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TIME - Man of the Year
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CompactPublishing-TimeMagazine-TimeManOfTheYear-Win31MSDOS.iso
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122192
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1221994.000
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1993-04-08
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THE WEEK, Page 17NATIONWin One, Lose One
Iran-contra prosecutors convict Clair George but fail on
Poindexter
He was the first top CIA officer convicted of acts committed
in the performance of duty. That alone makes Clair George a big
catch for the Iran-contra prosecutors. But after six years and
$33 million worth of frustration, his also was a rare
conviction that might stick. A jury convicted the former chief
of the CIA's spy network on two charges of lying to Congress (he
was acquitted on five perjury counts). He could be sent to jail
for 10 years, though it is unlikely he will ever go behind bars.
Still, independent counsel Lawrence Walsh called his conviction
"an important deterrent [against] cover-ups."
Simultaneously, though, the Supreme Court refused to
review a lower-court ruling that overturned the 1990 conviction
of former National Security Adviser John Poindexter. He and
Oliver North, whose conviction was also reversed, were the main
architects of the secret sales of weapons to Iran and diversion
of profits to the Nicaraguan contras. Ironically, that leaves
former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who angrily
opposed the deal, as the biggest-name defendant remaining. A
federal judge Friday threw out a charge against him of lying to
Congress, but he still faces a January trial on four counts of
perjury and making false statements.