Friday, November 13, 2009

The October Surprise Crystal Balls

By Robert Parry
November 13, 2009

In fall 1980, as President Jimmy Carter struggled to free 52 American hostages in Iran and as American voters focused on a crossroads election, key supporters of Republican candidate Ronald Reagan were confident not only of Reagan’s victory but that the hostages wouldn’t be released until after Reagan was sworn in.

Read on.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

An October Surprise conclusion that the Republicans were guilty of a political dirty trick bordering on treason also puts into a more sinister light those crystal balls of GOP operatives who foresaw the hostages returning only after Reagan got into office.

It would seem that the Republicans involved in this were guilty of more than dirty tricks. For a private citizen to interfere with U.S. diplomatic efforts is clearly a crime and possibly treason. To simply call this a dirty trick seems to trivialize a serious act.

Fri Nov 13, 05:47:00 PM 2009
SHAFAR NULLIFIDIAN said...

One should not leave out "Poppy" Bush's more than likely involvement. His whereabouts in and around that time have never been verified with any degree of certitude concerning the "sources".

He's also has to be the only American,who an adult at that time and assumed be of sound mind and body then and now, that has no recollection of where he was at the time of JFK's assassination.

And by an extraordinary bit of
synchronicity, the Bay of Pigs fiasco was Operation Zapata, the same name as Bush's oil company and...two of the ships used in that operation had their names changed One to Barbara and the other to Houston!

Fri Nov 13, 08:11:00 PM 2009
Dave Bell said...

I think the reason for Regan's last minute surge in that election was the debate with the stolen debate book. His Iran/Contra treason was a reason why he won, but the debate was the event that changed things.

For people who don't remember, George Will even admitted that he help Regan practice with the stolen debate preperation book.
Regan countered Carter's points even before Carter made them. Regan said he didn't want to detract from anything Carter was doing to free the hostages to counter why he wasn't sharing his plans. I believe Regan also used the term October Surprise in the debate.

After Iran/Contra became news, I remember hearing on the news that weapons were found in one of George Bush's neighbor's garages. It is a travesty that the media portrayed Iran/Contra as a deal to free hostages, instead of as a deal to hold them hostage. If we had been told the truth, all the death and suffering of the Iraq War probably wouldn't have happened. The son of a traitor wouldn't have become president.

Mon Nov 16, 06:50:00 PM 2009

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