Laying Bare the Lies: Ripping Rudy for Reagan Revisionism

Written by Chris Floyd

Tuesday, 11 December 2007 11:30

Juan Cole calls out Rudito Giuliani on his historical revisionism about Ronald Reagan's "toughness" with "Islamic terrorists": Giuliani, Reagan, and Kissing up to Ayatollahs with fancy Cakes.

The fact that a deeply disturbed pathological liar like Giuliani can be a serious candidate for president speaks volumes about the cankered American political system. Not that being a deeply disturbed pathological liar has ever been a hindrance to a successful careeer in our political funhouse, of course – quite the contrary – but Giuliani is blazing new ground with the levels of shamelessness and sheer savage looniness he is exhibiting in his fevered quest to reach the presidency before the avalanche of his dirty deals catches up with him.

Cole does well to remind us of the complete lawlessness that has long raged on the commanding heights of the American scene – and of the utter cynicism behind all the heated rhetoric about "terrorism," which has been nothing but a tissue of lies and exaggerations used to cover cold-blooded power games. An excerpt:

...the hostages weren't released because Reagan was tough on the Iranian regime. They were released because [Reagan campaign manager Bill] Casey promised that the Republicans would sell Khomeini weapons if they kept the hostages for an extra couple of months and denied Jimmy Carter the sort of diplomatic coup that might have rescued his presidency.

Not only was Reagan not in fact 'tough' on the ayatollahs in Tehran, he later on stole Pentagon weaponry from the warehouses, illegally sold this US military materiel to a terrorist regime (that of Khomeini), then pocketed the money from the illegal arms sales to 'Islamic terrorists' and laundered it through shadowy bank accounts, sending it to far rightwing death squads in Nicaragua.

Do read the whole thing. Meanwhile, for a quick overview of the Reagan-Bush machinations with the mullahs, see Speak, Memory; for an in-depth look, see the landmark series by Robert Parry, The October Surprise Mystery.
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