Gates Advocated Air Strikes on Nicaragua

[DoYouEverWonder]

November 24, 2006

WASHINGTON -- In 1984, Robert Gates, then the No. 2 CIA official, advocated U.S. airstrikes against Nicaragua's pro-Cuban government to reverse what he described as an ineffective U.S. strategy to deal with communist advances in Central America, previously classified documents say.

Gates, President Bush's nominee to be defense secretary, said the United States could no longer justify what he described as "halfhearted" attempts to contain Nicaragua's Sandinista government, according to documents released Friday by the National Security Archive, a private research group.

In a memo to CIA Director William Casey dated Dec. 14, 1984, Gates said his proposed airstrikes would be designed "to destroy a considerable portion of Nicaragua's military buildup" and be focused on tanks and helicopters.

He also recommended that the United States prevent delivery to the Sandinistas of such weapons in the future. The administration, he said, should make clear that a U.S. invasion of the country was not contemplated.

The target of Gates' anxieties was Nicaragua's leftist president, Daniel Ortega.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-gates-nicaragua,0,3882055.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

I think people need to take a closer look at Gates, before they take out the rubber stamp.

[MadMaddie]

1. Agreed...I say anyone nominated by the * cabal needs to be

looked at and scrutinized like never before....

[mike_c]

2. ANYONE who comes out of Poppy's sordid past...

...should be scrutinized VERY CLOSELY, and if they come up clean, that's a good sign that something is missing from their resume.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Iran-Contra role is not likely to sink Gates' latest nomination

Nov. 24, 2006, 10:45PM
Iran-Contra role is not likely to sink Gates' latest nomination

By PETE YOST
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Iran-Contra affair exploded 20 years ago today, a scandal that crippled the last two years of Ronald Reagan's presidency and temporarily damaged the career prospects of Robert Gates, President Bush's nominee to replace Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

On Nov. 25, 1986, Attorney General Edwin Meese announced the diversion of millions of dollars in proceeds from the Reagan administration's secret arms sales to Iran to Central America, where the money was used to help bankroll a war secretly run out of the White House.

At the time, Congress had cut off military aid to the rebel force known as the Contras fighting the communist government of Nicaragua.
(snip)

Gates says he first heard information about the diversion nearly two months before it was disclosed to the public, and a CIA official said he first told Gates about it even earlier.

Iran-Contra Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh investigated Gates but brought no criminal charges, concluding that Gates' statements to investigators "often seemed scripted and less than candid."
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/4358580.html

http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2006/11/09/_ul_jj_gates1109+Z.jpg

[Phredicles]

4. Please filibuster this SOB:

He may be (marginally) better than Rumsfeld, if only in the sense of how could anyone else be that awful. But he clearly represents the same deadly combination of amorality plus incompetence.

[EFerrari]

5. Hell, no! We don't have ENOUGH corrupt and murderous

Iran Contra conspirators in our government.

[MilesColtrane]

6. Venezuela better watch it's ass! n/t

[stepnw1f]

7. GOP=Dominate the World

Evil greedy bastards.

[EFerrari]

9. Well, Truman signed the National Security Act

in 1947.

We've had our share of bastards, too.

[stepnw1f]

10. I Refer to Today

on edit: Lieberman and a handful of other pro-war assholes in our party fit that bill well.

[yurbud]

8. Advocated breaking law: Boland Amendment passed in 1982

Boland Amendment background:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boland_Amendment

It should be noted that the Sandinistas came to power as part of a coalition that included the woman the administration approved of to take Ortega's place. The Sandinistas won an internationally monitored election before that, and when they lost the next one, they peacefully handed over power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nicaragua#Sandinista_period_.281979_-_1990.29

It is worth noting that the US backed replacement privatized industries the Sandinistas had nationalized. How many Nicaraguans do you suppose that benefited?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nicaragua#Post-Sandinista_period

I don't have any particular love for these guys, but if we claim to support democracy we should do so even when the results of elections get some corporation's knickers in a knot. Also, given the last couple of years, if the Bush faction demonizes someone, I would at least pause before kicking them too.