Then we have the ‘side-show’ of the Iran-Contra affair:
Dirty and Flthy Past of Pathetic Cutthroat Irani Ayatullahs and Mullahs:
"[O]n the night of October 18, 1980, [Otto] Rupp flew Reagan-Bush campaign director William Casey from Washington's National Airport to the Le Bourget Airfield north of Paris for a series of secret meetings. According to Brenneke, it was at these meetings — held on October 19 and 20, at the Waldorf Florida and Crillon hotels--that members of the Reagan-Bush campaign secretly negotiated an "arms-for-no- hostages" deal with representatives of the Ayatollah Khomeini. The purpose of this Faustian pact, Brenneke said, was to prevent an "October Surprise" — the release of the hostages prior to the November elections — thereby ensuring President Carter's defeat. For their part, the Iranians allegedly received $40 million with which they couldpurchase badly needed American-made weapons and military spare parts for their war against Iraq."
And what about this:
T h e V e r d i c t i s T r e a s o n by David Armstrong and Alex Constantine Z Magazine, July/August 1990
[excerpts]
The May 4 acquittal of Richard Brenneke, the self-proclaimed CIA contract agent accused of lying to a federal grand jury about the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign's efforts to delay the release of 52 American hostages then held in Iran, has cast a long shadow over Washington. Despite the modicum of attention the case has received in the mainstream press, its true implications- namely "treason," "perjury," and "impeachable offenses"- have yet to be fully addressed. Brenneke's story bears repeating. On September 23, 1988, Brenneke, a Portland, Oregon, property manager and arms dealer, voluntarily testified at the sentencing hearing of his "close friend," Heinrich Rupp, a gold dealer and former-Luftwaffe pilot who had been convicted of bank fraud in Colorado. During closed-door testimony before Judge James R. Carrigan, Brenneke told the Denver court that both he and Rupp had worked for the CIA on a contract basis since 1967, including flying planes for Air America, the CIA-owned front company in southeast asia. Moreover, Brenneke testified that Rupp believed he'd been "doing something the [CIA] asked him to do" when the fraud was committed. To support his claim, Brenneke swore that both he and Rupp had been employed by the CIA to assist in covert operations on numerous occasions. One of these clandestine adventures, according to Brenneke, was a midnight flight to Paris in 1980.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3800.htm
Dirty and Flthy Past of Pathetic Cutthroat Irani Ayatullahs and Mullahs:
"[O]n the night of October 18, 1980, [Otto] Rupp flew Reagan-Bush campaign director William Casey from Washington's National Airport to the Le Bourget Airfield north of Paris for a series of secret meetings. According to Brenneke, it was at these meetings — held on October 19 and 20, at the Waldorf Florida and Crillon hotels--that members of the Reagan-Bush campaign secretly negotiated an "arms-for-no- hostages" deal with representatives of the Ayatollah Khomeini. The purpose of this Faustian pact, Brenneke said, was to prevent an "October Surprise" — the release of the hostages prior to the November elections — thereby ensuring President Carter's defeat. For their part, the Iranians allegedly received $40 million with which they couldpurchase badly needed American-made weapons and military spare parts for their war against Iraq."
And what about this:
T h e V e r d i c t i s T r e a s o n by David Armstrong and Alex Constantine Z Magazine, July/August 1990
[excerpts]
The May 4 acquittal of Richard Brenneke, the self-proclaimed CIA contract agent accused of lying to a federal grand jury about the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign's efforts to delay the release of 52 American hostages then held in Iran, has cast a long shadow over Washington. Despite the modicum of attention the case has received in the mainstream press, its true implications- namely "treason," "perjury," and "impeachable offenses"- have yet to be fully addressed. Brenneke's story bears repeating. On September 23, 1988, Brenneke, a Portland, Oregon, property manager and arms dealer, voluntarily testified at the sentencing hearing of his "close friend," Heinrich Rupp, a gold dealer and former-Luftwaffe pilot who had been convicted of bank fraud in Colorado. During closed-door testimony before Judge James R. Carrigan, Brenneke told the Denver court that both he and Rupp had worked for the CIA on a contract basis since 1967, including flying planes for Air America, the CIA-owned front company in southeast asia. Moreover, Brenneke testified that Rupp believed he'd been "doing something the [CIA] asked him to do" when the fraud was committed. To support his claim, Brenneke swore that both he and Rupp had been employed by the CIA to assist in covert operations on numerous occasions. One of these clandestine adventures, according to Brenneke, was a midnight flight to Paris in 1980.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3800.htm
No intention to invade Iran, says White House By Our Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Jan 16: The White House said on Tuesday that the United States has no plan to invade Iran but would not allow Iranian citizens to kill American soldiers in Iraq. The clarification followed President Bush?s warning to his Iranian counterpart earlier this week, saying that the United States would not allow Iran to stir troubles inside Iraq.
http://www.dawn.com/2007/01/17/int3.htm
An anonymous "senior U.S. official" told Knight-Ridder that Ghorbanifar wanted to be paid for introducing the U.S. officials to Iranian moderates. Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute opened the Ghorbanifar channel, "Newsday" reported, citing a former CIA officer who learned this from current intelligence officers. Neither Ledeen nor Ghorbanifar would comment, according to "Newsday."
Israeli officials introduced Ghorbanifar to Ledeen --who was a consultant to the National Security Council -- in the mid-1980s. Ghorbanifar claimed at the time to know Iranian moderates. This eventually would become the arms-for-hostages scandal (see Theodore Draper, "A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs," [New York: Hill and Wang, 1991]; see also Michael Ledeen, "Perilous Statecraft," [Scribners, 1988]).
Iran acquired weapons and parts for its Shah-era U.S. systems through covert arms transactions from officials in the Reagan Administration, first indirectly through Israel and then directly. It was hoped Iran would, in exchange, persuade several radical groups to release Western hostages, though this did not result; proceeds from the sales were diverted to the Nicaraguan Contras in what became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.According to the report of the U.S. Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair issued in November 1987, "the sale of U.S. arms to Iran through Israel began in the summer of 1985, after receiving the approval of President Reagan.
These sales included "2,008 BGM-71 TOW anti-Tank missiles, and 235 parts kits for MIM-23 Hawk surface-to-air missiles had been sent to Iran via Israel." Further shipments of up to US$2 billion of American weapons from Israel to Iran, consisting of 18 F-4 fighter-bombers, 46 A-4 Skyhawk fighter-bombers, and nearly 4,000 missiles were foiled by the U.S. Department of Justice, and "unverified reports alleged that Israel agreed to sell Iran AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, radar equipment, mortar and machinegun ammunition, field telephones, M-60 tank engines and artillery shells, and spare parts for C-130 transport planes.
The report shows that Israel's involvement was stimulated by separate overtures in 1985 from Iranian arms merchant Manucher Ghorbanifar and National Security Council (NSC) consultant Michael Ledeen, the latter working for National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane. When Ledeen asked Prime Minister Shimon Peres for assistance, the Israeli leader agreed to sell weapons to Iran at America's behest, providing the sale had high-level U.S. approval.
Before the Israelis would participate, says the report, they demanded "a clear, express and binding consent by the U.S. Government." McFarlane told the Congressional committee he first received President Reagan's approval in July 1985. In August, Reagan again orally authorized the first sale of weapons to Iran, over the objections of Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and Secretary of State George Shultz. Because of that deal, Rev. Benjamin Weir, held captive in Lebanon for 16 months, was released.
When a shipment of HAWK missiles was proposed in November of that year, Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin again demanded specific U.S. approval. According to McFarlane, the President agreed.
By December 1985, the President had decided future sales to the Iranians would come directly from U.S. supplies. According to the committees' report, NSC aide Lt. Col. Oliver North first used money By December 1985, the President had decided future sales to the Iranians would come directly from U.S. supplies. According to the committees' report, NSC aide Lt. Col. Oliver North first used money from the Iran operation to fund the Nicaraguan resistance in November 1985. He later testified, however, that the diversion of funds to the Contras was proposed to him
by Ghorbanifar during a meeting in January 1986.
Saudi billionaire oil and arms trader Adnan Khashoggi said in an interview on ABC¬TV on December 11, 1986, that he advanced $1 million to help finance the first arms shipment in the Iran-Contra arms scandal and put up $4 million for the second shipment. According to the President's special review board chaired by former Sen. John Tower, a foreign official (reportedly Saudi King Fahd) donated $1 million to $2 million monthly from July 1984 to April 1985 for covert financing for the Contras. Saudi Arabia denied aiding the Nicaraguan rebels, but the New York Times reported the contribution may have been part of a 1981 secret agreement between Riyadh and Washington "to aid anti¬communist resistance groups around the sophisticated American AWACS radar planes, according to United States officials and others familiar with the deal." The Joint House-Senate Committee praised the Israeli government for providing detailed chronologies of events based on relevant documents and interviews with key participants in the operation. Its report also corroborated the conclusion of the Tower Commission: "U.S. decision makers made their own decisions and must bear responsibility for the consequences. "
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