President Barack Obama bestowed the nation's highest civilian honor on former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton when he awarded him, along with another fellow Hoosier. William Ruckelshaus, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A White House press release credited Hamilton with being one of the "most influential voices on international relations and American national security over the course of his more than 40 year career," including chairmanship of the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Iran-Contra Select Committee. He was also credited for his roles chairing the Iraq Study Group and serving as Vice-Chair of the 9/11 Commission since leaving Congress.
Frankly, it is an insult to all Americans and his fellow Hoosiers that this high civilian honor was bestowed on Hamilton by the President. All of the reasons cited for awarding Hamilton this award are the very reasons he is not deserving of this honor. The fact is that Hamilton never served the role of watch dog over the nation's growing military/industrial complex; rather, he served as their favorite go-to Democrat to cover up their most insidious creations. The list of his treachery is so long it's difficult to no where to start.
Hamilton should be ashamed of his role in helping cover up the cause of the death of 909 Americans in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978, which included dozens of his fellow Hoosiers and a congressional colleague and leading critic of the CIA, U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan (D-CA). If Rep. Ryan had not been assassinated at the People's Temple compound run by former Indianapolis resident, Rev. Jim Jones, he would have been able to tell the American people about how the CIA employed Jones in a sick and twisted mind control program at Jonestown that equated to a Nazi-like human concentration camp. Hamilton and his fellow Committee on Foreign Affairs members, including two other Indiana congressman, Dan Quayle and Floyd Fithian, covered up the CIA's role in Jonestown during its investigation of Ryan's assassination, one of the only sitting members of Congress ever to be assassinated in the performance of his duties. Hamilton and his colleagues even heaped praise on Richard Dwyer, the CIA station chief who was present during the massacre that took place on November 18, 1978.
In 1986, Hamilton and fellow U.S. Rep. Dick Cheney were very quick to dismiss media reports that Lt. Col. Oliver North was involved in an arms-running operation for the Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the Nicaraguan government with money raised by selling arms to Iran in exchange for the release of American-held hostages. When one of the American planes funding the Contras was shot down in October, 1986, the truth could no longer be denied. To the law-breakers good fortune, Hamilton was put in charge of the congressional investigation, which covered up Vice President Bush's role in leading the illegal operation, as well as the drug-running operation that utilized an air strip owned in Costa Rica near the border with Nicaragua owned by one of Hamilton's constituents, John Hull. It was Hamilton who decided to allow Oliver North to testify under a grant of immunity, making it impossible for the independent counsel investigating the crimes to bring those responsible to justice. It wasn't until after Hamilton left Congress that the House Intelligence Committee was finally able to conclude in 2000 the CIA's role in protecting drug traffickers, which Hamilton had always dismissed as the stuff of conspiracy theorists.
Hamilton's crowning achievement came when he and other members of the 911 Commission, including fellow Hoosier and former U.S. Rep. Tim Roemer (D), whitewashed the key role the Saudi government played in financing the hijackers accused of committing the 911 terrorist acts. Hamilton has remained mum while a fellow Democrat, former Florida U.S. Senator Bob Graham has publicly demanded the U.S. government release information the 911 Commission concealed about the role the Saudis played in 911. That should come as no surprise since Hamilton now openly admits who his true servant has been throughout his career--the CIA, where he serves in an official role as one of its "outside" advisory members.
In contrast to Hamilton's career role serving as a cover up artist for the military/industrial complex, fellow Hoosier Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, William Ruckelshaus, is recognized for his decision to resign as Deputy Attorney General of the United States, along with his boss, Attorney General Elliot Richardson, rather than carry out President Richard Nixon's order to fire Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate-related crimes, which reminds me how little interest Hamilton has shown through the years in the fact that so many CIA operatives were involved in the Watergate crimes. Only someone with the treacherous, treasonous mind of Allen Dulles would ever pin a medal on Lee Hamilton.
23 comments:
I knew Dick Dwyer for 40 years, a fellow Hoosier by the way, and if anything, his career deserved more praise. As a career state department officer, he served everywhere from Cairo, to Bulgaria, to Chad and Guiana.
Statists / faux-gressives pleasure themselves, with titles, inflated resumes, pomp, ceremony & all manner of superficial theater. Aesthetics over substance explains what they counterfeit as "progress."
Mr. Welsh does an excellent job of highlighting the national and global havoc wreaked by Lee Hamilton.
Don't think Hamilton's damage is limited to large scale destruction. No, over his career he has inflicted just as much harm on Hoosiers here locally and around the state. Take a look here if you get a chance...
http://inpolicy.org/2015/01/sorry-congressman-but-your-vision-is-crushing-us/
Really, anon. 9:05? Why is Rev. Jones heard talking about ensuring Dwyer's well-being as his followers were being executed? Why was Dwyer not executed while Congressman Ryan and members of his party were being executed while trying to board their plane? Dwyer was standing right next to Congressman Ryan when they approached the airplane and Dwyer broke away to tell the airplane's pilot something.
Dick was shot at the airport along with the others, but played dead. Hardly a way to "ensure his safety."
Lee Hamilton is Director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University, a non-partisan educational institution seeking to improve the public’s understanding of Congress and to inspire young people and adults to take an active part in revitalizing representative government in America.
At Indiana University, Hamilton serves as a Professor of Practice in the School for Public and Environmental Affairs, Distinguished Scholar in the School of Global and International Studies, and Co-Chair for IU’s International Engagement Advisory Board.
He is currently a member of the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Task Force on Preventing the Entry of Weapons of Mass Effect on American Soil.
You skipped one, anon. 10:04:
"He is currently a member of the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, the CIA External Advisory Board, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Task Force on Preventing the Entry of Weapons of Mass Effect on American Soil."
http://centeroncongress.org/lee-h-hamilton-biography
Giving the medal to Barbara Streisand wasn't one of Barry's finer moments either.
These "elites" have an impressive circular resume-padding credential-manufacturing network.
Once you're in, they'll bounce you around to boards and centers, and you rack up "accomplishments" in short order.
As President John F. Kennedy once said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words. But to live by them.” During this season of Thanksgiving may we use our time, talents, and our treasure to serve our neighbors in need, show our appreciation for our troops, and reflect on the blessings in our lives that we are most thankful for.
Texas Republican Party committee member Tanya Robertson wants to place a secession vote on the GOP primary ballot. The Houston Chronicle reports:
Robertson, State Republican Executive Committee member for Senate District 11, which covers parts of Harris, Galveston and Brazoria counties, said she’ll present the resolution at the committee’s December 4 meeting in Austin, and that she already has support from a few other members. “There’s been a big groundswell of Texans that are getting into the Texas independence issue,” she said, citing conversations she’s had with constituents. “I believe conservatives in Texas should have a choice to voice their opinion.”
Texas GOP chairman Tom Mechler says he doubts Robertson has the support to have her item approved.
Betcha Lee Hamilton is looking pretty good to right now, Indiana. Count your blessings.
Like his pal Dick Lugar, Hamilton gave up his home in Indiana and moved to Washington D.C.
Hamilton was simply just another "inside the beltway" member of the Washington D.C. political class.
Sadly a person who is now forgotten in the Iran-Contra-CIA Drug Dealing is journalist Gary Webb. Webb wrote a series of articles on the links and connections between the CIA, Contras and Drug Dealing. The CIA had an operation called Operation Mockingbird where "Reporters and Jounalists" were essentially fed and controlled to print stories favorable to the USA back to the early 1950's.
Webb found out the hard way once his series was published in the San Jose Mercury News. The McMega-Media turned on Webb with a vengeance in attempt to tear his story apart. Webb said -
"The government side of the story is coming through the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post," he stated. "They use the giant corporate press rather than saying anything directly. If you work through friendly reporters on major newspapers, it comes off as The New York Times saying it and not a mouthpiece of the CIA."
If we had met five years ago, you wouldn't have found a more staunch defender of the newspaper industry than me ... And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. The reason I'd enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn't been, as I'd assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job ... The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress ...
— Gary Webb
Prior to GWB's invasion of Iraq we saw this system at work. The Pressitutes swallowing whole every known lie about Saddam and regurgitating the lies on America.
Webb supposedly committed suicide on December 10, 2004. He was found dead in his Carmichael home with two gunshot wounds to the head. His ex-wife said he had been despondent, Webb had been unhappy for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper. He had sold his house the week before his death because he was unable to afford the mortgage.
Hamilton, like Lugar and many others, is a consummate statist. It's fitting that Hamilton was the president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a thinktank named after a racist internationalist twit.
Other players receiving this award were Iraq architect CJCS General Richard Meyers, Paul Bremmer, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, Iran-Contra insider Robert Gates, and Brent Scowcroft (airborne in the Command and Control E-4B during the 911 attacks). If the activists receive awards, should not the apologists?
Anon 1141: thank the troops for what? Prof Robert Pape has shown that foreign occupation and meddling, the stock-in-trade of the Imperial Storm Troopers, is what causes people to become terrorists and suicide bombers. The troops failed to protect their own Pentagram on 9/11, much less anything else that day or since. They just create more enemies and do not protect you or themselves adequately (Fort Hood, USS Cole).
And GWB gave The Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Tenet and Tommy Franks, too.
Thank you Gary and Flogger for bringing Indiana's connection to government drug running back to the consciousness of your readers. I would like to see someone continue on with what Webb started by chasing down the current day connections. I do not for one minute believe that any of it stopped with the contra scandal. What/who are the current day connections running through Indiana right on up to DC who connect back to those involved in the contra drug & weapons runners? Who is this "next generation" in operation today and how/where do they trickle down to the upcoming generation?
no apology for the Dwyer shit?
According to Wikipedia, Bob Gates was recruited by CIA in 1966 at IU. Who else was recruited during that period at IU? And who, in turn did those recruits recruit as their downstream associates who have since moved up in rank? And how does the Indiana Sicilian mafia fit into the picture?
No apology required. Has Dwyer ever apologized to the victims of Jonestown? Their blood is on his hands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HULqx4SP46Y
This political hack along with Jamie Gorelick served on the 9/11 phony Commission, covered up vital information in an investigation of the 9/11 suspects, investigation called ABLE DANGER, suddenly stopped without any reason from the White House in 1999.
The 9/11 suspects were being watched closely by the DOJ and the Pentagon,the White House and DOJ knew these characters were bad players,(Jamie Gorelick was a Deputy AG for Janet Reno) but for some odd reason their investigation stopped, we all know the history of 9/11. Jamie Gorelick was rewarded a seat on the New York Federal Reserve after her silence on the 9/11 Commission. Mr. Hamilton was also silent with the investigation of ABLE DANGER during his tenure of the 9/11 Commission.
IMHO stopping that investigation came from the White House under President Clinton, if that information of ABLE DANGER was presented to the 9/11 Commission, Clinton would have had blood on his hands, and the Democrats protected him at all cost for his legacy.
Friggin idiot conspiracy theorists. Any of you ever stop to think that it might be possible the only mind experiment was conducted by Jim Jones? Get a life and leave Dwyer alone, he led a quiet life of service to the american people and does't deserve to be sullied in death. I knew him for over 40 years and he was not and was not capable of being a CIA agent.
Post a Comment