Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: The OCTOBER SURPRISE -- A Quick Introduction (part 1)
Followup-to: alt.activism,misc.headlines,talk.politics.misc,alt.activism.d


    "President Carter has also stated that his Administration had
    received 'reports since late summer 1980 about Reagan campaign
    officials dealing with Iranians concerning delayed release of the
    American hostages.'"


    "In effect the jury believed Brenneke and said the American
    government officials were lying.  This verdict and its
    implications of treason were virtually ignored in the American
    national press."

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               T H E   O C T O B E R   S U R P R I S E
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               By John Carnduff and Edward C. Corrigan
                        Z magazine, June, 1991
==================================================================
Z is an independent, progressive monthly magazine of critical thinking
on political, cultural, social, and economic life in the United
States.  It sees the racial, sexual, class, and political dimensions
of personal life as fundamental to understanding and improving
contemporary circumstances; and it aims to assist activist efforts to
attain a better future.
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Subscriptions: One Year $25; Two Years $40; Three Years $55
Z Magazine, 150 W Canton St., Boston MA 02118, (617)236-5878
[Each issue of the magazine is about 110 pages -- no advertisements]
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THE FOULEST dirty trick" in American political history, according to
U.S. syndicated columnist Mike Royko, has finally surfaced in the
pages of the North American mainstream press. On April 15, 1991,
former U.S. National Security Council staffer Gary Sick published a
New York Times opinion piece and appeared on network and public TV as
prelude to the release of his new book on the Reagan administration's
re]ations with Iran. The book includes discussion of the "October
Surprise" which threatens to make the Watergate scandal look tame.

October Surprise was the name that the Reagan-Bush campaign gave to
the event they feared most -- an eleventh hour release of the 52 U.S.
hostages held by Khomeini's Iran in the weeks before the November 1980
election.  Freedom for the hostages before the election would create a
wave of euphoria that would propel President Carter into a second term
in the White House.

Led by William Casey, the Republican campaign was anxious to prevent
Carter from capitalizing on the release of the 52 hostages and
established two special teams to contain the threat. William Casey,
chief of American covert operations against Germany during World War
II and later appointed by Reagan as Director of the CIA headed one
team. Richard Allen who served as Richard Nixon's foreign policy
coordinator in the 1968 election and was appointed by Reagan to chair
the National Security Council headed the other special group.

As Barbara Honegger, a worker at the Reagan-Bush national election
headquarters, reported, in the closing weeks of the campaign the
anxiety over the threat of an October Surprise evaporated. Honegger
was told "We don't have to worry about an October Surprise. Dick cut a
deal." Dick was Richard Allen.

The "deal" involved a delayed release of the 52 hostages in return for
arms Iran needed to fight its war with Iraq. October Surprise has been
subject to considerable discussion in the Alternative Press since the
story first broke when Honegger and Jim Naurekas wrote an article for
In These Times in June 1987. Honegger has since written a book
_October Surprise_ that has yet to be reviewed in the North American
mainstream press.

In 1987 the first published reference to the scandal was made by
Mansur Rafizadeh in his book _Witless_ referring to a CIA conspiracy
to delay the release of the 52 American hostages and steal the
election from Carter. Rafizadeh is the former U.S. chief of SAVAK --
the Shah of Iran's secret police.

One-time CIA operative Richard Brenneke has also charged that William
Casey and others from the Reagan-Bush campaign team cut a deal with
the Iranians in October 1980 at a Paris meeting. These claims were
made at a sentencing hearing for Heinriech Rupp who has since said he
was the pilot who flew Casey and other Reagan loyalists to Paris where
the October Surprise deal was finalized. Rupp also places George Bush
at the Paris meeting.

Rupp was charged with bank fraud in a CIA connected collapse of a
Savings and Loan and Brenneke testified on his behalf. Brenneke was
later charged with perjury with respect to his allegations over the
October Surprise deal. Richard Allen and others testified against the
conspiracy theory. May 4 1990 Brenneke was acquitled of the perjury
charges. In effect the jury believed Brenneke and said the American
government officials were lying.  This verdict and its implications of
treason were virtually ignored in the American national press.


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