Just googled it, found this, looks like a great place to start:
http://www.webcom.com/~lpease/collections/denied/octsurprise.htmIt's a huge topic and you should definitely research it for yourself.
The story in a nutshell:
Lots of spooks were pissed at Carter for appointing reformer Stansfield Turner as CIA chief, and for abandoning (sort of) the "friendly dictators" of Iran (the Shah) and Nicaragua (Sandinista). Turner began his term (following on CIA sycophant GHWB) by firing around 700-800 covert operators, supposedly people who had been responsible for a variety of outrages like the Chile coup. (We don't know since their identities were not revealed. Big mistake: they should have been exposed & tried instead.)
These guys knew how to overthrow governments! They lined up as Spooks for Bush, and got GWHB on the Reagan ticket (with difficulties, as Reagan's true believers were highly suspicious of Bush and his "internationalist" connections). The Reagan campaign was run by Casey, a CIA ratline veteran (smuggled Nazis into US after WW2). They had a big advantage over Carter because of the economy and the hostage-taking in Iran (which dominated the news completely for 444 days, like no other story until 9/11. Heck, it stopped being the news and became "America Held Hostage.")
The Reagan campaign's big fear was an "October Surprise" - Carter negotiating a release of the hostages just before the election - that might put Carter back in the race.
That much is known history.
Casey and Bush allegedly negotiated a secret deal with the Iranians: they would keep the US hostages until the inauguration of Jan. 20 (and the hostages were indeed released on that day!) and would, in exchange, be supplied with arms in the war against Iraq. The deal was supposedly closed in Paris, with Bush and Casey actually in attendance, meeting with Iranian representatives.
Arms shipments to Iran did indeed begin in 1981, through Israel, and illegal shipments directly from the US (in 1984-86) were exposed during the Iran-Contra "scandal" of 1986. (It was claimed at the time that these shipments were in exchange for releasing hostages held in Lebanon. The proceeds were routed to the CIA-created Nicaraguan "Contra" army and Oliver North dutifully took the fall for everyone else.)
The "October Surprise" plot would have been treason. Did it happen? Sources supporting the story include Bani-Sadr (the actual president of Iran at that time, later exiled to France), Gary Sick (Carter's in-house adviser on Iranian affairs, author of "October Surprise"), Barbara Honneger (a Reagan-Bush staffer who dropped out of the administration to make these allegations, but who is a bit batty I have to admit), Soviet intelligence reports, two separate (and conflicting) guys who claim to have piloted the conspirators to Paris, much of what was released in an investigation headed by Sen. John Kerry in the early 1990s, and a host of researchers.
In a French documentary I saw on the CIA, a series of former CIA officers saying they believed it had happened. Only Frank Carlucci, rumored to have actually been involved, denied it and mumbled something nervously about "conspiracy theories."
Do the research and judge for yourself.
Definitely check this one out:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile5.htmlHashemi (arms dealer later involved in Iran-Contra) apparently "helping" Carter negotiate a hostage release while actually double-crossing and setting up the Reagan/Bush connection to Iran.
Haig claiming Carter had green-lighted Iraqi invasion of Iran through Saudi king (which I find eminently believable).
And more...