Criminals resurrected by the current administration:

Elliott Abrams, an assistant secretary of state under Reagan, pleaded guilty in 1991 to two counts of withholding evidence from Congress (i.e., lying) over his role in the Iran-Contra affair. Elliott Abrams, in his own words, "supervised U.S. policy in Latin America and the Caribbean". He helped cover up one of the worst atrocities of the war: a Salvadoran army massacre in El Mozote that left 800 to 1000 civilians dead.

Bush I pardoned him; Bush II has appointed Elliot to the National Security Council

Otto Reich was head of the now-defunct Office for Public Diplomacy (OPD), which the House Committee on Foreig...

Criminals resurrected by the current administration:

Elliott Abrams, an assistant secretary of state under Reagan, pleaded guilty in 1991 to two counts of withholding evidence from Congress (i.e., lying) over his role in the Iran-Contra affair. Elliott Abrams, in his own words, "supervised U.S. policy in Latin America and the Caribbean". He helped cover up one of the worst atrocities of the war: a Salvadoran army massacre in El Mozote that left 800 to 1000 civilians dead.

Bush I pardoned him; Bush II has appointed Elliot to the National Security Council

Otto Reich was head of the now-defunct Office for Public Diplomacy (OPD), which the House Committee on Foreign Affairs censured for "prohibited, covert propaganda activities" (Washington Post, 10/11/87).

Otto Reich was nominated by Bush ll as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, the top post for Latin America.

Under Ambassador John Negroponte, neighboring Honduras grew so crammed with U.S. bases and weapons that it was dubbed the U.S.S. Honduras, as if it were simply an off-shore staging ground for the Contra war. While poverty raged, U.S. military aid jumped from $3.9 million in 1980 to $77.4 million by 1984. The Honduran army, especially the U.S. CIA -trained Battalion 316, engaged in kidnapping, torture and assassination. Negroponte worked closely with the perpetrators and covered up their crimes, according to Ambassador Jack Binns, his predecessor in the post (In These Times, 2/28/01).

On February 17, 2005, President George W. Bush named Negroponte as the first Director of National Intelligence, a position that puts him in charge of all U.S. Intelligence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Negroponte

There are more- but I am out of room.

So no one should wonder why would-be criminals think they have the nod to run hogwild in D.C.- after all, these guys were apparently rewarded for everything from lying to Congres