Following up on a story we've looked at before on Arafel, the Mull of Kintyre Incident (was it an accident or assassination?), I next read an article in "Village" ("Ireland's political and cultural magazine"), that expanded my horizons with regard to the possible motivation for the murder (if murder it was), of the 25 counter-insurgency operatives and four helicopter crew in the Chinook on that June evening. I had initially surmised that it was U.S involvement linked to Republican Party support for the loyalist cause, effective especially through the Orange Lodges and loyalist paramilitary organisations, (quote; "The IRA may turn away and mumble into their hands whenever the subject of the deaths at The Mull of Kintyre are mentioned but that merely exemplifies the maxim that "all terrorism is treason" -"yesterday's terrorist" may indeed be "tomorrow's freedom fighter" but not without an evolution in the consciousness of both State and Self-. Is it such a strange irony that the republican movement in Ireland should be supported by U.S Democrats and the Loyalists by the Republican Party?" Go to: https://www.arafel.co.uk/2016/12/a-place-to-talk.html ), about to be further revealed, than John Stalker already had in his book "Shoot to Kill" (Go to: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/john-stalker-obituary-british-police-officer-who-led-shoot-to-kill-inquiry-1.3802110 ), by the U.K operatives on the fatal flight, that led to their deaths on the Mull, I was not, however, prepared for the revelations made in Deirdre Younge's article in "Village" which if correct compound the (possible/probable?), treason with another, the Iran/Contra Affair.
Quote; "A
telex * from the Irish Embassy in Paris quotes Sorj Chalandon, a
journalist with the newspaper Liberation, as saying Little was the
“demarcheur” or lobbyist for Ulster Resistance, on the Continent
since 1987 and that his article also mentioned the finding of a
Blowpipe missile in Markethill, in Armagh in November 1988. The
Embassy telex went on “ he (Chalandon) also raises the possibility
that the entire operation could have been set up as a provocation by
extremists in the South African Directorate of Military Intelligence
Service. He says that it was absurd for the transaction to take place
in the heart of Paris and that the affair could cause damage not just
in France but also in Britain since Mrs Thatcher’s Government has
been attributed an essential role in the recent renewal of direct
contact between Moscow and Pretoria”. (* Telex from the Irish
Embassy Paris to the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs
24/04/’89)."..
"Sources maintain to Village that the UR share of the weapons was supposed to go to one of the UR leaders, in Markethill, about four miles north of Glennane, but suspicion fell on one of the leaders, believed to be working for M15 so the UR men insisted their share be diverted from his chosen location, a property near Markethill. The owner was a dedicated Paisleyite.
‘Despite an arms embargo the UK Government covertly supported Ollie North’s efforts to arm Nicaraguan Contras’.
The weapons, say the sources, had initially been collected by a man connected to the Portadown UVF, driven in an articulated lorry to North Armagh and stored in a container in the barn between Tandragee and Armagh. The weapons’ distribution remained under UVF supervision. The UR share was, eventually, loaded onto a Territorial Army ambulance and ultimately ended up in Armagh TA barracks. Where it is today, remains a closely guarded secret."
"Peter Kornbluh in ‘The Pinochet Files’ has some fascinating details of North’s relationship with Shorts:
Their elaborate scheme (North and fellow conspirators) called for Short Brothers, the Belfast-based manufacturer of the Blowpipe missile, to facilitate the transfer of the weapons from Chile to the Contra forces through El Salvador, using falsified end-user certificates.*"..
"North reported:
The VP from Short Bros sought me out several months ago and I met with him again…Short Bros, the manufacturer of the Blowpipe is willing to arrange a deal, conduct the training and even send UK “tech reps” fwd if we can close the arrangement. Dick Secord has already paid 10% down on the delivery and we have a (country deleted) EUC (end user) which is applicable to Chile." https://villagemagazine.ie/a-recent-bbc-spotlight-programme-reinforced-the-inconvenient-truth-that-there-was-widespread-collusion-across-the-loyalist-spectrum-from-the-dup-to-the-uvf-to-mi5/
"Sources maintain to Village that the UR share of the weapons was supposed to go to one of the UR leaders, in Markethill, about four miles north of Glennane, but suspicion fell on one of the leaders, believed to be working for M15 so the UR men insisted their share be diverted from his chosen location, a property near Markethill. The owner was a dedicated Paisleyite.
‘Despite an arms embargo the UK Government covertly supported Ollie North’s efforts to arm Nicaraguan Contras’.
The weapons, say the sources, had initially been collected by a man connected to the Portadown UVF, driven in an articulated lorry to North Armagh and stored in a container in the barn between Tandragee and Armagh. The weapons’ distribution remained under UVF supervision. The UR share was, eventually, loaded onto a Territorial Army ambulance and ultimately ended up in Armagh TA barracks. Where it is today, remains a closely guarded secret."
"Peter Kornbluh in ‘The Pinochet Files’ has some fascinating details of North’s relationship with Shorts:
Their elaborate scheme (North and fellow conspirators) called for Short Brothers, the Belfast-based manufacturer of the Blowpipe missile, to facilitate the transfer of the weapons from Chile to the Contra forces through El Salvador, using falsified end-user certificates.*"..
"North reported:
The VP from Short Bros sought me out several months ago and I met with him again…Short Bros, the manufacturer of the Blowpipe is willing to arrange a deal, conduct the training and even send UK “tech reps” fwd if we can close the arrangement. Dick Secord has already paid 10% down on the delivery and we have a (country deleted) EUC (end user) which is applicable to Chile." https://villagemagazine.ie/a-recent-bbc-spotlight-programme-reinforced-the-inconvenient-truth-that-there-was-widespread-collusion-across-the-loyalist-spectrum-from-the-dup-to-the-uvf-to-mi5/
Reagan was having trouble both in the Senate and in the House by the time of the mid-term elections of 1982 (it seems Reaganomics and his aggressive foreign policies weren't universally popular so his administration began to resort to tactics reminiscent of that of Nixon's),
Quote: "President
Ronald Reagan, who won the White House in 1980, wasn’t able to
maintain the political momentum for his Republican colleagues, and
the GOP was swept from the majority in both the Senate and House of
Representatives in the 1982 mid-term elections.
The results would complicate the president’s agenda. During his campaign for the White House, Reagan had promised to assist anti-Communist insurgencies around the globe, but the so-called “Reagan Doctrine” faced a political hurdle following those mid-term elections."..
"Meanwhile, in the Middle East, where U.S. relations with many nations were strained to the breaking point, two regional powers—Iraq and Iran—were engaged in a bloody conflict.**
At the same time, Iranian-backed terrorists in Hezbollah were holding hostage seven Americans (diplomats and private contractors) in Lebanon. Reagan delivered another ultimatum to his advisors: Find a way to bring those hostages home.
In 1985, McFarlane sought to do just that. He told Reagan that Iran had approached the United States about purchasing weapons for its war against neighboring Iraq.
There was, however, a U.S. trade embargo with Iran at the time, dating back to that country’s revolution and subsequent overthrow of Shah Pahlavi of Iran, during which 52 American hostages were held for 444 days in a diplomatic standoff known as the Iran Hostage Crisis.
Although several members of Reagan’s administration opposed it—including Secretary of State George Schultz and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger—McFarlane argued that an arms deal with Iran would not only secure the release of the hostages, but help the United States improve relations with Lebanon, providing the country with an ally in a region where it desperately needed one.
And, as an aside, the arms deal would secure funds that the CIA could secretly funnel to the Contra insurgency in Nicaragua. With the backing of McFarlane and CIA Director William Casey, Reagan pushed ahead with the trade, over the objections of Weinberger and Schultz.
Oliver North
Lebanese newspaper Al-Shiraa first reported the arms deal between the United States and Iran in 1986, well into Reagan’s second term.
By that time, 1,500 American missiles had been sold to Iran, for $30 million. Three of the seven hostages in Lebanon were also released, although the Iran-backed terrorist group there later took three more Americans hostage.
Reagan initially denied that he had negotiated with Iran or the terrorists, only to retract the statement a week later.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Edwin Meese launched an investigation into the weapons deal, and found that some $18 million of the $30 million Iran had paid for the weapons was unaccounted for.
It was then that Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, of the National Security Council, came forward to acknowledge that he had diverted the missing funds to the Contras in Nicaragua, who used them to acquire weapons.
North said he had done so with the full knowledge of National Security Advisor Admiral John Poindexter. He assumed Reagan was also aware of his efforts." https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/iran-contra-affair
The results would complicate the president’s agenda. During his campaign for the White House, Reagan had promised to assist anti-Communist insurgencies around the globe, but the so-called “Reagan Doctrine” faced a political hurdle following those mid-term elections."..
"Meanwhile, in the Middle East, where U.S. relations with many nations were strained to the breaking point, two regional powers—Iraq and Iran—were engaged in a bloody conflict.**
At the same time, Iranian-backed terrorists in Hezbollah were holding hostage seven Americans (diplomats and private contractors) in Lebanon. Reagan delivered another ultimatum to his advisors: Find a way to bring those hostages home.
In 1985, McFarlane sought to do just that. He told Reagan that Iran had approached the United States about purchasing weapons for its war against neighboring Iraq.
There was, however, a U.S. trade embargo with Iran at the time, dating back to that country’s revolution and subsequent overthrow of Shah Pahlavi of Iran, during which 52 American hostages were held for 444 days in a diplomatic standoff known as the Iran Hostage Crisis.
Although several members of Reagan’s administration opposed it—including Secretary of State George Schultz and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger—McFarlane argued that an arms deal with Iran would not only secure the release of the hostages, but help the United States improve relations with Lebanon, providing the country with an ally in a region where it desperately needed one.
And, as an aside, the arms deal would secure funds that the CIA could secretly funnel to the Contra insurgency in Nicaragua. With the backing of McFarlane and CIA Director William Casey, Reagan pushed ahead with the trade, over the objections of Weinberger and Schultz.
Oliver North
Lebanese newspaper Al-Shiraa first reported the arms deal between the United States and Iran in 1986, well into Reagan’s second term.
By that time, 1,500 American missiles had been sold to Iran, for $30 million. Three of the seven hostages in Lebanon were also released, although the Iran-backed terrorist group there later took three more Americans hostage.
Reagan initially denied that he had negotiated with Iran or the terrorists, only to retract the statement a week later.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Edwin Meese launched an investigation into the weapons deal, and found that some $18 million of the $30 million Iran had paid for the weapons was unaccounted for.
It was then that Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, of the National Security Council, came forward to acknowledge that he had diverted the missing funds to the Contras in Nicaragua, who used them to acquire weapons.
North said he had done so with the full knowledge of National Security Advisor Admiral John Poindexter. He assumed Reagan was also aware of his efforts." https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/iran-contra-affair
*An article by the Consortium News goes into detail as to how the purchase of the blowpipe missiles fitted in to the general strategy of support for the Contras, quote; "When
North arrived, Channell told him that O'Boyle was willing to contribute
funds for the purchase of weapons. North immediately began to describe
from a notebook the Contras' needs, including several million rounds of
"NATO" ammunition, Eastern bloc ammunition, Blowpipe and Stinger
anti-aircraft missiles, and Maule aircraft. North explained that
Blowpipe missiles cost $20,000 each, but that they had to be purchased
in packs of ten".. as-well as intimating that the Channell Organisation
of which North was an integral part; "North told Channell that henceforth
"continued" contributions to NEPL for the Contras should be passed to
IBC for proper dispersal. From shortly after this meeting through the
fall of 1986, NEPL made all Contra assistance payments to IBC or to
I.C., Inc. [R. Miller Dep., 6/23/87, at 28-30]. Miller heard, in the
diplomatic community, about a possible public relations effort for
another resistance movement -Afghanistan. Sometime in 1985, probably/
early June, he went to see North in his office about obtaining work for
IBC in this area." may also have been involved in funding/supporting terrorist organisations in Afghanistan***.... https://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/lostchapter.pdf
**Nb. It should be remembered that Iran and Iraq were at war with each other at the time and that the "fog" of that war could hide dealings and manoeuvrings which might be far more "visible" (and -hence-, less "acceptable"), today.
***Also see "Dark Alliance", quote; "Mr. Webb is the author of Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. He discussed his book, headline news and responded to audience telephone calls, faxes, and electronic mail." That's on this video from C-Span's Washington Journal... https://www.c-span.org/video/?109876-1/dark-alliance
Gary Webb later shot himself...twice..quote: "Gary Webb was American investigative journalist, Pulitzer prize winner.
He examined origins of the crack cocaine trade in Los Angeles and
claimed that members of the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua
had played a major role in creating the trade, using cocaine profits to
support their struggle. He also suggested that the Contras may have
acted with the knowledge and protection of the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA). Webb was found dead in his home on December 10, 2004, with
two gunshot wounds to the head. His death was ruled a suicide by the
Sacramento County coroner's office" https://archive.org/details/GaryWebbDarkAlliance1999.
For more detail on the Mull of Kintyre Incident please see my previous post, "The Mull of Kintyre Incident; Accident or Assassination? What is extant #MullofKintyre" quote; "Was it the British establishment or that of the United States that stood to gain the most ?" https://www.arafel.co.uk/2017/01/the-mull-of-kintyre-incident-accident.html Nb. links to http://www.deepblacklies.co.uk/the_mystery_of_flight_zulu_delta.htm .
