- guardian.co.uk, Sunday December 8 2002 01.19 GMT
Abrams pleaded guilty in 1987 to withholding information from about the Nicaraguan Contra case from Congress, before being pardoned by the first President Bush in 1992. Four officials now in the Bush administration worked for President Reagan in the mid-1980s, when money from arms sales to Iran was diverted to aid the Contra rebels in Nicaragua:
Elliott Abrams
NOW Senior director for Near East and North African Affairs at the National Security Council
THEN Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
Pleaded guilty to withholding information about the case from Congress. Was later pardoned by President George Bush Sr
John D. Negroponte
NOW US Ambassador to the United Nations
THEN Ambassador to Honduras
Was the Reagan administration's 'point man' for efforts to back the Contras from Nicaragua's neighbour, Honduras
John M. Poindexter
NOW Director of the Information Awareness Office at the Pentagon's research agency
THEN National Security Adviser
Was convicted in 1990 of five felony counts, including making false statements to Congress. The convictions were later overturned
Otto J. Reich
NOW Special envoy for Western Hemisphere Affairs, and was Assistant Secretary of State
THEN Director of the office of public diplomacy at the State Department
Led an office found to have engaged in prohibited acts of domestic propaganda to generate support for the Contras
