On This Day: President Bush Grants Pardons for Iran-Contra Defendants

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan admitted that his government had secretly broken a U.S. embargo by selling arms to Iran and using the money to fund the Contras, militants working to overthrow Nicaragua’s socialist government. That action contravened the 1984 Boland Amendment, and provoked a government investigation.

By 1992, Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh’s investigation into the affair had begun to focus on the culpability of President George H.W. Bush, who had been Reagan’s vice president.

But in December, the outgoing President Bush issued pardons for six men facing prosecution for their roles in the affair: Caspar Weinberger, the former secretary of defense, Elliott Abrams, former assistant secretary of state, Robert McFarlane, a former national security adviser, and CIA members Clair George, Alan Fiers Jr. and Duane “Dewey” Clarridge.

George had been convicted of two counts of lying to Congress. Clarridge was facing trial, charged with making false statements to Congress and perjury. Fiers, Abrams and McFarlane had all pleaded guilty, and Weinberger was waiting to stand trial.

Walsh accused Bush of illegally withholding documents related to the investigation and accused the president of using his presidential privilege to avoid personal embarrassment. “The Iran-contra coverup, which has continued for more than six years, has now been completed,” declared Walsh.

Two years later, Walsh issued a report that was highly critical of Bush’s decision to pardon these men, describing it as “the most unjustified act.” However, Walsh made it clear that there was not enough evidence to convict the former president of any wrongdoing.

The president, explains HowStuffWorks, “has the unique ability to override the justice system, release anyone he chooses from paying a fine, and return a person to the state of innocence he had before he ever committed a crime. … The power to pardon is left solely to the discretion of the president, and cannot be reviewed or overturned by any of the other branches of government.”

The have been many controversial and contentious pardons in presidential history. Famous pardons include Andrew Johnson’s pardon of Confederate soldiers, Jimmy Carter’s pardons of Vietnam draft dodgers, Gerald Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich.

ABC News has compiled a slideshow of those involved in the Iran-Contra affair that includes three of the people pardoned: Abrams, Weinberger and McFarlane. Weinberger died in 2006. McFarlane started a company called Global Energy Investors and is on the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s board. Abrams joined the White House as the deputy national security adviser for global democracy strategy.

Dewey Clarridge, as of 2004, was in Iraq looking into allegations that France and Russia had a deal with Saddam Hussein before the war started. A retired CIA officer, Milt Bearden, called Clarridge “an unrepentant cold warrior,” according to the Los Angeles Times.