Archiv: Reagan Administration (1981-1989)


09.04.2024 - 16:42 [ New York Times ]

A Way to Rejoin The World Court

(19.07.1986)

The imprudence of this acceptance was demonstrated by the Nicaraguan case, in which the Court ruled that the United States is using force illegally in Central America. That case should not – and need not – have gone to the Court. To make sure the United States retains sovereign discretion to defend itself and its allies, any new American acceptance of the Court‘s compulsory jurisdiction should emulate the good sense of others like India and Kenya by excluding disputes involving armed conflict. America -acting alone or with its allies – still needs the freedom to protect freedom. The finger on the trigger cannot be that of the global judiciary.

09.04.2024 - 15:41 [ CovertActionMagazine.com ]

Biden Has Relaunched Reagan’s Murderous War Against Nicaraguan Democracy–How Many Is He Willing to Kill to Win?

(14.09.2023)

When CIA-trained terrorists tried to overthrow the Sandinista government in the 1980s, the left erupted in protest. Now the left is cheering for the CIA.

09.04.2024 - 15:26 [ Scribd.com ]

Psychological Operations in Guerilla Warfare

A copy of the „90-page psychological warfare manual“ produced by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for Nicaraguan rebels in the late 1970s or early 1980s

09.04.2024 - 15:20 [ TaskandPurpose.com ]

The Psyops Manual The CIA Gave To Nicaragua’s Contras Is Totally Bonkers

(18.12.2017)

During the U.S. government‘s decade-long support of the Contra rebels who waged an armed campaign against Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista regime in the 1980s, the CIA funneled all manner of assistance to the anti-socialist “freedom fighters,” from training and financial assistance to covert operations. The original “advise and assist” mission was a disaster in retrospect, spurring all manner of human rights violations as well as the modern crack cocaine scourge. But the CIA aid program’s most fascinating product might be the batshit crazy psychological warfare manual cooked up for the Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries.

09.04.2024 - 11:15 [ Haaretz ]

The Truth About Israel, Iran and 1980s U.S. Arms Deals

(Nov. 26, 2010)

In the aforesaid period Netanyahu served as deputy to Moshe Arens, when he was Israel‘s ambassador to Washington, D.C. (1982-83 ).

(…)

The recently revealed documents deal with an operation dubbed „Tipped Kettle,“ involving weapons the Israel Defense Forces looted from the Palestine Liberation Organization during Operation Peace for Galilee in Lebanon, and their transfer to the Contras – opponents of the socialistic Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.

(…)

Part II was patently illegal – a blatant effort by the White House to violate a Congressional order and to cook up a strange deal involving the sale of American weapons (originally supplied to the IDF ) to anti-American Iran, for use in its war with Iraq; the release of Western hostages being held in Lebanon by Iranian-controlled Hezbollah; and the financing of Contras‘ activities thanks to the difference between the sum paid by the Iranians and the true value of the weapons – minus a profit for those engaged in the deal.

(…)

The CIA had direct intelligence connections with the Mossad, but in the affair of the captured weapons the American agency preferred to hide behind the Pentagon.

09.04.2024 - 11:05 [ TeenVogue.com ]

What Was the Iran-Contra Affair? A Political Scandal That Engulfed the Reagan White House

(18.11.2021)

An exiled Iranian arms dealer named Manucher Ghorbanifar claimed to have contacts with a moderate faction inside Iran, and further alleged that weapons sales would improve that faction’s standing. Ghorbanifar collaborated with Israel, which proved to be an important intermediary. While Israel was no ally of Iran, it was also no ally of Iraq, and the ongoing war between the two countries kept them both distracted. Israel began selling U.S.-made weapons to Iran in 1981, even after the U.S. State Department began an effort to end arm sales, known as Operation Staunch, in 1983.

09.04.2024 - 10:35 [ Wikipedia ]

Nicaragua v. United States

The Republic of Nicaragua v. The United States of America (1986)[2] was a case where the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held that the U.S. had violated international law by supporting the Contras in their rebellion against the Sandinistas and by mining Nicaragua‘s harbors. The case was decided in favor of Nicaragua and against the United States with the awarding of reparations to Nicaragua.

09.04.2024 - 10:24 [ History News Network - hnn.us ]

Isn‘t It Time We Rejoin the World Court? (We Left in 1986)

(no date / presumably 2004)

The protest at U.S. exemption of individuals from criminal jurisdiction has been widely reported. The continued refusal of the United States to subject its own actions, especially the use of force against others, to judgment by the ICJ has been treated as a non-event.

The president who turned America‘s back on judgment under international law was Ronald Reagan. His action resulted from fear (especially after prominent condemnation by Senators Barry Goldwater and Daniel Patrick Moynihan) of an adverse Court ruling in Nicaragua‘s case against the U.S.

18.12.2023 - 18:15 [ Le Monde ]

„Operation Condor“ – neue Erkenntnisse über einen schmutzigen Krieg

(11.05.2001)

Erst die zufällige Entdeckung von zwei Tonnen Aktenmaterial aus der Stroessner-Diktatur hat eine erste Rekonstruktion der kriminellen Machenschaften dieses internationalen Netzwerks ermöglicht. Ende Dezember 1992 wurden sie in einer Polizeistation von Lambaré gefunden, einem Vorort der paraguayischen Hauptstadt Asunción. Auf Grund der Freigabe bis dahin als geheim eingestufter CIA-Dokumente über Chile am 13. November 2000 konnte der Inhalt dieser „Akten des Terrors“ überprüft und präzisiert werden.

Seit der panamerikanischen Konferenz von Chapultepec, die im Februar 1945 in Mexiko stattfand, schwören die USA die südamerikanischen Militärs auf den Kampf gegen den Kommunismus ein. In Chapultepec war beschlossen worden, dass das 1942 geschaffene Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) seine Tätigkeiten weiterführen sollte.

DAS aus Offizieren der Unterzeichnerstaaten zusammengesetzte Gremium sollte nach Möglichkeiten suchen, die im Krieg begonnene militärische Zusammenarbeit weiterzuentwickeln. In seinem Rahmen wurden im Jahr 1951 bilaterale Militärhilfeabkommen unterzeichnet: ….

18.12.2023 - 18:02 [ UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) ]

Chile: Operation Condor judgment major win for accountability – Türk

GENEVA (15 December 2023) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today hailed Chile’s Supreme Court judgement on Operation Condor – a notorious campaign coordinated among South America’s dictatorships in the 70s and 80s to persecute political opponents and dissidents – as a major step towards accountability for thousands of victims.

The former dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay implemented Operation Condor to search for, persecute, torture, summarily kill and forcibly disappear people perceived as dissidents across the region. They used a myriad of tactics to eliminate them, including throwing people out of aeroplanes and helicopters.

On 14 December, in a unanimous ruling, Chile’s Supreme Court confirmed the convictions of 22 agents of the dissolved Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA) for the kidnappings and qualified homicides of some victims of the Operation Condor, and ordered reparation measures.

09.09.2023 - 17:12 [ Amnesty International ]

ISRAEL’S OCCUPATION: 50 YEARS OF DISPOSSESSION

(June 2017)

For half a century, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip has resulted in systematic human rights violations against Palestinians living there.

24.10.2022 - 19:42 [ Haaretz ]

The Truth About Israel, Iran and 1980s U.S. Arms Deals

(Nov. 26, 2010)

In the aforesaid period Netanyahu served as deputy to Moshe Arens, when he was Israel‘s ambassador to Washington, D.C. (1982-83 ).

(…)

The recently revealed documents deal with an operation dubbed „Tipped Kettle,“ involving weapons the Israel Defense Forces looted from the Palestine Liberation Organization during Operation Peace for Galilee in Lebanon, and their transfer to the Contras – opponents of the socialistic Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.

(…)

Part II was patently illegal – a blatant effort by the White House to violate a Congressional order and to cook up a strange deal involving the sale of American weapons (originally supplied to the IDF ) to anti-American Iran, for use in its war with Iraq; the release of Western hostages being held in Lebanon by Iranian-controlled Hezbollah; and the financing of Contras‘ activities thanks to the difference between the sum paid by the Iranians and the true value of the weapons – minus a profit for those engaged in the deal.

(…)

The CIA had direct intelligence connections with the Mossad, but in the affair of the captured weapons the American agency preferred to hide behind the Pentagon.

24.10.2022 - 19:40 [ TeenVogue.com ]

What Was the Iran-Contra Affair? A Political Scandal That Engulfed the Reagan White House

(18.11.2021)

An exiled Iranian arms dealer named Manucher Ghorbanifar claimed to have contacts with a moderate faction inside Iran, and further alleged that weapons sales would improve that faction’s standing. Ghorbanifar collaborated with Israel, which proved to be an important intermediary. While Israel was no ally of Iran, it was also no ally of Iraq, and the ongoing war between the two countries kept them both distracted. Israel began selling U.S.-made weapons to Iran in 1981, even after the U.S. State Department began an effort to end arm sales, known as Operation Staunch, in 1983.

16.05.2022 - 18:26 [ Haaretz ]

The Truth About Israel, Iran and 1980s U.S. Arms Deals

(Nov. 26, 2010)

In the aforesaid period Netanyahu served as deputy to Moshe Arens, when he was Israel‘s ambassador to Washington, D.C. (1982-83 ).

(…)

The recently revealed documents deal with an operation dubbed „Tipped Kettle,“ involving weapons the Israel Defense Forces looted from the Palestine Liberation Organization during Operation Peace for Galilee in Lebanon, and their transfer to the Contras – opponents of the socialistic Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.

(…)

Part II was patently illegal – a blatant effort by the White House to violate a Congressional order and to cook up a strange deal involving the sale of American weapons (originally supplied to the IDF ) to anti-American Iran, for use in its war with Iraq; the release of Western hostages being held in Lebanon by Iranian-controlled Hezbollah; and the financing of Contras‘ activities thanks to the difference between the sum paid by the Iranians and the true value of the weapons – minus a profit for those engaged in the deal.

(…)

The CIA had direct intelligence connections with the Mossad, but in the affair of the captured weapons the American agency preferred to hide behind the Pentagon.

16.05.2022 - 17:37 [ dokmz.com ]

Akten zur Iran-Contra-Affäre veröffentlicht

(26.11.2011)

Am 25.11.1986 hatte Präsident Ronald Reagan zunächst die heimliche Lieferung von Waffen an den verfeindeten Iran dementiert und später dann den Umfang der Lieferung als „höchstens eine Flugzeugladung“ kleingeredet, obwohl es sich um 1500 Panzer- und Luftabwehrraketen handelte. Der Deal beinhaltete u.a. die Aufschiebung der Freilassung der 52 US-Geiseln, was Präsident Carter den Wahlkampf sabotiert hatte. Der finanzielle Anteil der iranischen Gegenleistung wurde am Kongress vorbei zur Finanzierung der Contras in Nicaragua verwendet, um die dortige Regierung zu stürzen. Die Contras, ursprünglich Regierungstruppen einer gestürzten Diktatur, waren von der CIA ausgebildet und mit Waffen versorgt worden, mit denen sie zur Destabilisierung Terrorismus gegen die Zivilbevölkerung verübten. Die CIA tolerierte sogar die Eigenfinanzierung der Contras durch Drogenschmuggel in die USA.

16.05.2022 - 17:23 [ DW.com ]

Die Iran-Contra-Affäre

(20.07.2009)

Die USA hatten Waffen an den Iran verkauft und mit einem Teil der Erträge die nikaraguanischen „Contras“ bei ihrem Bemühen unterstützt, die linken Sandinisten in ihrer Heimat zu stürzen. Gleichzeitig versuchte Washington mit dieser Strategie, amerikanische Geiseln freizukaufen, die im Libanon verschwunden waren. Israel war als Mittler eingeschaltet, das freilich auch auf eigene Initiative bereits Waffengeschäfte mit Teheran aufgenommen hatte.

20.01.2022 - 08:21 [ Werner Rügemer / Nachdenkseiten ]

Impfwahn – wie die Bevölkerung noch kränker wird

1984 ernannte Reagan Dr. Anthony Fauci zum Direktor des NIAID. Seitdem ohne Unterbrechung bis heute nimmt Fauci diese Stellung ein. Mithilfe der Pharma-Konzerne, der Elite-Universitäten und später der privaten Stiftungen wie der Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) und mithilfe aller Regierungen – ob Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden – baute der oberste Staats- und Konzernvirologe der USA ein weltweites Netzwerk aus. Es wurde führend bei der Pandemie-Politik des Westens.

22.11.2021 - 19:45 [ TeenVogue.com ]

What Was the Iran-Contra Affair? A Political Scandal That Engulfed the Reagan White House

(18.11.2021)

An exiled Iranian arms dealer named Manucher Ghorbanifar claimed to have contacts with a moderate faction inside Iran, and further alleged that weapons sales would improve that faction’s standing. Ghorbanifar collaborated with Israel, which proved to be an important intermediary. While Israel was no ally of Iran, it was also no ally of Iraq, and the ongoing war between the two countries kept them both distracted. Israel began selling U.S.-made weapons to Iran in 1981, even after the U.S. State Department began an effort to end arm sales, known as Operation Staunch, in 1983.

07.05.2021 - 19:28 [ Amerika21.de ]

Das Massaker von El Mozote in El Salvador: US-Militärberater war dabei

Das Massaker von El Mozote, bei dem salvadorianische Streitkräfte zwischen dem 10. und 12. Dezember 1981 etwa 1.000 Frauen, Kinder und Betagte bestialisch ermordeten, ist bis heute nicht vollständig aufgeklärt. Es ist eine der schlimmsten Menschenrechtsverletzungen in der Zeit des bewaffneten Konfliktes (1980-1992) und steht stellvertretend für die Straflosigkeit, die noch heute für die Menschenrechtsverbrechen in dieser Zeit gilt. Erst ein Urteil des Interamerikanischen Gerichtshofs für Menschenrechte im Jahr 2012 und die Abschaffung des Amnestiegesetzes 2016 ebneten den Weg für erste gerichtliche Schritte, um die Täter zu ermitteln. Seither läuft ein Verfahren zur Beweisaufnahme, geleitet von Richter Jorge Guzmán. Angeklagt sind 16 Mitglieder des Batallions Atlacatl, ein salvadorianisches Elitebataillon, das in der US-Militärbasis von Fort Benning, Georgia, in Aufstandsbekämpfungstaktiken ausgebildet wurde.

21.08.2020 - 16:39 [ Forbes ]

Over 70 Republican National Security Officials Endorse Biden, Deem Trump ‘Dangerously Unfit’ For President

Among the statement’s signees are officials who served under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, some of whom have served in the country’s top defense and intelligence roles.

Former CIA head General Michael Hayden, former FBI and CIA chief William Webster, former National Intelligence director Michael Leiter and former Air Force secretary Mike Donley are among the officials now siding with Biden.

21.08.2020 - 14:08 [ Baltimore Sun ]

When a wave of torture and murder staggered a small U.S. ally, truth was a casualty.

(Jun 11, 1995)

* The CIA was instrumental in training and equipping Battalion 316. Members were flown to a secret location in the United States for training in surveillance and interrogation, and later were given CIA training at Honduran bases.

* Starting in 1981, the United States secretly provided funds for Argentine counterinsurgency experts to train anti-Communist forces in Honduras. By that time, Argentina was notorious for its own „Dirty War,“ which had left at least 10,000 dead or „disappeared“ in the 1970s. Argentine and CIA instructors worked side by side training Battalion 316 members at a camp in Lepaterique, a town about 16 miles west of Tegucigalpa.

* Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, who as chief of the Honduran armed forces personally directed Battalion 316, received strong U.S. support – even after he told a U.S. ambassador that he intended to use the Argentine method of eliminating subversives.

* By 1983, when Alvarez‘s oppressive methods were well known to the U.S. Embassy, the Reagan administration awarded him the Legion of Merit for „encouraging the success of democratic processes in Honduras.“ His friendship with Donald Winters, the CIA station chief in Honduras, was so close that when Winters adopted a child, he asked Alvarez to be the girl‘s godfather.

21.08.2020 - 13:53 [ theHill.com ]

Negroponte endorses Biden: He beats Trump on ‚character, compassion and life experience‘

John Negroponte, who served as director of national intelligence under former President George W. Bush, endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden in his race against President Trump on Thursday in an interview with the Daily Beast.

“All roads lead to Trump in a way,” Negroponte told the website. “I’m just not sure the country can withstand another four years of the presidency with a man who has shown such disregard to the office.”

06.08.2020 - 21:24 [ ORF.at ]

US-Sondergesandter für den Iran tritt zurück

Nach einer kurzen Übergangszeit soll der Sondergesandte für Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, Hooks Aufgaben zusätzlich übernehmen, hieß es weiter.

28.03.2020 - 08:55 [ Radio Utopie ]

„Executive Order“: Geheime Macht einer imperialen Präsidentschaft

(1. September 2014)

Das „Signing Statement“: Eine Aufhebung der Gewaltenteilung

Die Präsidenten der Vereinigten Staaten nehmen sich nicht nur die Jahrhunderte lang unhinterfragte Macht der Gewohnheit in Form von „Executive Orders“ in all ihren Varianten heraus, sondern auch noch das virtuelle Recht, vom Kongress beschlossene Gesetze ganz oder teilweise faktisch zu ignorieren, ohne ihr (verfassungsmäßiges) Veto einzulegen.

Dazu benutzen die Präsidenten seit Ronald Reagan eine bis dahin für zeremonielle Zwecke benutzte Prozedur, das „Signing Statement“, eine Erklärung des Präsidenten bei der Unterschrift von Gesetzen.

Laut Artikel 1 Sektion 7 der Constitution muss der verfassungsmäßige Gesetzgeber, der Kongress, jedes seiner Gesetze zuerst dem Präsidenten vorlegen. Dieser kann es dann entweder unterschreiben und so in Kraft setzen, oder es ablehnen zu unterschreiben (sein „Veto“ einlegen“) und an den Kongress zurückverweisen.

In diesem Falle aber hat der Kongress und seine beiden Kammern, Repräsentantenhaus und Senat, die Möglichkeit, das gleiche Gesetz noch einmal mit Zweidrittelmehrheit zu beschließen und es ohne Unterschrift des Präsidenten sofort in Kraft zu setzen, also den Präsidenten zu überstimmen. Im Falle des Falles für jede Demokratie eine wichtige Option.

Die nun seit der Reagan-Präsidentschaft – mit ex-C.I.A.-Direktor George Bush Senior als Vizepräsidenten, sowie einer ganzen Reihe von aufgestiegenen Neocons und „demokratischen Revolutionären“ (Michael Ledeen) in der Präsidialverwaltung des Weißen Hauses und seinen Behörden – von allen Präsidenten angewandte Taktik mit „Signing Statements“ unliebsame Gesetze vollständig lahmzulegen und zu sabotieren, funktioniert nun wie folgt:

Der Präsident unterschreibt zwar das Gesetz, erklärt aber gleichzeitig in einem „Signing Statement“, wie, ob und welche Teile des Gesetzes er durch seine ausführenden Behörden, also die Exekutive, umzusetzen gedenke; und dies obwohl eine teilweise Inkraftsetzung von Gesetzen bereits 1998 durch den Obersten Gerichtshof für verfassungswidrig erklärt wurde.

Durch diese perfide Taktik nimmt der Präsident zudem dem Kongress die Möglichkeit das Gesetz mit Zweidrittelmehrheit zu beschließen und so den Präsidenten verfassungsgemäß zu umgehen.

Am 24. Juni 2006 schließlich stellte eine Arbeitsgruppe der American Bar Association, in der fast die Hälfte aller Rechtsanwälte in den U.S.A. Mitglied sind, in einer Erklärung fest, dass „Signing Statements“ des Präsidenten in der Verfassung nicht einmal erwähnt werden und dass

„Präsident Bushs Signing Statements in Verletzung der wichtigen Doktrin der Teilung von Macht erfolgen und diese unterminieren.“

Des Weiteren erklärte die Arbeitsgruppe der American Bar Association, dass ihre Erläuterungen

„die Bedeutung der Doktrin der Teilung von Macht unterstreichen sollen und daher einen Aufruf an den Präsidenten und all seine Nachfolger repräsentieren, die Rechtstaatlichkeit („rule of law“) und unser Verfassungssystem der Teilung von Macht und Gewaltenteilung („checks and balances“) vollständig zu respektieren.“

Natürlich folgten weder der Präsident George Bush Junior, noch der Präsident Barack Obama irgendeinem „Aufruf“. Alles ging munter weiter wie bisher, bis heute.

Nur die Zahl der „Signing Statements“ schrumpfte unter der Obama-Präsidentschaft ein wenig. Was für ein gütiger Cäsar.

28.03.2020 - 08:41 [ Wikipedia ]

Signing statement

The Supreme Court has not squarely addressed the limits of signing statements.

28.11.2019 - 17:45 [ Democracy Now! / Youtube ]

Operation Condor Trial Tackles Coordinated Campaign By Latin American Dictatorships To Kill Leftists

(07.03.2013)

A historic trial underway in Argentina is set to reveal new details about how Latin American countries coordinated with each other in the 1970s and ‘80s to eliminate political dissidents. The campaign known as „Operation Condor“ involved military dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. They worked together to track down, kidnap and kill people they labeled as terrorists: leftist activists, labor organizers, students, priests, journalists, guerilla fighters and their families. The campaign was launched by the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and evidence shows the CIA and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were complicit from its outset.

05.10.2019 - 13:09 [ New York Times ]

THE PARDONS; BUSH PARDONS 6 IN IRAN AFFAIR, ABORTING A WEINBERGER TRIAL; PROSECUTOR ASSAILS ‚COVER-UP‘

(25. Dezember 1992)

Mr. Weinberger was scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 5 on charges that he lied to Congress about his knowledge of the arms sales to Iran and efforts by other countries to help underwrite the Nicaraguan rebels, a case that was expected to focus on Mr. Weinberger‘s private notes that contain references to Mr. Bush‘s endorsement of the secret shipments to Iran.

05.10.2019 - 13:01 [ NPR.org ]

William Barr Supported Pardons In An Earlier D.C. ‚Witch Hunt‘: Iran-Contra

(14.01.2019)

Barr, who is scheduled to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday for his confirmation hearings, ran the Justice Department once before, under President George H.W. Bush.

Back then, the all-consuming, years-long scandal was called Iran-Contra. On Dec. 24, 1992, it ended when Bush pardoned six people who had been caught up in it.

„The Constitution is quite clear on the powers of the president and sometimes the president has to make a very difficult call,“ Bush said then. „That‘s what I‘ve done.“

13.02.2019 - 23:44 [ C-SPAN / Youtube ]

Word for Word: Excange between Rep. Ilhan Omar and Elliott Abrams (C-SPAN)

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has a heated exchange with Elliot Abrams, the U.S. special envoy to Venezuela, highlighting his role in the Iran-Contra affair. She says, „I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony you give today to be truthful.“ The exchange came during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

13.02.2019 - 23:43 [ Brown.edu ]

Indictments and Pleas: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ELLIOTT ABRAMS, Defendant.

(7. Oktober 1991) From July 1985 through 1988, ELLIOTT ABRAMS was Assistant Secretary of State and headed the United States Department of State‘s Bureau of Inter-American Affairs.

As Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, MR. ABRAMS chaired a Restricted Interagency Group („RIG“) comprised of, among others, representatives of the United States Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Central Intelligence Agency („CIA“), the National Security Council („NSC* 1 ), and the Department of State. During 1985 and 1986, the RIG met regularly to coordinate the activities of these agencies in Central America.

13.02.2019 - 23:33 [ New York Times ]

Elliott Abrams Admits His Guilt On 2 Counts in Contra Cover-Up

(8. Oktober 1991) As the State Department‘s point man on Latin America, Mr. Abrams headed the Restricted Interagency Group, a panel that coordinated the Administration‘s Central America policy among officials at the White House, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon.

Other members included Mr. North, the Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and White House aide who managed the day-to-day operations of secretly aiding the Nicaraguan rebels, and Alan D. Fiers Jr., who supervised Central Intelligence Agency activities in Central America.

In this capacity, Mr. Abrams operated as a high-visibility figure who seemed to relish his combative public role in defending Administration policy in Central America, while at the same time working closely with officials who were engaged in secret efforts to supply the rebels with arms after Congress barred direct military assistance in late 1984.

13.02.2019 - 23:16 [ Omar Moore ‏/ Twitter ]

U.S. congresswoman @IlhanMN and convicted (then pardoned) Iran-Contra felon Elliott Abrams in an exchange marked by Abrams’ disrespectful interruption of Rep. Omar’s statement. Reclaiming her time!

13.02.2019 - 23:15 [ theHill.com ]

Omar, Trump envoy Elliott Abrams clash in fiery exchange

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) engaged in a testy back and forth on Wednesday with special envoy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams, accusing the diplomat of being a liar and pressing him on his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair and killings in Central America during the Reagan administration.

25.01.2019 - 19:13 [ LRB.co.uk ]

The Vice President’s Men

The one member of Congress who knew what was going on was Dick Cheney, a close friend and confidant of Bush’s from their days together in the Ford administration. In 1976, in the aftermath of the Church Committee’s inquiry into CIA abuses, standing intelligence committees had been set up in both the Senate and the House, charged with holding the CIA and other intelligence agencies to account. But it was understood by all those involved in the vice president’s secret team that these committees could be bypassed, even though the laws governing covert intelligence activities had been stiffened: there was now a legal requirement that all covert CIA and military intelligence operations had to be made known to the committees through a formal, written document known as a ‘finding’. But there was a big loophole in the legislation, in the view of the vice president’s men. ‘There was no requirement for a finding for merely asking questions,’ the officer said, ‘and so we’d make routine requests for intelligence assessments from the CIA through the Joint Chiefs and the National Security Council. Our basic philosophy was that we were running military’ – not intelligence – ‘operations and therefore did not have to brief Congress. So we could legally operate without a finding.’ He was describing an ingenious procedure for getting around the law: one that would be put into use again after 9/11, when Cheney, by then vice president, triggered the unending war on terror.

25.01.2019 - 18:33 [ Fefes Blog ]

Seymour Hersh ist zurück. Diesmal über die Reagan-Zeit.

Er erzählt, wie George H.W. Bush damals einen neuen Militärgeheimdienst einrichtete, um auf die Ressourcen der CIA zugreifen zu können, aber die CIA selber zu umgehen…