewed me for the job there. Seemed like a nice guy at the time.

So are the moonies, the Scientologists, and the Mormons.

Ha!

I think he was one of the older agents who was promoted along the way with the old standards and got caught up in that operation.
He never talked about it much after his conviction.

The true story of Iran/Contra will probably never come out.
It would be too embarrassing to the Reagan legend makers.

I've just checked my files for any mention of him, and though he did get caught up in Iran-Contra, he was not one of the masterminds and had his reservations about what the Reagan people were doing -- for example, he didn't trust Ghorbanifar one bit.

So it's probably not fair to bad-mouth him now that he's dead.

had been prosecuted and Reagan and GWB deservatively impeached and convicted, the World and USA would be much different.

Reagan and GHWB prosecuted some financial criminals -- S&L scandal then Milken, Boetsky, et al for insider trading.

Instead, we got financial deregulation under Clinton, GWB, and Obama and imbedded neo-liberal financial piracy and a MIC and national security state with no accountability.