"Democrats Seeking Release of Withheld Roberts Documents: Iran-Contra Among Topics of Reagan-Era Papers"
Washington Post
http://tinyurl.com/cyb6s
"...One file withheld, regarding the Iran- contra affair, was a draft memo from Roberts to his bosses with the heading "re: establishment of NHAO" -- referring to the Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office. The office was one of the ways the Reagan administration got around what were known as the Boland amendments, which prohibited U.S. intelligence agencies from spending money to overthrow the Sandinistas...."
The NSA revealed in Jan 04 declassified Ollie North emails that confirm his role and constant communication with senior admin officials in the smuggling of drugs into the US.
National Security Archives
The Oliver North File: His Diaries, E-Mail, and Memos on the Kerry Report, Contras and Drugs http://tinyurl.com/ctkx7
"...Michael Palmer, one of the largest marijuana traffickers in the United States....receives over $300,000.00 from the Nicaraguan Humanitarian Aid Office (NHAO) an office overseen by Oliver North.." (more below the fold)
Did Judge Roberts advise on setting up the loophole agency that allowed the Iran Contra operation to exist outside of the purview of Congress??
It appears that Roberts may have worked to circumvent the very Constitution that he has now been nominated to defend.
According to the wapo article regarding at least one withheld memo, Judge Roberts may have helped the Reagan whitehouse to go around the constitution to fund an illegal war after Congress had explicitly forbidden Reagan from doing so with the Boland Amendment.
"Democrats Seeking Release of Withheld Roberts Documents: Iran-Contra Among Topics of Reagan-Era Papers"
Washington Post http://tinyurl.com/cyb6s
"..One file withheld, regarding the Iran- contra affair, was a draft memo from Roberts to his bosses with the heading "re: establishment of NHAO" -- referring to the Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office.
The office was one of the ways the Reagan administration got around what were known as the Boland amendments, which prohibited U.S. intelligence agencies from spending money to overthrow the Sandinistas. The office was a way the administration could get funds to the contras for nonmilitary purposes, but once there the money was used for all sorts of things....."
Though long denied, oughtright lied about by the CIA and DEA during the Iran-Contra and Kerry Commission hearings, the NSA revealed declassified Ollie north emails just last year that confirm his involvement and constant communication with senior admin officials in the smuggling of cocaine into the US. The msm has been mum on this.
National Security Archives http://tinyurl.com/ctkx7
"Washington D.C., 26 February 2004 - Diaries, e-mail, and memos of Iran-contra figure Oliver North, posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive, directly contradict his criticisms yesterday of Sen. John Kerry's 1988 Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee report on the ways that covert support for the Nicaraguan contras in the 1980s undermined the U.S. war on drugs.....
.....Among the documents posted....
Mr. North's diary entries, from the reporter's notebooks he kept in those years, noting multiple reports of drug smuggling among the contras......
...Memos from North aide Robert Owen to Mr. North recounting drug-running "indiscretions" among the contras, warning that a known drug-smuggling airplane was delivering taxpayer-funded "humanitarian aid" overseen by Mr. North.....
..... On February 10, 1986, Owen ("TC") wrote North (this time as "BG," for "Blood and Guts") regarding a plane being used to carry "humanitarian aid" to the contras that was previously used to transport drugs. The plane belongs to the Miami-based company Vortex, which is run by Michael Palmer, one of the largest marijuana traffickers in the United States. Despite Palmer's long history of drug smuggling, which would soon lead to a Michigan indictment on drug charges, Palmer receives over $300,000.00 from the Nicaraguan Humanitarian Aid Office (NHAO) -- an office overseen by Oliver North, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Elliott Abrams, and CIA officer Alan Fiers -- to ferry supplies to the contras.
State Department contracts from February 1986 detail Palmer's work to transport material to the contras on behalf of the NHAO....."
there's more... NSA
http://tinyurl.com/2cnjj
Left Coaster's take on this...
"If Roberts Helped Set Up NHAO, Hearings Will Revisit Ties Between Iran Contra and Drugs"
http://tinyurl.com/bares
A little on perhaps why the msm failed to cover this story. They may have been afraid of getting killed if they did.
Check this out...
National Security Archives
http://tinyurl.com/2cnjj
"An August, 1996, series in the San Jose Mercury News by reporter Gary Webb linked the origins of crack cocaine in California to the contras, a guerrilla force backed by the Reagan administration that attacked Nicaragua's Sandinista government during the 1980s. Webb's series, "The Dark Alliance," has been the subject of intense media debate, and has focused attention on a foreign policy drug scandal that leaves many questions unanswered......"
This entry from Wikipedia is helpful...
http://tinyurl.com/afpv9
"...Gary Webb (August 31, 1955 - December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist best known for his 1996 "Dark Alliance" series for the San Jose Mercury News in which he explored the Contra-crack cocaine connection (it was later published as a book under the same title). His controversial and highly damaging revelations were disputed at the time, and the affair effectively ended his career as a journalist......
.....under mounting pressure, San Jose Mercury News executive editor Jerry Ceppos published a retraction on May 11, 1997, claiming the Dark Alliance series fell short of his standards. Webb was reassigned to a suburban bureau one hundred fifty miles from his home. Because of the long commute, Webb quit the paper in December, 1997, but by then his marriage had fallen apart and his career had been destroyed.....
......On December 10, 2004, he was found dead from gunshot wounds to the head. While acknowledging that the two fatal shots that had entered through the back of his head was unusual, coroner Robert Lyons determined that it was suicide. It subsequently became known that Webb had been suffering from clinical depression for many years. This information was ascertained only after the fact. Further investigation of the evidence indicates that the CIA murdered Gary Webb and engaged in a suicide cover-up...."
Although the wikipedia entry can't be taken as a trusted source, we do know from the archives that Gary Webb was not only right, he had only scratched the surface. He had his career ruined, and 'supposedly' committed suicide by two gunshots to the head (excuse me???) months after it had been revealed that he had been right all along.
Sacramento Bee
http://tinyurl.com/d9b2n
[update]
Consider the following...
"Evidence Begins To Indicate Gary Webb Was Murdered
Webb Spoke Of Death Threats, 'Government People' Around His Home"
incl video clip "Watch a Dateline report on CIA drug trafficking which includes interviews with Gary Webb, Cele Castillo and 'Freeway' Ricky Ross"
http://tinyurl.com/afpv9
I first came across Ollie's '04 declassified emails and memos while working on a research paper over the summer on the Sandinista-Contra(US) War, and I couldn't believe it.
The msm failed to cover the fact that documents released last year (before Gary Webb's death, one can only wonder what he was working on??) confirmed that the republican's favorite president, you know the one who began the "war on drugs" and "just say no", had senior officials in his admin, some who are in Bush's current admin, who were knowingly aiding and abetting a coke smuggling ring.
If John Roberts, as council to the whitehouse during the Reagan admin, helped to circumvent the Constitutional power of Congress by arguing a way to establish the NHAO, as the Washington Post article suggests, as a way to fund the illegal war without Congressional oversight, which is exactly what they did, he may have been the key reason behind the whole Iran-Contra scandal ever occuring in the first place.
I had read previously about Webb's story and the Kerry commission findings, but there was never any hard proof until last year of Ollie's involvement and how far up the chain the knowledge went.
Then when the WaPo story suggested Judge Roberts may have had a role in the "establishment of NHAO", the wing of the govt that allowed the charade to operate and last as long as it did beyond Congress' purview, I knew this is big news.
I can only hope anyone who has read this will think so too.
