"The offer [to Arafat] was, 'if you block the release of hostages, then the White House would be open for the PLO'," Bassam said. "I guess the same offer was given to others, and I believe that some accepted to do it and managed to block the release of hostages."
In a little-noticed letter to the U.S. Congress, dated Dec. 17, 1992, former Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr said he first learned of the Republican hostage initiative in July 1980. Bani-Sadr said a nephew of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, returned from a meeting with an Iranian banker and CIA asset, Cyrus Hashemi, who had close ties to Reagan's campaign chief William Casey and to Casey's business associate, John Shaheen.
Bani-Sadr said the message from the Khomeini emissary was clear: Republicans were in league with elements of the CIA in an effort to undermine Carter and were demanding Iran's help.
Bani-Sadr said the emissary "told me that if I do not accept this proposal they [the Republicans] would make the same offer to my rivals." The emissary added that the Republicans "have enormous influence in the CIA," Bani-Sadr wrote. "Lastly, he told me my refusal of their offer would result in my elimination."
Bani-Sadr said he resisted the GOP scheme, but the plan was accepted by the hard-line Khomeini faction. The American hostages remained captive through the Nov. 4, 1980, election which Reagan won handily. They were released immediately after Reagan was sworn in on Jan. 20, 1981. [For more details, see Parry's Secrecy & Privilege.]
Though some Carter advisers suspected Republican manipulation of the hostage crisis, the Democrats again kept silent. Only after the Iran-Contra scandal broke in 1986 -- and witnesses began talking about its origins -- did the 1980 story, known as the October Surprise case, get fleshed out enough to compel Congress to take a closer look in 1991-1992.
Again, however the Democrats feared that the evidence could endanger the fragile political relationships of Washington that enable governing to go forward. Once more, they chose to ignore the GOP machinations and, in some cases, literally hid the evidence. [For instance, see Consortiumnews.com's "Key October Surprise Evidence Hidden."]
Teaching Gingrich
By caving in on the October Surprise investigation in early 1993 -- out of a desire for political comity and bipartisanship -- Democrats, in effect, set the stage for more Republican hardball strategies directed against President Bill Clinton.
The Republicans showed that their growing media machine -- though built for defense against Democratic investigations -- could play offense equally well. The machine could manufacture "scandals" about Clinton as easily as it could disassemble threats to Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush.
Indeed, the strategy to undo Clinton was egged on by Nixon himself. On April 13, 1994, just four days before the stroke that would lead to his death, Nixon spoke to biographer Monica Crowley about how Clinton's Whitewater real-estate deal could be used to take the Democratic president down.
"Clinton should pay the price," Nixon said. "Our people shouldn't let this issue go down. They mustn't let it sink." [See Monica Crowley's Nixon Off the Record.]
Of all Nixon's proteges, perhaps none took his teachings more to heart than did Newt Gingrich who was determined to apply Nixon's lessons in overturning long-term Democratic control of the House of Representatives.
Gingrich, who won a seat in Congress in 1978, already was inclined to use whatever means necessary to achieve his goal. In a speech to the College Republicans, he said, "I think that one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don't encourage you to be nasty." Nasty would soon become Gingrich's trademark.
Four years later, in 1982, Gingrich turned to the grand master of "nasty" for advice. Over dinner, Nixon advised Gingrich that the press could ignore the House Republicans because they were "so boring," according to an account in Gingrich's book, Lessons Learned the Hard Way.
Embracing Nixon's advice, Gingrich set off to ensure that the House Republicans would no longer be "boring." Led by Gingrich, the hard-line GOP faction -- dubbed the Conservative Opportunity Society -- became famous for over-the-top attacks on adversaries: questioning people's patriotism, challenging their ethics and making inflammatory remarks.
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