Meetings With Iran-Contra Arms Dealer Confirmed

Meetings With Iran-Contra Arms Dealer Confirmed

By Bradley Graham and Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 9, 2003; Page A01

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld acknowledged yesterday that Pentagon officials met secretly with a discredited expatriate Iranian arms merchant who figured prominently in the Iran-contra scandal of the mid-1980s, characterizing the contact as an unexceptional effort to gain possibly useful information.

While Rumsfeld said that the contact occurred more than a year ago and that nothing came of it, his aides scrambled during the day to piece together more details amid other reports that Rumsfeld's account may have been incomplete.

Last night, a senior defense official disclosed that another meeting with the Iranian arms dealer, Manucher Ghorbanifar, occurred in June in Paris. The official said that, while the first contact, in late 2001, had been formally sanctioned by the U.S. government in response to an Iranian government offer to provide information relevant to the war on terrorism, the second one resulted from "an unplanned, unscheduled encounter."

----snip----

The Bush administration has struggled to develop a coherent and consistent approach to Iran. In his State of the Union address last year, Bush characterized Iran as being part of an axis of evil, along with Iraq and North Korea, and administration officials have repeatedly accused Iran of supporting terrorist groups and of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. While broad agreement exists within the administration favoring changes in Iran's Islamic government, officials differ on how to accomplish them.

More than two years after the administration began drafting a national security presidential directive on Iran, the policy document remains unfinished. While the State Department favors increased dialogue and engagement with potential reformers inside Iran, prominent Pentagon civilians believe the policy should be more aggressive, including measures to destabilize the existing government in Tehran.

they better fucking nail these guys THIS TIME if they hang complict on this like the last time YOU CAN KISS AMERICA GOODBYE.

and yes that was a reflexive response I have not read the article... I am printing it out now...

Bush Jr put a freeze on those presidential papers for a reason reclassified them back to 1980... hello... this is iran contra continued... okay nuff said.

Evidently the Bush mafia still thinks this is 1980s. They are doing the same things with the same thugs and expect to get away with it. But we are much wiser and more connected now. Besides when the economy is in the dumps there are a millions of people willing to take them on for the last 25 years of outrage.

Here's to the quick death of American imperalism.

:toast:

Couldn't we at least find some *new* criminals to work with?

in Texas in 1997 if you happen to bring this 2001 incident up with a knowledgeable repuke.

people to Afghanistan in APRIL 2001 to negotiate gas-pipe line deal..

Taliban were told they could be carpeted in gold or carpeted in bombs

Ask AWOL why terror investigations regarding Bin-Laden were curtailed

?
Ask the questions.
Demand the ANSWERS! No MORE EXCUSES

When do we invade Iran? The folks are just dying to be liberated like their next door neighbor, 'eh?

Yesterday the WBUR program "Here and Now" had a brief segment on the participation of Iran Contra players in the current administration.

I was not aware that Collin Powell was an important factor in that whole deal. According to the reporter (Bob Perry) Powell was instrumental in arranging the actual shipments of arms to Iran. This was a brief reference, and I was doing other things while listening, so I didn't get the details.

Maybe others can expand on this.

A link to hear the segment (no transcript):
http://www.here-now.org/shows/2003/08/20030808_5.asp

Former Newsweek, Frontline, Pulitzer prize nominee. Highly respected. He goes into alot of detail about Bush, Powell, Iran Contra, etc etc at his website http://www.consortiumnews.com.

At first I though it must be Parry, but I don't think so.

But thanks for the link anyway, vidali.

favors changing another country's govt. It's mind boggling. And SO un-American!

I have a question. While meeting with this Iranian guy seems as nefarious to me as most other things that this admin does, why will anyone care? The players in that scandal here sure haven't suffered for it. One is Amb to the UN, one to South America- they work in the WH and DoD. Will it be a bigger issue than that? :shrug:

...Enterprise Cake and Bible Delivery Service, anyone?

Perhaps the ghost of Henry Gonzalez will show up in John Kerry's bedroom some night, and prompt him to investigate this latest malfeasance. He should still have all his notes from the investigations in the 1980's. It's the same players, apparently.


(On edit)

During the 80's, the 'rogue' actions of national security personnel in regards to Iran were finally traced to a 'non-official, off the shelf, self-financing intelligence operation' nick-named 'The Enterprise'.

If these guys are still in business, calling up the same Iranians, then it's likely that The Enterprise is also back in play (as if we ever thought it stopped).

If they aren't stopped now, you can bet that they will be using the 'Enterprise's money and personnel to do dirty tricks in 2004.

to WE THE PEOPLE for this insanity....

Here's more snips from that article....HOT HOT HOT.....caught red-handed by sharp and alert journalists...maybe WP is waiting until shrub comes back to DC to break their BIG investigative reporting on shrub's whole cabal and start the impeachment...afterall, WP still has those watergate reporters, who rose to fame and fortune based on investigative reporting...there is hope...keep up the fight...
------------------
-snips-

Asked if the Pentagon contact was intended to circumvent official U.S. exchanges with Iran, Rumsfeld replied: "Oh, absolutely not. I mean, everyone in the interagency process, I'm told, was apprised of it, and it went nowhere. It was just -- this happens, of course, frequently, that in -- people come in, offering suggestions or information or possible contacts, and sometimes they're pursued. Obviously, if it looks as though something might be interesting, it's pursued. If it isn't, it isn't."

Standing by Rumsfeld's side, Bush was asked if the meeting was a good idea and if his administration wants a change in government. "We support the aspirations of those who desire freedom in Iran," the president said, then took a question on a different subject.

No?

No sex???

Not even a little....?

Zzzzzzzz.... :boring:


<arcane's imitation of the average Merkan>