nnounced that indeed proceeds from the Iran arms sales had been diverted to support the contras. Poindexter resigned and North was dismissed. The United States Constitution specifies the process by which laws and policy are to be made and executed. Constitutional process is the essence of democracy. A democratic form of Government is the basis of the strength of the United States. Time and again it has been proven that a flawed process leads to bad results, and that a lawless process leads to worse. It has been demonstrated repeatedly that “A lawless government is a contradiction in terms .” This particular Administration's departure from democratic processes created the conditions for policy failure, and led to contradictions which undermined the credibility of the United States. The United States simultaneously pursued two contradictory foreign policies during the 1980's. The public policy was to observe the "letter and spirit" of the Boland Amendment's proscriptions against military or paramilitary assistance to the Contras. The United States was not to make any concessions for the release of hostages lest such concessions encourage more hostages taking. Arms shipments to Iran were banned and other Governments were urged to observe this embargo. Measures were to be taken to improve relations with Iraq. The United States was urging all Governments to punish terrorism and to support, indeed encourage, the refusal of Kuwait to free the Da'wa prisoners. These prisoners were Muslim extremists who had bombed the U.S. Embassy and attempted to assassinate our embassy personnel in Kuwait in 1983. In 1985 this same group of terrorists had hijacked a TWA jet in Beirut and executed two Americans. Finally, the public policy, which was embodied in Executive Order 12333, was to conduct covert operations solely through the CIA or other organs of the intelligence community specifically authorized by the President. While ...
