Ronald Wilson Reagan

1911-2004

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois in 1911 and died quietly in his California home on June 5th, 2004, after living for several years with Alzheimer's disease. Yet it seems that Reagan's Alzheimer's was contagious. While mainstream media fall over themselves in a rush to construct a public memory of the man as a hero, the truth about the life and times of the actor/governor/president is quite different.

Reagan's support for right-wing murderers, most famously in the Iran-Contra scandal; provision of weapons and military training for murderous dictatorships in Latin America (Argentina, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Grenada), Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa; role in perpetuating apartheid in South Africa; unprecedented promotion of nuclear proliferation; his denial of funding for AIDS research; affront to women's rights; undercutting of environmental protections, perpetuation of racial segregation and discrimination; and gutting of social services are only a few of the events that mark the Reagan years as among the most corrupt and devastating in history. This is the Reagan that must not be forgotten.

REAL REAGAN TIMELINE

1911
Ronald Reagan born Tampico Illinois

1964
Reagan's final starring film: “The Killers”

1967
Reagan becomes governor of California

Reagan cuts budget in California by 10%

Major cuts mental health system in California

Major cuts for the University of California and institutes tuition for the first time in history of the University system.

Begins state repression of anti-Vietnam War protests

1969
Sends armed National Guard to end student strike at the University of California, Berkeley.

1970
Reagan re-elected governor of California

Widespread cuts in state welfare

1973
Reagan defends Nixon during Watergate scandal

1981
Reagan sworn in as U.S. president

Reagan calls for deep budget cuts, primarily from Carter's "Great Society" programs to benefit the poor

Major recession and unemployment, while defense budget and nuclear development remain intact.

"We love your adherence to democratic principle, and to the democratic processes." in a toast of newly re-inaugurated 
President Ferdinand Marcos by George Bush

Reagan administration attempts to loosen Clean Air Act standards

White House acknowledges that Reagan believes Webber ruling, allowing unions and management to enter into affirmative action 
agreements voluntarily, should be overturned.

In PBS interview, Reagan argues that New Deal advocates espoused fascism.

Social policy: pro-school prayer, anti-abortion

Reagan doctrine supports Marcos in the Phillipines

El Salvador: El Mazote massacre: slaughter of 800 men, women, children.
70,000 eventually killed. 

1982
U.S. Marines arrive in Lebanon

Reagan signs deal to grant tax-exempt status to racially segregated schools. (Bob Jones University, etc.)

Reagan comments that anti-nuclear proliferation demonstrators are supported by Communists

Commodity Credit Corp backs $1.5 billion loan to Iraq as Saddam arms

A coup brings Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt to power in Guatemala, and gives the Reagan administration the opportunity to increase 
military aid. 


1983
10000 U.S. troops invade Granada

Unemployment soars

Reagan expands defense budget

Reagan reveals Space Defense Initiative (SDI), Star Wars

Benigno Aquino shot dead in the Phillipines: 1990, military officials convicted of his murder

Coup in Guatemala replaces Ríos Montt. The new President, Oscar Mejía Víctores, was trained by the U.S. 

1983-1989
Reagan ignores AIDS epidemic

1984
Reagan publicly supports Contras in Nicaragua, claiming the Contras are freedom fighters

Reagan signs National Security Decision Directive 138

Congress outlaws direct or indirect support of Contras (2nd Boland Amendment, outlaws funds to C.I.A., defense or any 
intelligence agencies “supporting, directly or indirectly, military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua by any nation, 
group, organization or individual." 

U.S. spends $10 million to direct elections in El Salvador 

1985
Reagan begins new term as president 

Reagan Administration acknowledges “Reagan doctrine” of support for armed insurgencies against Soviet-backed governments in 
the “Third World”

Senate authorizes 38 million in 'non-military' aid to Contras

Approval of direct & indirect U.S.-Isreali military support of Iran against Iraq. Oliver North allowed control of arms sales 
to Iran

1986
1500 anti-tank missiles sent to Iran

Reagan seeks $100 million in aid to Contras

U.S. bombs Libya

North admits Iran weapons sales funding Contras, while Reagan signs bill banning arms sales to nations supporting 
'terrorists'

Reagan denies weapons sales and their purposes to Iran

Iran-Contra connection investigated – revealing Reagan administration knowledge that weapons were exchanged for hostages and 
profits were diverted to Nicaraguan Contras

U.S. military support of Honduras soldiers against Nicaragua troops

Immigration Reform and Control Act passes

Reagan speech on South Africa - “constructive engagement”

1987
Reagan denies knowledge of Iran-Contra 

Welfare cuts drop 442,000 families, food stamps ended to 1 million

Reagan publicly uses the word “AIDS” for the first time.

1988
Oliver North indicted

1989
Panama 1989-90 Troops, bombing Nationalist government ousted by 27,000 soldiers, leaders arrested, 2000+ killed. 

The end of the Presidency

Iran-Contra Affair

In the Iran-Contra Affair, United States President Ronald Reagan's <see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan> administration secretly sold arms to Iran, which was engaged in a bloody war with its neighbor Iraq from 1980 to 1988 (see Iran-Iraq War), and diverted the proceeds to the Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the leftist democratically-elected Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Those sales thus had a dual goal: appeasing Iran, which held American hostages and supported bombings in Western European countries, and funding an anti-Communist guerilla war.

Both actions were contrary to acts of Congress which prohibited the sale of weapons to Iran, as well as in violation of UN sanctions.

The Israeli government approached the United States in August 1985 with a proposal to act as an intermediary by shipping 508 American-made TOW anti-tank missiles to Iran in exchange for the release of the Reverend Benjamin Weir, an American hostage being held by Iranian sympathizers in Lebanon, with the understanding that the United States would then ship replacement missiles to Israel. Robert McFarlane, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, approached United States Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and arranged the details. The transfer took place over the next two months.

In November, there was another round of negotiations, where the Israelis proposed to ship Iran 500 HAWK anti-aircraft missiles in exchange for the release of all remaining American hostages being held in Lebanon. General Colin Powell attempted to procure the missiles, but realized that the deal would require Congressional notification as its overall value exceeded $14 million. McFarlane responded that the President had decided to conduct the sale anyway. Israel sent an initial shipment of 18 missiles to Iran in late November, but the Iranians didn't approve of the missiles, and further shipments were halted. Negotiations continued with the Israelis and Iranians over the next few months.

In January of 1986, Reagan allegedly approved a plan whereby an American intermediary, rather than Israel, would sell arms to Iran in exchange for the release of the hostages, with profits funnelled to the Contras. In February, 1,000 TOW missiles were shipped to Iran. From May to November, there were additional shipments of miscellaneous weapons and parts.

The proceeds from the arms sales were diverted, via Colonel Oliver North, aide to the U.S. National Security Advisor John Poindexter, to provide arms for the Contras (from Spanish contrarrevolucionario, "counter-revolutionary"). The Sandinistas' eventual loss of power in the 1990 national election was seen by some as stemming from U.S. support for the contras as well as the effects of a U.S. trade embargo initiated in May 1985.

The U.S. accused the Sandinistas of being backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba, and of supporting in turn left-wing rebels against the U.S.-backed government in El Salvador, scene of a destructive civil war throughout the 1980s. In 1985, the Sandinista movement claimed a majority in elections validated by other independent observers from Western democracies as having been fair and free, but the Reagan administration rejected the election as fraudulent.

Many conservatives agreed with Reagan and ignored the findings of these international observers, comparing the election to one-candidate "elections" in communist countries, although six parties ran against the Sandinistas in that election, winning 35 of 96 seats in the national legislature.

The Reagan administration, contrary to acts of Congress (specifically the 1982-1983 Boland Amendment), ferried funds and weaponry to the Contras gained by the sale of arms to Iran. The Contras, led by former members of the National Guard of the overthrown Somoza regime (1936-1979) received weapons and training from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, especially in guerrilla tactics such as destroying infrastructural elements and assassination.

In November of 1986, the first public allegations of the weapons-for-hostages deal surfaced when on November 3 the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reported that the United States had been selling weapons to Iran in secret in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. The clandestine operation was discovered only after an airlift of guns was downed over Nicaragua. National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary on November 21 started to shred documents implicating them and others in the scandal. US Attorney General Edwin Meese on November 25 admitted that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Faced with mounting pressure, Reagan on November 26 announced that as of December 1 former Senator John Tower, former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft will be serving as members of a Special Review Board looking into the scandal (this Presidential Commission became known as the Tower Commission). Reagan claimed he had not been informed of the operation Despite a January 1, 1986 entry in Reagan's personal diary that stated "I agreed to sell TOWs to Iran," the Tower Commission, which implicated North, Poindexter, and Weinberger, amongst others, could not conclusively determine the degree of Reagan's involvement. Nevertheless on February 26, 1987 the Tower Commission rebuked President Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.

The United States Congress then on November 18, 1987 issued its final report on the affair, which stated that Reagan bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides and his administration exhibited "secrecy, deception, and disdain for the law." Oliver North and John Poindexter were indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States on March 16, 1988. North was convicted of three charges which were eventually vacated upon appeal. Poindexter was convicted on several felony counts of lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and altering and destroying documents pertinent to the investigation. He avoided jail time due to a legal technicality.

Some claim there is also evidence that the CIA and perhaps other parts of the US government may have been involved with drug trafficking to raise money for the Contra campaign. The 1988 report from the Senate Subcommittee on Narcotics, Terrorism and International Operations concluded that various individuals in the Contra movement were involved in drug trafficking, that other drug traffickers provided assistance to the Contras, and that "there are some serious questions as to whether or not US officials involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war effort against Nicaragua." At a minimum, Oliver North's notebooks indicate that he was informed repeatedly of Contra involvement in drug trafficking, and there is no record of his passing this information along to the DEA.

In (June 27, 1986) the International Court of Justice (also known as the World Court) ruled in favour of Nicaragua in the case of "Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua". The U.S. refused to pay restitution and simply claimed that the ICJ was not competent for the case, and subsequently vetoed a United Nations Security Council Resolution calling on all states to obey international law. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution (http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/41/a41r031.htm) in order to pressure the U.S. to pay the fine. Only El Salvador, which also had disputes with Nicaragua (and was run by a US-backed right wing military dictatorship), and Israel (which receives US$4 billion a year in aid from the US) voted with the U.S. The money still has not been paid.

The Sandinistas lost power in fresh elections in February 1990, following a decade of U.S. economic and military pressure.

The Iran-Contra Affair is significant because it brought many questions into public view:

Does the president have unconditional authority to conduct foreign policy? (Can the president approve selling arms to a foreign nation without congressional approval?)

What information does the president have to provide to Congress and when should that information be supplied? (Does the president have to tell Congress about foreign policy initiatives?)

What authority, if any, does Congress have to oversee functions of the executive branch? (Does funding for foreign policy initiatives have to be approved by Congress? Who defines the entire spending budget and who regulates it?)

What role does the Supreme Court have in deciding conflicts between the legislative branch and executive branch?

How much support is America entitled to provide to armed opposition forces seeking to replace a government it does not support with one that it does?

Most, if not all, of the constitutional and ethical questions are still unresolved. On one view, it appears that if the legislative and executive branches do not wish to work together, there are no legal remedies. These are transient issues in that each of the executive and legislative branches change every few years.

There's more to add here, particularly on the political impact of the scandal on Reagan's presidency. It won't do simply to say "it was damaging"; it's obviously more complicated than that.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra_Affair 10jun04