Kill the Messenger

[Jaybird180]

Anyone see the movie? I'd heard of it, but didnt quite understand the link between it, the so-called Iran-Contra Affair, the War in Drugs and the fact that it was a real-life conspiracy scheme.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5961748

Perhaps SZ material???

 

[murphey]

This is a surprise, why? For those of us who paid attention to the event back in the 80s, it was very obvious what was going on.

 

[EdFred]

This is a surprise, why? For those of us who paid attention to the event back in the 80s, it was very obvious what was going on.

As a preteen at the time, I would have followed it, why?

 

[Dav8or]

Back in those days, the communists were today's ISIS. They had to be stopped at all costs and the ends justified the means!!

I can totally see people in the government doing stupid crap like this today to covertly supply some opposition group to ISIS.

 

[Jaybird180]

I personally know someone who explained to me the double standard on Crack Cocaine vs Powder. He did 16 yrs for a crime he didnt commit (paid informant setup) as a casualty in the War on Drugs. There is an entire prison population there for this farce, and for that reason it inches me closer to agreement to legalize all drugs; just cant get around the moral issues.

 

[Brad Z]

Perhaps SZ material???

I didn't click the link but if you have to ask it probably is.

 

[Bob Noel]

I personally know someone who explained to me the double standard on Crack Cocaine vs Powder. He did 16 yrs for a crime he didnt commit (paid informant setup) as a casualty in the War on Drugs. There is an entire prison population there for this farce, and for that reason it inches me closer to agreement to legalize all drugs; just cant get around the moral issues.

Ask anyone in prison, they'll all tell you they are innocent.

 

[EdFred]

Ask anyone in prison, they'll all tell you they are innocent.

Nope. I know more that admitted doing their crime than have declared their innocence. Nice try though.

 

[Jimmy cooper]

This is a surprise, why? For those of us who paid attention to the event back in the 80s, it was very obvious what was going on.

It sure was obvious! The days of Barry seal! Google summit aviation pat foley and you can become entranced by what went on! John Kerry, the same one who just negotiated with Iran, conducted the hearings into Iran contra and drugs. Not a good day for America. Oliver north should have done time.

 

[Bob Noel]

Nope. I know more that admitted doing their crime than have declared their innocence. Nice try though.

<sigh>

the point being that you can't believe a prisoner is innocent just based on them telling you they are innocent.

 

[Scrabo]

Anyone seen the hunting party - based on a true story but totally funny what went on.

 

[dtuuri]

Google summit aviation pat foley and you can become entranced by what went on!

Ah yes, Google is your friend:

"During the early years of the Reagan administration, a civil war raged in Nicaragua, pitting the Communist Sandinista government against Contra rebel groups. After the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) carried out a series of acts of sabotage without Congressional intelligence committees being made aware beforehand, the Boland Amendment was passed by Congress, cutting off appropriated funding for the Contras. Prior to its passage, an earlier amendment proposed by Tom Harkin that would have disallowed all funding for Contra efforts had failed to pass.

The Boland Amendment, proposed by Edward Boland, was a highly limited ambiguous compromise because the Democrats did not have enough votes for a comprehensive ban. The Amendment gained traction due to a widespread opposition among the American public to funding the Contras... It covered only appropriated funds spent by intelligence agencies (such as the CIA). Some of Reagan's national security officials used non-appropriated money spent by the National Security Council (NSC) to circumvent the Amendment. No court ever made a determination whether Boland covered the NSC and, because the law was a prohibition rather than a criminal statute, no one could be indicted for violating it. Opponents alleged that the White House violated the amendment. Congress later resumed aid to the Contras, totaling over $300 million. The Sandinistas were voted out of power in 1990, and voted back in later years."
​

So, the Boland amendment hijacked the funding of the Defense Department to achieve what couldn't be done through due process by a minority of congress. Boland should have done time, not North.

dtuuri

 

[Jaybird180]

I didn't click the link but if you have to ask it probably is.

Very poor logic, Brad.

But if you click the link, you'll see that:

1- it's work safe
2- it's tangentially related to the opening discussion
3- maybe you can read between the lines to draw the connection between the discussion and the movie (which is mentioned in the article).