General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNo, Obama is not giving arms to Iran, that was THIS guy.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/reagan-iran/
As part of a deal to keep the US hostages in Tehran from being released until he was elected.
Really swell guy.
world wide wally
(21,754 posts)because that may give us documentation of Reagan's culpability beyond any doubt.
as part of the decades-old Western strategy of maintaining "manageable chaos" to control energy resources in the ME. Fomenting and facilitating conflict between states there, is an important element of this.
ieoeja
(9,748 posts)Reagan and Iran I
By the time a member of Reagan's future staff, I forget which one, secretly joined the negotiations Iran's sole demand was the return of their assets. The US negotiators agreed, but only if Iran kept the hostages until after the election.
That member of Reagan's staff tried using a picture of him and his family at a sunny American beach as proof he was not there. According to the US Weather Service that beach was in the midst of a massive storm that entire day. The made up alibi, along with Reagan's first act as president being surrendering to the Iranian hostage demands, make for pretty strong evidence the above report was true.
There were no arms for those hostages.
Reagan and Iran II
Years later Soviet backed Iraq was at war with Iran. Iran's armed forces had been built by the United States during the Shah's regimes, and they were running out of supplies. Wanting to keep the two fighting, Reagan offered to sell Iran re-supplies if they would get Hezbollah to free some hostages.
That was the arms for hostage deal. And at this point it was a perfectly reasonable action on Reagan's part.
But there was more. As noted by another poster, Reagan diverted profits from the arms sale to the Contras. This was done after legislation had already been enacted making supplying the Contras with guns or money illegal.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)Although, as they write, "the details are murky and impossible to confirm," they note that "it appears that Reagan campaign officials met with Iranian leaders and promised to allow Israel to ship arms to Iran if Iran would hold the hostages until Reagan won the election."
It was fresh on my mind because I just read the ending of their chapter on Carter's presidency this morning.
They cite Robert Parry's Consortium News, which concludes:
"To this day, now 30 years after Iranian radicals seized the American hostages, the real story of what happened and how the Republicans manipulated the process remains mostly unknown."
https://consortiumnews.com/2009/110609.html
So, although I strongly suspect based on what I've read that the Reagan crowd struck such a deal with the Iranians, there is no smoking gun evidence to support my comment.
ieoeja
(9,748 posts)The two have been conflated so many times by so many people that there is now more material equating the two than not.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)"In a response to a 1992 query from Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton, the Supreme Soviet's Committee on Defense and Security Issues reported that a series of secret meetings had taken place in Europe between top Reagan campaign officials and Iranian officials. The Soviet report identified Reagan campaign manager and future CIA Director William Casey, vice presidential candidate and former CIA Director George Bush, and NSC staffer and future CIA Director Robert Gates as attending and offering substantially more military supplies than the Carter team was offering. Iran released the embassy personnel on January 21, 1981, Reagan's first day in office. The United States continued arms sales to Iran via Israel, often channeled through private dealers, for several years." p. 420.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)johnnyreb
(915 posts)A quick Iran-Contra history recap:
Better quality version:
http://videosift.com/video/Ollie-North-High-Treason
LuckyLib
(6,819 posts)backdoor deal with money and guns we've seen since. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Nancy worked overtime to get Ronnie Raygun's name on public buildings from coast to coast. That should be the first thing that goes -- any public recognition of this idiot as a result of naming rights.
Marking to watch later
doubleplusgood
(944 posts)As Governor of California, Reagan signed into law the "Therapeutic Abortion Act", in an effort to reduce the number of "back room abortions" performed in California - Wikipedia.
And he "cut-and-run" from Lebanon after the Marine barracks bombing. Why aren't RW heads exploding?
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Don't you remember that, you dumb fuck fundamentalist knuckledraggers?
aikoaiko
(34,183 posts)tclambert
(11,087 posts)You know, sometimes one person's cocaine dealer is Oliver North's noble freedom fighter.
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Dustlawyer
(10,497 posts)black neighborhoods, so what's the harm?
Sarcasm!
WillyT
(72,631 posts)B Calm
(28,762 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)Over and over and over and over and........
MisterP
(23,730 posts)Ollie also ordered 1,500 kilos cocaine per plane--I mean, how does it take off? he also directly killed peasants in Vietnam, and helped in Bolivia! in fact his contacts/contractors are why we have Red Ribbon week: they buried the wrong deep-cover agent alive and the CIA stopped bailing them out of jail every year (NSFW)
interestingly 1989-94 the Pubs weren't at all keen on Ronnie any more, polling like 40-60% of consistent GOP voters: it was only 1994-6 that he was deemed The Great One, the Most Popular President Ever, the Ender of the Deficit, the Slayer of the Soviets, the Defeater of
George Beerlover
(23 posts)uh, Nancy's astrologer said I should make a deal with Iraq?...Iran?...Iroquois? Well, uh, well...what's my next line, Mr. Director? MOMMY?"
wolfie001
(2,265 posts)We Dems need to show up at the polls so we don't have an other Raygun in the WH!
Rex
(65,616 posts)He was cruel and violated international law. Bombed small countries that stood no chance. Pissed all over the Constitution.
YET his biggest fans wrap themselves in the flag...makes you wonder how delusional they are in 2015!
moondust
(20,006 posts)That's all that matters to desperados craving power.
Bill O'Reilly's record of lying also doesn't matter because he has high ratings.
PatrynXX
(5,668 posts)Rambo III and The Living Daylights
Good memory? eh yeah I was movies damnit , hmmm Taliban or Russian meh Taliban sounds better
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,192 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)MerryBlooms
(11,771 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Reagan was far worse then they are letting on. Reagan wasn't worth a single fuck.
Tea Baggers? See how dumb ya are?
If we think that Republicans are really stupid, we must wait, for they will do even dumber things.
In Rayon's day, he was doing the best he could to insure that corporations would have an easy path to absolute control of the federal government.
Today, the mental midgets in the GodOffalParty are increasing in great numbers. Too many to list, but think Cruz, Bachman, Gohmert, Palin, Christy...no, no, this list is just too long.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)240 Marines, 18 Navy, 3 Army personnel were killed by terrorists who previously had struck the French and US embassies in Beirut using suicide truck bombs.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Octafish/538
bobthedrummer
(26,083 posts)Casolaro Paper's (handwritten notes of Danny Casolaro posted 3-10-15 on cryptocomb)
http://cryptocomb.org/?p=1424#more-1424
Iran Contra unaccountability led US to today with $ec of $tate Kerry reminding me, for one, of Neville Chamberlin.
C Moon
(12,221 posts)SHRED
(28,136 posts)Because the American people are just that dumb.