longer needed to worry about an 'October surprise' because 'Dick [Allen] cut a deal." [fn
43]
On October 27, Bush campaigned in Pittsburgh, where he addressed a gathering of labor
leaders. His theme that day was Iranian attempt to "manipulate" the outcome of the US
election through the exertion of "last-minute leverage" involving the hostages. "It's no
secret that the Iranians do not want to see Ronald Reagan elected President," Bush lied.
"They want to play a hand in the election-- with our 52 hostages as the 52 cards in their
negotiating deck." It was a "cool, cynical, unconscionable ploy" by the Khomeini regime.
Bush asserted that it was "fair to ask how come right now there's talk of releasing them
[the hostages] after nearly a year." His implication was that Carter was the one with the
dirty deal. Bush concluded that he wanted the hostages "out as soon as possible...We
want them home and we'll worry about who to blame later." [fn 44]
During the first week of December, Executive Intelligence Review reported that Henry
Kissinger "held a series of meetings during the week of November 12 in Paris with
representatives of Ayatollah Beheshti, leader of the fundamentlist clergy in Iran." "Top
level intelligence sources in Reagan's inner circle confirmed Kissinger's unreported talks
with the Iranian mullahs, but stressed that the Kissinger initiative was totally
unauthorized by the president-elect." According to EIR, "it appears that the pattern of
cooperation between the Khomeini people and circles nominally in Reagan's camp began
approximately six to eight weeks ago, at the height of President Carter's efforts to secure
an arms-for-hostages deal with Teheran. Carter's failure to secure the deal, which a
number of observers believe cost him the November 4 election, apparently resulted from
an intervention in Teheran by pro-Reagan British circles and the Kissinger faction." [fn
45] These revelations from EIR are the first mention in the public record of the scandal
which has come over the years to be known as the October surprise.
The hostages were not released before the November election, which Reagan won
convincingly. That night, according to Roland Perry, Bush said to Reagan, "You're in like
a burglar." Khomeini kept the hostages emprisoned until January 20, the day of the
Reagan-Bush inauguration, and let the hostage plane take off just as Reagan and Bush
were taking their oaths of office.
Whether George Bush was personally present in Paris, or at other meetings with Iranian
representatives where the hostage and arms questions were on the agenda, has yet to be
conclusively proven. Here a thorough and intrusive Congressional investigation of the
Carter and Reagan machinations in this regard is long overdue. Such a probe might also
shed light on the origins of the Iran-Iraq war, which set the stage for the more recent Gulf
crisis. But, quite apart from questions regarding George Bush's presence at this or that
meeting, there can be no doubt that both the Carter regime and the Reagan-Bush
campaign were actively involved in dealings with the Khomeini regime concerning the
hostages and concerning the timing of their possible release. In the case of the Reagan-
Bush Iran connection, there is reason to believe that federal crimes under the Logan Act
and other applicable laws may have taken place.