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633 lines
28 KiB
Plaintext
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INTRODUCTION: URGENT!
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On July 5, 1987 the front page of the Miami Herald
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Newspaper carried a now famous article describing secret
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White House plans to:
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A.) DECLARE AN UNDEFINED "NATIONAL EMERGENCY,"
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B.) RE-OPEN CONCENTRATION CAMPS FOR PREVENTIVE
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DETENTION OF LEGAL DISSIDENTS CERTAIN ETHNIC
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GROUPS, AND
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C.) SUSPEND OUR UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
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---***---
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Those of us viewing the Iran-Contragate hearings,
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then being broadcast live on TV, had our curiousity peaked
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when one committee member began inquiring about an article
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alleging secret White House plans to suspend the
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Constitution.
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We were even more puzzled when committee chair
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Daniel Inouye interrupted him demanding all discussion on
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that question take place in closed session, out of public
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hearing.
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Not content to wonder, I researched the original
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article, transcribed it, and now present it to you for your
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urgent consideration. You have a right to read this. In
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fact, you'd better know about it because it's about secret
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White House plans to remove your rights by SUSPENDING OUR
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UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. It's about a government which
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we, the people, did NOT elect but which has gained power
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nonetheless.
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What follows is not the whole story but a crucial
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and overlooked part of it. Read "between the lines" and
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very carefully. This is not some paranoid's nightmare or
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some fanatic's fantasy. This is reality in the Reagan White
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House.
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---***---
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Please copy this article and circulate it among
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your friends and co-workers. If George Bush gets into the
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White House, we'll have "elected," or had selected for us,
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precisely the same carnivorous crew comprising The Secret
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Government referred to in this article.
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---***---
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First, I offer three appropriate quotes which
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provide a certain perspective in which to view what follows.
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Then, I present the "sidebar" articles which
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summarized and accompanied the main article.
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Finally, I give you the complete text of the
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original article, unedited and uncensored. While local
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papers ignored this historic article or presented only
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extracts from it, none of them gave you this, the entire
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text.
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---***---
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The following did not appear with the original
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article but they provide a certain appropriate perspective
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on it:
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"Perception of reality is sometimes
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more important than reality itself."
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-Henry Kissenger
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"He who controls the past, controls the future.
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He who controls the present, controls the past."
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-O'Brian, the dictator
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in George Orwell's novel "1984"
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"If you don't like the news,
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go out and make some of your own!"
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-Scoop Nisker
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===========================================================
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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===========================================================
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from THE MIAMI HERALD....SUNDAY JULY 5, 1987....page one:
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SOME SECRET ACTIVITIES
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Sources say the parallel government behind the
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Reagan administration engaged in secret actions
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including:
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A CONTINGENCY plan to suspend Constitution and impose
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martial law in United States in case of nuclear
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war or national rebellion.
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1985 VISIT to Libya by William Wilson, then U.S. ambassador
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to Vatican and close Reagan friend, to meet with
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Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
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HAVING ROUTES of sophisticated surveillance satellites
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altered to follow Soviet ships around world.
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LAUNCHING of spy aircraft on secret missions over Cuba and
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Nicaragua.
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PROPOSAL in 1981 to provide covert support of anti-
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Sandinista groups that fled Nicaragua after
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Sandinista revolution in 1979.
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DISSEMINATION of information that cast Nicaragua as threat
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to neighbors and United States.
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---***---
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Before Reagan was elected, campaign aides who
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became the president's top advisers carried out
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these secret activities:
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CREATION in 1980 of October Surprise Group to monitor
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President Carter's negotiations with Iran for
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release of 52 American hostages. Group met with
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man who claimed to represent Iran and who offered
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to release hostages to Reagan. Offer declined,
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officials say.
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ACQUISITION of stolen confidential briefing materials from
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Carter's campaign before Oct. 28, 1980, Carter-
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Reagan debate.
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---***---
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[photo captions:]
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PRINCIPALS:
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William Clark: Allowed bigger North role at NSC.
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William Casey: Kept guard on President Carter
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=============================================================
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*************************************************************
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=============================================================
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What follows is the complete text of the original article as
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printed in the Miami Herald for July 5, 1987:
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REAGAN AIDES AND THE 'SECRET' GOVERNMENT
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by ALFONSO CHARDY, HERALD WASHINGTON BUREAU
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WASHINGTON -- Some of President Reagan's top
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advisers have operated a virtual parallel government outside
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the traditional Cabinet departments and agencies almost from
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the day Reagan took office, congressional investigators and
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administration officials have concluded.
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Investigators believe that the advisers'
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activities extended well beyond the secret arms sales to
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Iran and aid to the contras now under investigation.
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Lt. Col. Oliver North, for example, helped draw up
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a controversial plan to suspend the Constitution in the
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event of a national crisis, such as nuclear war, violent and
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widespread internal dissent or national opposition to a U.S.
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military invasion abroad.
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When the attorney general at the time, William
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French Smith, learned of the proposal, he protested in
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writing to North's boss, then-national security adviser
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Robert McFarlane.
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The advisers conducted their activities through
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secret contacts throughout the government with persons who
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acted at their direction but did not officially report to
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them.
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The activities of those contacts were coordinated
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by the National Security Council, the officials and
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investigators said.
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There appears to have been no formal directive for
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the advisers' activities, which knowledgeable sources
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described as a parallel government.
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In a secret assessment of the activities, the lead
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counsel for the Senate Iran-contra committee called it a
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"secret government-within-a-government."
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The arrangement permitted Reagan administration
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officials to claim that they were not involved in
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controversial or illegal activities, the officials said.
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"It was the ultimate plausible deniability," said
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a well-briefed official who has served the Reagan
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administration since 1982 and who often collaborated on
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covert assistance to the Nicaraguan contras.
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The roles of top-level officials and of Reagan
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himself are still not clear. But that is expected to be a
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primary topic when North appears before the Iran-contra
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committees beginning Tuesday. Special prosecutor Lawrence
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Walsh also is believed to be trying to prove in his
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investigation of the Iran-contra affair that government
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officials engaged in a criminal conspiracy.
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ADVISERS FORMED SHADOW GOVERNMENT, PROBERS SAY
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Much of the time, Cabinet secretaries and their
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aides were unaware of the advisers' activities. When they
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periodically detected operations, they complained or tried
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to derail them, interviews show.
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But no one ever questioned the activities in a
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broad way, possibly out of a belief that the advisers were
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operating with presidential
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sanction, officials said.
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Reagan did know of or approve at least some of the
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actions of the secret group, according to previous accounts
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by aides, friends and high-ranking foreign officials.
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One such case is the 1985 visit to Libya by
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William Wilson, then-U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and a
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close Reagan friend, to meet with Libyan leader Col. Moammar
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Gadhafi, officials said last week. Secretary of State
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George Shultz rebuked Wilson, but the officials said Reagan
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knew of the trip in advance.
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The heart of the secret structure from 1983 to
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1986 was North's office in the Old Executive Office Building
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adjacent to the White House, investigators believe.
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North's influence within the secret structure was
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so great, the sources said, that he was able to have the
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orbits of sophisticated surveillance satellites altered to
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follow Soviet ships around the world, call for the launching
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of high-flying spy aircraft on secret missions over Cuba and
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Nicaragua and become involved in sensitive domestic
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activities.
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Many initiatives
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Others in the structure included some of Reagan's
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closest friends and advisers, including former national
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security adviser William Clark, the late CIA Director
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William Casey and Attorney General Edwin Meese, officials
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and investigators said.
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Congressional investigators said the Iran deal was
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just one of the group's initiatives. They say exposure of
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the unusual arrangement may be the legacy of their inquiry.
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"After we establish that a policy decision was
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made at the highest levels to transfer responsibility for
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contra support to the NSC..., we favor examining how that
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decision was implemented," wrote Arthur Liman, chief counsel
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of the Senate committee, in a secret memorandum to panel
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leaders Sens. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and Warren Rudman, R-
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N.H., before hearings began May 5.
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"This is the part of the story that reveals the
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whole secret government-within-a-government, operated from
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the [Executive Office Building] by a Lt. Col., with its own
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army, air force, diplomatic agents, intelligence operatives
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and appropriations capacity," Limon wrote in the memo, parts
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of which were shared with The Herald.
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A spokesman for Liman declined comment but did not
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dispute the memo's existence.
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A White House official rejected the notion that
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any of Reagan's advisers were operating secretly.
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"The president has constantly expressed his
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foreign policy positions to the public and has consulted
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with the Congress," the official said.
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Began in 1980
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Congressional investigators and current and former
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officials interviewed -- members of the CIA, State
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Department and Pentagon -- said they still do not have a
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full record of the impact of the the advisers' activities.
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But based on investigations and personal
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experience, they believe the secret governing arrangement
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traces its roots to the last weeks of Reagan's 1980
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campaign.
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Officials say the genesis may have been an October
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1980 decision by Casey, Reagan's campaign manager and a
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former officer in the World War II precursor of the CIA, to
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create an October Surprise Group to monitor Jimmy Carter's
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feverish negotiations with Iran for the release of 52
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American hostages.
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The group, led by campaign foreign policy adviser
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Richard Allen, was founded out of concern Carter might pull
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off an "October surprise" such as a last-minute deal for the
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release of the hostages before the Nov. 4 election. One of
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the group's first acts was a meeting with a man claiming to
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represent Iran who offered to release the hostages to
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Reagan.
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Allen -- Reagan's first national security adviser--
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and another campaign aide, Laurence Silberman, told The
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Herald in April of the meeting. they said McFarlane, then a
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Senate Armed Services Committee aide, arranged and attended
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it. McFarlane later became Reagan's national security
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adviser and played a key role in the Iran-contra affair.
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Allen and Silberman said they rejected the offer to release
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the hostages to Reagan.
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Briefing book theft
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Congressional aides now link another well-known
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campaign incident -- the theft of confidential briefing
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materials from Carter's campaign before the Oct. 28, 1980,
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Carter-Reagan debate -- to the same group of advisers.
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They believe that Casey obtained the briefing
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materials and passed them to James Baker, another top
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Reagan campaign aide, who was White House chief of staff in
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Reagan's first term.
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Once Reagan was sworn in, the group moved quickly
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to set itself up, officials said. Within months, the
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advisers were clashing with officials in the traditional
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agencies.
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Six weeks after Reagan was sworn in, apparently
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over State Department objections, then-CIA director Casey
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submitted a proposal to Reagan calling for covert support of
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anti-Sandinista groups that had fled Nicaragua after the
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1979 revolution.
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[THE IRAN-CONTRA CONNECTION:
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NORTH HAD BIG ROLE IN INNER CIRCLE, INVESTIGATORS SAY]
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It is still unclear whether Casey cleared the plan
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with Reagan. But In November 1981 the CIA secretly flew an
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Argentine military leader, Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri, to
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Washington to devise a secret agreement under which
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Argentine military officers trained Nicaraguan rebels,
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according to an administration official familiar with the
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agreement.
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About the same time, North completed his transfer
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to the NSC from the Marine Corps. Those who worked with
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North in 1981 remember his first assignments as routine,
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although not unimportant.
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North, they recalled, was briefly assigned to
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carry the "football," the briefcase containing the secret
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contingency plans for fighting a nuclear war, which is taken
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everywhere the president goes. North later widened his
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assignment to cover national crisis contingency planning.
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In that capacity he became involved with the controversial
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national crisis plan drafted by the Federal Emergency
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Management Agency.
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NATIONAL CRISIS PLAN
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From 1982 to 1984, North assisted FEMA, the U.S.
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government's chief national crisis-management unit, in
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revising contingency plans for dealing with nuclear war,
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insurrection or massive military mobilization.
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North's involvement with FEMA set off the first
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major clash between the official government and the advisers
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and led to the formal letter of protest in 1984 from then-
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Attorney General Smith.
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Smith was in Europe last week and could not be
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reached for comment.
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But a government official familiar with North's
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collaboration with FEMA said then-Director Louis O.
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Guiffrida, a close friend of Meese's, mentioned North in
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meetings during that time as FEMA's NSC contact.
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Guiffrida could not be reached for comment, but
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FEMA spokesman Bill McAda confirmed the relationship.
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"Officials of FEMA met with Col. North during 1982
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to 1984," McAda said. "These meetings were appropriate to
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Col. North's duties with the National Security Council and
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FEMA's responsibilities in certain areas of national
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security."
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FEMA's clash with Smith occurred over a secret
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contingency plan that called for suspension of the
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Constitution, turning control of the United States over to
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FEMA, appointment of military commanders to run state and
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local governments and declaration of martial law during a
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national crisis.
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The plan did not define national crisis, but it
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was understood to be nuclear war, violent and widespread
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internal dissent or national opposition against a military
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invasion abroad.
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PLAN WAS PROTESTED
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The official said the contingency plan was written
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as part of an executive order or legislative package that
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Reagan would sign and hold within the NSC until a severe
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crisis arose.
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The martial law portions of the plan were outlined
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in a June 30, 1982, memo by Guiffrida's deputy for national
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preparedness programs, John Brinkerhoff. A copy of the memo
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was obtained by The Herald.
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The scenario outlined in the Brinkerhoff memo
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resembled somewhat a paper Guiffrida had written in 1970 at
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the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., in which he advocated
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martial law in case of a national uprising by black
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militants. The paper also advocated the roundup and
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transfer to "assembly centers or relocation camps" of at
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least 21 million "American Negroes."
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When he saw the FEMA plans, Attorney General Smith
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became alarmed. He dispatched a letter to McFarlane Aug. 2,
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1984 lodging his objections and urging a delay in signing
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the directive.
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"I believe that the role assigned to the Federal
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Emergency Management Agency in the revised Executive Order
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exceeds its proper function as a coordinating agency for
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emergency preparedness," Smith said in the letter to
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McFarlane, which The Herald obtained. "This department and
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others have repeatedly raised serious policy and legal
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objections to the creation of an 'emergency czar' role for
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FEMA."
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It is unclear whether the executive order was
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signed or whether it contained the martial law plans.
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Congressional sources familiar with national disaster
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procedures said they believe Reagan did sign an executive
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order in 1984 that revised national military mobilization
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measures to deal with civilians in case of nuclear war or
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other crisis.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
ORCHESTRATED NEWS LEAKS
|
||
|
|
||
|
Around the time that issue was producing fireworks
|
||
|
with the administration, McFarlane and Casey reassigned
|
||
|
North from national crisis planning to international covert
|
||
|
management of the contras. The transfer came after North
|
||
|
took a personal interest, realizing that neither the State
|
||
|
Department nor any other government agency wanted to handle
|
||
|
the issue after it became clear early in 1984 that Congress
|
||
|
was moving to bar official aid to the rebels.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The new assignment, plus North's natural
|
||
|
organizational ability, creativity and the sheer energy he
|
||
|
dedicated to the issue, gradually led to an expansion of his
|
||
|
power and stature within the covert structure, officials and
|
||
|
investigators believe.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Meese also was said to have played a role in the
|
||
|
secret government, investigators now believe, but his role
|
||
|
is less clear.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Meese sometimes referred private American citizens
|
||
|
to the NSC so they could be screened and contacted for
|
||
|
soliciting support for the Nicaraguan contras.
|
||
|
|
||
|
One of those supporters, Philip Mabry of Fort
|
||
|
Worth, told The Herald earlier this year that in 1983 he was
|
||
|
told by fellow conservatives in Texas to contact Meese, then
|
||
|
White House counselor, if he wanted to help the contras.
|
||
|
After he contacted Meese's office, Mabry received a letter
|
||
|
from Meese obtained by The Herald advising him that his name
|
||
|
had been given to the "appropriate people."
|
||
|
|
||
|
Shortly thereafter, Mabry said, a woman who
|
||
|
identified herself as Meese's secretary gave him the name
|
||
|
and phone number of another NSC secretary who, in turn, gave
|
||
|
him North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, as contacts.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Meese's Justice Department spokesman, Patrick
|
||
|
Korten, denies that Meese was part of North's secret contra
|
||
|
supply network and notes that Meese does not recall having
|
||
|
referred anyone to North on contra-related matters.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In addition to North's role as contra commander
|
||
|
and fund-raiser, North became secret overseer of the State
|
||
|
Department's Office of Public Diplomacy, through which the
|
||
|
Reagan administration disseminated information that cast
|
||
|
Nicaragua as a threat to its neighbors and the United
|
||
|
States.
|
||
|
|
||
|
An intelligence source familiar with North's
|
||
|
relationship with that office said North was directly
|
||
|
involved in many of the best publicized news leaks,
|
||
|
including the Nov. 4, 1984, Election Day announcement that
|
||
|
Soviet-made MiG jet fighters were on their way to Nicaragua.
|
||
|
|
||
|
McFarlane is now believed to have been the senior
|
||
|
administration official who told reporters that the Soviet
|
||
|
cargo ship Bakuriani, en route to Nicaragua from a Soviet
|
||
|
Black Sea port, was probably carrying MiGs.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The intelligence official said North apparently
|
||
|
recommended that the information be leaked to the press on
|
||
|
Election Day so it would reach millions of people watching
|
||
|
election results. CBS and NBC broadcast the report that
|
||
|
night.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
CLARK HAD KEY ROLE
|
||
|
|
||
|
The leak led to a new clash between the regular
|
||
|
bureaucracy and the president's advisers. The official
|
||
|
State Department spokesman, John Hughes, tried hard to play
|
||
|
down the report, pointing out that it was unproven that the
|
||
|
Bakuriani was carrying MiGs. At the same time, employees of
|
||
|
the Office of Public Diplomacy, acting under North's
|
||
|
direction, insisted that the crates were inside the ship and
|
||
|
that MiGs were still a possibility.
|
||
|
|
||
|
To take a closer look, the source said, North
|
||
|
requested a high-flying SR-71 Blackbird spy aircraft be sent
|
||
|
from Beale Air Force Base near Sacramento, Calif., to fly
|
||
|
over the Nicaraguan port of Corinto while the Bakuriani
|
||
|
unloaded its cargo. The pictures showed that the Bakuriani
|
||
|
unloaded helicopters, not MiGs.
|
||
|
|
||
|
North was not the only adviser who operated
|
||
|
outside traditional government channels, investigators have
|
||
|
concluded.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Others were known as the RIGLET, a semi-official
|
||
|
unit made up of North; Alan Fiers, a CIA Central American
|
||
|
affairs officer; and Elliott Abrams, the current assistant
|
||
|
secretary of state for inter-American affairs, according to
|
||
|
Abrams' subordinate Richard Melton. Melton revealed the
|
||
|
existence of the RIGLET in a deposition given to the Iran-
|
||
|
contra committees. The name is a diminutive for RIG, which
|
||
|
stands for Restricted Interagency Group.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Among the RIGLET's actions was ordering the U.S.
|
||
|
ambassador to Costa Rica, Lewis Tambs, to assist the contras
|
||
|
in setting up a front in southern Nicaragua. Tambs, who
|
||
|
resigned suddenly last year after his links to North were
|
||
|
revealed, testified about the instructions to Iran-contra
|
||
|
investigators.
|
||
|
|
||
|
But perhaps the key to the parallel government was
|
||
|
the role played by Reagan's second national security
|
||
|
adviser, William Clark. It was during Clark's tenure that
|
||
|
North began to gain influence in the NSC.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Clark also recruited several midlevel officers
|
||
|
from the Pentagon and the CIA to work on a special Central
|
||
|
American task force in 1983 to push aid for El Salvador, a
|
||
|
task force member said.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"Judge Clark was the granddaddy of the system," he
|
||
|
said. "I was working at the Pentagon on another issue when
|
||
|
my boss said that because of special circumstances, I was to
|
||
|
be reassigned to the task force."
|
||
|
|
||
|
A former administration official familiar with
|
||
|
Clark's activities said Clark also had approved contacts
|
||
|
between Vatican Ambassador Wilson and Libya before Wilson's
|
||
|
November 1985 journey, which came after McFarlane replaced
|
||
|
Clark at the NSC.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The former official said Wilson also had carried
|
||
|
out secret missions for the Reagan administration in a Latin
|
||
|
American country where Wilson reportedly maintained contacts
|
||
|
with high-level officials. The source asked that the
|
||
|
country not be identified because the system is still in
|
||
|
place and had reduced tensions by circumventing the regular
|
||
|
bureaucracies of both countries.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Calls to Wilson's and Clark's offices in
|
||
|
California were not returned.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
-----END-----
|
||
|
|
||
|
*************************************************************
|
||
|
The above brought to you as a public service
|
||
|
by SAX ALLEN of Free San Francisco, California
|
||
|
*************************************************************
|
||
|
by SAX ALLEN of Free San Francisco, California
|
||
|
****************************************
|
||
|
|
||
|
Downloaded from Just Say Yes. 2 lines, More than 500 files online!
|
||
|
Full access on first call. 415-922-2008 CASFA
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Another file downloaded from:
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||
|
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|
!
|
||
|
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+ /^ |
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|
! | |//^ _^_ 2400/1200/300 baud (415) 935-5845
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|
/^ / @ | /_-_ Jeff Hunter, Sysop
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|@ _| @ @|- - -|
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