The Truth in Lies

An Analysis of Government Scandals in American History

[inliesthetruth-blog]

The Iran-Contra Affair

TIMELINE OF EVENTS:

1982: Boland Amendment passed (no funds to overthrow Nicaraguan government)

1983: The US actively banning arms sales to Iran, Democrats are suspicious of the continued support of the Contras. 

1984: There are efforts to keep aiding the Contras. Not with US money, though (only technically). The CIA (again??) mines harbors in Nicaragua and Oliver North encourages. And now, Congress has found out. No more aid. The US tries even more indirect means. 

August 1, 1984: An even stricter Boland Amendment passes. 

....but is circumvented by EVEN MORE indirect measures. 

Reagan says he doesn't want to negotiate with terrorists but.....

IRAN CONTRA ARM SALES TALKS ARE OCCURRING.

Money is being funneled. Hostages are being kept. 

1986: A plane is downed. Shady dealings are exposed (enough) to cause a larger investigation and....

THE SCANDAL IS MANIFESTED.

[inliesthetruth-blog]

American Foreign Policy and the Reagan Doctrine

Carter's foreign policy (a tribute to Woodrow Wilson) relied heavily on America's morality and humanity. Unlike Wilson, it wasn't self-righteous and didn't really contain the massive superiority that the US had during WWI. Carter believed that all of our allies should not be governed by tyrannical, abusive, awful leaders (like in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Argentina) and that we should help when there are human rights violations. 

Reagan took a different approach.

Reagan believed that the US should always counter communism. Always. Especially in Latin America. 

The Iran-Contra affair was almost completely justified by the Reagan doctrine. Maybe that's why it happened...

[inliesthetruth-blog]

Um, what's happening in Nicaragua?

THE Somoza Dynasty:

US-backed Adolfo Diaz (conservative) falls to the revolutionary forces (including Augusto Sandino), and the new Liberal president appoints Anastasio Somoza Garcia to head the National Guard. Sandino is given land and a small army. In 1936, Garcia takes power and his dynasty rules for the next 43 years.

The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in 1961, opposing the regime. It's goal: to create a socialist state. An earthquake hits in 1967, and the President helps himself to the relief aid. The FSLN attacks and kidnaps and Somoza declares a brutal counterinsurgency effort.  

Carter, wanting to withdraw American involvement from foreign affairs, withdraws aid to Nicaragua until the human rights abuses are corrected. Somoza lifts the siege to get aid, and the Sandinistas attack again, this time with broader popular support. The Union for Democratic Liberation grows. As the war continues, the US is growing increasing disillusioned with the Somoza dynasty, and decide to moderate the new, inevitable government in Nicaragua. And so, the Sandinistas seize power. 

The Sandinistas acted like the Marxist-Leninists they were, nationalizing sectors of the economy, reorganized the political machine. Carter, trying to prevent  an alliance with Cuba and USSR, sent aid. The Sandinistas eventually did align with the other communists and started supporting rebels in El Salvador with the aid America continued to give. Carter, and later, Reagan, demanded they cease, but they didn't, so Reagan pulled the plug on aid.

The Sandinistas were not universally adored, however. A growing group of Nicaraguans disagreed with their policies. Peasants and farmers didn't like the land policies. Elites resented the repressive economic measures. The Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) was formed, supported by Washington. 

[inliesthetruth-blog]

The Hostage Crisis

November 4, 1979. The Hostage Crisis begins. 

The popular (and breathtaking) film Argo has familiarized most with this topic, but a refresher for those who have not seen the film/do not fully understand.

After the young Islamic revolutionaries stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, the Carter administration was faced with one of the most publicized disasters in American history. 

Later, Carter could say that he called it. While the cabinet was all for letting the dying Shah into America, the president said, "And if [the Iranians] take our employees in our embassy hostage, then what would be your advice?"

That is a good question, Jim. Let's come back to that later.

The Carter administration sprung into action, embargoing Iranian oil. The Ayatollah responded by letting black people, females and non-US citizens go (except not all: 2 women and 1 African American remained).

The pressure mounted on Carter. Poor guy was boxed in: if he did something drastic, the Iranians might kill the hostages. If he didn't, the American public might kill him (at least politically).

Desert One failed, injuring American servicemen in the bargain. 

The Iranians had already used the hostage crisis to levy a new government and now they needed their oil revenue back. The released the hostages minutes after Reagan was sworn in. 

[inliesthetruth-blog]

Iranian protesters holding up a poster of Ayatollah Khomeini

[inliesthetruth-blog]

"Dear students, you must watch the behavior and the activities of your teachers and professors so that if, God forbid, they say something wrong, you see them deviating, right away you must report them to the responsible officials. Teachers and professors, you must be alert to watch your own colleagues to see if some of them are trying to teach deviating thoughts during their lessons to the children of our Islamic nation so that they can be stopped. If this does not work, directly communicate with officials. My dear children, you too take care of one another in the best possible way, and if you observe that some enemies in the appearance of friends or schoolmates are trying to attract your friends, introduce them to the responsible officials, and try to do all these things very secretly. Committed mothers and fathers, watch the comings and goings of your children and observe their activities."

Ayatollah Khomeini (in a message on the first day of the school year, Qom, September 23, 1982)

[inliesthetruth-blog]

"After the revolution the borders were left open. Pens were free, expression was free, political parties were free. Even if these people are not Moslems, it was assumed that at least they are human. But it is clear now that they are foreign puppets. For us the identity of these writers, the identity of these political parties, the identity of these nice and meaningless phrases are now very clear. We will no longer give freedom. These people are not the type who will stop their activities just from advice. We have to deal with them harshly.

Ayatollah Khomeini (in a talk at the Fayzieah School, Qom, August 19, 1979)

[inliesthetruth-blog]

Iran 1978

A government newspaper posts some irreverent material regarding Khomeini. Theology students protest. The army suppresses, kills. The clergy calls for protests and attendance at mosques after 40 days, a Shi'a tradition of mourning for 40 days and then gathering to remember the dead. Protests peaceful. Except in Tabriz, where tanks are sent to control the demonstrations. Over 100 civilians killed. Iranians protest 40 days later. This continues for 14 months. Tens of thousands are killed. December 1978. More than two million Iranians flood the streets of Tehran. 

[inliesthetruth-blog]

Iran in the 1960s

General Trends

Modernization is the watch word. However unpopular the Shah was with his own people, he instituted fairly democratic reforms: redistributing land to peasants, giving women the right to vote, and emphasizing education. Elementary school enrollment almost doubled. 

Land reform took land from wealthy landowners and from religious schools and mosques. However, the land given to peasants did not reach a level of subsistence, much less actual profit.

Married women were given more rights. 

All these may seem like positive, encouraging, albeit mostly ineffective, reforms. You may be thinking, "The people are warming to the shah. He's not that bad."

Wrong. 

The Islamic conservative majority of Iran (along with religious leaders) resented the reforms, claiming they were Western and a challenge to traditional views. The plot thickens...

1964

High ranking Ayatollah Khomeini urged Iranians to avoid becoming a part of America's new colony. He proposed canceling:

women's suffrage

"corrupt content" on radio or TV shows

alcohol

The shah was declared to be an enemy of Islam, which resonated pretty well with the Iranian people. The shah exiled Khomeini, but his pamphlets and recordings were smuggled into the country, nevertheless. 

[inliesthetruth-blog]

Iran in the 1950s

1951

After World War II ended, Iranians grew to strongly resent the British-operated Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), a material representation of Iran's weakness and exploitation. Popular support for Mossadegh forced the shah to appoint him prime minister. Mossadegh moved to nationalize the oil company, bringing it firmly into Iran's control.

The British resisted this: the shift in control lost valuable oil resources and revenue for the British government. Although the United States stepped in to negotiate between Iran and Great Britain, the British refused to back down and the negotiations failed. 

1953

The Cold War is picking up between the US and the Soviet Union. President Eisenhower grew apprehensive of the Iran-USSR relationship and the possible spread of communism. 

The British (for economic reasons) and the Americans (for ideological reasons) supported the shah, in hopes that Iran and its bountiful oil would remain aligned against the Soviets. 

Mossadegh was a significant obstacle and the coup was planned, aiming to increase the power of the shah.

The (infamous) CIA and British secret services bribed a group of Iranians to instigate a coup, which was successful, removing Mossadegh and increasing the power of the shah.

General Trends

The shah wanted a modern Iran, a western version, more powerful. He had the support of the US and Great Britain, and with that support (and Israel's) he created SAVAK, the secret police. SAVAK was notorious for torture, mistreatment and execution of political opponents, limiting the public's ability to speak. The new oil contract with Britain and the US gave Iran 50%. Don't be misled. The contract did NOT give the Iranian people 50%. Instead, the shah spent the money on himself, further alienating the Iranian people.  

[inliesthetruth-blog]

Mohammed Mossadegh

[inliesthetruth-blog]

Shifting Focus: Iran in the 1940s

Enough about Project MK Ultra. 

Now let's talk Iran Contra and the rise of the theocracy.

1941:

Iran and Germany were close economic partners. Hundreds of Germans lived in Iran. 1941 should summon another significant event. World War II. The United States had just declared war on Japan and joined the Allies, whose main players were the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France.

Iran is approximately 1500 miles away from Russia today. The Soviet government, understandably, realized the potential of Iran to become a launch point for German offensives against the USSR.

The British and Soviets sent a message to the shah of Iran to expel all Germans from the country. 

The shah refused. 

August 1941. British forces invaded from the South, Soviet from the north. The shah was pressured into abdicating, giving the throne and power to his son Mohammed Reza in September of 1941.

Shah Reza swore allegiance to the Allies and promised continued extraction and exportation of Iran's oil. Iranians received 16% of the profits.

1944

The Iranian constitution requires a parliament as well as the shah. A prominent member of this Parliament, Mohammed Mossadegh, proposed that Iran postpone all oil contracts with Britain and the USSR until they left Iran. He argued (correctly) that while they occupied Iran, they could force Iran to accept a poor deal on the oil that Iran possessed. The proposed bill passed, angering the British and the Soviets, and further alienating the shah from the Iranian people.

[inliesthetruth-blog]

Visit Original Link

MK Ultra by Muse. 

Not about mind control, but human trafficking. Forcing people to do things. Similar theme. 

Lyrics:

The wavelength gently grows,  Coercive notions re-evolve,  A universe is trapped inside a tear,  It resonates the core,  Creates unnatural laws,  Replaces love and happiness with fear How much deception can you take? How many lies will you create? How much longer until you break? Your mind's about to fall And they are breaking through,  They are breaking through,  Now we're falling,  We are losing control Invisible to all,  The mind becomes a wall. All of history deleted with one stroke How much deception can you take? How many lies will you create? How much longer until you break? Your mind's about to fall And they are breaking through,  They are breaking through,  Now we're falling,  We are losing control

(Retrieved from LyricsMode)

[inliesthetruth-blog]

Historical Background: Perspective

The 1950s. The United States of America has a population of approximately 151 million. About 3 million people are unemployed. The average annual salary is $3,000. There are 5 male workers for every 2 female workers. Bomb shelters. Harry Truman. The Hydrogen Bomb. Transcontinental television. Troops in Korea. Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Rosenberg Trial. Troops out of Korea. Senator Joseph McCarthy. Rosa Parks. African American Civil Rights Movement. AFL-CIO. Salk and the Polio vaccine. Interstate Highway. Explorer I orbits Earth. Domestic flights. Alaska. Hawaii. 

The 1950s. North Korea invades South Korea. The "Korean" conflict. The Soviet Union boycotts the UN. The Chinese. General Douglas MacArthur. Chiang Kai-shek. Taiwan. Soviet nuclear missiles on submarines. McCarthy and the State Department. Witch hunts. Israel offers any Jews citizenship. The Arab League boycotts Israel.  Palestinian refugees. Post-war baby boom. TV. CBS. Color. Credit cards. Truman fires MacArthur. 22nd Amendment (only two terms). UNIVAC is the first commercial computer. Atomic power reactor. "Rock-and-roll". Queen Elizabeth II. Japanese independence. Germany pays damages to Israel. Mother Teresa. Korean War ends. Boundaries. Stalin dies. Khrushrev rises. Soviet hydrogen bomb detonates. Cambodian independence. Flooding in Holland. Iranian shah returns to power, with the help of the U.S. Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. DNA is a double-helix. The peak of Everest is reached. Domino theory and escalation. Separate but equal. Algeria fights for independence. Vietnamese independence. North and South Vietnam. SEATO. Yangtze floods. Birth control pills. NBC. Nuclear-powered submarines. Churchill resigns. Warsaw Pact. Iron Curtain. Pocket radios. De-Stalinization. 2nd Arab Israeli War. Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Sudanese, Tunisian, Morrocan Independence. Elvis Presley. Grace Kelly. Sputnik. ICBM. North Vietnam attacks South Vietnam. No integration. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ghanaian independence. US baby boom peaks. Women in Britain's House of Lords. NORAD. Cuba and Fidel Castro. EEC. Iraqi Republic. Iraq-Soviet alliance. Madagascarian, French West African and French Equatorial African independence. NASA. The Mercury Project. Charles de Gaulle in France. Cuban communism. US breaks off diplomatic relations. Yasser Arafat and the "destruction of Israel." XEROX machine. Transcontinental flights. Monkeys in space. 

[inliesthetruth-blog]

Oh, look, an uncovered document!

This is an incriminating document that remains of the experiments.  We don't have all of them, however. After the Watergate crisis, CIA director Richard Helms wasn't about to let HIS documents be stolen. He promptly destroyed them, leaving virtually nothing for government investigation. Very fortunately (unfortunately for Helms), 20,000 documents were incorrectly stored in financial records. Thank goodness for CIA ineptitude.

P.S. $40,290 in 1954 is $415,170.12 in 2012. (thank you Inflation Calculator)

Fascinating stuff.

[inliesthetruth-blog]

Case Study #1: Project MKUltra

What?

Project MKUltra is the code name for a clandestine US government operation that tested the behavioral engineering of humans. That is, mind control. 

Who?

The Chief Intelligence Agency (Scientific Intelligence Division) was the main operator. Both US and Canadian citizens were affected by this operation.  

When?

The program began in the early 1950s, but was officially halted in 1973, despite several cutbacks to the program in the 1960s.

Where?

The United States of America. 

Why?

The US, fearful of communism, other countries and other races, developed this program in response to alleged North Korean, Chinese and Soviet use of mind control on US POWs in Korea. The CIA wanted to use this technology for themselves for use in their own interrogation techniques, with captives and foreign leaders (aka Castro).

How?

Drugs (LSD), chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, and torture. (Remind you of something? Like...post- 9/11 Guantanamo Bay, The Dirty War in Argentina). 

This IS domestic terrorism. The fact that it occurred in America, the beacon of freedom and liberty and human rights, on unwitting citizens, despite it manifesting during paranoid times, shows our propensity for promoting terrible actions in the name of preserving democracy. 

Something to think about.

[inliesthetruth-blog]

The Undertaker and the Enterprise

Hello.

As a brief introduction, I am me, and the creator of this soon-to-be groundbreaking blog. 

This blog is the product of English class and my brain, generated by my fatigued mind in a moment of clarity. 

My interest in this topic stems from my love of history and my love of government scandal. The conspiracy theories of the past have ranged from UFO sightings to JFK's assassination, some more incredible and far-fetched than the others.

The object of this blog is to uncover the truth in certain theories of my choosing, and present them to the world (and my teacher).

More soon.