Quote:
Originally Posted by whell
Not sure what you're talking about here. Reagan had nothing to do with the Iranians taking hostages at the Embassy in Tehran in 1979, nor did he have anything to do with their release. Their release occurred after the election, so the timing of their release could not have impacted the 1980 election results.
Can you please provide detail on what you're referring to above?
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He said that Reagan played footsie with the same people who had (earlier) taken hostages in Iran, not that he had something to do with the taking of hostages. He's absolutely correct about this.
Between 1981 and 1986, Reagan administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to the Khomeini government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, a right-wing rebel group, in Nicaragua. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited by Congress.
So, he violated the arms embargo and the Boland Amendment.
So, all five of the most recently elected Republican presidents did some pretty unsavory/illegal shit:
1. Nixon had his Watergate scandal.
2. Reagan and his administration broke several laws in supplying arms to terrorists in the Iran Contra affair.
3. George H. W. Bush preempted himself from being implicated in Iran Contra by pardoning those implicated/convicted in associated crimes (per Independent Counsel Walsh).
4. Dubya led the nation to war in Iraq on false pretenses.
5. Trump staged an autogolpe (a self-coup) and became the only president ever to not participate in a peaceful transfer of power.
So, it can certainly be argued that the GOP is an ongoing criminal enterprise.
In fact, 142 members of the past 3 Republican presidents have been indicted (and counting (for Trump)) whereas 2 members of the past 3 Democratic administrations have been indicted.