“My purpose was… to send a signal that the United States was prepared to replace the animosity between [the U.S. and Iran] with a new relationship… At the same time we undertook this initiative, we made clear that Iran must oppose all forms of international terrorism as a condition of progress in our relationship. The most significant step which Iran could take, we indicated, would be to use its influence in Lebanon to secure the release of all hostages held there.”

US President Ronald Reagan
(November 13 1986)

 

November 3 2024 — On November 3 1986, the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa exposed the Iran–Contra scandal. Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. They hoped, thereby, to fund the Contras in Nicaragua while at the same time negotiating the release of several U.S. hostages. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited by Congress. This affair is usually regarded as one of the most important scandals in US modern history. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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Lockerbie — Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…!

To make it easier for the readers to retrieve various chapters of my book, I have created a special page “Lockerbie” where all the links to the chapters will be listed with a brief description. You can access that page directly as it appears at the far right of the top bar of this blog.

Lockerbie — Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…!

“On Christmas Eve 1992, President Bush ended the Iran-Contra investigation by Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh. Bush pardoned all those involved, including Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, whose trial was about to begin. William Barr, Bush’s Attorney General at the time, did not oppose the pardons. In effect, Bush had found a way to pardon the only man the Constitution does not allow the US President to pardon: himself.”

Lockerbie
Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…!

After receiving the information from Mehdi Hashemi — a senior official in the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution — the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa exposed the affair on November 3, 1986.

This was the first public reporting of the weapons-for-hostages deal.

The operation was discovered only after an airlift of guns (Corporate Air Services HPF821) was downed over Nicaragua.

Eugene Hasenfus, who was captured by Nicaraguan authorities after surviving the plane crash, initially alleged in a press conference on Nicaraguan soil that two of his coworkers, Max Gomez and Ramon Medina, worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.

The scandal was compounded when Oliver North destroyed or hid pertinent documents between November 21 and November 25, 1986.

During North’s trial in 1989, his secretary, Fawn Hall, testified extensively about helping North alter, shred, and remove official United States National Security Council (NSC) documents from the White House.

According to the New York Times, enough documents were put into a government shredder to jam it. [Wikipedia]

COVER UP: Behind the Iran Contra Affair

“Ultimately the sale of weapons to Iran was not deemed a criminal offense but charges were brought against five individuals for their support of the Contras.

Those charges, however, were later dropped because the administration refused to declassify certain documents. The indicted conspirators faced various lesser charges instead.

In the end, fourteen administration officials were indicted, including then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Eleven convictions resulted, some of which were vacated on appeal.

The rest of those indicted or convicted were all pardoned in the final days of the presidency of George H. W. Bush, who had been vice-president at the time of the affair.”

“Your White House, specifically your national security adviser, constructed an operation whereby the free press in this country was going to be used to convey a false story to the world, namely that Qaddafi was planning new terrorist operations.”

New York Times
(October 3 1986) 

Gaddafi Target of U.S. Disinformation (October 2 1986 — Bob Woodward)

On October 2 1986, the Washington Post published an extraordinary story written by legendary journalist Bob Woodward: “Gadhafi Target of Secret U.S. Deception Plan”.

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Under orders from the White House, the US Intelligence Community was planting false information in the US media. As a result of this scandal, the use of the word ‘disinformation’ became mainstream in the English language.

And yet, you probably have never heard of this major US scandal that was running parallel to the Iran-Contra Operation.

The two operations were in fact two branches of a single policy. If the delivery of weapons to Iran was the “Carrot” part of the plan suggested in the 1985 “Fuller MEMORANDUM“, the disinformation regarding “Libyan terrorism” was the “Stick”.

But as the world — and the US Congress — discovered with horror the Iran-Contra Affair, the “Libyan Scandal” was quickly forgotten. There never was an investigation.

“There is a wonderful book that you might read… And the title of it is from a quote from Winston Churchill: ‘In time of war, the truth is so precious, it must be attended by a bodyguard of lies.’”

Secretary of State George P. Shultz
(October 3 1986)

REFERENCES

Iran–Contra affair — Wikipedia

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On This Day — The Iran-Contra Scandal (November 3 1986)

“Conspiracies do occur and they can seem quite outlandish and unexpected once publicly revealed. Who would have thought that Oliver North would sell arms to Iran from the basement of the White House and launder the money to supply arms to Nicaraguan rebels in contravention of explicit legal prohibitions.”

Stephan Lewandowsky

Professor at the School of Psychological Science and Chair of Cognitive Psychology
University of Bristol