In February 1982, the main Israeli figures whose names later
appeared in the Iran/Contra hearings appeared on BBC television
[the British Broadcasting Company, Britain’s national broadcasting
service] and described how they had helped organize an arms flow to
the Khomeini regime. In October 1982, the Israeli ambassador to the
US stated publicly that Israel was sending arms to the Khomeini
regime, “with the cooperation of the United States...at almost the
highest level.” T he high Israeli officials involved also gave the
reasons: to establish links with elements of the military in Iran who
might overthrow the regime, restoring the arrangements that
prevailed under the Shah—standard operating procedure.
As for the Contra war, the basic facts of the illegal North-CIA
operations were known by 1985 (over a year before the story
broke, when a US supply plane was shot down and a US agent,
Eugene Hasenfus, was captured). T he media simply chose to look
the other way.
So what finally generated the Iran/Contra scandal? A moment
came when it was just impossible to suppress it any longer. W hen
Hasenfus was shot down in Nicaragua while flying arms to the
Contras for the CIA, and the Lebanese press reported that the US
National Security Adviser was handing out Bibles and chocolate
cakes in Teheran, the story just couldn’t be kept under wraps. After
that, the connection between the two well-known stories emerged.
We then move to the next phase: damage control. T hat’s what
the follow-up was about. For more on all of this, see my Fateful
Triangle (1983), Turning the Tide (1985), and Culture of Terrorism
(1987).
The prospects for Eastern Europe
W hat was remarkable about the events in Eastern Europe in the
1980s was that the imperial power simply backed off. Not only did
the USSR permit popular movements to function, it actually
encouraged them. T here are few historical precedents for that.
It didn’t happen because the Soviets are nice guys—they were
driven by internal necessities. But it did happen and, as a result, the
popular movements in Eastern Europe didn’t have to face anything