1 00:00:16,271 --> 00:00:22,791 Speaker 1: Pushkin quick housekeeping notice. Before we get to the episode, 2 00:00:23,151 --> 00:00:24,751 Speaker 1: I want to let you know that you can binge 3 00:00:24,831 --> 00:00:28,751 Speaker 1: the entire season of Fiasco Iran Contra right now ad 4 00:00:28,791 --> 00:00:32,431 Speaker 1: free by becoming a Pushkin Plus subscriber. Sign up for 5 00:00:32,431 --> 00:00:35,911 Speaker 1: Pushkin Plus on the Fiasco Apple podcast show page or 6 00:00:36,071 --> 00:00:40,271 Speaker 1: visit Pushkin dot fm slash Plus Now onto the show. 7 00:00:47,830 --> 00:00:51,551 Speaker 1: On October thirteenth, nineteen eighty three, a Long Island dad 8 00:00:51,631 --> 00:00:55,111 Speaker 1: named Kevin Katke spent his day at work dealing with bullshit. 9 00:00:56,311 --> 00:00:59,351 Speaker 1: Katki was a maintenance engineer at a Macy's department store 10 00:00:59,351 --> 00:01:02,270 Speaker 1: in Bayshore, a down on its luck hamlet, about an 11 00:01:02,271 --> 00:01:05,591 Speaker 1: hour and a half east of New York City. Kaki 12 00:01:05,631 --> 00:01:09,551 Speaker 1: came home exhausted from a series of disasters at the store. First, 13 00:01:09,591 --> 00:01:12,751 Speaker 1: the escal had broken down, Then someone poured a vat 14 00:01:12,791 --> 00:01:15,071 Speaker 1: of grease down a drain, which caused the pipes to 15 00:01:15,111 --> 00:01:18,791 Speaker 1: back up all over the building. Then the elevator stopped working. 16 00:01:19,271 --> 00:01:21,271 Speaker 2: He was really tired, in a terrible mood when he 17 00:01:21,311 --> 00:01:23,311 Speaker 2: got home and his wife was making a racket in 18 00:01:23,311 --> 00:01:23,831 Speaker 2: the kitchen. 19 00:01:24,191 --> 00:01:26,911 Speaker 1: This is Nita Renfrew, a former journalist who got to 20 00:01:26,951 --> 00:01:29,991 Speaker 1: know Kevin Katke while reporting on the Iran Contra scandal. 21 00:01:30,431 --> 00:01:32,231 Speaker 2: He said it was the worst day he'd ever had 22 00:01:32,271 --> 00:01:32,951 Speaker 2: at Macy's. 23 00:01:33,431 --> 00:01:36,231 Speaker 1: As Renfrew later wrote in a story for New York Magazine, 24 00:01:36,791 --> 00:01:38,951 Speaker 1: Kaki walked into his house that night to find his 25 00:01:39,031 --> 00:01:41,311 Speaker 1: wife mad at him for being late for dinner and 26 00:01:41,351 --> 00:01:43,311 Speaker 1: his ten year old daughter doing her homework in front 27 00:01:43,311 --> 00:01:47,071 Speaker 1: of the TV. Then a little after seven point thirty, 28 00:01:47,551 --> 00:01:53,111 Speaker 1: the phone rang. On the line was Katkei's other life. 29 00:01:52,151 --> 00:01:54,071 Speaker 2: And all of a sudden he got this phone call 30 00:01:54,151 --> 00:01:55,591 Speaker 2: from the White House. 31 00:01:56,111 --> 00:01:58,511 Speaker 1: The person calling from the White House was a career 32 00:01:58,671 --> 00:02:01,911 Speaker 1: CIA officer who had recently joined the staff of Ronald 33 00:02:01,951 --> 00:02:03,751 Speaker 1: Reagan's National Security Council. 34 00:02:04,511 --> 00:02:06,591 Speaker 2: And he says to Kevin, I'm turning you over to 35 00:02:06,671 --> 00:02:09,911 Speaker 2: Colonel North, and he gives him North's number, and he 36 00:02:10,071 --> 00:02:12,111 Speaker 2: says call him in the morning. He's waiting to hear 37 00:02:12,111 --> 00:02:12,431 Speaker 2: from you. 38 00:02:15,191 --> 00:02:19,351 Speaker 1: Colonel North was waiting to hear from him. Now, if 39 00:02:19,351 --> 00:02:22,271 Speaker 1: you know anything about Iran Contra, it's probably the name 40 00:02:22,431 --> 00:02:26,111 Speaker 1: Oliver North. But back in October of nineteen eighty three, 41 00:02:26,751 --> 00:02:30,150 Speaker 1: North was not yet the star witness in an international scandal. 42 00:02:30,951 --> 00:02:34,710 Speaker 1: He was not yet a poster child for unencumbered American patriotism. 43 00:02:35,671 --> 00:02:38,550 Speaker 1: He was just an obscure figure in the White House bureaucracy. 44 00:02:39,391 --> 00:02:43,951 Speaker 1: Neither Kevin Katkey nor anyone else had ever heard of him. Still, 45 00:02:44,271 --> 00:02:47,231 Speaker 1: Katkey was excited at the prospect of making himself useful 46 00:02:47,271 --> 00:02:50,511 Speaker 1: to someone so high up in the government. He had 47 00:02:50,551 --> 00:02:53,351 Speaker 1: been trying to make himself useful in this way for years. 48 00:02:54,031 --> 00:02:56,871 Speaker 1: As documented in Nita Renfrew's New York Magazine story, as 49 00:02:56,911 --> 00:03:00,270 Speaker 1: well as pieces in Newsday and Mother Jones, Katkey was 50 00:03:00,311 --> 00:03:03,551 Speaker 1: the leader of a kind of homegrown anti communist club. 51 00:03:04,271 --> 00:03:07,871 Speaker 1: It was him and three friends, a stockbroker, a building inspector, 52 00:03:07,911 --> 00:03:10,311 Speaker 1: and a carpenter, all from the same part art of 53 00:03:10,311 --> 00:03:14,911 Speaker 1: Long Island. They weren't vigilantes exactly, and they weren't quite spies. 54 00:03:15,551 --> 00:03:20,271 Speaker 1: They were more like intelligence gathering volunteers. They traveled abroad, 55 00:03:20,471 --> 00:03:23,231 Speaker 1: they made contacts with people who gave them information about 56 00:03:23,231 --> 00:03:26,391 Speaker 1: foreign governments, and they tried to get important people in 57 00:03:26,511 --> 00:03:28,631 Speaker 1: Washington to listen to their findings. 58 00:03:29,111 --> 00:03:31,871 Speaker 2: They were like a troop of boy scouts, you know, 59 00:03:31,951 --> 00:03:34,591 Speaker 2: they were out there. They wanted to have an adventure 60 00:03:34,751 --> 00:03:37,271 Speaker 2: and do positive things while they were doing it. You know, 61 00:03:37,311 --> 00:03:38,351 Speaker 2: that's what boy scouts do. 62 00:03:38,951 --> 00:03:42,471 Speaker 1: Oliver North would later tell Iran Kantra investigators that Kevin 63 00:03:42,551 --> 00:03:45,551 Speaker 1: Katki was a right wing ideologue and compared him to 64 00:03:45,631 --> 00:03:49,231 Speaker 1: a rogue CIA agent. I doubt Kaki would have taken 65 00:03:49,271 --> 00:03:52,511 Speaker 1: it as an insult. He was a self professed patriot, 66 00:03:52,951 --> 00:03:56,791 Speaker 1: an enthusiastic foot soldier America's Cold War with the Soviet Union. 67 00:03:57,751 --> 00:04:00,751 Speaker 1: When Nita Renfrew interviewed him, Kaki told her that if 68 00:04:00,791 --> 00:04:02,791 Speaker 1: there was ever anything he could do to set the 69 00:04:02,791 --> 00:04:05,831 Speaker 1: Soviets Backupeg, he would do it no matter what. 70 00:04:06,591 --> 00:04:09,591 Speaker 2: He believed that Communism needed to be defeated in the world, 71 00:04:10,351 --> 00:04:13,151 Speaker 2: and that we had pulled out of Vietnam and when 72 00:04:13,151 --> 00:04:15,551 Speaker 2: we should have won the war. He felt that the 73 00:04:15,591 --> 00:04:19,791 Speaker 2: government needed a lot of help, that we as citizens 74 00:04:19,791 --> 00:04:21,751 Speaker 2: of the country needed to help the government. 75 00:04:22,351 --> 00:04:25,351 Speaker 1: Kevin Khaki and Oliver North, his new contact at the 76 00:04:25,431 --> 00:04:28,431 Speaker 1: National Security Council, had a lot of that in common. 77 00:04:29,351 --> 00:04:32,271 Speaker 1: North had been an unwavering believer in the Vietnam War 78 00:04:32,391 --> 00:04:34,671 Speaker 1: since his days at the US Naval Academy in the 79 00:04:34,711 --> 00:04:35,911 Speaker 1: late nineteen sixties. 80 00:04:36,391 --> 00:04:39,671 Speaker 3: Each man who wears the Academy ring embarks upon a splendid, 81 00:04:39,871 --> 00:04:44,630 Speaker 3: worthwhile career in the highest traditions of the United States Navy. 82 00:04:46,551 --> 00:04:49,031 Speaker 1: He had looked forward to deployment, and when he was 83 00:04:49,071 --> 00:04:51,911 Speaker 1: injured in a car accident during his first year, he 84 00:04:52,031 --> 00:04:54,511 Speaker 1: worried that it would delay his graduation and cause him 85 00:04:54,551 --> 00:04:58,751 Speaker 1: to miss the war entirely. During his recovery, North was 86 00:04:58,791 --> 00:05:01,510 Speaker 1: so focused on getting better in time that, according to 87 00:05:01,551 --> 00:05:03,510 Speaker 1: a neighbor, he took to jumping off the roof of 88 00:05:03,511 --> 00:05:06,231 Speaker 1: a garage over and over again in an effort to 89 00:05:06,271 --> 00:05:07,271 Speaker 1: strengthen his legs. 90 00:05:07,631 --> 00:05:10,471 Speaker 4: In the war, today, American B fifty two bombers dropped 91 00:05:10,471 --> 00:05:13,431 Speaker 4: tons of expose he was on dense jungles near at Cambodia. 92 00:05:13,951 --> 00:05:16,311 Speaker 1: North ended up fighting in Vietnam for about a year. 93 00:05:17,311 --> 00:05:20,711 Speaker 1: While overseas, he wrote letters home to his parents expressing 94 00:05:20,711 --> 00:05:23,871 Speaker 1: his frustration with Washington lawmakers who were unwilling to fully 95 00:05:23,951 --> 00:05:27,390 Speaker 1: get behind the war. Most of all, he wrote, I 96 00:05:27,431 --> 00:05:30,471 Speaker 1: wish the politicians would get off their fat, soft posteriors 97 00:05:30,671 --> 00:05:32,591 Speaker 1: and come through with something one way or the other 98 00:05:32,871 --> 00:05:34,071 Speaker 1: to clear this mess up. 99 00:05:34,791 --> 00:05:40,471 Speaker 5: I think that reflects a frustration comment among military guys 100 00:05:40,751 --> 00:05:47,070 Speaker 5: with Congress or the administration for tying their hands in battle. 101 00:05:47,631 --> 00:05:51,271 Speaker 1: That's journalist Ben Bradley Jr. He's the author of Guts 102 00:05:51,351 --> 00:05:54,591 Speaker 1: and Glory, The Rise and Fall of Oliver North, which 103 00:05:54,631 --> 00:05:57,631 Speaker 1: was published in nineteen eighty eight, two years after North 104 00:05:57,671 --> 00:05:59,991 Speaker 1: became a household name as a result of the Iran 105 00:06:00,071 --> 00:06:00,911 Speaker 1: Contra scandal. 106 00:06:01,831 --> 00:06:05,391 Speaker 5: And you know, these guys would typically feel, you know, shit, 107 00:06:05,431 --> 00:06:08,551 Speaker 5: if they could just unleash us, we'd have this thing 108 00:06:08,911 --> 00:06:10,751 Speaker 5: wrapped up sooner rather than later. 109 00:06:11,351 --> 00:06:16,311 Speaker 1: The Vietnam War dragged on for years after North returned home. Finally, 110 00:06:16,551 --> 00:06:20,510 Speaker 1: after losing nearly sixty thousand men, the United States pulled 111 00:06:20,511 --> 00:06:22,591 Speaker 1: out its troops in nineteen seventy three. 112 00:06:22,831 --> 00:06:23,591 Speaker 5: In Saigon. 113 00:06:23,671 --> 00:06:26,591 Speaker 3: Today, the last of the American troops got on airplanes 114 00:06:26,591 --> 00:06:29,831 Speaker 3: and flew out of Vietnam and in the longest military 115 00:06:29,871 --> 00:06:31,471 Speaker 3: involvement in the country's history. 116 00:06:32,231 --> 00:06:35,311 Speaker 1: As far as North was concerned, the politicians who had 117 00:06:35,391 --> 00:06:37,951 Speaker 1: ordered an end to the war had committed a grave sin, 118 00:06:38,951 --> 00:06:41,951 Speaker 1: both against American forces, who had been prevented from fulfilling 119 00:06:41,991 --> 00:06:45,271 Speaker 1: their mission, and against the soldiers in South Vietnam who 120 00:06:45,271 --> 00:06:48,591 Speaker 1: had been counting on the US and their struggle against communism. 121 00:06:48,951 --> 00:06:51,991 Speaker 1: The politicians had caved to pressure from an uninformed public. 122 00:06:55,111 --> 00:06:58,151 Speaker 3: They raised their voices, their placards, and they march against 123 00:06:58,151 --> 00:06:58,711 Speaker 3: the government. 124 00:06:59,471 --> 00:07:03,071 Speaker 1: As North later put it, America lost the war in Washington, 125 00:07:03,351 --> 00:07:09,031 Speaker 1: not in Vietnam. When North went to work for President 126 00:07:09,151 --> 00:07:12,231 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan teen eighty one, he carried with him a 127 00:07:12,231 --> 00:07:15,231 Speaker 1: single minded resolve to never let his country abandon its 128 00:07:15,271 --> 00:07:18,591 Speaker 1: values again. And though he was part of the government now, 129 00:07:19,191 --> 00:07:21,551 Speaker 1: he was not going to be precious about accepting help 130 00:07:21,591 --> 00:07:25,351 Speaker 1: from like minded outsiders. It was that openness to collaboration, 131 00:07:26,071 --> 00:07:30,231 Speaker 1: not just with department store engineers, but with arms dealers, mercenaries, 132 00:07:30,431 --> 00:07:33,871 Speaker 1: and shady international fixers that would later drive North and 133 00:07:33,911 --> 00:07:37,271 Speaker 1: the rest of the Reagan White House headlong into Iran Contra. 134 00:07:38,511 --> 00:07:42,671 Speaker 1: But first North needed to talk to Kevin katke He 135 00:07:42,711 --> 00:07:49,391 Speaker 1: wanted his help overthrowing a communist regime. I'm Leon Nafak 136 00:07:49,871 --> 00:07:55,191 Speaker 1: from prologued Projects and Pushkin Industries. This is fiasco Iran Contra, 137 00:07:56,311 --> 00:07:59,831 Speaker 1: the story of a secret war, a secret deal, and 138 00:07:59,871 --> 00:08:04,431 Speaker 1: a scandal that threatened to destroy Ronald Reagan's presidency until 139 00:08:04,471 --> 00:08:04,911 Speaker 1: it didn't. 140 00:08:06,631 --> 00:08:09,391 Speaker 6: Washington's Still in Shock Bill, the secret diversion of funds 141 00:08:09,431 --> 00:08:10,271 Speaker 6: to the country. 142 00:08:10,151 --> 00:08:12,751 Speaker 4: To shuffer about secret sales of missiles to. 143 00:08:12,751 --> 00:08:15,791 Speaker 2: Iran, questions of illegality and cover up. I do not 144 00:08:15,991 --> 00:08:18,071 Speaker 2: use the word cover up I would use the word protect. 145 00:08:18,151 --> 00:08:20,031 Speaker 2: They were lying to the press, they were lying to 146 00:08:20,111 --> 00:08:23,031 Speaker 2: the public. They lied incessantly to each other. 147 00:08:23,231 --> 00:08:26,631 Speaker 3: They did it out of loyalty and anti communism. 148 00:08:26,831 --> 00:08:28,911 Speaker 4: That's why the government of the United States gave me 149 00:08:28,951 --> 00:08:29,391 Speaker 4: a shredder. 150 00:08:29,511 --> 00:08:31,391 Speaker 7: How could the president have no. 151 00:08:33,951 --> 00:08:34,631 Speaker 1: Episode one? 152 00:08:35,310 --> 00:08:35,590 Speaker 5: Get me? 153 00:08:35,751 --> 00:08:39,831 Speaker 1: Kevin Katki, the first tremor of the Iran contra affair, 154 00:08:40,790 --> 00:08:43,790 Speaker 1: in which Oliver North and a gang of amateur spies 155 00:08:44,070 --> 00:08:50,511 Speaker 1: helped the Reagan administration turn the page on Vietnam. We'll 156 00:08:50,511 --> 00:08:59,271 Speaker 1: be right back. Kevin Katke's wandering path into Oliver North's 157 00:08:59,391 --> 00:09:03,030 Speaker 1: orbit began in the early nineteen seventies when an eccentric 158 00:09:03,070 --> 00:09:06,310 Speaker 1: neighbor clocked him as a fellow anti communist and started 159 00:09:06,310 --> 00:09:09,670 Speaker 1: bending his year about the political situation in Jamaica, which 160 00:09:09,710 --> 00:09:12,310 Speaker 1: at the time was governed by a socialist prime minister. 161 00:09:13,070 --> 00:09:15,991 Speaker 1: Katke's neighbor said he knew some right wing dissidents who 162 00:09:15,991 --> 00:09:19,950 Speaker 1: were trying to overthrow the left wing government. Maybe Katki 163 00:09:20,030 --> 00:09:23,151 Speaker 1: wanted to help. Here again, is Nita Renfrew. 164 00:09:23,830 --> 00:09:27,511 Speaker 2: Kevin was very charismatic, so he could get people to 165 00:09:27,590 --> 00:09:29,830 Speaker 2: do things that nobody else could get them to do. 166 00:09:30,030 --> 00:09:33,231 Speaker 2: You know, It's like he could walk into places and 167 00:09:33,910 --> 00:09:35,751 Speaker 2: you know, it's like he just had an air about 168 00:09:35,830 --> 00:09:37,071 Speaker 2: him that he was in charge. 169 00:09:37,670 --> 00:09:41,631 Speaker 1: Katkei was intrigued by the Jamaica opportunity. He started taking 170 00:09:41,670 --> 00:09:43,831 Speaker 1: time off from work so that he could make regular 171 00:09:43,871 --> 00:09:46,710 Speaker 1: trips to the island with his neighbor. They hung out 172 00:09:46,710 --> 00:09:52,150 Speaker 1: on the beach, developed relationships with dissidents, and gathered intel. Eventually, 173 00:09:52,430 --> 00:09:55,871 Speaker 1: Jamaica elected a right wing prime minister and no longer 174 00:09:55,910 --> 00:09:59,710 Speaker 1: needed Katkei's help, but spending time on the island had 175 00:09:59,751 --> 00:10:03,430 Speaker 1: activated him politically. When Iran was taken over in nineteen 176 00:10:03,471 --> 00:10:06,830 Speaker 1: seventy nine by religious extremists who professed to hate America, 177 00:10:07,471 --> 00:10:09,951 Speaker 1: Katki went to Wall Street and sold t shirts that 178 00:10:10,151 --> 00:10:14,190 Speaker 1: said Iran Sucks. He spent the money organizing an anti 179 00:10:14,231 --> 00:10:18,471 Speaker 1: Iran rally on Long Island. Then, in nineteen eighty one, 180 00:10:19,190 --> 00:10:23,351 Speaker 1: Katki turned his attention to the tiny Caribbean nation of Grenada. 181 00:10:23,871 --> 00:10:28,351 Speaker 8: Grenada, Carriacoup and Patimmartinique make up a small country in 182 00:10:28,391 --> 00:10:29,351 Speaker 8: the Caribbean Sea. 183 00:10:29,910 --> 00:10:32,711 Speaker 1: Grenada had a population of about one hundred thousand people. 184 00:10:33,310 --> 00:10:36,030 Speaker 1: Since nineteen seventy nine, it had been run by a 185 00:10:36,030 --> 00:10:38,790 Speaker 1: political party of young Marxist revolutionaries. 186 00:10:38,991 --> 00:10:42,591 Speaker 8: They took control of their lives and their future through 187 00:10:42,590 --> 00:10:46,350 Speaker 8: a revolution on March thirteenth, nineteen seventy nine, for the 188 00:10:46,471 --> 00:10:49,511 Speaker 8: first revolution in the English speaking Caribbean. 189 00:10:50,391 --> 00:10:53,871 Speaker 1: Despite its small size, Grenada was a top concern for 190 00:10:53,950 --> 00:10:57,511 Speaker 1: the Reagan administration. They were aware that the Marxists who 191 00:10:57,590 --> 00:10:59,991 Speaker 1: ruled the island had sought the help of Fidel Castro, 192 00:11:00,430 --> 00:11:04,231 Speaker 1: the communist leader of Cuba. Together, they were building an 193 00:11:04,271 --> 00:11:08,030 Speaker 1: ambitious new airport in Grenada. The theory in the White 194 00:11:08,070 --> 00:11:10,470 Speaker 1: House was that this airport would be used as base 195 00:11:10,511 --> 00:11:14,991 Speaker 1: for Soviet reconnaissance plans. To Reagan, Grenada was part of 196 00:11:15,030 --> 00:11:18,070 Speaker 1: a Red triangle that included Cuba to the north and 197 00:11:18,151 --> 00:11:21,631 Speaker 1: Nicaragua to the west. In March of nineteen eighty three, 198 00:11:22,310 --> 00:11:25,430 Speaker 1: Reagan gave a televised address from the White House advocating 199 00:11:25,471 --> 00:11:28,670 Speaker 1: for an expansion of the defense budget. In making his case, 200 00:11:29,070 --> 00:11:32,430 Speaker 1: he emphasized the emerging communist threat in the Western Hemisphere. 201 00:11:33,070 --> 00:11:36,511 Speaker 3: On the small island of Grenada, at the southern end 202 00:11:36,550 --> 00:11:40,511 Speaker 3: of the Caribbean Shine, the Cubans, with Soviet financing and backing, 203 00:11:40,871 --> 00:11:43,191 Speaker 3: are in the process of building an airfield with a 204 00:11:43,271 --> 00:11:47,391 Speaker 3: ten thousand foot runway. Grenada doesn't even have an air force. 205 00:11:48,111 --> 00:11:49,391 Speaker 3: Who is it intended for. 206 00:11:50,151 --> 00:11:52,750 Speaker 1: By the time Reagan gave that speech, Kevin Kaki was 207 00:11:52,790 --> 00:11:56,030 Speaker 1: already in contact with several Grenadian dissidents who had emigrated 208 00:11:56,030 --> 00:11:58,831 Speaker 1: to New York. Among them was a lawyer who'd worked 209 00:11:58,830 --> 00:12:01,511 Speaker 1: for the Grenadian government before the revolution in seventy nine. 210 00:12:02,471 --> 00:12:04,430 Speaker 1: The lawyer told Kaki that he wanted to get the 211 00:12:04,471 --> 00:12:08,030 Speaker 1: Marxist and Grenada out of power, and Katki, along with 212 00:12:08,030 --> 00:12:10,951 Speaker 1: his neighbor and two of their friends from town, decided 213 00:12:10,950 --> 00:12:14,071 Speaker 1: to help him in his quest. Together, they created a 214 00:12:14,111 --> 00:12:17,871 Speaker 1: think tank style organization that they christened the Grenadian Movement 215 00:12:17,950 --> 00:12:21,430 Speaker 1: for Freedom and Democracy. Kaki also let the lawyer live 216 00:12:21,430 --> 00:12:23,190 Speaker 1: in a boat docked behind his house. 217 00:12:24,511 --> 00:12:27,471 Speaker 2: And they went and they bought clothes at strift shops 218 00:12:27,471 --> 00:12:30,391 Speaker 2: for him so he'd have some nice suits and ties 219 00:12:30,430 --> 00:12:32,790 Speaker 2: and so on, and then they would drive him and 220 00:12:33,070 --> 00:12:35,631 Speaker 2: other people down to Washington to talk to the Congress 221 00:12:35,670 --> 00:12:36,070 Speaker 2: and so on. 222 00:12:36,550 --> 00:12:38,910 Speaker 1: It was during one of these trips to Washington that 223 00:12:39,070 --> 00:12:41,391 Speaker 1: Kaki met the man who would later call him at 224 00:12:41,391 --> 00:12:44,271 Speaker 1: home at the end it was very bad day at Macy's, 225 00:12:44,430 --> 00:12:47,790 Speaker 1: and put him in touch with Oliver North. His name 226 00:12:47,910 --> 00:12:48,631 Speaker 1: was Constantine. 227 00:12:48,670 --> 00:12:49,151 Speaker 7: Mengus. 228 00:12:49,670 --> 00:12:52,271 Speaker 1: He was an ideal audience for a group of guys 229 00:12:52,430 --> 00:12:55,711 Speaker 1: advocating for the overthrow of the left wing government in Grenada. 230 00:12:56,271 --> 00:12:59,990 Speaker 2: Constantine Mengus was he was an idealist, very much like 231 00:13:00,070 --> 00:13:03,271 Speaker 2: Kevin was, you know, like Kevin. I mean, he believed 232 00:13:03,271 --> 00:13:05,991 Speaker 2: the communism was taking over and that they had to 233 00:13:06,910 --> 00:13:09,391 Speaker 2: combat this for the good of those people. 234 00:13:10,751 --> 00:13:13,310 Speaker 1: The night Mangus called kat Key and connected him with 235 00:13:13,391 --> 00:13:16,991 Speaker 1: Oliver North. The White House was keeping an especially watchful 236 00:13:17,030 --> 00:13:18,151 Speaker 1: eye on Grenada. 237 00:13:18,231 --> 00:13:20,231 Speaker 6: There's a real power struggle going on tonight in the 238 00:13:20,231 --> 00:13:22,790 Speaker 6: tiny island country of Grenada and the Caribbean. 239 00:13:23,111 --> 00:13:25,670 Speaker 1: It appeared that a radical faction of the Grenadian government 240 00:13:25,710 --> 00:13:28,310 Speaker 1: had staged a military coup in the capital city of 241 00:13:28,391 --> 00:13:32,351 Speaker 1: Saint George. These radicals seemed to be closely aligned with 242 00:13:32,391 --> 00:13:35,631 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union, and they had placed Grenada's Prime minister, 243 00:13:35,790 --> 00:13:38,350 Speaker 1: who was comparatively moderate, under house arrest. 244 00:13:38,631 --> 00:13:41,670 Speaker 4: Diplomatic sources warned that the situation in Grenada is still 245 00:13:41,710 --> 00:13:44,950 Speaker 4: confused and uncertain. They say it's still not clear exactly 246 00:13:44,991 --> 00:13:47,790 Speaker 4: who will emerge as the new prime minister of Grenada. 247 00:13:48,190 --> 00:13:50,831 Speaker 1: The coup in Grenada touched off a series of meetings 248 00:13:50,871 --> 00:13:54,151 Speaker 1: within the National Security Council. You've almost certainly heard of 249 00:13:54,231 --> 00:13:56,790 Speaker 1: the NSC, but it's worth stopping to provide a bit 250 00:13:56,830 --> 00:13:59,231 Speaker 1: of background on it because it ended up becoming the 251 00:13:59,271 --> 00:14:03,831 Speaker 1: central staging ground for the Irankantra affair. Basically, the NSC 252 00:14:03,991 --> 00:14:06,511 Speaker 1: was created after World War II as an arm of 253 00:14:06,550 --> 00:14:09,471 Speaker 1: the Executive Branch that advised the president on foreign policy. 254 00:14:10,271 --> 00:14:13,110 Speaker 1: Its members included the head of the CIA, the Secretary 255 00:14:13,111 --> 00:14:16,230 Speaker 1: of State, and the Secretary of Defense. It also included 256 00:14:16,271 --> 00:14:19,751 Speaker 1: the National Security Advisor, who oversaw a staff that worked 257 00:14:19,751 --> 00:14:23,271 Speaker 1: specifically for the National Security Council. For the most fervent 258 00:14:23,311 --> 00:14:26,991 Speaker 1: anti communists on the NSC staff, like Constantine, Mengus and 259 00:14:27,031 --> 00:14:31,590 Speaker 1: Oliver North, the coup and Grenada required immediate attention. If 260 00:14:31,590 --> 00:14:33,911 Speaker 1: the radical leftists who had started the coup were allowed 261 00:14:33,911 --> 00:14:35,991 Speaker 1: to take over, it would only be a matter of 262 00:14:36,031 --> 00:14:38,991 Speaker 1: time before Moscow started using Grenada as a base for 263 00:14:39,031 --> 00:14:43,191 Speaker 1: its planes and nuclear submarines. But first there was a 264 00:14:43,231 --> 00:14:46,911 Speaker 1: more immediate problem to deal with. Grenada was home to 265 00:14:46,951 --> 00:14:50,591 Speaker 1: about a thousand American citizens, the majority of whom were 266 00:14:50,631 --> 00:14:54,351 Speaker 1: students enrolled at the Saint George's University School of Medicine. 267 00:14:54,471 --> 00:14:57,591 Speaker 4: There is concern for some one thousand Americans already there. 268 00:14:57,791 --> 00:15:01,111 Speaker 1: It seemed possible that amid the chaos, the Communists would 269 00:15:01,151 --> 00:15:02,631 Speaker 1: take the medical student's hostage. 270 00:15:02,871 --> 00:15:05,830 Speaker 4: Medical students like Jonathan Beck, whose mother has not been 271 00:15:05,871 --> 00:15:07,870 Speaker 4: able to reach him by telephone, I have. 272 00:15:08,071 --> 00:15:11,311 Speaker 7: Known now as exactly of what it going on, and 273 00:15:11,351 --> 00:15:12,551 Speaker 7: I'm quite apprehensive. 274 00:15:12,830 --> 00:15:15,511 Speaker 1: Jeff Geller, who had enrolled at Saint George's after getting 275 00:15:15,551 --> 00:15:18,711 Speaker 1: waitlisted at med schools in the US, remembers the first 276 00:15:18,710 --> 00:15:21,191 Speaker 1: indication that a military coup was underway. 277 00:15:21,830 --> 00:15:24,711 Speaker 9: One day, we're anatomy class, in fact, we're having an 278 00:15:24,710 --> 00:15:28,071 Speaker 9: anatomy exam, and the exam finishes, and we're all ready 279 00:15:28,071 --> 00:15:30,111 Speaker 9: to go back to the dorms and the bus doesn't come. 280 00:15:31,151 --> 00:15:33,071 Speaker 9: To wait a while, and they announced it's going to 281 00:15:33,071 --> 00:15:35,071 Speaker 9: be a little late. They don't tell us what's going on. 282 00:15:35,830 --> 00:15:38,351 Speaker 9: Finally the bus does come and we're head back to the 283 00:15:38,391 --> 00:15:42,511 Speaker 9: dorms and the tank comes by us, and another tank 284 00:15:42,551 --> 00:15:45,031 Speaker 9: and another tank and another tank, and we're all going 285 00:15:45,071 --> 00:15:46,471 Speaker 9: towards Saint George's, the capital. 286 00:15:48,631 --> 00:15:51,710 Speaker 1: The tanks cut through the lush tropical paradise where Geller 287 00:15:51,791 --> 00:15:53,990 Speaker 1: had just started school a few weeks earlier. 288 00:15:54,311 --> 00:15:57,951 Speaker 9: We were ordinary college students and so you know, seeing 289 00:15:57,951 --> 00:16:01,711 Speaker 9: a tank up close, you know, not in the parade 290 00:16:01,751 --> 00:16:04,511 Speaker 9: and not you know, as a museum exhibit was very 291 00:16:04,511 --> 00:16:07,311 Speaker 9: different for us. You know, we could barely fit the 292 00:16:07,351 --> 00:16:09,271 Speaker 9: bus and the tank on the road. These are very 293 00:16:09,511 --> 00:16:12,231 Speaker 9: small country roads there, just earthed. 294 00:16:14,751 --> 00:16:17,391 Speaker 1: It was against this backdrop that Kevin Katke got the 295 00:16:17,431 --> 00:16:21,710 Speaker 1: phone call from NSC staffer Constantine Mengus. Mengus had been 296 00:16:21,710 --> 00:16:24,351 Speaker 1: working with Oliver North on a plan to intervene in 297 00:16:24,391 --> 00:16:27,591 Speaker 1: Grenada ever since the Prime Minister's ouster a few days earlier. 298 00:16:28,431 --> 00:16:31,991 Speaker 1: Mengus and North had two goals. One get the medical 299 00:16:31,991 --> 00:16:36,151 Speaker 1: students home, and two turned the crisis into an opportunity 300 00:16:36,311 --> 00:16:40,710 Speaker 1: by restoring democracy in Grenada. Mengus thought Katke and his 301 00:16:40,791 --> 00:16:43,911 Speaker 1: contacts within the Grenadian exile community could be of some use, 302 00:16:44,511 --> 00:16:47,071 Speaker 1: and he wanted Katke to call North the following morning 303 00:16:47,311 --> 00:16:51,191 Speaker 1: in order to receive his marching orders. Nita Renfrew describes 304 00:16:51,231 --> 00:16:53,191 Speaker 1: this as the moment Katki had been waiting for. 305 00:16:54,151 --> 00:16:56,951 Speaker 2: Well. He was elated that he was being taken seriously, 306 00:16:57,710 --> 00:17:01,311 Speaker 2: that he could really help the government now because he 307 00:17:01,351 --> 00:17:03,991 Speaker 2: had all the Grenadian contacts, the White House didn't have them. 308 00:17:04,511 --> 00:17:06,951 Speaker 2: He felt, you know that what he had been doing, 309 00:17:07,071 --> 00:17:11,951 Speaker 2: was was bearing fruit. You know that somebody had listened 310 00:17:11,991 --> 00:17:15,551 Speaker 2: to him, you know, after they'd been working so hard. 311 00:17:16,711 --> 00:17:19,910 Speaker 1: After the conversation with Mengus, Katki called his friends and 312 00:17:19,951 --> 00:17:22,711 Speaker 1: told him to come over the following morning. He wanted 313 00:17:22,751 --> 00:17:24,311 Speaker 1: them to be there when he spoke to North so 314 00:17:24,311 --> 00:17:26,230 Speaker 1: they wouldn't think he'd gone crazy when he told him 315 00:17:26,271 --> 00:17:29,710 Speaker 1: the White House wanted their help. I get why he 316 00:17:29,791 --> 00:17:33,071 Speaker 1: was concerned. When I first read Nita Renfrew's story about 317 00:17:33,110 --> 00:17:36,471 Speaker 1: Katki in New York Magazine, my first question was, why 318 00:17:36,511 --> 00:17:38,511 Speaker 1: on earth did anyone in the government give this random 319 00:17:38,551 --> 00:17:41,551 Speaker 1: guy the time of day. It was something Katki himself 320 00:17:41,551 --> 00:17:44,471 Speaker 1: wondered about in one of his interviews with Renfrew. He said, 321 00:17:45,110 --> 00:17:47,110 Speaker 1: you know, there's something wrong if the government has to 322 00:17:47,231 --> 00:17:52,150 Speaker 1: use us. Even so, Kaki seemed to make a consistently 323 00:17:52,191 --> 00:17:54,791 Speaker 1: good impression on the government officials he came into contact with. 324 00:17:55,630 --> 00:17:58,271 Speaker 1: In an article published in Newsday after the Iran Kantra 325 00:17:58,311 --> 00:18:02,430 Speaker 1: affair became public, an unnamed intelligence staffer described Kaki as 326 00:18:02,471 --> 00:18:06,350 Speaker 1: an idiot savant on foreign affairs. The staffer said that 327 00:18:06,431 --> 00:18:10,390 Speaker 1: even though Katki had no background and no training, distantly 328 00:18:10,390 --> 00:18:12,791 Speaker 1: stumbled onto interesting things. 329 00:18:13,350 --> 00:18:17,071 Speaker 7: Unlike lots of other people who drifted across the stage 330 00:18:17,150 --> 00:18:22,150 Speaker 7: in these investigations, everything Kevin said more or less checked out. 331 00:18:22,630 --> 00:18:25,350 Speaker 1: This is Jack Blum, a lawyer who worked for the 332 00:18:25,431 --> 00:18:28,470 Speaker 1: Senate Foreign Relations Committee before getting hired by then Senator 333 00:18:28,551 --> 00:18:32,751 Speaker 1: John Kerry to investigate Iran contra. Blum got to know 334 00:18:32,911 --> 00:18:35,991 Speaker 1: Kaki in the course of that investigation and came to 335 00:18:36,071 --> 00:18:37,231 Speaker 1: rather like him. 336 00:18:37,511 --> 00:18:40,110 Speaker 7: There are people who get involved in things like this 337 00:18:40,271 --> 00:18:44,110 Speaker 7: who are evil. There are people who get involved in 338 00:18:44,191 --> 00:18:46,311 Speaker 7: things like this where you have a sense that the 339 00:18:46,350 --> 00:18:52,710 Speaker 7: motivation is ugly. None of that applies to Kevin. What 340 00:18:52,870 --> 00:18:56,311 Speaker 7: you get is what you see, and that's that. 341 00:18:57,511 --> 00:18:59,991 Speaker 1: Blum told me, I shouldn't be so surprised that Kaki 342 00:19:00,031 --> 00:19:02,150 Speaker 1: could be useful to someone in Washington on the subject 343 00:19:02,231 --> 00:19:05,071 Speaker 1: of Grenada. If you were looking for intelligence in the 344 00:19:05,071 --> 00:19:07,670 Speaker 1: Caribbean in nineteen eighty three, he said, you could do 345 00:19:07,711 --> 00:19:09,511 Speaker 1: a lot worse than spending time in New York. 346 00:19:10,191 --> 00:19:14,830 Speaker 7: Brooklyn has any number of these expat communities from places 347 00:19:14,911 --> 00:19:18,110 Speaker 7: all over the world, and frequently, if you want to 348 00:19:18,150 --> 00:19:21,191 Speaker 7: know what's going on in one of these places, the 349 00:19:21,231 --> 00:19:25,791 Speaker 7: best place to go is a saloon in Brooklyn where 350 00:19:26,071 --> 00:19:29,590 Speaker 7: there are expats who are talking to the family back home, 351 00:19:29,751 --> 00:19:33,071 Speaker 7: or we're communicating and who know, you know, this is 352 00:19:33,150 --> 00:19:33,911 Speaker 7: what's happening. 353 00:19:34,390 --> 00:19:37,471 Speaker 1: Blum said there was another even more important reason why 354 00:19:37,511 --> 00:19:40,551 Speaker 1: foreign policy officials in the Reagan administration might have found 355 00:19:40,630 --> 00:19:44,991 Speaker 1: Katki to be an appealing collaborator. His very anonymity and 356 00:19:45,071 --> 00:19:47,830 Speaker 1: the fast distance separating him from the corridors of power 357 00:19:48,311 --> 00:19:50,191 Speaker 1: were exactly what made him valuable. 358 00:19:50,671 --> 00:19:54,071 Speaker 7: So when you have people like Katki in company, they're 359 00:19:54,150 --> 00:19:57,390 Speaker 7: kind of perfect people to put to work on the 360 00:19:57,471 --> 00:20:02,471 Speaker 7: project because they're motivated, they go in, they think they're 361 00:20:02,471 --> 00:20:06,991 Speaker 7: doing the right thing. Yet they're not government employees, you know, 362 00:20:07,031 --> 00:20:10,671 Speaker 7: they're strictly volunteers, and that makes it that was perfect 363 00:20:11,390 --> 00:20:17,751 Speaker 7: because there's no attribution, no fingerprints left on whatever they do. 364 00:20:20,150 --> 00:20:23,311 Speaker 1: Later, when Khaki's adventures in foreign affairs came to light 365 00:20:23,350 --> 00:20:26,671 Speaker 1: amid the Iran Contra scandal, they were written about both 366 00:20:26,671 --> 00:20:29,311 Speaker 1: as a comic diversion and as a tragic sign of 367 00:20:29,311 --> 00:20:32,870 Speaker 1: the times. On one hand, Kaki and his crew were 368 00:20:32,951 --> 00:20:37,031 Speaker 1: quote oddball operatives and a bunch of nutcases. On the 369 00:20:37,071 --> 00:20:40,071 Speaker 1: other hand, they were a symptom of the Reagan administration's 370 00:20:40,150 --> 00:20:47,751 Speaker 1: privatization of foreign policy. On the morning of Friday, October fourteenth, 371 00:20:47,951 --> 00:20:50,630 Speaker 1: Khaki and his friends crowded around a phone and listened 372 00:20:50,630 --> 00:20:52,991 Speaker 1: as Oliver North told them what he wanted them to do. 373 00:20:54,110 --> 00:20:57,031 Speaker 1: It turned out the Medical School in Grenada was headquartered 374 00:20:57,071 --> 00:21:00,830 Speaker 1: on Long Island. In fact, its offices were in Bayshore, 375 00:21:01,271 --> 00:21:05,031 Speaker 1: the same town as the Macy's whe Kaki worked. North 376 00:21:05,110 --> 00:21:07,630 Speaker 1: wanted Kaki to go over to the medical school office 377 00:21:07,711 --> 00:21:11,031 Speaker 1: and ask the administrators to formally call back their students 378 00:21:11,031 --> 00:21:14,110 Speaker 1: from Grenada, essentially to put it on the record that 379 00:21:14,191 --> 00:21:18,791 Speaker 1: an evacuation was needed. Kaki wasted no time before showing 380 00:21:18,830 --> 00:21:20,671 Speaker 1: up with one of his friends at the Saint George's 381 00:21:20,671 --> 00:21:24,511 Speaker 1: office and requesting a meeting with the school's chancellor, Charles Modica. 382 00:21:25,150 --> 00:21:26,590 Speaker 1: Here is how Modica remembers it. 383 00:21:27,311 --> 00:21:32,110 Speaker 10: Two visitors came into the US headquarters of the school 384 00:21:32,830 --> 00:21:36,910 Speaker 10: and ended up speaking with our attorney and professed to 385 00:21:36,991 --> 00:21:41,631 Speaker 10: be involved with the United States government. But it never 386 00:21:41,671 --> 00:21:43,671 Speaker 10: got to the level where I even wanted to meet them. 387 00:21:43,711 --> 00:21:47,231 Speaker 10: We thought there was something fishy about the whole thing, frankly. 388 00:21:47,150 --> 00:21:50,311 Speaker 1: And so Kaki and his friend were turned away. They 389 00:21:50,311 --> 00:21:53,031 Speaker 1: had failed to complete their first mission for Oliver North, 390 00:21:54,150 --> 00:21:56,670 Speaker 1: but that did not stop North from coming back to 391 00:21:56,711 --> 00:21:59,471 Speaker 1: them with another task. When the situation in Grenada took 392 00:21:59,471 --> 00:22:00,390 Speaker 1: a turn for the worse. 393 00:22:01,911 --> 00:22:04,911 Speaker 8: This is NBC Mikey News, reported by Tom. 394 00:22:04,711 --> 00:22:09,551 Speaker 6: Brokaw Good Evening. There's been a brutal and body coup 395 00:22:09,590 --> 00:22:11,711 Speaker 6: on the time any Caribbean island of Grenada. 396 00:22:11,830 --> 00:22:15,311 Speaker 1: On October nineteenth, six days after the Grenadian Prime minister 397 00:22:15,431 --> 00:22:18,150 Speaker 1: was put under house arrest, he was executed by a 398 00:22:18,150 --> 00:22:22,150 Speaker 1: firing squad along with several members of his cabinet. Then 399 00:22:22,390 --> 00:22:25,311 Speaker 1: the leader of the coup announced the twenty four hour curfew, 400 00:22:25,830 --> 00:22:28,430 Speaker 1: warning that anyone who was caught violating it would be 401 00:22:28,471 --> 00:22:29,390 Speaker 1: shot on site. 402 00:22:29,471 --> 00:22:31,991 Speaker 11: Grenada has shut down its airport to all visitors. 403 00:22:32,031 --> 00:22:34,991 Speaker 6: Military troops are patrolling the streets with orders to shoot 404 00:22:34,991 --> 00:22:35,390 Speaker 6: to kill. 405 00:22:42,431 --> 00:22:45,311 Speaker 1: The violence was a turning point in the crisis. It 406 00:22:45,431 --> 00:22:48,470 Speaker 1: convinced Reagan administration officials once and for all that the 407 00:22:48,511 --> 00:22:51,990 Speaker 1: American medical students had to be evacuated or else they 408 00:22:51,991 --> 00:22:55,271 Speaker 1: really might be taken hostage by the communists. And while 409 00:22:55,311 --> 00:22:57,711 Speaker 1: it's hard to assess how much danger the students were 410 00:22:57,751 --> 00:23:01,710 Speaker 1: actually in, they could hear gunshots outside their windows, and 411 00:23:01,751 --> 00:23:04,071 Speaker 1: the feeling inside the compound where they were staying was 412 00:23:04,110 --> 00:23:07,670 Speaker 1: tense and fearful. Here again is Jeff Geller. 413 00:23:08,390 --> 00:23:11,470 Speaker 9: You know, as a progression, First you like, what's going on? 414 00:23:11,551 --> 00:23:13,911 Speaker 9: Everyone's worried. You know, you're again, you're in a foreign country. 415 00:23:13,911 --> 00:23:16,111 Speaker 9: I have no idea. You can't call up Joe down 416 00:23:16,110 --> 00:23:18,350 Speaker 9: the road and say, hey, what's happening. You know, there's 417 00:23:18,390 --> 00:23:20,950 Speaker 9: not twenty apps on your phone telling us in news 418 00:23:21,031 --> 00:23:23,911 Speaker 9: every five seconds like we have now. And you get 419 00:23:23,911 --> 00:23:26,431 Speaker 9: progressively worried. First you hear the shots, and then you're 420 00:23:26,511 --> 00:23:29,710 Speaker 9: quarantined in your area, and initially you can speak on 421 00:23:29,751 --> 00:23:31,711 Speaker 9: the phone. Then all of a sudden you can't speak 422 00:23:31,711 --> 00:23:34,470 Speaker 9: on the phone, so you completely isolated. And then you 423 00:23:34,511 --> 00:23:37,751 Speaker 9: hear gunshots in the distance, and then you hear that, 424 00:23:38,031 --> 00:23:39,710 Speaker 9: you know, people that you knew were being wished at 425 00:23:39,751 --> 00:23:41,511 Speaker 9: the house. I not heard from that. The government was 426 00:23:41,551 --> 00:23:44,071 Speaker 9: completely toppled, and we didn't feel protected at all. 427 00:23:44,711 --> 00:23:48,910 Speaker 1: The day after Grenada's prime minister was killed, Constantine Mengus, 428 00:23:48,951 --> 00:23:51,631 Speaker 1: all over North and other members of the NSC staff 429 00:23:51,711 --> 00:23:55,071 Speaker 1: met to discuss their options. Mengus made the case for 430 00:23:55,150 --> 00:23:58,791 Speaker 1: invading the island, getting the students to safety, and permanently 431 00:23:58,830 --> 00:24:03,150 Speaker 1: removing Grenada's communist government. After the meeting, Mengus went to 432 00:24:03,191 --> 00:24:07,791 Speaker 1: North's office. There they worked with North Secretary Vaughn Hall 433 00:24:08,150 --> 00:24:11,551 Speaker 1: on a proposal to Vice President George HW. Bush, as 434 00:24:11,551 --> 00:24:13,751 Speaker 1: well as the Secretary of Defense and the head of 435 00:24:13,751 --> 00:24:18,430 Speaker 1: the CIA. According to Mengus's memoir, North was relieved that 436 00:24:18,431 --> 00:24:22,390 Speaker 1: the invasion seemed to becoming to fruition. Mengus quotes him saying, 437 00:24:22,830 --> 00:24:24,951 Speaker 1: when you showed me the plan last week, I never 438 00:24:24,991 --> 00:24:27,630 Speaker 1: thought it would get this far. Maybe we'll really do 439 00:24:27,711 --> 00:24:31,751 Speaker 1: something for a change. The invasion of Grenada would be 440 00:24:31,791 --> 00:24:35,870 Speaker 1: the first major US military operation since the Vietnam War, 441 00:24:36,511 --> 00:24:38,950 Speaker 1: and if it was successful, it would be the first 442 00:24:38,991 --> 00:24:43,311 Speaker 1: instance of the US actually ousting a communist regime. As 443 00:24:43,390 --> 00:24:46,671 Speaker 1: Mengus and North envisioned it, the mission would set an 444 00:24:46,671 --> 00:24:50,670 Speaker 1: inspiring example for other anti communist freedom fighters throughout the 445 00:24:50,671 --> 00:24:54,751 Speaker 1: Caribbean and Latin America. At least that was the plan. 446 00:24:56,511 --> 00:25:07,350 Speaker 1: We'll be right back. On Saturday, October twenty second, two 447 00:25:07,431 --> 00:25:11,271 Speaker 1: days after the NSC meeting about Grenada, North once again 448 00:25:11,471 --> 00:25:15,791 Speaker 1: enlisted Kevin Katke in a covert operation. This time, he 449 00:25:15,870 --> 00:25:18,951 Speaker 1: asked Katke to do something more substantial than just meet 450 00:25:18,951 --> 00:25:22,311 Speaker 1: with the administrator of a medical school here again is 451 00:25:22,350 --> 00:25:23,430 Speaker 1: Ben Bradley Jr. 452 00:25:24,231 --> 00:25:29,830 Speaker 5: Another assignment that North gave Katkey was to see if 453 00:25:29,830 --> 00:25:35,630 Speaker 5: he could organize a government in exile among the Grenadians 454 00:25:36,071 --> 00:25:40,711 Speaker 5: living in New York, so that if and when the 455 00:25:40,751 --> 00:25:48,031 Speaker 5: invasion proceeded and obviously anticipated success, a government would then 456 00:25:48,110 --> 00:25:49,231 Speaker 5: be ready to step in. 457 00:25:50,231 --> 00:25:53,871 Speaker 1: The idea was that Katke could call up his Grenadian associates, 458 00:25:54,071 --> 00:25:56,350 Speaker 1: including the lawyer living on the boat behind his house, 459 00:25:56,911 --> 00:25:59,631 Speaker 1: and have them form a political body that could swoop 460 00:25:59,630 --> 00:26:02,950 Speaker 1: in once the radical leftists and Grenada were removed from power. 461 00:26:03,471 --> 00:26:06,190 Speaker 2: When the US government was to get rid of a 462 00:26:06,231 --> 00:26:09,671 Speaker 2: government overseas because we don't like it, you know, we 463 00:26:10,150 --> 00:26:13,231 Speaker 2: get a group of exiles to declare themselves a government, 464 00:26:13,751 --> 00:26:16,031 Speaker 2: you know, to sort of agree with themselves. Okay, So 465 00:26:16,071 --> 00:26:17,711 Speaker 2: and so he's going to be the president or the 466 00:26:17,751 --> 00:26:20,711 Speaker 2: prime minister or something, and these other three people are 467 00:26:20,711 --> 00:26:23,671 Speaker 2: going to be whatever, you know, and then you fly 468 00:26:23,791 --> 00:26:25,951 Speaker 2: them into the country and make a coup. 469 00:26:27,071 --> 00:26:30,631 Speaker 1: Kaki gainly said he would do it, and according to Renfrew, 470 00:26:30,630 --> 00:26:33,110 Speaker 1: he succeeded at gathering a group of Grenadian exiles in 471 00:26:33,150 --> 00:26:37,231 Speaker 1: Brooklyn the next day, but in the end Katki once 472 00:26:37,271 --> 00:26:40,911 Speaker 1: again couldn't deliver in part because he couldn't take time 473 00:26:40,951 --> 00:26:43,311 Speaker 1: off from his job at Macy's. 474 00:26:43,630 --> 00:26:45,271 Speaker 2: Kevin had to be at work that day, so he 475 00:26:45,311 --> 00:26:49,510 Speaker 2: couldn't be there, so they couldn't agree on anything, so 476 00:26:49,830 --> 00:26:52,350 Speaker 2: they didn't form the government in exile, and Kevin felt 477 00:26:52,350 --> 00:26:54,671 Speaker 2: really badly because he knew that if he'd been there, 478 00:26:55,511 --> 00:26:56,870 Speaker 2: he would have told him how to do it, and 479 00:26:56,870 --> 00:26:57,711 Speaker 2: they would have done it. 480 00:26:58,231 --> 00:27:01,071 Speaker 1: When Katki called to inform North of his latest failure, 481 00:27:01,711 --> 00:27:04,991 Speaker 1: North sounded frustrated, but by this point he hit other 482 00:27:05,031 --> 00:27:08,351 Speaker 1: things on his mind. Reagan had signed off on the invasion, 483 00:27:09,150 --> 00:27:12,071 Speaker 1: and a fleet of ships, including an aircraft carrier, was 484 00:27:12,110 --> 00:27:15,391 Speaker 1: streaming toward Grenada carrying nearly two thousand soldiers. 485 00:27:16,110 --> 00:27:18,791 Speaker 3: Ten American warships are sailing toward Grenada. 486 00:27:18,870 --> 00:27:21,631 Speaker 1: On board are two thousand combat marine. 487 00:27:21,350 --> 00:27:24,231 Speaker 4: Ships and marines left their East coast ports earlier this week, 488 00:27:24,271 --> 00:27:26,951 Speaker 4: bound for Lebanon, but were given a change of orders 489 00:27:26,991 --> 00:27:29,191 Speaker 4: out of concern for the safety of the eleven hundred 490 00:27:29,231 --> 00:27:30,990 Speaker 4: Americans on the island of Grenada. 491 00:27:31,110 --> 00:27:34,711 Speaker 1: Operation Urgent Fury had been set in motion in total secrecy. 492 00:27:35,671 --> 00:27:38,350 Speaker 1: In fact, when reporters who were hearing rumors about the 493 00:27:38,350 --> 00:27:41,311 Speaker 1: invasion asked the White House spokesman about it. He passed 494 00:27:41,311 --> 00:27:44,511 Speaker 1: on a comment from Deputy National Security Advisor John Poindexter, 495 00:27:44,911 --> 00:27:48,751 Speaker 1: who called the idea preposterous. The ships that have been 496 00:27:48,791 --> 00:27:51,710 Speaker 1: sent toward Grenada, the White House said, had no intentions 497 00:27:51,711 --> 00:27:55,031 Speaker 1: to land. They were quote just swinging by in case 498 00:27:55,031 --> 00:27:57,311 Speaker 1: a rescue operation to save the Americans on the island 499 00:27:57,350 --> 00:28:01,311 Speaker 1: became necessary. This misdirection was paired with the total media 500 00:28:01,350 --> 00:28:05,110 Speaker 1: blackout of the invasion itself, which one critic later called 501 00:28:05,511 --> 00:28:11,390 Speaker 1: unprecedented in modern American history. That weekend, Oliver North once 502 00:28:11,431 --> 00:28:15,071 Speaker 1: again spoke to Kevin Katke by phone. He asked his 503 00:28:15,071 --> 00:28:17,751 Speaker 1: fellow anti communists to take on his most high stakes 504 00:28:17,791 --> 00:28:22,711 Speaker 1: mission yet. With the American landing imminent, North wanted Katke's 505 00:28:22,751 --> 00:28:26,311 Speaker 1: contact in Grenada to distract local authorities by lighting a 506 00:28:26,350 --> 00:28:30,231 Speaker 1: bunch of fires. North referred to it as sky red. 507 00:28:31,311 --> 00:28:36,751 Speaker 5: Sky read was a North's term for a diversion that 508 00:28:36,830 --> 00:28:41,991 Speaker 5: he wanted Katki to help create. North had this idea 509 00:28:42,231 --> 00:28:48,431 Speaker 5: to have operatives on the island who were secretly supporting 510 00:28:48,471 --> 00:28:52,311 Speaker 5: the United States to set a series of fires in 511 00:28:52,431 --> 00:28:56,951 Speaker 5: order to create chaos throughout the island, which would divert 512 00:28:57,791 --> 00:29:03,231 Speaker 5: the official attention away from the beaches, where the Marines 513 00:29:03,271 --> 00:29:05,591 Speaker 5: and other US soldiers started to land. 514 00:29:06,471 --> 00:29:09,551 Speaker 1: The invasion was scheduled for the early morning hours of Tuesday, 515 00:29:09,591 --> 00:29:13,831 Speaker 1: October twenty fifth. Constantine Mengus worked late the night before. 516 00:29:14,991 --> 00:29:16,951 Speaker 1: On his way out, he stopped by room two oh 517 00:29:16,951 --> 00:29:19,671 Speaker 1: eight of the old Executive Office building, where he and 518 00:29:19,751 --> 00:29:22,911 Speaker 1: North had spent a very long week planning for the invasion. 519 00:29:23,911 --> 00:29:27,351 Speaker 1: According to his memoir, Mengus found North asleep on the couch, 520 00:29:27,871 --> 00:29:33,831 Speaker 1: and before heading home, he covered him with an overcoat. Meanwhile, 521 00:29:34,111 --> 00:29:36,911 Speaker 1: Kaki got in touch with a Grenadian autoworker in Brooklyn 522 00:29:37,111 --> 00:29:40,111 Speaker 1: who had a lot of contacts on the island. Kaki 523 00:29:40,231 --> 00:29:43,391 Speaker 1: told him about North's idea for sky red, and the 524 00:29:43,431 --> 00:29:45,831 Speaker 1: guy seemed confident that he could make it happen. But 525 00:29:46,191 --> 00:29:50,071 Speaker 1: the next morning, as helicopters carrying American troops flew over Grenada, 526 00:29:50,671 --> 00:29:54,111 Speaker 1: the sky was not red. No one had set any fires. 527 00:29:54,631 --> 00:29:56,791 Speaker 11: The invasion started before dawn this morning. 528 00:29:56,871 --> 00:30:00,191 Speaker 4: About one thousand, nine hundred US Army rangers and Marines 529 00:30:00,471 --> 00:30:03,671 Speaker 4: this morning assaulted the small island. Our paratroopers have fanned 530 00:30:03,671 --> 00:30:05,751 Speaker 4: out and are now in Saint George's, the capitol, and 531 00:30:05,791 --> 00:30:09,391 Speaker 4: other commune views around Saint George's and the Port Selinas airport. 532 00:30:09,471 --> 00:30:13,071 Speaker 1: How the invade of Grenada went depends on what you emphasize. 533 00:30:13,151 --> 00:30:15,751 Speaker 1: On the one hand, the Americans made relatively quick work 534 00:30:15,791 --> 00:30:18,711 Speaker 1: of the communist resistance, setting the stage for elections to 535 00:30:18,751 --> 00:30:22,231 Speaker 1: be held about a year later. On the other hand, 536 00:30:22,631 --> 00:30:26,271 Speaker 1: the operation was marred by abysmal intelligence. According to a 537 00:30:26,311 --> 00:30:28,591 Speaker 1: Miami Herald reporter who was able to make it onto 538 00:30:28,591 --> 00:30:32,231 Speaker 1: the island despite the media blackout, a Marine platoon leader 539 00:30:32,271 --> 00:30:34,871 Speaker 1: asked him during the first hours of the invasion whose 540 00:30:34,911 --> 00:30:38,911 Speaker 1: side the Grenadian army was on. Later, there were reports 541 00:30:38,911 --> 00:30:41,351 Speaker 1: that the mapping agency the Department of Defense, had not 542 00:30:41,471 --> 00:30:43,710 Speaker 1: been asked to provide maps of the island until the 543 00:30:43,751 --> 00:30:47,311 Speaker 1: absolute last minute, which meant that some troopers arrived carrying 544 00:30:47,311 --> 00:30:51,671 Speaker 1: photocopies of maps intended for tourists. In the end, the 545 00:30:51,671 --> 00:30:56,151 Speaker 1: invasion cost nineteen American soldiers their lives. It also resulted 546 00:30:56,151 --> 00:30:59,111 Speaker 1: in the accidental bombing of a Grenadian mental hospital that 547 00:30:59,191 --> 00:31:00,711 Speaker 1: left eighteen civilians dead. 548 00:31:02,031 --> 00:31:02,431 Speaker 4: The U. S. 549 00:31:02,551 --> 00:31:05,231 Speaker 1: Army did succeed in getting the American medical students off 550 00:31:05,271 --> 00:31:07,511 Speaker 1: the island. Here's Jeff Geller again. 551 00:31:07,991 --> 00:31:10,311 Speaker 9: You know, you get a bang on the door, opened 552 00:31:10,351 --> 00:31:13,271 Speaker 9: up the US rangers. You know, We're like, what, we 553 00:31:13,311 --> 00:31:16,551 Speaker 9: couldn't believe it, you know, And they basically got us 554 00:31:16,591 --> 00:31:18,511 Speaker 9: back into the election halls and got us all together 555 00:31:18,511 --> 00:31:21,470 Speaker 9: and woke everyone up. They were treating the wounded in 556 00:31:21,511 --> 00:31:24,591 Speaker 9: our library, you know, So they converted the library into 557 00:31:25,351 --> 00:31:28,071 Speaker 9: a little medic area, you know, and they took over 558 00:31:28,111 --> 00:31:31,591 Speaker 9: the place basically, And we're very, very very happy by that. 559 00:31:32,191 --> 00:31:34,751 Speaker 11: Thirty five minutes from now, by our clock, the first 560 00:31:34,751 --> 00:31:37,671 Speaker 11: planeloads of Americans who have chosen to leave Grenada are 561 00:31:37,751 --> 00:31:40,671 Speaker 11: expected to arrive in Charleston, South Carolina. 562 00:31:40,911 --> 00:31:43,951 Speaker 1: When Geller's plane landed on the tarmac, he and several 563 00:31:43,991 --> 00:31:46,631 Speaker 1: other students got on their knees and kissed the ground 564 00:31:46,631 --> 00:31:48,831 Speaker 1: in an apparent show of gratitude for being back on 565 00:31:48,911 --> 00:31:49,711 Speaker 1: American soil. 566 00:31:50,151 --> 00:31:53,031 Speaker 11: There's somebody kneeling down and kissing the ground. A number 567 00:31:53,071 --> 00:31:55,551 Speaker 11: have done that as they begin to get on buses 568 00:31:55,551 --> 00:31:57,631 Speaker 11: to go and be debriefed, in part by the State 569 00:31:57,631 --> 00:31:59,791 Speaker 11: Department before they make their way to their homes. 570 00:32:00,191 --> 00:32:03,190 Speaker 1: Later, Oliver North regaled the group of Reagan aids with 571 00:32:03,231 --> 00:32:06,950 Speaker 1: the dramatic story of the students rescue, specifically about how 572 00:32:06,951 --> 00:32:08,911 Speaker 1: he had been nervous the students would get off the 573 00:32:08,951 --> 00:32:11,631 Speaker 1: plane and say something damaging to the press about how 574 00:32:11,631 --> 00:32:15,391 Speaker 1: the invasion had been unnecessary. But North said when he 575 00:32:15,471 --> 00:32:17,551 Speaker 1: dropped by the White House living quarters to bring his 576 00:32:17,591 --> 00:32:20,431 Speaker 1: concerns to Reagan, the President wasn't worried. 577 00:32:21,231 --> 00:32:25,471 Speaker 5: Reagan flipped on the television and there was live coverage 578 00:32:25,511 --> 00:32:29,391 Speaker 5: of the students landing, and the first kid got off 579 00:32:29,471 --> 00:32:33,311 Speaker 5: the plane and kissed the ground. Reagan looked at that 580 00:32:33,471 --> 00:32:35,751 Speaker 5: and said, see all, he was nothing to worry about. 581 00:32:36,191 --> 00:32:38,471 Speaker 5: You have to trust the Americans. 582 00:32:39,111 --> 00:32:43,111 Speaker 1: As Bradley discovered, there was just one problem with this story. 583 00:32:43,431 --> 00:32:48,551 Speaker 5: President Reagan's press secretary told me that North never set foot, 584 00:32:49,751 --> 00:32:53,470 Speaker 5: never set foot in the private White House residence, and 585 00:32:53,511 --> 00:32:55,751 Speaker 5: that the story was bullshit. It never happened. 586 00:32:56,871 --> 00:32:59,391 Speaker 1: There's one other funny thing about that moment when the 587 00:32:59,391 --> 00:33:02,751 Speaker 1: students kissed the ground. Jeff Geller told me that at 588 00:33:02,831 --> 00:33:05,471 Speaker 1: least his performance on the tarmac had been partly tongue 589 00:33:05,471 --> 00:33:09,391 Speaker 1: in cheek. For him, the gesture was about sixty percent 590 00:33:09,471 --> 00:33:13,871 Speaker 1: spontane expression of patriotism in about forty percent the punchline 591 00:33:13,871 --> 00:33:15,990 Speaker 1: to a joke that he and the other students had 592 00:33:15,991 --> 00:33:18,911 Speaker 1: started making while in lockdown. Gallows humor. 593 00:33:18,951 --> 00:33:22,071 Speaker 9: Basically, the joke for the whole time was, you know, 594 00:33:22,231 --> 00:33:23,631 Speaker 9: if I ever get off this rock, I'm going to 595 00:33:23,671 --> 00:33:24,710 Speaker 9: kiss the guy named ground. 596 00:33:25,311 --> 00:33:27,791 Speaker 1: If it was a joke, no one watching on TV 597 00:33:27,991 --> 00:33:37,071 Speaker 1: could tell. The Grenada invasion was a huge political victory 598 00:33:37,111 --> 00:33:41,271 Speaker 1: for the Reagan administration. A Washington Post ABC News poll 599 00:33:41,351 --> 00:33:44,231 Speaker 1: in early November of nineteen eighty three found that seventy 600 00:33:44,311 --> 00:33:49,111 Speaker 1: one percent of respondents approved of Operation Urgent Fury, sixty 601 00:33:49,151 --> 00:33:52,831 Speaker 1: three percent approved of Reagan's overall job performance, his best 602 00:33:52,871 --> 00:33:56,791 Speaker 1: rating since his first year in office. In their book 603 00:33:56,831 --> 00:34:00,631 Speaker 1: about the Reagan Years, Landslide, journalists Jane Mayer and Doyle 604 00:34:00,711 --> 00:34:04,071 Speaker 1: McManus described the invasion as a metaphor for nothing less 605 00:34:04,071 --> 00:34:06,991 Speaker 1: than the country's willingness to overcome the paralysis that had 606 00:34:06,991 --> 00:34:13,191 Speaker 1: followed the Vietnam War. Oliver North embodied that willingness later 607 00:34:13,351 --> 00:34:15,791 Speaker 1: when newspapers started writing about him in the context of 608 00:34:15,831 --> 00:34:19,031 Speaker 1: the Iran Contra scandal. North's role in the planning of 609 00:34:19,031 --> 00:34:22,191 Speaker 1: the Grenada invasion was typically listed as his first major 610 00:34:22,270 --> 00:34:26,871 Speaker 1: contribution to Reagan's foreign policy agenda. Here again is Senate 611 00:34:26,911 --> 00:34:28,071 Speaker 1: Investigator Jack Blum. 612 00:34:29,431 --> 00:34:33,151 Speaker 7: When he actually persuades people to get in line and 613 00:34:33,190 --> 00:34:37,190 Speaker 7: they're doing the Grenada invasion. He's the hero of the day, 614 00:34:37,991 --> 00:34:40,551 Speaker 7: and that puts him in position to be the guy 615 00:34:40,671 --> 00:34:42,790 Speaker 7: is Shays And this is what I think we ought 616 00:34:42,831 --> 00:34:45,551 Speaker 7: to do next. And that's where the sun began. 617 00:34:46,591 --> 00:34:49,071 Speaker 1: Kevin Katki and his friends came out ahead too, despite 618 00:34:49,111 --> 00:34:51,551 Speaker 1: their repeated failure to carry out the missions Oliver North 619 00:34:51,591 --> 00:34:54,631 Speaker 1: assigned them. North didn't seem to hold it against them. 620 00:34:55,230 --> 00:34:58,071 Speaker 1: A week after the Grenada invasion, he invited the gang 621 00:34:58,071 --> 00:35:00,591 Speaker 1: to Washington and thanked them personally for their efforts. 622 00:35:01,190 --> 00:35:03,750 Speaker 2: And Kevin, from that point he thought that North was 623 00:35:03,750 --> 00:35:07,631 Speaker 2: his hero. He thought that North was lily white, that 624 00:35:07,710 --> 00:35:10,471 Speaker 2: he was a complete idealist, and that he wanted to 625 00:35:10,511 --> 00:35:14,751 Speaker 2: help the world and so on. And I think North 626 00:35:14,871 --> 00:35:16,431 Speaker 2: was what Kevin would have wanted to be. 627 00:35:19,710 --> 00:35:21,270 Speaker 1: I've been trying to put my finger on what I 628 00:35:21,311 --> 00:35:24,791 Speaker 1: find so ominous about the story of Kevin katke falling 629 00:35:24,831 --> 00:35:27,991 Speaker 1: in with Oliver North. There's something about it that just 630 00:35:28,111 --> 00:35:31,071 Speaker 1: feels wrong, like it's not how the government is supposed 631 00:35:31,071 --> 00:35:35,111 Speaker 1: to work. Ben Bradley's theory is just that Katki had 632 00:35:35,151 --> 00:35:36,311 Speaker 1: something the White House didn't. 633 00:35:36,791 --> 00:35:38,910 Speaker 5: In some ways, he seemed to be the only game 634 00:35:38,951 --> 00:35:43,190 Speaker 5: in town. He was down on the CIA North and 635 00:35:43,431 --> 00:35:47,790 Speaker 5: didn't think that they really had any reliable, on the 636 00:35:47,831 --> 00:35:52,391 Speaker 5: ground intelligence of what was happening in Grenada. So I 637 00:35:52,391 --> 00:35:56,791 Speaker 5: think it was a question of Katki filling a vacuum, 638 00:35:57,071 --> 00:36:00,591 Speaker 5: as North saw it, so therefore he came to be 639 00:36:01,431 --> 00:36:02,230 Speaker 5: reliant on him. 640 00:36:03,111 --> 00:36:04,791 Speaker 1: Jack Blum put it slightly differently. 641 00:36:06,311 --> 00:36:09,911 Speaker 7: I think it was a time when lots of deranged 642 00:36:10,190 --> 00:36:15,390 Speaker 7: things for happening inside of the US government. I think 643 00:36:15,431 --> 00:36:20,591 Speaker 7: it was a time when people who came into the administration, 644 00:36:20,750 --> 00:36:26,391 Speaker 7: the Reagan administration believed that the world was their toy 645 00:36:26,671 --> 00:36:29,911 Speaker 7: and you could do anything as long as it was 646 00:36:29,991 --> 00:36:33,830 Speaker 7: all covert. Navy communists, you could go play. And I 647 00:36:33,871 --> 00:36:37,551 Speaker 7: think there were people who, you know, like that idea 648 00:36:37,591 --> 00:36:38,391 Speaker 7: and ran with it. 649 00:36:42,071 --> 00:36:45,230 Speaker 1: Iran Contra is a story about running with it. It's 650 00:36:45,230 --> 00:36:48,350 Speaker 1: a complicated story that spans the globe, and if you've 651 00:36:48,351 --> 00:36:50,911 Speaker 1: gotten through life not knowing exactly what it was all about, 652 00:36:51,190 --> 00:36:53,350 Speaker 1: or what the Iran part has to do with the contrapart, 653 00:36:53,710 --> 00:36:56,631 Speaker 1: or what the contrapart even refers to, you're not alone. 654 00:36:57,391 --> 00:37:01,031 Speaker 1: Compared to Watergate or the Clinton Lewinsky affair, Iran Contra 655 00:37:01,151 --> 00:37:04,991 Speaker 1: is a relatively obscure scandal most people just don't have 656 00:37:05,031 --> 00:37:07,710 Speaker 1: a firm grasp on what happened, and there aren't that 657 00:37:07,871 --> 00:37:12,471 Speaker 1: many big iconic moments associated with it. In this season 658 00:37:12,471 --> 00:37:15,431 Speaker 1: of Fiasco, we're going to take a shot at rectifying that. 659 00:37:16,591 --> 00:37:18,790 Speaker 1: Over eight episodes, we're going to look back at the 660 00:37:18,831 --> 00:37:22,870 Speaker 1: tangled narrative of Iran Contra, and in addition to reconstructing 661 00:37:22,911 --> 00:37:26,710 Speaker 1: in a straight line what exactly happened and why, we're 662 00:37:26,750 --> 00:37:29,471 Speaker 1: also going to try to figure out why this scandal 663 00:37:29,551 --> 00:37:33,551 Speaker 1: failed to leave a bigger mark on American culture. Why 664 00:37:33,551 --> 00:37:37,071 Speaker 1: did a story propelled by so many audacious decisions and 665 00:37:37,151 --> 00:37:39,951 Speaker 1: tied into a knot by so many high stakes lies 666 00:37:40,671 --> 00:37:44,830 Speaker 1: end up being so easy to forget. It's a good 667 00:37:44,831 --> 00:37:48,350 Speaker 1: time to remember it. Whether you support the current administration 668 00:37:48,511 --> 00:37:51,750 Speaker 1: or not. It has shown Americans in dramatic fashion that 669 00:37:51,791 --> 00:37:54,191 Speaker 1: the government, at the end of the day is really 670 00:37:54,270 --> 00:37:57,031 Speaker 1: just a bunch of people. The fact that they've been 671 00:37:57,031 --> 00:37:59,631 Speaker 1: temporarily put in charge of institutions that are much bigger 672 00:37:59,671 --> 00:38:03,350 Speaker 1: than them doesn't change that. If anything, it reinforces the 673 00:38:03,431 --> 00:38:06,631 Speaker 1: need to understand them as individuals, men and women who 674 00:38:06,710 --> 00:38:11,310 Speaker 1: act on their obsessions, their ambitions, and their delusions. The 675 00:38:11,351 --> 00:38:13,831 Speaker 1: story of Kevin Katki and his friends in this context 676 00:38:13,871 --> 00:38:16,350 Speaker 1: feels to me like a parable in which all the 677 00:38:16,351 --> 00:38:18,991 Speaker 1: themes of the Iran Contra scandal were on full display. 678 00:38:20,230 --> 00:38:23,391 Speaker 1: The use of non governmental actors to carry out government policy, 679 00:38:24,230 --> 00:38:28,631 Speaker 1: the secrecy, the improvisation, the logistical gambles undertaken in the 680 00:38:28,710 --> 00:38:34,190 Speaker 1: name of sincere but possibly misguided ideologies. I should add, 681 00:38:34,190 --> 00:38:36,111 Speaker 1: by the way, that I tried really hard to get 682 00:38:36,151 --> 00:38:39,471 Speaker 1: in touch with Kevin Katki. I called, I emailed, I 683 00:38:39,471 --> 00:38:42,230 Speaker 1: couldn't find him, and when I reached people who knew him, 684 00:38:42,270 --> 00:38:44,990 Speaker 1: they declined to help me get to him. The best 685 00:38:44,991 --> 00:38:47,191 Speaker 1: I got was a former neighbor who told me Katki 686 00:38:47,230 --> 00:38:50,710 Speaker 1: once encouraged him to google his name. There are quite 687 00:38:50,750 --> 00:38:53,911 Speaker 1: a few search results. Kaki remained very much in the 688 00:38:53,951 --> 00:38:57,711 Speaker 1: mix after Grenada, and he continued cultivating relationships with people 689 00:38:57,750 --> 00:39:06,591 Speaker 1: he thought could help the US eradicate communism. Heading into 690 00:39:06,631 --> 00:39:10,350 Speaker 1: Reagan's second term, that meant raising money for the Untra 691 00:39:10,391 --> 00:39:14,870 Speaker 1: revolutionaries in Nicaragua, the right wing fighting force known as 692 00:39:14,911 --> 00:39:19,631 Speaker 1: the Contras. So when Katki and his friends met a 693 00:39:19,631 --> 00:39:22,911 Speaker 1: wealthy Saudi prince who said he wanted to donate fourteen 694 00:39:23,031 --> 00:39:26,950 Speaker 1: million dollars to the Contra cause, Katki was over the moon. 695 00:39:27,511 --> 00:39:30,031 Speaker 2: You know. The guy was wearing these robes and he 696 00:39:30,071 --> 00:39:32,230 Speaker 2: had a ring with a lot of diamonds that he 697 00:39:32,270 --> 00:39:37,391 Speaker 2: described as being like his royal ring, and he started 698 00:39:37,431 --> 00:39:41,031 Speaker 2: taking them to dinner all the time, and he wanted 699 00:39:41,071 --> 00:39:43,270 Speaker 2: to give money to the Contras, and of course North 700 00:39:43,351 --> 00:39:44,391 Speaker 2: was running that operation. 701 00:39:45,031 --> 00:39:48,790 Speaker 1: When Katki told North about the prince, North was apparently 702 00:39:48,831 --> 00:39:51,991 Speaker 1: so excited that he discussed the prospective donation with Ronald 703 00:39:52,031 --> 00:39:56,830 Speaker 1: Reagan himself. But the donation never came. It turned out 704 00:39:56,911 --> 00:40:00,310 Speaker 1: that Katki's prince was a con man. He wasn't a 705 00:40:00,311 --> 00:40:03,991 Speaker 1: prince at all. He wasn't even from Saudi Arabia, and 706 00:40:04,031 --> 00:40:08,350 Speaker 1: he didn't have fourteen million dollars for the Contras, and 707 00:40:08,471 --> 00:40:11,471 Speaker 1: that meant Oliver North would have to find the money 708 00:40:11,710 --> 00:40:21,591 Speaker 1: somewhere else. On the next episode of Fiasco, the Iran 709 00:40:21,671 --> 00:40:26,111 Speaker 1: Part of the Iran Contract, How and Why Ronald Reagan authorized 710 00:40:26,111 --> 00:40:29,031 Speaker 1: a plan to secretly provide weapons to one of America's 711 00:40:29,071 --> 00:40:29,991 Speaker 1: greatest enemies. 712 00:40:31,190 --> 00:40:35,071 Speaker 4: I reminded him again that look, this may not work, 713 00:40:35,710 --> 00:40:40,471 Speaker 4: and he said, well, we don't know until we try. 714 00:40:41,750 --> 00:40:44,551 Speaker 1: For a list of books, articles and documentaries we used 715 00:40:44,551 --> 00:40:46,991 Speaker 1: in our research, follow the link in the show notes. 716 00:40:47,710 --> 00:40:50,951 Speaker 1: Fiasco is a production of Prolog Projects and it's distributed 717 00:40:50,991 --> 00:40:55,511 Speaker 1: by Pushkin Industries. Shows produced by Andrew Parsons, Madelin kaplan 718 00:40:55,791 --> 00:41:00,231 Speaker 1: Ula Culpa and me Leon Mayfack. Our editor was Camilla Hammer. 719 00:41:00,710 --> 00:41:05,190 Speaker 1: Our researcher was Francis Carr. Additional archival research from Caitlin Nicholas. 720 00:41:06,190 --> 00:41:08,991 Speaker 1: Our music is by Nick Silvester. Our theme song is 721 00:41:08,991 --> 00:41:12,390 Speaker 1: by Spatial Relations. Our artwork is by Teddy Blanks at 722 00:41:12,431 --> 00:41:16,231 Speaker 1: Chips and y Audio, mixed by Rob Buyers, Michael Rayphiel 723 00:41:16,351 --> 00:41:20,311 Speaker 1: and Johnny Vince Evans. Copyright council provided by Peter Yassi 724 00:41:20,471 --> 00:41:25,111 Speaker 1: at Yass Butler Plc. Thanks to Jody Averergan Terry Baker, 725 00:41:25,270 --> 00:41:29,551 Speaker 1: Chris Barube, Nina Ernest, Stephen Fisher, Emily Gaddock, Alice Gregory, 726 00:41:29,710 --> 00:41:34,311 Speaker 1: Ellen Horn, Kelly Jones, Latiff Nasser, Mike Pesca, Bruce Wallace, 727 00:41:34,471 --> 00:41:37,831 Speaker 1: as well as Sam Graham Felson and Sirea Shackley. Special 728 00:41:37,831 --> 00:41:40,551 Speaker 1: thanks to Luminary and thank you for listening.