Did everyone know that Kerry uncovered Iran/Contra?

[Carni]

As well as the BCCI intrigue?

This all came as news to me today!

This article has some interesting info--he was also just about broke in the 80's.


http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/062003.shtml


WASHINGTON -- On a summer day in 1986, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee gathered behind closed doors off the chamber floor to hear the sales pitch of a brash freshman, Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts.

Now, at age 42, Kerry was a senator himself, the US was embroiled in another anti-communist crusade in a distant land, and Kerry was determined to prevent a repeat of Vietnam.

He had spent the spring conducting an unauthorized investigation into reports that the Reagan administration was illegally providing aid to the rebel Nicaraguan Contra armies, which were attempting to overthrow the left-wing government of that Central American nation. At this closed session, he planned to urge the committee to launch an official probe.

On BCCI

Snips

In an off-shoot of the contra-drug investigation, Kerry examined reports that Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was involved in drug trafficking. The probe led to information that Noriega was shipping money out of Panama with the help of a bank called BCCI -- which prompted yet another Kerry investigation.

BCCI was an international bank of Middle East origins whose employees asked few questions of their wealthy and powerful customers, making it a favorite of arms merchants, drug dealers, despots such as Noriega, and intelligence agencies. At the CIA, which sometimes used the bank to launder its own activities, it was known as the "Bank of Crooks and Criminals."

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Yep and it was on my radio too, NPR

Trust me I was floored that it was ON THE NEWS.

[bobbieinok]

2. there are several long DU discussions about these 2 investigations

[Carni]

Sorry to be redundant

This came as a complete shock to me today because I had no idea!

This guy knew about the bush cabal before I knew there WAS a bush cabal!

[bobbieinok]

23. I didn't intend to be snide.....just once again DU is early with

the story.

I watched the Iran-Contra hearings on TV......don't remember ever hearing Kerry had anything to do with them.

I heard about the bank but never really understood what it was all about.


I learned about Kerry's investigations from DU discussions.

[chrisesq]

3. You can be sure of this.

The response from the Reps. will be just like they were to reports of Kerry opposing the Vietnam war. That is, he is pointing out wrongdoings and thus weakening America's resolve against an enemy thereby allowing the enemy's victory.

[0007]

36. They'll try to tear Kerry limb from limb on this one, which is good

because I'd like to see the the Iran/Conta reopened.

Why are most all of those Iran/Contra convicts in junior's administration? Indeed it is a no brainer.

[southernleftylady]

4. uhm.. showing my age... is this a good thing for kerry? n/t (going to hide

under a rock now)

[Carni]

7. I hope you mean to say you are YOUNG

If so you are forgiven...if you are older than me then you damned better well hide! LOL

[southernleftylady]

8. lol im youngish ;) lol does that help ;)

and a newly interested in politics type person

[Carni]

14. You are forgiven then!

And yes it's a good thing for Kerry...UNLESS you are a die hard Reagan/ Bush one fan!

[southernleftylady]

24. Ok in 1984 i was only 7 ... :) n/t

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Did everyone know

Yupper... I found out about it from Guerrillanews.

I decided to watch the video clip with Michael Ruppert, former LAPD on the issue of the CIA's involvement with crack distribution in the inner cities. Kerry was in the clip... testifying with some rather forceful words... it's a very well done minidocumentary.

see it at www.Guerrillanews.com/crack

[blm]

6. Associates of the BFEE probably offered millions to Kerry

to drop his investigations. I know that almost every powerful Democrat as well as the entire GOP and DC powerstructure and their media pawns were against his efforts.

He pursued the truth and exposed it whenever he could and even though he was being ostracized throughout Washington and some were actively trying to ruin him.

At the time, Kerry was even labeled a "conspiracy theory nut" by a certain Congressman named Dick Cheney.

[southernleftylady]

9. REALLY:????

man this is getting interesting...
ok can you give me the cliffnotes version ? tia

[Carni]

21. I am not sure I can do it justice

But basically Reagan/Bush were funding an illegal (secret) war in Nicaragua without Congressional knowledge (or approval) and they were paying for it with a slush fund they had from selling weapons to Iran
(God I THINK that's what we were doing... but don't quote me on it because I wasn't exactly into politics, or world affairs back then)
Hopefully another DUer can explain this better than what I just did?

[dryan]

40. Don't forget....

National Security Advisor McFarland and his deputy Poindexter along with Colonel Oliver North. These three men were later indicted and found guilty. McFaland tried to commit suicide. North fell on his sword for Reagan and Bush 41 (in my opinion). Bush kept saying that he didn't know anyting about Iran-Contra and of course now that RR is dead we'll never know what he did know or didn't know.

The BCCI Scandal and Iran-Contra are not really related, they just happened around the same time. The BCCI affair is very sad in some ways because Clarke Clifford, the Godfather of the Democratic Party was involved on the fringes. He and his partner Altman were running the American branch of BCCI. Bert Lance was also invlved. Kerry interrogated Clifford on TV. I think that C-Span was in its infancy; Kerry was masterful.

[dryan]

41. oops, I forgot to mention this....

A plane crashed somewhere in Nicaragua and the pilot was taken prisoner by the Sandanistas (those were the Nicaraguan insurgents). The pilot -- whose name escapes me -- was imprisoned. He was part of Iran-Contra and was flying weapons to the Contras.

[noonwitch]

47. Was it Eugene Hasenfus, or something like that?

Iran/Contra really pissed me off, and it still bugs me that Clinton got impeached for lying about a blow job and Reagan/Bush never got any consequences for 1. committing treason by selling weapons to the very people who were funding terrorist attacks against our marines in Beiruit and 2. for instructing the DEA, CIA, FBI, etc. to look the other way while the drug-dealing, nun-murdering contras sold cocaine in our country, while at the same time Reagan was pushing the war on drug users domestically.

Whenever I read the freepers going off about how Michael Moore has committed treason, I am amazed that they consider a movie critical of a sitting president treasonous, but a president who funded a government that had very recently before that held our diplomats hostage for over a year and who later funded attacks against our own soldiers is a "true american hero".

[dryan]

49. You are right!

It was Hasenfus. I knew it was something unusual.

[CaTeacher]

48. This illegal secret war was funding rebels to

fight against their lawful government--just because it was communist.

Reagan hated communism. Someday history WILL prove him wrong. It was pure evil to fund the anti-communist movement.

Reagan took his plan to fund the Contras to Congress--and Congress said NO--so Reagan went ahead and did it anyway. I bet the so called "commies" never did anything that dishonest.

:puke:

[DaveSZ]

10. Yeah

He's a hero for doing that.

[soothsayer]

25. according to Dan Sheehan, Kerry agreed not to prosecute the iran-contra

bunch in exchange for being named VP under Gore. Gore however was ticked at the big dog for lying to him about monica, so went with the first dem who spoke out against clinton, lieberman, thus screwing kerry. So now Kerry gets to run for pres, in return for not seeking retribution against the iran contra bunch.

[blm]

31. What a crock. Iran-Contra was long BEFORE Clinton and Gore even ran.

Kerry investigated and exposed IranContra and THEN it went to a Special Prosecutor named Lawrence Walsh. Kerry did what he could to keep it alive, even sending some related cases to Robert Morgenthau in NY to prosecute on state charges when US attorneys dropped the ball.

Others under indictment would have gone on trial if Bush1 hadn't PARDONED them before he left office.

[dryan]

50. I'm not sure who Sheehan is....

but he doesn't know history or chooses to forget it. Bush 41 pardoned Caspar Weinberger and a whole host of others on his last day in office for their roles in Iran-Contra. Clinton had nothing to do with this.

[0007]

42. Are you drunk or something?

[sangh0]

46. No, drunks make no sense

but in the context of a campaign, completely obnoxious lies about Kerry make a certain kind of sense.

[demgurl]

11. Now there is a true hero.

We should all get down on our hands and knees and thank Kerry for his work in the name of our country.

Thank you, Mr. Kerry.

[midwayer]

12. yeppers! (eom)

[iamjoy]

13. Yes, I Knew

And I don't understand why he didn't mention any of this in his acceptance speech. The Republicans & media are now trying to make it sound like he had no accomplishments after 20 years in the Senate. He also stood for balanced budgets way before it was "popular".

[Carni]

16. The Raygun "democrats"

I think they are afraid of alienating them...I can't think of any other reason not to toot Kerry's horn on this topic!

[bklyncowgirl]

15. That's what originally turned me on to him

After the Iran Contra and BCCI scandals, I always said that I would like to see him run for president. Well it's quite a few years down the road and though I don't agree with him on everything, it's great to have someone to vote for instead of just voting against the other guy.

[Joy Anne]

17. Thanks

I knew he was broke, but I didn't know about his involvement in the Iran-Contra investigation.

[shraby]

19. You'll find some of it

on the Plame threads.

[southernleftylady]

20. you knew he was broke? n/t

[Joy Anne]

37. on being broke

As I understand it, he was sort of high-class homeless for a while after his divorce--stayed with one friend or another and had no DC address except the office. This suggests to me that he didn't rip off his ex, a la Newt Gingrich.

I haven't known this forever, maybe 6 months or a year.

[Carni]

22. At least the man knows what it's like to lose sleep over

$$$$

[ElsewheresDaughter]

18. yes i remember and thank you for posting it

[DemBones DemBones]

26. You missed a lengthy thread the other day, here's the URL:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2118878#top

Octafish, blm, seemslikeadream, to name a few, have posted a lot about this, so there's gold in the archives as well. (Well, this thread is already archived, but I mean there's also more in the archives, many, many older threads.)

[2Design]

27. Interesting...some where I heard during the convention week

that his strong suit was he investigated things. He checked into things, he may not have passed many bills, but he was willing to get down into the 'bowels' of government and challenge it.

I think that is why it is great he is running and I believe since you all brought it up that this is a BIG reason BushCo would be afraid. To be followed by a man willing to find and look at the truth no matter how hard that is....

Can someone post the other DU threads that talk about this. I would love to educate myself on this and ya'll are so good at that. This place is so addictive because of that.

[DemBones DemBones]

28. THIS IS IMPORTANT, PEOPLE!!! The RWers are gonna say

that Kerry hasn't done anything in the Senate. YOU need to know about what he's done so you can tell it yo everyone, both the people who are willing to listen and may decide to vote for him, and the people who are complete dittoheads, even if they stick their fingers in their ears. Learn what he's done and keep talking about it.

[southernleftylady]

29. exactly! when they say "why doesnt he talk about what he did in the senate

hmm... do they really want to know what he did? lol

[Dancing_Dave]

30. Yeah I knew it, BUT KERRY SHOULD BE TELLING MORE PEOPLE!

Kerry's campaign really ought to have made more out of his great history as a prosecuter against high-level corruption...the same kind we have in the Whitehouse now.

Kerry's carreer as an idealistic congressional investigator ground to a near stand-still after the Democrats lost both houses of Congress. With a Republican majority, whatever evidence of crime and corruption he could find would not be acted on.

Edwards is also an effective prosecuter, and they probably have some things up their sleave to pull on the criminal neo-cons if they are elected!

But they really need to say a bit more RIGHT NOW, before the election and after "Fahrenheit 9/11" when millions of people are looking for someone who can fight corruption at the top and bring murderous billionaires to Justice!

[CBHagman]

45. We need to send letters to the editor.

Especially with Bush SUPPOSEDLY running on his record and attacking Kerry as having accomplished little in the 20 years of being in the Senate.

[leesa]

32. Well, let's hope he'll uncover the 9-11/US government 9-11

conspiracy to jumpstart PNAC.

[Octafish]

33. Maybe we can help him remember, leesa.

If Kerry does drop the 9-11 Bush Knew bomb, he's going to need ALL our support to sway the middle-of-the-roaders -- not the politically undecided, but the people who say "I can't imagine anyone being so ... evil, to do such a thing."

It wouldn't make sense for Kerry to let fly without the infrastructure to spread the trutth about what he means. That's another reason DU is so important: It serves to help get the word out. In this case, Bush is a homicidal traitor.

[Octafish]

34. John Kerry helped uncover those two acts of treason.

Several newspaper reporters helped uncover Iran-Contra, including Robert Parry of ConsortiumNews.com and "That rag in Beirut." The real break in the deal was when an C-130 cargo plane containing illegal arms and one Eugene Hasenfus (ch. sp.) was shot down into the jungles of Nicka-rog-yoo-wa, as Pruneface called it. Gene called "Max Gomez," the cover name of FELIX I. RODRIGUEZ, the Bay-of-Pigs-veteran,CheGuevera Killing-Watergate-break-in CIA "contract" specialist. Who's Felix call, why his old buddy, vice president George Herbert Walker Bush.

BCCI? Oh yeah. Kerry singlehandedly investigated that in the US Senate. It's a blueprint for the BFEE.

[southernleftylady]

35. kick

[Ducks In A Row]

38. there should be an ad about this

everyone, even the stupid people, know the words Iran-Contra. It would get some people's attention. Have it open with a picture of Ollie North. That will stop those who fast forward to see what it's about.

[kentuck]

39. I think Kerry was real close to George W's ass in the BCCI investigation

Dubya is up to his eyeballs in shady and illegal banking, etc...He goes way back. He should be sitting in a cell somewhere.

[blm]

43. James Bath arranged for W's shares of Harken be sold to Salem Bin Laden

who Kerry had arrested for his crimes in connection to BCCI. Bin Laden money furnished Bush's first million.

9-11 and the entire Mideast policy of the Bushies have their roots in the BCCI and IranContra crimes. Even the cast of characters involved are almost the same.

[Karenina]

54. Where is that Bath feller

anyhoo? :kick:

[CBHagman]

44. And Bush has the cheek to attack Kerry's record.

Let's face it, folks, the fact that Bush is actively attacking Kerry for being a senator of long service means several things:

*Bush was floundering personally and professionally when Kerry was examining serious foreign policy issues. If you will, Bush was still getting drunk and screaming obscenities at Al Hunt when Kerry was exercising leadership on a national level.

*This is probably one more reason for the Republicans to hate Kerry: he called into question their glorious leaders by revealing wrongdoing. These folks HATE scrutiny and they hate realistic assessments of any Republican administration.

*Bush is a vindictive type and this is just more grist for the mill, so to speak. He would love to get at anyone who questioned the sacred GOP.

*Bush goes out of his way to create an air of derision, contempt and mockery towards Kerry's record as a senator and the fact that he's served a long time. The American people should question why they should trust someone who needs to attack the legislative branch to score political points. Californians should be asking the same about Schwarzenegger. Garbage like Bush and Schwarzenegger scorns compromise, open discussion, and consensus-building; they want power, and they detest scrutiny. The American people had better take a good, hard look at this. This is a very, very ugly and dangerous situation.

[DemBones DemBones]

51. Very, very ugly and dangerous, indeed.

Read about it. Tell others about it.

[shraby]

52. In the Plame Indictments thread there

are some real nuggets of info. Send the info to some of the addresses we have on there.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

53. I thought it was

Ash-Shiraa. :shrug: