Reagan's Tricky October Surprise Report-Evidence Shelved, Hidden & Suppressed-By Robert Parry

[kpete]

The Tricky October Surprise Report

By Robert Parry
June 17, 2010

A congressional report on a turning point of modern U.S. political history – whether candidate Ronald Reagan struck a treacherous deal with Iranian radicals to help win the White House in 1980 – was written haphazardly and deceptively, including an apparently false claim that Reagan’s innocence was approved unanimously by a House task force.


.....................

A recent reexamination of the task force’s work also reveals that evidence implicating Reagan’s campaign in a pre-election deal to delay the release of 52 Americans then held hostage in Iran was kept from the U.S. public and even from members of the task force; that senior staff investigators shelved late-arriving evidence of Republican guilt; and that dissent within the task force was suppressed.

Recently, one task force member, retired Rep. Mervyn Dymally, D-California, while working on his personal memoirs, noticed that the cover letter accompanying the task force report claimed that there had been a unanimous vote on Dec. 10, 1992, exonerating Reagan. Dymally told me that he knew of no such vote on that date or at any other time.

When I contacted former task force chairman Lee Hamilton, he told me that he would not have claimed there was a unanimous vote if there hadn’t been one.

However, when I checked with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I was told that no record could be found of a roll call of the task force vote. “From the records we have there is no evidence of a recorded vote,” said committee spokesman David Barnes in an e-mail. (In the mid-1990s, when I searched through the task force’s unpublished files, I also found no record of a roll call.)

more:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/061710.html

[Ken Burch]

1. What was the deal with Lee Hamilton?

He spent the whole decade letting the Reaganoids off the hook for everything.

He even cut Ollie Freaking NORTH a break.

What did Hamilton get for all this?

[G_j]

3. I remember everyone throwing marshmellow questions at the hearings

what a joke they were!

[Old and In the Way]

4. He was the designated Democratic whitewasher for Republican dirty tricks

His best work was the 9/11 Ommission Report. As to what he got for his services, only he and his accountant knows.

[JDPriestly]

26. Hamilton is what is called "the usual suspect."

The Republicans must have something over this guy. He is there go-to guy for commissions. He makes them look bi-partisan. Is he hiding something in his past? Some secret? It's puzzling how he turns up whenever there is something to be covered up.

[DURHAM D]

5. As I recall Hamilton was deeply corrupt - the Repubs had the goods on him.

Therefore they controlled him. When he was appointed to the 9/11 Commission I knew the results were already fixed.

[blm]

7. exactly...

.

[blm]

6. Hamilton was BFEE's top coverup Dem till Bill Clinton took office and REALLY went to work

covering up the outstanding matters in IranContra, Iraqgate, BCCI and CIA drugrunning.

Now you know WHY Poppy Bush needed to lose in 92. Most of this would have been made more public had Bush faced impeachment by the Dem congress after BCCI hearings in 1993. Jackson Stephens and Poppy Bush knew what they were doing by throwing 1992 election to Clinton.

[DURHAM D]

13. drivel

[blm]

14. OK. Then you can use Clinton's book and recount what he did with BCCI report and its outstanding

matters, right? There were so many serious matters involved that he must have really diligently bored down on it, didn't he? And Iraqgate. And CIA drugrunning.

Or....he didn't.

Hamilton covered up a LOT of IranContra's serious crimes in committee, preventing the PUBLIC from hearing some of its most damning information. That was while Poppy was president. What happened when Clinton took office on IranContra's outstanding matters? He led the "Let's move on" call.

But, hey...if you have different information, then share it.

Lee Hamilton. David Boren. Bill Clinton. They all sided with the secrecy and privilege of Reagan and Bush over our right to an open government accountable to the people.

[frylock]

24. and obama is following suit..

and when he loses in 2012, and the same cast of characters is back at the helm skullfuking us it will be because of the stoopid libruls.

[bjobotts]

29. So because U didn't do enough to expose those who raped we wil just vote for the rapists huh?

[frylock]

35. i never said i would vote republican..

but i certainly am not going lie back and get raped by a kinder, gentler dick.

[frylock]

23. insightful analysis

[leveymg]

18. And, then he was appointed Co-Chairman of the 9/11 Commission. Wonder why they picked him?

He's made quite a career as a painter-overer of inconvenient facts.

[SpiralHawk]

21. Along with Henry Traitor Kissinger (R)

But Kissassinger was so odious that even the republicons realized they had to dump him -- having him head the 9/11 coverup commission was tantamount to admitting MIHOP.

[frylock]

25. because appointing killinger was a little too obvious

[bobalew]

19. I have a guess, he got to go to work for Carlyle Group

Most of ALL those sacks of garbage got BOUGHT off, with this promise of a cushy ""Retirement' Job at this Military re-treader. betcha Lieberman, and others like him are still depending that promise made. Poppy works there, and it's a veritable Who's who of Repug retirees....

[AndyA]

2. They should take Reagan's name off of EVERYTHING they named after him.

Same goes for anything with BUSH on it.

Fuck these criminals. They should be in prison, not running the country (into the ground)!

[fascisthunter]

8. He's a Fascist Traitor... no wonder the hero to the Reicht Wing.

[Overseas]

9. K&R to highlight Reagan's true Modern Republican Values --

win power by any means necessary.

Reagan did so many destructive things while playing dreamy grandpa.

[Webster Green]

10. I remember in the late 80s, Barbara Honegger was yelling about this.

Very interesting stuff.

If you haven't read about her version of the events, you should. She was working for Reagan's campaign at the time.

<snip>
Narrator: Barbara Honegger was a researcher and policy analyst with the Reagan/Bush campaign in 1980. Subsequently she spent two years in the white house as a policy advisor to President Reagan. Honegger's investigation into this issue has revealed a disturbing story of treason, blackmail, and sabotage.
<snip>

<snip>
Honegger: ... and then of course we have Richard Secord, Oliver North and Albert Hakim. Richard Secord was one of the chief planners for the so- called failed Desert 1 rescue attempt, North was involved in that rescue attempt, in the mother ship, which was on the Turkish border awaiting the cue from Secord to fly in and rescue the hostages, and Albert Hakim was in charge of the ground operations of the rescue attempt, in particular, obtaining the trucks and other vehicles which were going to be needed. Hakim skipped town, left Tehran 24 hours before the rescue was to take place, and the reason for that, as detailed in my research documentation, was that Secord, North and Hakim had no intention of seeing Desert 1 carry through, and so sabotaged the operation.

Narrator: The hostage rescue team consisted of 8 helicopters, 6 C130 transport planes and 93 delta force commandos. But delta force never made it to Tehran. Only 5 of the 8 helicopters reached the site of Desert 1 in operable condition. According to General Samuel Wilson, who investigated the many failures of the rescue mission, the pentagon's review panel found negligence on a level surprising even to those hardened to military incompetence. This is only one of many strange facts surrounding the rescue mission.
Narrator: The failed rescue mission left 8 men dead and 3 helicopters in the desert filled with classified documents which fell into the Iranian's hands.
The possibility of Carter's success in bringing the 52 hostages home sent tremors through the Reagan/Bush campaign headquarters. Honegger was working for the campaign at the time:
<snip>

More: http://www2.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/october-surprise.html

[JDPriestly]

28. Treason pure and simple. And all these guys know what they did.

Aid and comfort to the enemy for political gain. That's treason.

[Demeter]

11. Don't Know Why Anyone Is Surprised by This

It was obvious from the moment it began that the hostages were held by St. Ronnie and Poppy and his CIA buddies, the Iranians were making a deal and doing the dirty work.

[Webster Green]

12. I know Poppy was involved in it.

And Ollie fucking North!

None of them ever face the music for the shit they do.

[Wilms]

15. .

[Scurrilous]

16. K & R

:thumbsup:

[EFerrari]

17. Kick!

[SpiralHawk]

20. "Smirk." - Ronald DraftDodger Reagan (R - Astrology Buff)

"There I go again. It was sooo easy to kick the truth into the Occult Zone, using the guidance of my Republicon Astrologer. Smirk. Too bad about you Americans."

- Ronald DraftDodger Reagan (R - Astrology Buff)

[tiny elvis]

30. reagan served before and during the war

Reagan’s military career was long and illustrious. He enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve on April 29, 1937, as a private assigned to Troop B, 322nd Cavalry at Des Moines, Iowa. He was appointed Second Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps of the Cavalry on May 25, 1937, and on June 18 was assigned to the 323rd Cavalry. Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time on April 18, 1942. His first assignment was at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation at Fort Mason, California, as a liaison officer of the Port and Transportation Office. He applied for a transfer from the Cavalry to the AAF on May 15, 1942, and was assigned to AAF Public Relations and subsequently to the 1st Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, California.
etc.

http://www.militaryhub.com/military-people.cfm?id=40

[SpiralHawk]

31. OMG - a Republicon 'leader' who actually gave some service.

I am stunned. At this point -- after the vast numbers of contemporary AWOL & chickenhawk Republicon Homelanders - I am stunned. I musta confused Reagan with John Wayne (R).

[MilesColtrane]

32. "Due to eyesight difficulties, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him...

from serving overseas.

While on active duty with the 1st Motion Picture Unit and the 18th Army Air Forces Base Unit, Captain Reagan served as Personnel Officer, Post Adjutant, and Executive Officer. By the end of the war, his units had produced some 400 training films for the Army Air Forces."

http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/military.html

Never stopped him from being able to read those cue cards later in life.

[fascisthunter]

33. lol... thanks

[fascisthunter]

34. he was never in danger, the phony bastard

[redqueen]

22. K&R

[Rex]

27. Sometimes I fucking hate our government

no matter who is in power, seems they all look out for each other even to criminal extremes ie cover ups. And why? Because the American people are timid little woodland creatures that can't know the horrible truth about how much crime they let pass on a daily basis? No, we all know we watch TVEE. I believe it is because they know Americans won't do anything about it, just grumble a little. Maybe protest a little or once in a rare moon fill up the phone lines. No, I really believe it is that they are all corrupt and want to keep their Club to a select few that will be unethical, at a moments notice, if need be.

Toe the line.