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The Central Intelligence Agency Excerpts from Janette Rainwater's book-in-progress, Since the New Deal: An Annotated Chronology of the Events that Have Changed the United States December 12, 1985 256 US servicemen returning from their duty as part of a "peacekeeping force" in the Middle East die in the worst aviation disaster in US military history when their plane crashes in Gander, Newfoundland. [White House spokesman Larry Speakes said it was an "accident" caused by ice on the wings; there was no investigation of the crash. However, the Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group, claimed responsibility. Investigator Joe Conason believes the Islamic Jihad sabotaged the plane with a bomb as the result of the Reagan administration having welshed on an arms deal with Iran. On November 25th the CIA airline, St. Lucia Airways, had delivered a shipment of missiles different from the ones ordered. Iranian Prime Minister Rafsanjani wrote to Reagan that Iran had been cheated and demanded restitution. Oliver North, according to the Iran-Contra documents, warned about the likelihood of reprisals for "leading them on". But on December 10th Reagan and his National Security Council decided to abandon all dealings with Iran. The plane that crashed belonged to the CIA company, Air Arrow, which also was flying weapons to the contras in Nicaragua. Responsible investigation of this crash would likely have revealed the covert sale of arms to Iran nearly a year before the scandal was finally revealed.]16 August 4, 1986 Vice President George Bush in a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak asks him to pass on military advice to Iraq's Saddam Hussein:--- he should use his Air Force more aggressively. [This was a ploy thought up by CIA Director William Casey who reasoned that if Saddam could be persuaded to be less cautious with his well-equipped Air Force, then Iran would be forced to ask the US for more missiles. The US could then demand the release of more hostages. Casey briefed Bush before his July 25th departure for the Middle East, enjoining him to pass messages to Saddam by both Mubarak and King Hussein of Jordan. The advice was taken within a few days and for several weeks Iraqi planes bombed oil refineries and other installations deep within Iran. About this time CIA officials in Iraq gave Saddam equipment that would receive intelligence information from satellites to help him assess the effects of his bombing runs.]17 December 15, 1986 CIA Director William Casey is stricken during a routine medical examination at his office at CIA headquarters and rushed to Georgetown University Hospital. [There he underwent surgery for a brain tumor which left him incapacitated and unable to speak or communicate. He had been scheduled to testify to Congress on the Iran-Contra scandal the following day. Few people knew that he was being treated for prostate cancer.] 18 May 5, 1987 The joint congressional committee on Iran/Contra opens its televised hearings with most of the senators and representatives wearing telegenic red ties. The first witness, retired General Richard V. Secord, testifies that he was asked by Lieut. Col. Oliver North in 1984 to work with the National Security Council's covert program to obtain weapons for the Nicaraguan contras. Only $3.5 million of the $12 million in profits from the sale of arms to Iran found its way to the contras; half of the money was kept by his Iranian business partner, Albert Hakin, and part went to another unidentified secret project. "We believed our conduct was in the furtherance of the President's policies.... I also understood that this Administration knew of my conduct and approved it." [Congress and the public were denied the opportunity to examine the plan for martial law, the role of Vice President George Bush or the CIA's connection with cocaine dealing, thanks to the gavel of Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI).]19 |
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© Janette Rainwater 1997-2004 All rights reserved.
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