#IranContra
33 entries tagged IranContra.
People (30)
- Adnan Khashoggi Adnan Khashoggi (1935-2017) was a Saudi billionaire arms dealer and key Iran-Contra middleman who bridged financing for the Reagan administration's arms sales to Iran through BCCI, and was named alongside Manucher Ghorbanifar and Richard Armitage in the May 1985 Reynolds letter as a broker for the covert distribution of PROMIS software.
- Amiram Nir Nir resigned from his TV job to work as a public relations adviser for Peres during the 1981 elections.
- Avi Pazner Spokesman and national security adviser to Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir, involved in covert operations including arms sales and Iraq-related intelligence.
- Barry Seal Adler Berriman 'Barry' Seal (1939-1986) was a Baton Rouge, Louisiana pilot and the Medellín Cartel's chief U.S. cocaine distributor, who flew an estimated 56 tons of cocaine worth $3-5 billion before flipping as a DEA informant in 1984, providing photographic evidence of Sandinista officials loading cocaine at a Nicaraguan airfield; he was assassinated by cartel hitmen in February 1986, and his C-123K cargo plane was subsequently used in the Oliver North Contra supply network before being shot down over Nicaragua with Eugene Hasenfus aboard.
- Carlos Cardoen Cardoen later resigned and became a private contractor, securing a deal to supply all blasting equipment to the Chilean Mining Corporation.
- Cyrus Hashemi Iranian exile involved in secret arms sales and hostage negotiations during Iran-Contra who became a U.S. Customs informant before being found dead in London under suspicious circumstances.
- Fawn Hall Secretary to Oliver North during the Iran-Contra Affair and daughter of Robert McFarlane's secretary Wilma Hall.
- George Cave In February 1989, Cave was spotted in Paraguay with Earl Brian, visiting Gen.
- Gunther Karl Russbacher Wilcher was working daily for Russbacher and wanted to ask Janet Reno, the new Attorney General, to grant immunity from prosecution to Russbacher so that he might testify to the government about activities inside the CIA.
- Hashemi brothers The Hashemi brothers were a trio of Iranian brothers living in the West who claimed to have connections in Iran with Ahmed Khomeini, the son of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
- Henry Grunwald Editor-in-chief of Time magazine who vetoed publication of the North-Nir story that later became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.
- Jack Brooks Jack Brooks (1922-2012) was a Texas Democrat who represented the Beaumont area in Congress for 42 years, chaired the House Judiciary Committee from 1989 to 1995, and presided over the three-year INSLAW investigation that produced House Report 102-857 (September 1992), which found that the Department of Justice had stolen PROMIS software and named Edwin Meese and Richard Thornburgh as having obstructed the inquiry.
- Jamshid Hashemi One of the Hashemi brothers, involved in secret arms sales to Iran and later became an informant for U.S. Customs.
- John Tower After the Iran-Contra Affair scandal broke, Tower was appointed to head a presidential commission of inquiry into the affair.
- Mark Thatcher In 1983, Thatcher introduced Gerald Bull to Gen.
- Mehdi Bazargan First prime minister of revolutionary Iran under Khomeini who sought to normalize relations with the U.S. before being ousted by extremists.
- Menachem Schneerson Large amounts of money were funneled through his institutions to Drexel Burnham, a brokerage house where Michael Milken built his junk-bond fortune.
- Michael Milken Large amounts of money from the arms sales to Iran were funneled through American banks and held at Drexel Burnham, contributing to Milken's firm's stature and its ability to underwrite huge quantities of junk bonds.
- Miles Copeland Retired CIA officer who helped restore the Shah in 1953 and later gathered anti-Carter CIA veterans during the Iranian hostage crisis.
- Mohammed Radi Abdullah Colonel Mohammed Radi Abdullah was a former colonel in the Jordanian Army.
- Monzer Al-Kassar Allegations suggest that the CIA was protecting Al-Kassar's operation because he was cooperating with efforts to free U.S.
- Oliver North Marine lieutenant colonel and National Security Council staff member who ran the illegal Contra resupply operation from the White House, central figure in the Iran-Contra Affair implicated in drug trafficking, arms dealing, and obstruction of justice.
- Ora Ben-Shalom After the deaths of Freddie and Herut (Ari Ben-Menashe's daughter), Ora and Ari Ben-Menashe began a relationship in late 1986, eventually living together in Jerusalem.
- Reza Hashemi Iranian arms dealer and one of the Hashemi brothers involved in secret arms sales and hostage negotiations related to Iran-Contra.
- Ronald Reagan 40th President of the United States who authorized CIA operations in Nicaragua, oversaw the Contra war and the secret drug-crimes reporting exemption, while simultaneously prosecuting the War on Drugs.
- Spencer Oliver Chief counsel for the House Foreign Relations Committee involved in Iran-Contra hearings, later admitting the hearings were a cover-up.
- Timothy Phelps Middle East correspondent for Newsday who received early details of the Iran-Contra story from Ari Ben-Menashe.
- Uri Simchoni Brigadier General Uri Simchoni was a member of the Iran-Israel Joint Committee.
- William French Smith William French Smith (1917-1990) served as U.S. Attorney General from 1981 to 1985 under President Reagan, and as the first Reagan AG signed the secret 1982 Memorandum of Understanding with CIA director William J. Casey that removed drug offenses from the list of crimes CIA assets were required to report to the Department of Justice.
- Wilma Hall Secretary to Robert McFarlane at the NSC and mother of Fawn Hall who helped expose McFarlane's contacts with Rafi Eitan.
Organizations (1)
- Bank of Credit and Commerce International The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was a Pakistani-founded offshore bank that operated across 78 countries before its 1991 collapse exposed a decade-long conspiracy involving money laundering for drug cartels and intelligence agencies, illegal acquisition of U.S. banks, bribery, fraud, and arms trafficking, in what regulators called the largest bank fraud in history.
Programs (1)
- Tower Commission The Tower Commission was a presidential commission of inquiry established to investigate the Iran-Contra Affair. It was headed by former Senator John Tower.
Concepts (1)
- The Octopus The Octopus is a term used by investigative journalist Danny Casolaro to describe a sprawling alleged criminal network linking the PROMIS software theft, Iran-Contra, the October Surprise, BCCI, and intelligence-connected drug trafficking under a single self-perpetuating criminal enterprise.