That was then....this is now

There's so much talk about ethics in Washington, I thought it would be useful to examine the Bush administration in a bit more detail.

In the next few days, I'm planning to look back at the FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS (Lawrence Walsh), August 4, 1993.

And then I'll provide an update as to the whereabouts of the individuals under discussion.

Let's start with Elliott Abrams. This is from Walsh's "Executive Summary":

[O]n November 25, 1986...Attorney General Meese announced that Justice Department officials had discovered that some of the proceeds from the Iran arms sales had been diverted to the contras.

When these operations ended, the exposure of the Iran/contra affair generated a new round of illegality. Beginning with the testimony of Elliott Abrams and others in October 1986 and continuing through the public testimony of Caspar W. Weinberger on the last day of the congressional hearings in the summer of 1987, senior Reagan Administration officials engaged in a concerted effort to deceive Congress and the public about their knowledge of and support for the operations.

...Abrams pleaded guilty in October 1991 to two counts of withholding information from Congress about secret Government efforts to support the contras, and about his solicitation of $10 million to aid the contras from the Sultan of Brunei.

December 24, 1992, George H.W. Bush pardoned Abrams.

The White House, February 2, 2005:

Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Stephen Hadley announced today the appointment of Elliott Abrams as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy...

In his capacity as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy, Mr. Abrams will assist Mr. Hadley in work on the promotion of democracy and human rights, and will provide oversight to the NSC's directorate of Democracy, Human Rights, and International Organization Affairs and its directorate of Near East and North African Affairs. Working with Secretary Rice and Mr. Hadley, he will maintain his involvement in Israeli/Palestinian affairs.

From 1996 through 2001, when he wasn't working with colleagues at the Project for a New American Century, Abrams was President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Snicker.