Michael K. Deaver

[John Simkin]

I am very interested in discovering the role of Michael K. Deaver in the Iran-Contra scandal and other illegal activities. Deaver resigned from the White House staff in May 1985 under investigation and was convicted of perjury and fined $100,000. Not that you would know this from the many Deaver biographies on the web. See for example the page listed on Google in number one spot:

http://www.leadingauthorities.com/3129/Michael_Deaver.htm

It is important that we change that. This is what Namebase has on Deaver:

Anderson,S.& J. Inside the League. 1986 (176)

Barlett,D. Steele,J. America: Who Stole the Dream? 1996 (171-2)

Barnet,R. Cavanagh,J. Global Dreams. 1995 (203)

Baum,D. Citizen Coors. 2000 (136, 286)

Birnbaum,J. The Lobbyists. 1992 (184)

Blumenthal,S. Rise of the Counter-Establishment. 1988 (320)

Bonner,R. Waltzing With a Dictator. 1987 (73, 351-2)

Brownstein,R. Easton,N. Reagan's Ruling Class. 1983 (650-3)

Choate,P. Agents of Influence. 1991 (227)

Christic Institute. Sheehan Affidavit. 1988-03-25 (69)

Codevilla,A. Informing Statecraft. 1992 (361)

Covert Action Information Bulletin 1981-#12 (16)

Epstein,E. Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer. 1996 (314-5)

Ewen,S. PR! A Social History of Spin. 1996 (397)

Fitzgerald,F. Way Out There in the Blue. 2000 (63, 66, 68, 98, 112, 370)

Hertsgaard,M. On Bended Knee. 1988

Honegger,B. October Surprise. 1989 (7)

Johnson,R.W. Shootdown. 1987 (278)

Kilian,M. Sawislak,A. Who Runs Washington? 1982 (17-8, 129)

Kwitny,J. Endless Enemies. 1984 (236)

Lewis,C. America's Frontline Trade Officials. 1990 (20-2, 40-3)

Los Angeles Times 1982-03-21 (IV3)

Marshall,J... The Iran-Contra Connection. 1987 (21-2, 52-62, 81-2, 237-8, 241, 249)

Morris,R. Partners in Power. 1996 (343)

New York Times 2002-11-10 (11)

Parenti,M. Inventing Reality. 1993 (63)

Penthouse 1981-09 (60)

Penthouse 1987-12 (64, 196)

Persico,J. Casey. 1991 (182, 185, 227)

Prados,J. Keepers of the Keys. 1991 (470)

Sick,G. October Surprise. 1991 (23, 30)

Sklar,H. Washington's War on Nicaragua. 1988 (83)

Smith,H. The Power Game. 1989 (73-5, 265-7)

Snyder,A. Warriors of Disinformation. 1995 (7)

Stauber,J. Rampton,S. Toxic Sludge Is Good for You. 1995 (140, 157)

Tarpley,W.G. Chaitkin,A. George Bush. 1992 (364)

Trento,S. The Power House. 1992 (155-6, 311-3)

Truell,P. Gurwin,L. False Profits. 1992 (114)

Vistica,G. Fall From Glory. 1997 (79-80)

Washington Post 1985-01-05 (A7)

Washington Post 1986-02-16 (A1, 14-5)

Washington Post 1986-04-27 (A12)

Washington Post 1987-06-26 (A23)

Washington Post 1988-08-21 (C1, 2)

Woodward,B. Veil. 1987 (18, 427)

[Steve Ulman]

John-

Not really interested in the subject, but I'm on hold with tech suppoprt.

Try this Time article. apparently, his conviction, had nothing to do with his time in the White House.

still on hold....

Try this as well: link

[John Simkin]

John-

Not really interested in the subject, but I'm on hold with tech suppoprt.

Try this Time article. apparently, his conviction, had nothing to do with his time in the White House.

still on hold....

Try this as well: link

I never said it was. However, I am more interested in those crimes that he committed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Watch this space.

[John Simkin]

This is information you will not find in Michael K. Deaver's CV.

In the early 1970s Deaver began working for Ronald Reagan, when he was governor of California. Deaver co-founded the public relations company, Deaver and Hannaford in 1975. The company "booked Reagan's public appearances, research and sell his radio program, and ghost-write his syndicated column." Peter Dale Scott claims that "all this was arranged with an eye to Reagan's presidential aspirations, which Deaver and Hannaford helped organize from the outset".

In 1977 Deaver and Hannaford registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents receiving $5,000 a month from the government of Taiwan. It also received $11,000 a month from a group called Amigos del Pais (Friends of the Country) in Guatemala. The head of Amigos del Pais was Roberto Alejos Arzu. He was the principal organizer of Guatemala's "Reagan for President" organization. Arzu was a CIA asset who in 1960 allowed his plantation to be used to train Cuban exiles for the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Peter Dale Scott has argued that Deaver began raising money for Ronald Reagan and his presidential campaign from some of his Guatemalan clients. This included Amigos del Pais. One BBC report estimated that this money amounted to around ten million dollars. Villagran Kramer claimed that several members of this organization were "directly linked with organized terror".

Deaver and Hannaford also began to get work from military dictatorships that wanted to improve its image in Washington. According to Jonathan Marshall, Deaver was also connected to Mario Sandoval and John Singlaub of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL). In the book, The Iran-Contra Connection (1987) he wrote: "The activities of Singlaub and Sandoval chiefly involved three WACL countries, Guatemala, Argentina, and Taiwan, that would later emerge as prominent backers of the contras.... these three countries shared one lobbying firm, that of Deaver and Hannaford."

In December, 1979, John Singlaub had a meeting with Guatemalan President Lucas Garcia. According to someone who was at this meeting Singlaub told Garcia: "Mr. Reagan recognizes that a good deal of dirty work has to be done". On his return, Singlaub called for "sympathetic understanding of the death squads".

Another one of Deaver's clients was Argentina's military junta. A regime that had murdered up to 15,000 of its political opponents. Deaver arranged for Martinez de Hoz, the economy minister, to visit the United States. In one of Reagan's radio broadcasts, he claimed "that in the process of bringing stability to a terrorized nation of 25 million, a small number, were caught in the cross-fire, amongst them a few innocents".

Peter Dale Scott argues that funds from military dictatorships "helped pay for the Deaver and Hannaford offices, which became Reagan's initial campaign headquarters in Beverly Hills and his Washington office." This resulted in Reagan developing the catch-phrase: "No more Taiwans, no more Vietnams, no more betrayals." He also argued that if he was elected as president he "would re-establish official relations between the United States Government and Taiwan".

What Deaver's clients, Guatemala, Taiwan and Argentina wanted most of all were American armaments. Under President Jimmy Carter, arms sales to Taiwan had been reduced for diplomatic reasons, and had been completely cut off to Guatemala and Argentina because of human rights violations.

An article published in Time Magazine (8th September, 1980) claimed that Deaver was playing an important role in Reagan's campaign, whereas people like Campaign Director William Casey were outsiders have "valuable experience but exercise less influence over the candidate."

After his election as president, Ronald Reagan, appointed Deaver as Deputy White House Chief of Staff under James Baker III. He took up his post in January 1981. Soon afterwards, Deaver's clients, Taiwan, Guatemala and Argentina, began to receive their payback. On 19th March, 1981, Reagan asked Congress to lift the embargo on arms sales to Argentina. General Roberto Viola, one of the junta members responsible for the death squads, was invited to Washington. In return, the Argentine government agreed to expand its support and training for the Contras. According to John Ranelagh (The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA): "Aid and training were provided to the Contras through the Argentinean defence forces in exchange for other forms of aid from the U.S. to Argentina."

Reagan had more difficulty persuading Congress to provide arms to Guatemala. During a 4th May, 1981, session of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, it was announced that the Guatemalan death squads had murdered 76 leaders of the moderate Christian Democratic Party. As Peter Dale Scott pointed out in the Iran-Contra Connection: "When Congress balked at certifying that Guatemala was not violating human rights, the administration acted unilaterally, by simply taking the items Guatemala wanted off the restricted list."

Reagan and Deaver also helped Guatemala in other ways. Alejandro Dabat and Luis Lorenzano (Argentina: The Malvinas and the End of Military Rule) pointed out that the Reagan administration arranged for "the training of more than 200 Guatemalan officers in interrogation techniques (torture) and repressive methods".

Reagan's first Secretary of State, Alexander Haig, resigned on 25th June, 1982, as a result of the administration's foreign policy. He also complained that his attempts to help Britain in its conflict with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, was being undermined by Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and some above her in the White House. In his book, Gambling With History: Ronald Reagan in the White House, Laurence I. Barrett argued that this person from the White House was Michael Deaver: "At an NSC session... Haig had observed Kirkpatrick passing Deaver a note. Concluding that Kirkpatrick was using Deaver to prime Reagan... Haig told Clark that a 'conspiracy' was afoot to outflank him."

Another of Deaver's clients, Taiwan, benefited from Reagan's support. Although George Bush promised China in August, 1982, that the United States would reduce its weapons sales to Taiwan, the reverse happened. Arms sales to Taiwan in fact increased to $530m in 1983 and $1,085 million in 1984.

Deaver officially worked primarily on media management. One of his great successes was the presentation of the Grenada invasion. As Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber pointed out in their book Toxic Sludge is Good For You (1995): "Following their (Michael Deaver and Craig Fuller) advice, Reagan ordered a complete press blackout surrounding the Grenada invasion. By the time reporters were allowed on the scene, soldiers were engaged in "mop-up" actions, and the American public was treated to an antiseptic military victory minus any scenes of killing, destruction or incompetence." Later, it was discovered that of the 18 American servicemen killed during the operation, 14 died in friendly fire or in accidents."

As well as Taiwan, Guatemala and Argentina, Deaver also worked closely with South Korea. He arranged for President Chun Doo Hwan to meet Reagan in the White House. It was Deaver's involvement with the Ambassador in Seoul, a member of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) that eventually led to his demise. Deaver resigned from the White House staff in May 1985 under investigation for corruption. It seems that Deaver had charged the Taiwan government $150,000 for arranging the meeting with Reagan. Deaver was eventually charged with perjury rather than violations of the 1978 Ethics in Government Act and was fined $100,000.

[Jack White]

Deaver narrowly missed being hit during the attack on Reagan. He was

walking with Jim Brady, who was hit:

............

They're all next, on LARRY KING LIVE.

We'll meet five other principals later. We will, in the first two segments of this important program tonight, talk with Jerry Parr, the former special agent in charge of the presidential protective division.

Rick Ahearn, was special assistant to President Reagan at the time of the shooting, and Doctor Joseph Giordano, head of the trauma team that worked on President Reagan at George Washington University Hospital.

All right, Rick, set the scene for us. You were -- he had made a speech, right?

RICK AHEARN, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO REAGAN: He had made a speech at the Washington Hilton to the building trades conference of the AFL/CIO. It was very well received, a lot of Reagan Democrats in that audience. And we were right on schedule. We had left the ball room and went up exiting the presidential entrance. There's a special entrance at the Washington Hilton that the president always uses.

At that time it was an uncovered entrance. We were walking down the side walk...

KING: It was raining, right? Was it raining?

AHEARN: It was raining, it was a light rain. I would normally be ahead of the president. In this case, Dave Fisher (ph), who was a personal aide to the president, had stopped me and we were talking about a minor logistical matter. Then Dave went off to his left.

Mike Deaver was walking right ahead of Dave to the, or just behind Dave, toward the limousine, or he was getting in the control car, which was three cars behind the limo.

Jim Brady was right behind him. The military aide was right behind Jim Brady. As we came down the sidewalk, the limousine was straight ahead of us, parked in a position heading out. And there was a roped off public viewing area off to our left. There were also press in that viewing area, as well as some public mixed in.

KING: Jerry, where were you?

JERRY PARR, REAGAN SECRET SERVICE AGENT: I was behind the president, walking toward the open door that Tim McCarthy had opened. And I heard these six shots, actually fired in less than two seconds, and that starts the action for an agent and you simply cover, first, and evacuate....

[John Simkin]

Deaver narrowly missed being hit during the attack on Reagan. He was walking with Jim Brady, who was hit:

It is obviously a coincidence but there are parallels with the JFK assassination. Bush was Reagan’s main competitor for the Republican nomination. Bush received strong support from the CIA. According to Chi Chi Quintero, Bush had weekly strategy meetings with top officials. Ted Shackley, who was going to be appointed director of the CIA if Bush won, wrote some of his campaign speeches. Reagan was seen as too inexperienced and unreliable (similar to the way the CIA saw JFK). However, Reagan had the charm and with Deaver managing his campaign, and the military dictatorships of Argentina and Guatemala providing the funds, Reagan won the nomination.

Bush, like JFK, was then pressurized into taking the CIA candidate as his vice-president. William Casey, another CIA insider, became his presidential campaign manager. Reagan became president but then suffers an assassination attempt. Unlike in the JFK case, Reagan survives. However, he gets the message and Reagan willingly carries out the CIA’s foreign policy and Bush has to wait 8 more years to become president.

[John Simkin]

I have access to most of the books with information on Deaver. However, I am missing the following:

Barlett,D. Steele,J. America: Who Stole the Dream? 1996 (171-2)

Baum,D. Citizen Coors. 2000 (136, 286)

Blumenthal,S. Rise of the Counter-Establishment. 1988 (320)

Bonner,R. Waltzing With a Dictator. 1987 (73, 351-2)

Brownstein,R. Easton,N. Reagan's Ruling Class. 1983 (650-3)

Epstein,E. Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer. 1996 (314-5)

Fitzgerald,F. Way Out There in the Blue. 2000 (63, 66, 68, 98, 112, 370)

Kilian,M. Sawislak,A. Who Runs Washington? 1982 (17-8, 129)

Kwitny,J. Endless Enemies. 1984 (236)

Lewis,C. America's Frontline Trade Officials. 1990 (20-2, 40-3)

Morris,R. Partners in Power. 1996 (343)

Sick,G. October Surprise. 1991 (23, 30)

Smith,H. The Power Game. 1989 (73-5, 265-7)

Snyder,A. Warriors of Disinformation. 1995 (7)

Trento,S. The Power House. 1992 (155-6, 311-3)

Vistica,G. Fall From Glory. 1997 (79-80)

Has any other members got these books?

[John Simkin]

During the 1980 presidential campaign Ronald Reagan was informed that Jimmy Carter was attempting to negotiate a deal with Iran to get the American hostages released. This was disastrous news for the Reagan campaign. If Carter got the hostages out before the election, the public perception of the man might change and he might be elected for a second-term. As Deaver later told the New York Times: "One of the things we had concluded early on was that a Reagan victory would be nearly impossible if the hostages were released before the election... There is no doubt in my mind that the euphoria of a hostage release would have rolled over the land like a tidal wave. Carter would have been a hero, and many of the complaints against him forgotten. He would have won."

According to Barbara Honegger, a researcher and policy analyst with the 1980 Reagan/Bush campaign, William Casey and other representatives of the Reagan presidential campaign made a deal at two sets of meetings in July and August at the Ritz Hotel in Madrid with Iranians to delay the release of Americans held hostage in Iran until after the November 1980 presidential elections. Reagan’s aides promised that they would get a better deal if they waited until Carter was defeated.

On 22nd September, 1980, Iraq invaded Iran. The Iranian government was now in desperate need of spare parts and equipment for its armed forces. Jimmy Carter proposed that the US would be willing to hand over supplies in return for the hostages.

Once again, the Central Intelligence Agency leaked this information to Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. This attempted deal was also passed to the media. On 11th October, the Washington Post reported rumors of a “secret deal that would see the hostages released in exchange for the American made military spare parts Iran needs to continue its fight against Iraq”.

A couple of days before the election Barry Goldwater was reported as saying that he had information that “two air force C-5 transports were being loaded with spare parts for Iran”. This was not true. However, this publicity had made it impossible for Carter to do a deal. Ronald Reagan on the other hand, had promised the Iranian government that he would arrange for them to get all the arms they needed in exchange for the hostages. According to Mansur Rafizadeh, the former U.S. station chief of SAVAK, the Iranian secret police, CIA agents had persuaded Khomeini not to release the American hostages until Reagan was sworn in. In fact, they were released twenty minutes after his inaugural address.

Reagan appointed Casey as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this position he was able to arrange the delivery of arms to Iran. These were delivered via Israel. By the end of 1982 all Regan’s promises to Iran had been made. With the deal completed, Iran was free to resort to acts of terrorism against the United States. In 1983, Iranian-backed terrorists blew up 241 marines in the CIA Middle-East headquarters.

[John Simkin]

On the day Congress changed hands, I thought you might like to look at what Robert Parry said about Michael Deaver's crowd in Secrecy & Privilege (2004)

Like a Civil War victory at a major train junction, the election of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush in 1980 put conservatives in control of key switching points in Washington for the transportation of ideas throughout the U.S. political system. By regaining the Executive Branch and winning the Senate, Republicans had their hands on many of the levers that could expedite the movement of favorable information to the American public and sidetrack news that might cause trouble.

Having learned how dangerous it was when critical scandals like Watergate or the CIA abuses started rolling down the tracks and building up steam, the conservatives took pains to keep hold of this advantage over what information sped through to the public and what didn't. Though often disparaged for being behind the times, conservatives - far better than liberals -grasped the strategic advantage that came with controlling these logistics of information. With the ability to rush public relations shock troops and media artillery to political battle fronts, conservatives recognized that they could alter the tactics and the strategies of what they called "the war of ideas."

Not losing any time, Republicans began devising new ways to manage, manufacture and deliver their message in the weeks and months after the Reagan-Bush victory. Some would call the concept "public diplomacy"; others would use the phrase "perception management." But the idea was to control how the public would perceive an issue, a person or an event. The concept was to define the political battlefield at key moments - especially when a story was just breaking - and thus enhance the chances of victory.

The Republican approach would be helped immeasurably by President Reagan's communication skills and by the image wizardry of White House aide Michael Deaver. But the administration's capability was given an important boost, too, by the intelligence backgrounds of two key figures, former campaign chief William Casey, who was named Reagan's CIA director, and Vice President George H. W. Bush, a former CIA director and a veteran of previous battles fought to contain political scandals. From their experiences in the intelligence fields, they understood what the CIA Old Boys, like Miles Copeland, meant when they talked about setting the "the spirit of the meeting" as a crucial element in managing political events.

[John Simkin]

Michael Deaver currently serves as International Vice Chairman for Edelman Worldwide and manages public affairs programs for corporations such as United Parcel Services, Bacardi and Fujifilm. As Director of Corporate Affairs for Edelman's Washington office and provides strategic counsel to Nike, CSX, Nissan and Microsoft. He also oversees United States based image problems for the governments of Portugal, India, and Chile.

Edelman itself needs further research. Here is an account of the company from SourceWatch:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Edelman

[John Simkin]

Michael Deaver died over the weekend. All the obituarities miss out an important part of his career. As most members know, most of my pages appear near the top of Google searches. Not so, with Deaver. My page is nowhere to be found. Deaver was being protected by those who control Google and Wikipedia. What is it that the ruling elite do not want you to know about Deaver. It is the following:

Michael Deaver co-founded the public relations company, Deaver and Hannaford in 1975. The company "booked Reagan's public appearances, research and sell his radio program, and ghost-write his syndicated column." Peter Dale Scott claims that "all this was arranged with an eye to Reagan's presidential aspirations, which Deaver and Hannaford helped organize from the outset".

In 1977 Deaver and Hannaford registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents receiving $5,000 a month from the government of Taiwan. It also received $11,000 a month from a group called Amigos del Pais (Friends of the Country) in Guatemala. The head of Amigos del Pais was Roberto Alejos Arzu. He was the principal organizer of Guatemala's "Reagan for President" organization. Arzu was a CIA asset who in 1960 allowed his plantation to be used to train Cuban exiles for the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Peter Dale Scott has argued that Deaver began raising money for Ronald Reagan and his presidential campaign from some of his Guatemalan clients. This included Amigos del Pais. One BBC report estimated that this money amounted to around ten million dollars. Francisco Villgarán Kramer claimed that several members of this organization were "directly linked with organized terror".

Deaver and Hannaford also began to get work from military dictatorships that wanted to improve its image in Washington. According to Jonathan Marshall, Deaver was also connected to Mario Sandoval Alarcon and John K. Singlaub of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL). In the book, The Iran-Contra Connection (1987) he wrote: "The activities of Singlaub and Sandoval chiefly involved three WACL countries, Guatemala, Argentina, and Taiwan, that would later emerge as prominent backers of the contras.... these three countries shared one lobbying firm, that of Deaver and Hannaford."

In December, 1979, John K. Singlaub had a meeting with Guatemalan President Fernando Romeo Lucas García. According to someone who was at this meeting Singlaub told Garcia: "Mr. Reagan recognizes that a good deal of dirty work has to be done". On his return, Singlaub called for "sympathetic understanding of the death squads".

Another one of Deaver's clients was Argentina's military junta. A regime that had murdered up to 15,000 of its political opponents. Deaver arranged for José Alfredo Martinez de Hoz, the economy minister, to visit the United States. In one of Reagan's radio broadcasts, he claimed "that in the process of bringing stability to a terrorized nation of 25 million, a small number, were caught in the cross-fire, amongst them a few innocents".

Peter Dale Scott argues that funds from military dictatorships "helped pay for the Deaver and Hannaford offices, which became Reagan's initial campaign headquarters in Beverly Hills and his Washington office." This resulted in Ronald Reagan developing the catch-phrase: "No more Taiwans, no more Vietnams, no more betrayals." He also argued that if he was elected as president he "would re-establish official relations between the United States Government and Taiwan".

What Deaver's clients, Guatemala, Taiwan and Argentina wanted most of all were American armaments. Under President Jimmy Carter, arms sales to Taiwan had been reduced for diplomatic reasons, and had been completely cut off to Guatemala and Argentina because of human rights violations.

An article published in Time Magazine (8th September, 1980) claimed that Deaver was playing an important role in Reagan's campaign, whereas people like Campaign Director William J. Casey were outsiders have "valuable experience but exercise less influence over the candidate."

During the campaign Ronald Reagan was informed that Jimmy Carter was attempting to negotiate a deal with Iran to get the American hostages released. This was disastrous news for the Reagan campaign. If Carter got the hostages out before the election, the public perception of the man might change and he might be elected for a second-term. As Deaver later told the New York Times: "One of the things we had concluded early on was that a Reagan victory would be nearly impossible if the hostages were released before the election... There is no doubt in my mind that the euphoria of a hostage release would have rolled over the land like a tidal wave. Carter would have been a hero, and many of the complaints against him forgotten. He would have won."

According to Barbara Honegger, a researcher and policy analyst with the 1980 Reagan/Bush campaign, William J. Casey and other representatives of the Reagan presidential campaign made a deal at two sets of meetings in July and August at the Ritz Hotel in Madrid with Iranians to delay the release of Americans held hostage in Iran until after the November 1980 presidential elections. Reagan’s aides promised that they would get a better deal if they waited until Carter was defeated.

On 22nd September, 1980, Iraq invaded Iran. The Iranian government was now in desperate need of spare parts and equipment for its armed forces. Jimmy Carter proposed that the US would be willing to hand over supplies in return for the hostages.

Once again, the Central Intelligence Agency leaked this information to Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. This attempted deal was also passed to the media. On 11th October, the Washington Post reported rumors of a “secret deal that would see the hostages released in exchange for the American made military spare parts Iran needs to continue its fight against Iraq”.

A couple of days before the election Barry Goldwater was reported as saying that he had information that “two air force C-5 transports were being loaded with spare parts for Iran”. This was not true. However, this publicity had made it impossible for Carter to do a deal. Ronald Reagan on the other hand, had promised the Iranian government that he would arrange for them to get all the arms they needed in exchange for the hostages. According to Mansur Rafizadeh, the former U.S. station chief of SAVAK, the Iranian secret police, CIA agents had persuaded Khomeini not to release the American hostages until Reagan was sworn in. In fact, they were released twenty minutes after his inaugural address.

Reagan appointed William J. Casey as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this position he was able to arrange the delivery of arms to Iran. These were delivered via Israel. By the end of 1982 all Regan’s promises to Iran had been made. With the deal completed, Iran was free to resort to acts of terrorism against the United States. In 1983, Iranian-backed terrorists blew up 241 marines in the CIA Middle-East headquarters.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/MDdeaver.htm

[Len Colby]

Unfortunately all sorts of sleazy people and tactics come into play when conservative Republicans get into power or strive for it. Not that there isn't a sleaze factor for the Democrats and moderate Republicans but it’s less pronounced.

I’ve always been suspicious of the October Surprise (or lack there of) and remember having seen fairly convincing evidence of Reagan/Bush involvement but do you have references for you claims about that question? Perhaps a new thread is warranted.

This wouldn’t be the 1st time the GOP used such a tactic. In 1968 a then fairly obscure Harvard professor named Henry Kissinger was involved in the peace negotiations between his adopted homeland and Vietnam and apparently fed information to the Nixon campaign which his future boss used to sabotage the negotiations and win the election.

In the earlier case the result was not merely a few more months of captivity for a few dozen Americans but the deaths of thousands of American troops and a far greater number of Indochinese mostly civilians.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Kissinge...1_Hitchens.html

Edited August 21, 2007 by Len Colby

[Sterling Seagrave]

Michael Deaver died over the weekend. All the obituarities miss out an important part of his career. As most members know, most of my pages appear near the top of Google searches. Not so, with Deaver. My page is nowhere to be found. Deaver was being protected by those who control Google and Wikipedia. What is it that the ruling elite do not want you to know about Deaver. It is the following:

Michael Deaver co-founded the public relations company, Deaver and Hannaford in 1975. The company "booked Reagan's public appearances, research and sell his radio program, and ghost-write his syndicated column." Peter Dale Scott claims that "all this was arranged with an eye to Reagan's presidential aspirations, which Deaver and Hannaford helped organize from the outset".

In 1977 Deaver and Hannaford registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents receiving $5,000 a month from the government of Taiwan. It also received $11,000 a month from a group called Amigos del Pais (Friends of the Country) in Guatemala. The head of Amigos del Pais was Roberto Alejos Arzu. He was the principal organizer of Guatemala's "Reagan for President" organization. Arzu was a CIA asset who in 1960 allowed his plantation to be used to train Cuban exiles for the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Peter Dale Scott has argued that Deaver began raising money for Ronald Reagan and his presidential campaign from some of his Guatemalan clients. This included Amigos del Pais. One BBC report estimated that this money amounted to around ten million dollars. Francisco Villgarán Kramer claimed that several members of this organization were "directly linked with organized terror".

Deaver and Hannaford also began to get work from military dictatorships that wanted to improve its image in Washington. According to Jonathan Marshall, Deaver was also connected to Mario Sandoval Alarcon and John K. Singlaub of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL). In the book, The Iran-Contra Connection (1987) he wrote: "The activities of Singlaub and Sandoval chiefly involved three WACL countries, Guatemala, Argentina, and Taiwan, that would later emerge as prominent backers of the contras.... these three countries shared one lobbying firm, that of Deaver and Hannaford."

In December, 1979, John K. Singlaub had a meeting with Guatemalan President Fernando Romeo Lucas García. According to someone who was at this meeting Singlaub told Garcia: "Mr. Reagan recognizes that a good deal of dirty work has to be done". On his return, Singlaub called for "sympathetic understanding of the death squads".

Another one of Deaver's clients was Argentina's military junta. A regime that had murdered up to 15,000 of its political opponents. Deaver arranged for José Alfredo Martinez de Hoz, the economy minister, to visit the United States. In one of Reagan's radio broadcasts, he claimed "that in the process of bringing stability to a terrorized nation of 25 million, a small number, were caught in the cross-fire, amongst them a few innocents".

Peter Dale Scott argues that funds from military dictatorships "helped pay for the Deaver and Hannaford offices, which became Reagan's initial campaign headquarters in Beverly Hills and his Washington office." This resulted in Ronald Reagan developing the catch-phrase: "No more Taiwans, no more Vietnams, no more betrayals." He also argued that if he was elected as president he "would re-establish official relations between the United States Government and Taiwan".

What Deaver's clients, Guatemala, Taiwan and Argentina wanted most of all were American armaments. Under President Jimmy Carter, arms sales to Taiwan had been reduced for diplomatic reasons, and had been completely cut off to Guatemala and Argentina because of human rights violations.

An article published in Time Magazine (8th September, 1980) claimed that Deaver was playing an important role in Reagan's campaign, whereas people like Campaign Director William J. Casey were outsiders have "valuable experience but exercise less influence over the candidate."

During the campaign Ronald Reagan was informed that Jimmy Carter was attempting to negotiate a deal with Iran to get the American hostages released. This was disastrous news for the Reagan campaign. If Carter got the hostages out before the election, the public perception of the man might change and he might be elected for a second-term. As Deaver later told the New York Times: "One of the things we had concluded early on was that a Reagan victory would be nearly impossible if the hostages were released before the election... There is no doubt in my mind that the euphoria of a hostage release would have rolled over the land like a tidal wave. Carter would have been a hero, and many of the complaints against him forgotten. He would have won."

According to Barbara Honegger, a researcher and policy analyst with the 1980 Reagan/Bush campaign, William J. Casey and other representatives of the Reagan presidential campaign made a deal at two sets of meetings in July and August at the Ritz Hotel in Madrid with Iranians to delay the release of Americans held hostage in Iran until after the November 1980 presidential elections. Reagan’s aides promised that they would get a better deal if they waited until Carter was defeated.

On 22nd September, 1980, Iraq invaded Iran. The Iranian government was now in desperate need of spare parts and equipment for its armed forces. Jimmy Carter proposed that the US would be willing to hand over supplies in return for the hostages.

Once again, the Central Intelligence Agency leaked this information to Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. This attempted deal was also passed to the media. On 11th October, the Washington Post reported rumors of a “secret deal that would see the hostages released in exchange for the American made military spare parts Iran needs to continue its fight against Iraq”.

A couple of days before the election Barry Goldwater was reported as saying that he had information that “two air force C-5 transports were being loaded with spare parts for Iran”. This was not true. However, this publicity had made it impossible for Carter to do a deal. Ronald Reagan on the other hand, had promised the Iranian government that he would arrange for them to get all the arms they needed in exchange for the hostages. According to Mansur Rafizadeh, the former U.S. station chief of SAVAK, the Iranian secret police, CIA agents had persuaded Khomeini not to release the American hostages until Reagan was sworn in. In fact, they were released twenty minutes after his inaugural address.

Reagan appointed William J. Casey as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this position he was able to arrange the delivery of arms to Iran. These were delivered via Israel. By the end of 1982 all Regan’s promises to Iran had been made. With the deal completed, Iran was free to resort to acts of terrorism against the United States. In 1983, Iranian-backed terrorists blew up 241 marines in the CIA Middle-East headquarters.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/MDdeaver.htm

I know Jack Singlaub personally, and knew Bill Casey slightly, as well. Jack is an incredibly arrogant and egotistical man who, as a consequence, does amazingly stupid things. As one of his associates told me, "Generals are different because they can shout louder." You obey them or else, whether it's stupid or not.

Casey was one of the key men in the acquisition of media after WW2. It was one of his proteges (a young German immigrant to the US) who was sent back to Germany after the war to take over Bertelsmann and build it up. Rupert Murdoch was very tight with Shackley, which is how he got launched on his global acquisitions and has now taken over the WSJ. Murdoch was running a failed national newspaper in Australia while Shackley was station chief in Oz. Then suddenly he becomes a US citizen literally overnight and goes on an endless buying spree. Shackley's pockets were infinitely deep.

At the time, Murdoch was facing the likely closure of his newspaper THE AUSTRALIAN. His ticket out was Shackley. This also explains why Murdoch was allowed to break all the rules in acquisition of media in America.

I've known Peter R. Kann since Saigon days, and we were always friendly, although he and his wife's politics and involvement in the manipulations of the Condescendi made my skin crawl. His wife, Karen House, took over and ultimately destroyed the Far Eastern Economic Review because she simply did not comprehend it. So she neutralized it by making it a clone of all the other trivial magazines in the world. They all give me the creeps. We are all under that ancient Chinese curse: " May you live in interesting times."