Gates was heavily implicated in a 'secret' progam in the '80s providing satellite info to Saddam

[bigtree]

from Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/8/16424/2030

OK. The Democrats won big. Now Bush, Rove, and Cheney want to use the fake glow of bipartisanship to sneak in their nominee for Secretary of Defense to replace the hated, inept Donald Rumsfeld. But Robert Gates is no innocent.

A protege of William Casey, Gates was forced to withdraw his nomination for Director of the CIA in 1987, because of questions about his role in Iran-Contra. While not indicted, the Walsh report devoted an entire chapter to Gates (http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_16.htm) and his dubious behavior during the Iran-Contra affair, and his less than forthcoming testimony before Congress.

Finally, Gates was heavily implicated in a secret progam in the 1980s to provide crucial satellite information to Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War. (http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/1991_cr/s911107-gates.htm) This information may also have facilitated Iraq development, at that time, of their nuclear weapons program! (more...)

more: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/8/16424/2030



http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree

[sce56]

1. See earlier post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2648337

October 17, 2006,Will be remembered as the Enabling day of the 21st Century!
"The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures..."
~Adolf Hitler, March 23, 1933, before the German Parliament (Reichstag) as he urged them to pass his "Enabling Act"

Got Fascism Yet?


http://www.georgewalkerbush.net/bush-nazilinkconfirmed.htm



Fascism Accomplished!

[BlueManDude]

2. I remember his confirmation battle for DCIA

If I recall there was a feeling that he had played a part in downplaying the 1980s intelligence that the former Soviet Union was really on the verge of collapse.

I thought he was confirmed?

[CountAllVotes]

3. K&R!!

:kick:

[Blackhatjack]

4. I see transcripts of his earlier confirmation hearing testimony.....

..... and I find this line telling

"A protege of William Casey, Gates was forced to withdraw his nomination for Director of the CIA in 1987, because of questions about his role in Iran-Contra."

.... and this line portends problems for the Congress getting a straight answer if he is confirmed

" ... and his dubious behavior during the Iran-Contra affair, and his less than forthcoming testimony before Congress."


They need to pull the copies of his transcribed testimony at his earlier confirmation hearing, and ask why he was not fully forthcoming, and why he withdrew his nomination rather than answer all questions put to him.

This will be the first test of the new Dem Majority on a Bush nominee. Hope they are up to it.

[mikeybabe125]

5. We will see...

How Dems use their new power with this guy (who already looks like bad news) and the upcoming supreme court nominee

[starroute]

6. And this

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Iraq/Saddam's_Hidden_History.html

In 1982, the Reagan administration, though officially neutral, began to fear an Iranian victory. In a 1995 affidavit in a federal criminal court case, Howard Teicher, a one-time member of Reagan's National Security Council staff, said that in 1982 he helped draft a secret National Security Decision Directive, signed by Reagan, to provide covert support to Iraq.

Teicher wrote, "The CIA, including both CIA Director Casey and Deputy Director Gates, knew of, approved of and assisted in the sale of non-U.S.-origin military weapons, ammunition and vehicles to Iraq." The Reagan administration also began providing Saddam Hussein's military with satellite photos of the battlefield and dual-use technology that Iraq used to build chemical and biological weapons. And the Reagan administration allowed Iraq to buy computer software that Saddam could use to track political opponents.

At a Senate hearing on September 19, 2002, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.V.) asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: "Did the United States help Iraq to acquire the building blocks of biological weapons during the Iran-lraq war? Are we in fact, now facing the possibility of reaping what we have sown?" Rumsfeld, who was Reagan's special envoy to the Middle East in 1983 and 1984 and who met personally with Saddam on December 20, 1983, replied that he had "no knowledge" of such U.S. assistance. Was that a lie?

[Lars39]

7. That link's not working.

:hi:

[starroute]

9. I tried fixing it

But for some reason a \ keeps getting put in before the ' in Saddam's.

Try hitting it and then removing the \ (and any other extra symbols) in Saddam's in the address bar of your browser, and it should come up properly.

[bigtree]

13. try the base link

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/

;-)

[Lars39]

14. Here it is:

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Iraq/Saddam%27s_Hidden_History.html

Thanks, starroute!

[Jacobin]

8. paleocons can get us out of the mess neocons got us into

The neocons are all gone. No more 'pretend reality'. We now have practical, smart, thugs in charge to end the Iraq debacle.

I'll take a paleocon over a neocon any day of the week.

[The Count]

11. I want to see HIS photo op with Saddam. Seems a prerequisite for the job

And, no, no "con's for me. Rather a "pro"(gressive)

[Jacobin]

16. I actually believe

that the paleocons are adept at thuggery, mischief, sleight of hand, and that they are very practical and brutal. They are like the mafia. Hell, they ARE the mafia. Its going to take a group like that to undo Shrub's fuckup of a lifetime. I'm all for letting them try. Its going to be a horrid disaster and anyone who wants to take it on gets cheers from me, as long as we do it quickly.

[lyonn]

17. Trouble is the Iran/Contra, Soviet, Iraq, and other adventures

that the Reagan bunch was involved in didn't turn out well either. The repubs just have a way of lying and twisting stories to suit their devious activities. Not smart activities/adventures, just devious and self serving. Sorta like we are in now with baby bush.

[Lars39]

10. I've been collecting threads about Gates:

Robert Gates,Iran-Contra

Robert Gates: A criminal from the Iran/Contra days…NNN0LHIs thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2643425

Iran-Contra Robert Gates? That Robert Gates?... Solly Mack’s thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2639900&mesg_id=2639900


Larry Johnson (ret. CIA) warns of Robert Gates..... Postmans’s thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2645115


Larry Johnson:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-c-johnson/bob-gates-hes-back_b_33660.html

"From the Shadows" (Gates' Autobiography)…H2O Man’s thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2640997&mesg_id=2640997


Gates was heavily implicated in a 'secret' program in the '80s providing satellite info to Saddam: (bigtree’s thread)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2651062

[Straight Shooter]

12. These Iran-Contra era Republicans are like zombies.

They keep rising out of their political tombs, terrorizing the countryside.

[philly_bob]

15. Also, Gates is on Iraq Study Group/Baker Commission. /nt

[Tom Joad]

18. Bush advisor Dan Pipes openly advocated arming Saddam

http://tomjoad.org/pipes.htm

Read his article in the The New Republic on April 27, 1987

[bloom]

19. Today's Democracy Now! also has a lot of info.

Transcipts will be posted later - or catch their show.

http://www.democracynow.org/