Iran-Contra's 'Lost Chapter': A Special Re****t
By Robert Parry
Created Jun 30 2008 - 9:39am
As historians ponder George W. Bush's disastrous presidency, they may
wonder
how Republicans perfected a propaganda system that could fool tens of
millions of Americans, intimidate Democrats, and transform the vaunted
Wa****ngton press corps from watchdogs to lapdogs.
To understand this extraordinary development, historians might want to
look
back at the 1980s and examine the Iran-Contra scandal's "lost chapter," a
narrative describing how Ronald Reagan's administration brought CIA
tactics
to bear domestically to reshape the way Americans perceived the world.
That chapter - which we are publi****ng here for the first time [1] - was
"lost" because Republicans on the congressional Iran-Contra investigation
waged a rear-guard fight that traded elimination of the chapter's key
findings for the votes of three moderate GOP senators, giving the final
re****t a patina of bipartisan****p.
Under that compromise, a few segments of the draft chapter were inserted
in
the final re****t's Executive Summary and in another section on White House
private fundraising, but the chapter's conclusions and its detailed
account
of how the "perception management" operation worked ended up on the
editing
room floor.
The American people thus were spared the chapter's troubling finding: that
the Reagan administration had built a domestic covert propaganda apparatus
managed by a CIA propaganda and disinformation specialist working out of
the
National Security Council.
"One of the CIA's most senior covert action operators was sent to the NSC
in
1983 by CIA Director [William] Casey where he participated in the creation
of an inter-agency public diplomacy mechanism that included the use of
seasoned intelligence specialists," the chapter's conclusion stated.
"This public/private network set out to accomplish what a covert CIA
operation in a foreign country might attempt - to sway the media, the
Congress, and American public opinion in the direction of the Reagan
administration's policies."
However, with the chapter's key findings deleted, the right-wing domestic
propaganda operation not only survived the Iran-Contra fallout but
thrived.
So did some of the administration's collaborators, such as South Korean
theocrat Sun Myung Moon and Australian press mogul Rupert Murdoch, two
far-right media barons who poured billions of dollars into pro-Republican
news outlets that continue to influence Wa****ngton's political debates to
this day.
Before every presidential election, Moon's Wa****ngton Times plants
derogatory - and often false - stories about Democratic contenders,
discrediting them and damaging their chances of winning the White House.
For instance, in 1988, the Times published a bogus account suggesting that
the Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis had undergone psychiatric
treatment.
In 2000, Moon's newspaper pushed the theme that Al Gore suffered from
clinical delusions. [For details, see Robert Parry's Secrecy & Privilege
[2].]
As for Murdoch, his giant News Corp. expanded into American cable TV with
the founding of Fox News in 1996. Since then, the right-wing network has
proved highly effective in promoting attack lines against Democrats or
anyone else who challenges the Republican power structure.
As President George W. Bush herded the nation toward war with Iraq in
2002-03, Fox News acted like his sheep dogs making sure public opinion
didn't
stray too far off. The "Fox effect" was so powerful that it convinced
other
networks to load up with pro-war military analysts and to silence voices
that questioned the invasion. [See Neck Deep [3].]
Seeds of Propaganda
The seeds of this private/public collaboration can be found in the 84-page
draft Iran-Contra chapter, entitled "Launching the Private Network [4]."
[There appear to have been several versions of this "lost chapter." This
one
I found in congressional files.]
The chapter traces the origins of the propaganda network to President
Reagan's
"National Security Decision Directive 77" in January 1983 as his
administration sought to promote its foreign policy, especially its desire
to oust Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government.
In a Jan. 13, 1983, memo, then-National Security Advisor William Clark
foresaw the need for non-governmental money to advance this cause. "We
will
develop a scenario for obtaining private funding," Clark wrote.
As administration officials began reaching out to wealthy sup****ters,
lines
against domestic propaganda soon were crossed as the operation took aim at
not only at foreign audiences but at U.S. public opinion, the press and
congressional Democrats who opposed funding Nicaraguan rebels, known as
contras.
At the time, the contras were earning a gruesome reputation as human
rights
violators and terrorists. To change this negative perception of the
contras,
the Reagan administration created a full-blown, clandestine propaganda
operation.
"An elaborate system of inter-agency committees was eventually formed and
charged with the task of working closely with private groups and
individuals
involved in fundraising, lobbying campaigns and propagandistic activities
aimed at influencing public opinion and governmental action," the draft
chapter said.
Heading this operation was a veteran CIA officer named Walter Raymond Jr.,
who was recruited by another CIA officer, Donald Gregg, before Gregg
****fted
from his job as chief of the NSC's Intelligence Directorate to become
national security adviser to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush.
[The draft chapter doesn't use Raymond's name in its opening pages,
apparently because some of the information came from classified
depositions.
However, Raymond's name is used later in the chapter and the earlier
citations match Raymond's role.]
According to the draft re****t, the CIA officer recruited for the NSC job
had
served as Director of the Covert Action Staff at the CIA from 1978 to 1982
and was a "specialist in propaganda and disinformation."
"The CIA official [Raymond] discussed the transfer with [CIA Director
William] Casey and NSC Advisor William Clark that he be assigned to the
NSC
as Gregg's successor [in June 1982] and received approval for his
involvement in setting up the public diplomacy program along with his
intelligence responsibilities," the chapter said.
"In the early part of 1983, do***ents obtained by the Select [Iran-Contra]
Committees indicate that the Director of the Intelligence Staff of the NSC
[Raymond] successfully recommended the establishment of an
inter-governmental network to promote and manage a public diplomacy plan
designed to create sup****t for Reagan Administration policies at home and
abroad."
Raymond "helped to set up an elaborate system of inter-agency committees,"
the draft chapter said, adding:
"In the Spring of 1983, the network began to turn its attention toward
beefing up the Administration's capacity to promote American sup****t for
the
Democratic Resistance in Nicaragua [the contras] and the fledgling
democracy
in El Salvador.
"This effort resulted in the creation of the Office of Public Diplomacy
for
Latin America and the Caribbean in the Department of State (S/LPD), headed
by Otto Reich," a right-wing Cuban exile from Miami.
Though Secretary of State George Shultz wanted the office under his
control,
President Reagan insisted that Reich "re****t directly to the NSC," where
Raymond oversaw the operations as a special assistant to the President and
the NSC's director of international communications, the chapter said.
"At least for several months after he assumed this position, Raymond also
worked on intelligence matters at the NSC, including drafting a
Presidential
Finding for Covert Action in Nicaragua in mid-September" 1983, the chapter
said.
In other words, although Raymond was ****fted to the NSC staff in part to
evade prohibitions on the CIA influencing U.S. public opinion, his
intelligence and propaganda duties overlapped for a time as he was
retiring
from the spy agency.
Key Player
Despite Raymond's formal separation from the CIA, he acted toward the U.S.
public much like a CIA officer would in directing a propaganda operation
in
a hostile foreign country. He was the go-to guy to keep the operation on
track.
"Reich relied heavily on Raymond to secure personnel transfers from other
government agencies to beef up the limited resources made available to
S/LPD
by the Department of State," the chapter said.
"Personnel made available to the new office included intelligence
specialists from the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army. On one occasion,
five
intelligence experts from the Army's 4th Psychological Operations Group at
Fort Bragg, North Carolina, were assigned to work with Reich's
fast-growing
operation. .
"White House do***ents also indicate that CIA Director Casey had more than
a
passing interest in the Central American public diplomacy campaign."
The chapter cited an Aug. 9, 1983, memo written by Raymond describing
Casey's
participation in a meeting with public relations specialists to brainstorm
how "to sell a 'new product' - Central America - by generating interest
across-the-spectrum."
In an Aug. 29, 1983, memo, Raymond recounted a call from Casey pu****ng his
P.R. ideas. Alarmed at a CIA director participating so brazenly in
domestic
propaganda, Raymond wrote that "I philosophized a bit with Bill Casey (in
an
effort to get him out of the loop)" but with little success.
The chapter added: "Casey's involvement in the public diplomacy effort
apparently continued throughout the period under investigation by the
Committees," including a 1985 role in pressuring Congress to renew contra
aid and a 1986 hand in further ****elding S/LPD from the oversight of
Secretary Shultz.
A Raymond-authored memo to Casey in August 1986 described the ****ft of
S/LPD - then run by neoconservative theorist Bob Kagan who had replaced
Reich - to the control of the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, which was
headed by Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, another prominent
neoconservative.
Another im****tant figure in the pro-contra propaganda was NSC staffer
Oliver
North, who spent a great deal of his time on the Nicaraguan public
diplomacy
operation even though he is better known for arranging secret arms
****pments
to the contras and to Iran's radical Islamic government, leading to the
Iran-Contra scandal.
The draft chapter cited a March 10, 1985, memo from North describing his
assistance to CIA Director Casey in timing disclosures of pro-contra news
"aimed at securing Congressional approval for renewed sup****t to the
Nicaraguan Resistance Forces."
North's Operatives
The Iran-Contra "lost" chapter depicts a sometimes Byzantine network of
contract and private operatives who handled details of the domestic
propaganda while concealing the hand of the White House and the CIA.
"Richard R. Miller, former head of public affairs at AID, and Francis D.
Gomez, former public affairs specialist at the State Department and USIA,
were hired by S/LPD through sole-source, no-bid contracts to carry out a
variety of activities on behalf of the Reagan administration policies in
Central America," the chapter said.
"Sup****ted by the State Department and White House, Miller and Gomez
became
the outside managers of [North operative] Spitz Channel's fundraising and
lobbying activities.
"They also served as the managers of Central American political figures,
defectors, Nicaraguan opposition leaders and Sandinista atrocity victims
who
were made available to the press, the Congress and private groups, to tell
the story of the Contra cause."
Miller and Gomez facilitated transfers of money to Swiss and offshore
banks
at North's direction, as they "became the key link between the State
Department and the Reagan White House with the private groups and
individuals engaged in a myriad of endeavors aimed at influencing the
Congress, the media and public opinion," the chapter said.
In its conclusion, the draft chapter read:
"The State Department was used to run a prohibited, domestic, covert
propaganda operation. Established despite resistance from the Secretary of
State, and re****ting directly to the NSC, the [S/LPD] attempted to mask
many
of its activities from the Congress and the American people."
However, the American people never got to read a detailed explanation of
this finding nor see the evidence. In October 1987, as the congressional
Iran-Contra committees wrote their final re****t, Republicans protested the
inclusion of this explosive information.
Though the Democrats held the majority, the GOP had leverage because Rep.
Lee Hamilton, D-Indiana, the House chairman, wanted some bipartisan****p in
the final re****t, especially since senior Republicans, including Rep. Dick
Cheney, R-Wyoming, were preparing a strongly worded minority re****t.
Hamilton and the Democrats hoped that three moderate Republicans - William
Cohen of Maine, Warren Rudman of New Hamp****re and Paul Trible of Virginia
-
would break ranks and sign the majority re****t. However, the Republicans
objected to the draft chapter about Ronald Reagan's covert propaganda
campaign.
As part of a compromise, some elements of the draft chapter were included
in
the Executive Summary but without much detail and shorn of the tough
conclusions. Nevertheless, Cohen protested even that.
"I question the inordinate attention devoted in the Executive Summary to
the
Office of Public Diplomacy and its activities in sup****t of the
Administration's polices," Cohen wrote in his additional views. "The
prominence given to it in the Executive Summary is far more generous than
just."
Long-Term Consequences
However, the failure of the Iran-Contra re****t to fully explain the danger
of CIA-style propaganda intruding into the U.S. political process would
have
profound future consequences. Indeed, the evidence suggests that today's
powerful right-wing media gained momentum as part of the Casey-Raymond
operations of the early 1980s.
According to one Raymond-authored memo dated Aug. 9, 1983, then-U.S.
Information Agency director Charles Wick "via Murdock [sic] may be able to
draw down added funds" to sup****t pro-Reagan initiatives.
Raymond's reference to Rupert Murdoch possibly drawing down "added funds"
suggests that the right-wing media mogul was already part of the covert
propaganda operation.
In line with its clandestine nature, Raymond also suggested routing the
"funding via Freedom House or some other structure that has credibility in
the political center."
Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, publisher of the Wa****ngton
Times, also showed up in the Iran-Contra operations, using his newspaper
to
raise contra funds and assigning his CAUSA political group to organize
sup****t for the contras.
In the two decades since the Iran-Contra scandal, both Murdoch and Moon
have
continued to pour billions of dollars into media outlets that have
influenced the course of U.S. history, often through the planting of
propaganda and disinformation much like a CIA covert action might do in a
hostile foreign country.
Further, to soften up the Wa****ngton press corps, Reich's S/LPD targeted
U.S. journalists who re****ted information that undermined the pro-contra
propaganda. Reich sent his teams out to lobby news executives to remove or
punish out-of-step re****ters - with a disturbing degree of success. [For
more, see Parry's Lost History [5].]
Some U.S. officials implicated in the Iran-Contra propaganda operations
are
still around, bringing the lessons of the 1980s into the new century.
For instance, Elliott Abrams. Though convicted of misleading Congress in
the
Iran-Contra Affair and later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush -
Abrams
is now deputy adviser to George W. Bush's NSC, where he directs
U.S.-Middle
East policy.
Bob Kagan remains another prominent neocon theorist in Wa****ngton, writing
op-eds for the Wa****ngton Post. Oliver North was given a news show on Fox.
Otto Reich now is advising Republican presidential candidate John McCain
on
Latin American affairs. Lee Hamilton is a senior national security adviser
to Democratic candidate Barack Obama.
Enduring Skills
Beyond these individuals, the manipulative techniques that were refined in
the 1980s - especially the skill of exaggerating foreign threats - have
proved durable, bringing large segments of the American population into
line
behind the Iraq War in 2002-03.
Only now - with more than 4,100 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of
Iraqis dead - are many of these Americans realizing that were manipulated
by
clever propaganda, that their perceptions had been managed.
For instance, the New York Times recently pried loose some 8,000 pages of
Pentagon do***ents revealing how the Bush administration had manipulated
the
public debate on the Iraq War by planting friendly retired military
officers
on TV news shows.
Retired Green Beret Robert S. Bevelacqua, a former analyst on Murdoch's
Fox
News, said the Pentagon treated the retired military officers as puppets:
"It was them saying, 'we need to stick our hands up your back and move
your
mouth for you.'" [NYT, April 20, 2008 [6], or see Consortiumnews.com's "US
News Media's Latest Disgrace [7]."]
Bush's former White House press secretary Scott McClellan described
similar
use of propaganda tactics to justify the Iraq War in his book, What
Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Wa****ngton's Culture of
Deception.
From his insider vantage point, McClellan cited the White House's
"carefully
orchestrated campaign to shape and manipulate sources of public approval"
-
and he called the Wa****ngton press corps "complicit enablers."
None of this would have been so surprising - indeed Americans might have
been forewarned and forearmed - if Lee Hamilton and other Democrats on the
Iran-Contra committees had held firm and published the scandal's "lost
chapter" two decades ago.
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
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political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues.
I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an op****tunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are
at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
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