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The Iran-Contra Hearings
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13442 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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Date : |
9 / 1987 |
2,720 Words |
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Barry Goldwater, Robert Byrd, Henry Hyde, William Broomfield
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A Waste of Time
BY BARRY GOLDWATER
Barry Goldwater is a former U.S. senator from Arizona.
During most of the time that the hearings on Lt. Col. Oliver North were in process, I was in Washington, D.C., and had an opportunity to see the television almost constantly on the subject. There was no question in my mind that Colonel North came out of those hearings quite a far distance ahead of both the House and the Senate.
It became perfectly obvious from the outset that the purpose of the hearings was to get the president. Every method known to man, lawyers, and politicians came into play during those hearings. Furthermore, members of Congress were not allowed to interrogate Colonel North. He was interrogated mostly by lawyers representing both houses. The object of their interrogation was President Reagan, but no matter how they tried, they could not get the lieutenant colonel to back off and put the load on the president.
My personal opinion is that the hearings have been, and will continue to be, a waste of time unless the members of Congress take over and do their own interrogating. That is the purpose of congressional hearings: to allow members of Congress the opportunity to find out for themselves what is wrong and then discuss among themselves what can be done in a legislative way to correct any misdeeds that occurred. So far, no misdeeds have shown
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