Was Chalabi involved in Iran-Contra?

[burythehatchet]

It seems to me that Reagan may actually not have known the extent of the Iranian arms deal. Recall that it was Bush who engineered the October Surprise. The promise was to deliver missles which led to Iran Contra. Given Chalabi's apparent ties to Tehran, and his dealing with the neocons, does anyone feel, or know, that Chalabi may have had a role in Iran Contra?

[SayitAintSo]

1. Good question - I wouldn't be surprised

With the reverence that the neocons embraced Chalabi, it stands to reason that they have "a past" that binds them.

[burythehatchet]

3. Here's an interesting bit about Chalabi's Jordanian heist. Look who

is involved.

"Chalabi defrauded the Bank of Jordan in a bogus and complex, although typical Bushonian letter-of-credit scam. The scam was run through 3 Liechtensteinian shell companies," in concert with Henry Kissinger, Frank Carlucci and the Carlyle Group, and the "Bush-Family-controlled, shadowy, Panamanian-based Pilgrim Investment Trust."

http://www.rense.com/general53/shac.htm

This is rense but this seems more fact than opinion

[Sporadicus]

2. I Found an Indirect Reference

"Last night, a senior defense official disclosed that another meeting with the Iranian arms dealer, Manucher Ghorbanifar, occurred in June in Paris. The official said that, while the first contact, in late 2001, had been formally sanctioned by the U.S. government in response to an Iranian government offer to provide information relevant to the war on terrorism, the second one resulted from "an unplanned, unscheduled encounter."

A senior administration official said, however, that Pentagon staff members held one or two other meetings with Ghorbanifar last year in Italy. The sessions so troubled Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, the official said, that he complained to Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser.

Powell maintained that the Pentagon activities were unauthorized and undermined U.S. policy toward Iran by taking place outside the terms defined by Bush and his top advisers. The White House instructed the Pentagon to halt meetings that do not conform to policy decisions, said the official, who requested anonymity.

The Defense Department personnel who met with Ghorbanifar came from the policy directorate. Sources identified them as Harold Rhode, a specialist on Iran and Iraq who recently served in Baghdad as the Pentagon liaison to Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi, and Larry Franklin, a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst."

Full article:

http://www.iranexpert.com/2003/meetingsarmsdealer9august.htm

A Google search also uncovered an article in LaRouche's newsletter, but I didn't even bother to read it - much less link it here.

[burythehatchet]

4. Good link

What's tragically funny is that you can read the article and not know whether this is from now or 20 years ago. All the fu**ing names are the same!!

[Sporadicus]

9. How True

This article exposes the Iran-Contra players who still influence US policy :grr:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,539429,00.html

[DenverDem]

5. raygun Knew!!!!

All this manure about his mental deficiency is just a cover to protect the raygun mythology on which they base all the repudlickian image lies.

[burythehatchet]

8. I wouldn't want to defend Reagan under any circumstances

My sense is that Bush was the operative in the WH. Reagan liked to give broad directives. The vermin like Bush and Ollie were the executioners. I think this is where the term "plausible deniability" originated.

But if he knew, it certainly wouldn't surprise me.

[supercrash]

11. I agree

He wrote in his diary that "I agreed to sell Iran TOW's"

That scumbag knew...he was power crazy

[Sporadicus]

Found Another

supposedly linked to an article in Salon.

"What about a wider historical perspective. What exactly was Chalabi's role in Iran-Contra in the 80s? He "suddenly" seems friendly with the mullahs in Iran; yet in Iran-Contra he promised Ollie North and the others that he would take some kind of bold action on behalf of pro-Western, etc. moderates against the mullahs. Was it all lies? Is he always simply going for the best deal at the moment? Yet he has shown himself a prodigy of long-term planning--more so than certain high-ranking government officials we could name."

http://lloydtown.blogeasy.com/comment.list.run?blogID=1083802726659

[John_Shadows_1]

6. Probably, but no more so than George Bush's father...

... and that right-wing everyman, Ollie North.

[stavka]

7. Did you ever hear?

Ollie was the planne/operations officer of the botched hostage rescue attempt in Iran?

[burythehatchet]

10. Eloriel's thread from last night mentioned that

and I was shocked. Takes a lot to shock me these days. I can only surmise that they tipped off the Iranians because there are NO COINCIDENCES.

[Narraback]

12. Would you have a link for that...

I have an ongoing discussion regarding Ollie.

Thanks.

[burythehatchet]

13. here ya go

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1773894