Though the topic was the task force report, copies were kept shrink-wrapped out of the hands of reporters. In other words, the reporters weren't allowed to see the report until after the news conference was over.
The tactic worked. Few reporters actually read the report and even fewer knew enough to spot the holes. Washington's "conventional wisdom" quickly solidified around the judgment that the October Surprise story was a loony conspiracy theory.
Hamilton put on the finishing touches by writing an op-ed for the New York Times, entitled "Case Closed." The article cited supposedly solid alibis for the whereabouts of William Casey as the key reason why the task force findings "should put the controversy to rest once and for all." [NYT, Jan. 24, 1993]
Hyde's Speech
Ten days later, Hyde took to the House floor to gleefully mock anyone who still doubted the October Surprise innocence of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
During his "special order" speech, the white-haired Hyde did acknowledge some weaknesses in the House task force findings and the documentary evidence. Casey's 1980 passport had disappeared, as had key pages of his calendar, Hyde admitted.
Hyde noted, too, that the chief of French intelligence, Alexandre deMarenches, had told his biographer that Casey did hold hostage talks with the Iranians in Paris in October 1980. Several French intelligence officials had corroborated that assertion.
But Hyde insisted that two solid blocks of evidence proved that the October Surprise allegations were false. Hyde said his first cornerstone was hard-rock alibis for Casey and other key suspects.
"We were able to locate [Casey's]
whereabouts with virtual certainty" on the dates when he allegedly met
with Iranians in Europe to discuss the hostages, Hyde declared.
For instance, Casey had been in California (at the Bohemian Grove
resort) on the late July 1980 weekend of a purported meeting with
Iranians in Madrid, Hyde said.
There was an alibi, too, that same weekend for the late Cyrus Hashemi, an alleged Iranian intermediary who supposedly was at the Madrid meeting. Hashemi who had ties to the CIA, to Tehran's radical mullahs and to the corrupt Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was in Connecticut, Hyde said.
That supposedly disproved the allegations of Hashemi's older brother Jamshid, who testified under oath that he and Cyrus were with Casey and senior Iranian cleric Mehdi Karrubi in Madrid that weekend.
The second debunking cornerstone, Hyde said, was the absence of anything incriminating on FBI wiretaps of Cyrus Hashemi over five months in late 1980 and early 1981 when he was under suspicion for his dealings with Iran.
"There is not a single indication that William Casey had contact with Cyrus or Jamshid Hashemi," Hyde said. "Indeed, there is no indication on the tapes that Casey or any other individuals associated with the Reagan campaign had contact with any persons representing or associated with the Iranian government."
Crumbling Cornerstones
But under any careful inspection, both of
Hyde's cornerstones crumbled. The alibis for Casey and others were
laughably bogus. The clear and documented record showed that the House
investigators had put Casey at the Bohemian Grove on the wrong weekend.
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