1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:06,519 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:11,559 Speaker 2: A very strange meeting took place in June of nineteen 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 2: eighty five. This was long before the days of email 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 2: and video conferencing. If you wanted to hammer out an agreement, 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 2: you had to get everyone in the same room. Perhaps 6 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,799 Speaker 2: you could invite everyone to your office or rent a 7 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 2: conference room at the Marriott, But the attendees at this 8 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,839 Speaker 2: meeting would have had a hard time booking flights to Washington, 9 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 2: d C. So they settled on something a little less orthodox. 10 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 2: And they couldn't exactly just call up the men on 11 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 2: their invite list either. The logistics were going to be 12 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:52,840 Speaker 2: a nightmare. Dana Rohrabacher, President Ronald Reagan's speechwriter, personally flew 13 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 2: to a safe house into Gusagalpa to hand deliver an 14 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 2: invitation to Adolfo Calero, leader of the Nicaraguan Contras. Anti 15 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 2: communist activist Jack Wheeler was in touch with the Mujahadeen 16 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 2: in Afghanistan and Laotian rebel leader Pauka Her and Grover 17 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 2: Norquist had plenty of contacts who could get him in 18 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 2: touch with Jonas Savimbi, leader of the Angolan Insurgent Force UNIDA. 19 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,039 Speaker 2: Given the guest list, they had pretty limited options when 20 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 2: it came to finding a venue. State Department officials made calls. 21 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 2: Only two governments were willing to offer their public support 22 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 2: for such a summit, Israel and South Africa. Politically, that 23 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 2: was a minefield, so one of the attendees offered to host. 24 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 2: They could hold the meeting at the UNITA base camp 25 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 2: in the Angolan town of Jamba. American Assistant Secretary of 26 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 2: State for African Affairs, Chester Crocker arranged for the South 27 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 2: African military to handle security. It was all coming together. 28 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 2: With funding from the President of Right Aid, Jack Abramoff 29 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 2: was going to get the world's leading anti communists into 30 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 2: one room. I'm not sure this meeting accomplished much in 31 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,959 Speaker 2: terms of advancing the Reagan doctrine. But at that rebel 32 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 2: base in southern Angola, Jack Abramoff reconnected with an old friend, 33 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 2: a South African military intelligence operative he'd first met on 34 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 2: a visit to Johannesburg in nineteen eighty three, and while 35 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 2: Oliver North met with armed men in the sweltering heat, 36 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 2: Abramoff was brainstorming his next project and meeting with the 37 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 2: man who would fund it. Whether or not Jack Abramoff's 38 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 2: strange summit had any impact on the course of the 39 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 2: Cold Wars A question for someone else. I can only 40 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:53,119 Speaker 2: tell you about the time the South African government secretly 41 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 2: paid an ambitious young American lobbyist to make one of 42 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 2: the worst movies I've ever seen. I'm Molly Conger, and this. 43 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:21,240 Speaker 1: Is weird Little Guys. 44 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 2: This is a side story. I really couldn't resist it. 45 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:32,079 Speaker 2: I think you'll understand. I've been writing this story, this 46 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 2: story about Monica Huggett, about South Africa, about the Apartheid International. 47 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 2: I've been writing it for so long that I'm having 48 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 2: trouble letting it go, so I will try to wrap 49 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 2: it up next week. I know there are so many 50 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 2: other weird little guys I've promised to tell you about, 51 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 2: and we'll get to them, but I've invested so much 52 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 2: in this story that I want to make sure I 53 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 2: end it properly. And I could tell I just didn't 54 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 2: have that this week. I don't talk a lot about 55 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 2: my personal life in public online because as an expert 56 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 2: on weird little guys, I really hate to think about 57 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 2: them thinking about my personal life. But I guess I'm 58 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 2: going to have to let you all in on this 59 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 2: one eventually. Anyway, I'm actually getting married in a couple 60 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 2: of weeks, and it turns out that having a wedding 61 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 2: is kind of a whole ordeal. I'm not really the 62 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 2: arts and crafts type. I really would rather be watching 63 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 2: grainy videos of old Area Nations World Congress meetings than 64 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 2: making place cards and seating charts and trying to figure 65 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:42,919 Speaker 2: out how to do floral arrangements. But here we are. Nevertheless, honestly, 66 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 2: I'm really lucky that I have a job where I 67 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 2: can just follow my heart and let my curiosity lead 68 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 2: me wherever we happen to end up. Because if I 69 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 2: have to write a seven thousand word research project every week, 70 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 2: my heart's got to be in it. And this week 71 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 2: I could not resist the siren song of a bad 72 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,920 Speaker 2: eighties action movie. It was just too weird to only 73 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 2: mention in passing. It had to be its own episode. 74 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 2: Because as I was writing the conclusion to this long, 75 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:18,159 Speaker 2: strange saga of Monica Huggett Stone, I had originally planned 76 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 2: to devote just a little bit of time to the 77 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 2: political connections of the far right in the United States 78 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,720 Speaker 2: and the pro apartheid activist movements in South Africa. But 79 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 2: I was wrapping up my research connecting Monica to David 80 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 2: Duke's nineteen ninety six Senate run when I realized I'd 81 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 2: overlooked something massive. 82 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: It wasn't just. 83 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,359 Speaker 2: The likes of David Duke who were terribly interested in 84 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 2: the continuing success of apartheid. No, it wasn't just the 85 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:52,160 Speaker 2: extreme fringes at all. There were large swaths of Reagan 86 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 2: Conservatives who were deeply embedded in this. The deeper I dug, 87 00:05:57,600 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 2: the more obvious it became that a lot of the 88 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 2: very big names in American conservative politics are tied up 89 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 2: in this story. Not with Monica, not directly. Like I said, 90 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,279 Speaker 2: this is a side story. But in the nineteen eighties, 91 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 2: Sub Saharan Africa was a battleground in the Cold War, 92 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 2: and the South African government was a big player in 93 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 2: this perceived fight against Soviet influence on the continent. So 94 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 2: even as public discussed with apartheid complicated having open dealings 95 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 2: with the country, American conservatives saw South Africa as a 96 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 2: critical partner in the ideological struggle against communism. And we'll 97 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 2: get into some more about those connections in the next episode, 98 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 2: because they continue into present day politics. In the time 99 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,040 Speaker 2: it's taken me to write these episodes, that situation has 100 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:53,919 Speaker 2: continued to evolve, and there's certainly some strange connections to 101 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:57,160 Speaker 2: the past in the story of South African Ambassador Ibrahim 102 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:03,280 Speaker 2: Razul's recent expulsion from the United States. But today we're 103 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 2: not talking about Ibrahim Razul. We're talking about Red Scorpion, 104 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 2: the nineteen eighty eight action movie starring Dolph Lundgren. I 105 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 2: guess we have to do a little background first. I'm 106 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 2: not too proud to admit that when I started poking 107 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 2: around the edges of this story, I only knew enough 108 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 2: about Jack Abramoff to tell you that's that lobbyist who 109 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 2: got into trouble when I was in high school. I think, 110 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 2: and we don't really have to get into the thing. 111 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 2: Abramoff is most famous for his two thousand and six 112 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 2: conviction for mail fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to bribe 113 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 2: public officials. He did a little time in federal prison 114 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 2: for crimes he committed in connection to his work as 115 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 2: a lobbyist for Native American tribes seeking to influence legislation 116 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 2: on gambling. That happened later in his life. But I 117 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 2: did want to mention it because that's the only thing 118 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 2: I knew about him, And I just want to reassure you, 119 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 2: yes that Jack Abramoff. And obviously you have to start 120 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 2: somewhere in politics. You don't just find yourself in the 121 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,239 Speaker 2: center of a web of corruption involving multiple sitting congressmen. 122 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: Right out of the gate. 123 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 2: And Abramoff got his start in politics in college, working 124 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 2: as a volunteer on Ronald Reagan's nineteen eighty presidential campaign 125 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 2: and serving as the chairman of the Massachusetts Alliance of 126 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 2: College Republicans. After graduation, he was elected as the chair 127 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 2: of the College Republican National Committee with the help of 128 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 2: a man who had become his close friend and longtime collaborator, 129 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 2: Rover Norquist. Together the pair made it their mission to 130 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:45,680 Speaker 2: transform the College Republicans from a resume padding social club 131 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 2: into a vicious, militant political tool. They pushed out the 132 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 2: old car the men they considered wishy, washy country clubbers, 133 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 2: and they remade the organization into what Abramoff called the 134 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:04,960 Speaker 2: sword and the Shield of the Reagan Revolution. And he 135 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 2: was a busy man in the early eighties. In addition 136 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 2: to his duties as the chair of the College Republicans, 137 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:15,200 Speaker 2: he was the frontman of a group called the USA Foundation, 138 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,320 Speaker 2: and that group mainly appears in a couple of news 139 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,319 Speaker 2: stories in nineteen eighty four in connection to a series 140 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 2: of rallies that he organized celebrating the anniversary of the 141 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 2: US invasion of Granada. And maybe it's because the name 142 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 2: is so generic, but it's hard to find old news 143 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:38,200 Speaker 2: articles about the USA Foundation. They don't really seem to 144 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 2: have done much public facing work that was perhaps by design. 145 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:49,760 Speaker 2: The foundation seems to have mostly existed to raise money. Traditionally, 146 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 2: the College Republicans had relied almost exclusively on their Republican 147 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 2: National Committee for their budget, but Abramov had something bigger 148 00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:01,960 Speaker 2: in mind. He wanted autonomy, and he wanted an immunity 149 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 2: from the nagging oversight of the old guard, so he 150 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 2: made his own money. I once again find myself appreciating 151 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 2: the work of an unsavory source. The archivists at the 152 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 2: Liberty University Jerry Folwell Library have done a really phenomenal 153 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:25,240 Speaker 2: job of digitizing their collection of old documents related to 154 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 2: the Conservative Caucus, a lobbying group whose board Abramof served on, 155 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:33,200 Speaker 2: and one of the documents in that collection is a 156 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,719 Speaker 2: memo that Abramof sent to a big donor listing off 157 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:39,680 Speaker 2: his accomplishments as chair of the College Republicans in nineteen 158 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 2: eighty four in hopes of securing a big check, and 159 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 2: he says the USA Foundation, under his leadership, had hosted 160 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 2: a delegation of South African student leaders on a trip 161 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 2: to Washington in January of nineteen eighty four, and at 162 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:57,439 Speaker 2: that meeting they'd made plans with those South African students 163 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 2: from a group called the Students Moderate Allay Alliance to 164 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 2: co host an international student conference later that year at 165 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 2: a resort in the South African Bantustan of both with 166 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:13,680 Speaker 2: the Swana. That same archive contains a nineteen eighty four 167 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 2: letter from one of Abramoff's colleagues, a right wing think 168 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 2: take veteran named Amy Moritz, and it's a letter to 169 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:25,120 Speaker 2: William F. Buckley, And in that letter, Moritz openly admits 170 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:29,400 Speaker 2: to operating multiple front groups and then she opines on 171 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:32,640 Speaker 2: the effectiveness of various other right wing groups operating around 172 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:35,480 Speaker 2: the country. And one of the groups she offers an 173 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:40,400 Speaker 2: opinion on is Abramoff's USA Foundation, and she describes it 174 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 2: as operating out of the Heritage Foundation, which is an 175 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 2: intriguing aside that I can't offer you any explanation for. 176 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 2: But through his USA Foundation, it seems that Abramoff had 177 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:57,160 Speaker 2: finally found a way to pair his ideological inclinations with 178 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 2: personal profit. The USA Foundation took in hefty donations from 179 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:08,240 Speaker 2: corporations in exchange for seeking the College Republicans on student 180 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:11,959 Speaker 2: groups that were bad for business. So landlords in San 181 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 2: Francisco paid to have student groups organizing for rent control 182 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 2: pushed off California campuses. Campbell's Soup paid them to undermine 183 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 2: student support from migrant farm workers unions. It was, I guess, 184 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 2: another front group with the added bonus of being able 185 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 2: to solicit tax exempt contributions, which he could then use 186 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:39,000 Speaker 2: to fund the political activities of the College Republicans. So 187 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:42,680 Speaker 2: these companies, they're not just donating to some think tank. 188 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 2: They're not donating to awareness raising or policy papers. They're investing. 189 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 2: They were buying fake grassroots organizing to compete in the 190 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 2: marketplace of ideas on their behalf. But Jack Abramoff wasn't 191 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,440 Speaker 2: to sit in Washington and hold fundraisers. He was, after all, 192 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 2: the sword and shield of the Reagan Revolution, and in 193 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:12,280 Speaker 2: the early eighties that meant getting out there and fighting 194 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 2: Soviet influence wherever it existed or wherever it was imagined 195 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:21,839 Speaker 2: to exist. For some conservatives, the growing bad press about 196 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 2: apartheid was just a highly effective KGB propaganda operation. And 197 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 2: so it was as chair of the College Republican Committee 198 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:36,359 Speaker 2: that Jack Abramaw first visited South Africa in nineteen eighty three. 199 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:39,440 Speaker 2: The trip was an effort to strengthen ties between student 200 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 2: groups internationally, and as part of that mission, he met 201 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 2: with Russell Cristel, the leader of a group calling itself 202 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 2: the Student's Moderate Alliance. It wouldn't be officially revealed until 203 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:57,080 Speaker 2: nineteen ninety two, so nine years after this meeting that 204 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,400 Speaker 2: the Student's Moderate Alliance had been entirely a project of 205 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:04,439 Speaker 2: the South African Security Police designed to discredit and disrupt 206 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 2: student organizing by groups like the National Union of South 207 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:12,719 Speaker 2: African Students or NUSAS, a primarily English speaking anti apartheid 208 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:17,520 Speaker 2: group on university campuses. But even more than a decade 209 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 2: before the truth was exposed, student groups in South Africa 210 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:26,280 Speaker 2: saw right through Russell Crystal. I found newspapers and zines 211 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 2: put out by college students dating as far back as 212 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:33,400 Speaker 2: the organization's founding in nineteen eighty. Mocking the obvious charade 213 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:38,600 Speaker 2: of this organization calling itself moderate, they immediately spotted what 214 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:44,320 Speaker 2: was obvious National Party propaganda. Old issues of a NUSAS 215 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,760 Speaker 2: aligned student newspaper published by the South African Students Press 216 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 2: Union Don't Hold Back. A nineteen eighty issue covering the 217 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 2: student council election at the University of viitvatersrund And Johannesburg 218 00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 2: usually just shortened to Vits University, it calls the Student's 219 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:04,760 Speaker 2: Moderate Alliance a neo fascist group, and it dismisses them 220 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:10,040 Speaker 2: as joke candidates, although one of those joke candidates did win, 221 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 2: Russell Cristel's brother Lance. By nineteen eighty three, the same 222 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 2: paper reported that Russell Cristel, also a student at Fitfadder's Front, 223 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 2: had offered to help right wing student groups at other 224 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 2: schools pay the cost of printing their anti NUSUS pamphlets. 225 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 2: It was also widely believed that Cristel's Student's Moderate Alliance 226 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 2: was behind some mysterious pamphlets that had been popping up 227 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 2: at campuses all over the country. The pamphlets were made 228 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 2: to appear as though NUSUS had authored them. They bore 229 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 2: the organization's name at the bottom, and they mimicked the 230 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:50,280 Speaker 2: style of real NUSIS flyers, but they misrepresented the group's 231 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 2: views and attempted to link the group to illegal activity. 232 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:58,040 Speaker 2: They were such an obvious attempt to discredit the group 233 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:02,040 Speaker 2: that the vice chancellor at its university issued a statement 234 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:05,880 Speaker 2: that whoever had created the flyers quote does not have 235 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 2: the best interest of students or of the country at heart. 236 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 2: The university administration also noted that quote the nature and 237 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 2: countrywide method of their distribution suggests that the persons responsible 238 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 2: for them command resources beyond those typically available to student organizations, 239 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 2: and throughout the nineteen eighties, student newspapers in South Africa 240 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 2: ran stories about the impossible level of funding the Student's 241 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 2: Moderate Alliance seemed to have access to. They had unlimited 242 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 2: numbers of these glossy, expensive looking, professionally made pamphlets, and 243 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 2: in one case, there was even proof that the pamphlets 244 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 2: had been printed in a National Party office. In nineteen 245 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,520 Speaker 2: eighty two, a student newspaper obtained a sworn statement from 246 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 2: someone who had been detained under Section twenty two. That's 247 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:06,439 Speaker 2: the provision that allowed for preventive detention without charges largely 248 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 2: a tool used to harass and intimidate anti apartheid activists, 249 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:13,600 Speaker 2: and on this particular occasion, this detainee was taken up 250 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:16,760 Speaker 2: to the tenth floor of the Johannesburg Police station to 251 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:21,240 Speaker 2: be questioned. The tenth floor was occupied by the security 252 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 2: branch of the police, the police who were tasked with 253 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 2: intelligence gathering, handling informants and running death squads. And there 254 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 2: on the tenth floor, this detainee saw a familiar face. 255 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,119 Speaker 2: It was Russell Cristel, and the sworn statement read, in 256 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 2: part quote I saw Cristel on the tenth floor of 257 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:49,280 Speaker 2: John Forster Square. He was neither handcuffed nor accompanied by 258 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 2: the security police. He appeared calm and under no duress. 259 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 2: When his brother Lance Cristel was elected to the VIT 260 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 2: Student Council in nineteen eighty, he refused to sign a 261 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:05,119 Speaker 2: statement that all student representatives were asked to agree to 262 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 2: that they would not involve themselves in espionage on campus. 263 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:15,320 Speaker 2: Lance Cristel reportedly said, quote, I do not want to 264 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:18,879 Speaker 2: be held responsible for any patriotic urge that might occur 265 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,880 Speaker 2: during my term of office. An official university inquiry from 266 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,919 Speaker 2: the mid eighties determined that the Student's Moderate Alliance clearly 267 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 2: had quote lavish funding from anonymous sources. In addition to 268 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,400 Speaker 2: his Student's Moderate Alliance, Russell Cristel also founded the National 269 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:40,760 Speaker 2: Students Federation. The Vitz student newspaper sent a reporter to 270 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:44,120 Speaker 2: the group's conference in nineteen eighty four. It was held 271 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:47,879 Speaker 2: at a luxury hotel in downtown Johannesburg, with little Finger 272 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:52,719 Speaker 2: sandwiches served on silver platters. Russell Cristel was elected as 273 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 2: the group's president and the leader of the Student's Moderate 274 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,920 Speaker 2: Alliance chapter at the University of Cape Town was elected 275 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:02,080 Speaker 2: to the group's executive board and named its media officer. 276 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:08,320 Speaker 2: That student, a young Arthur Kemp is someone whose name 277 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:12,880 Speaker 2: might sound familiar if you listen carefully. He would later 278 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:15,440 Speaker 2: author the hit list found in the possession of Chris 279 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:20,639 Speaker 2: Hani's assassin in nineteen ninety three. That student newspaper reporter 280 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:24,040 Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty four concluded the article about the conference 281 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 2: with a quote from a nusa's student leader. They aren't 282 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:32,200 Speaker 2: just making wild accusations when they speculate about possible state 283 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 2: funding for crystal student groups. Just a few years earlier, 284 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:41,560 Speaker 2: something called the Information Scandal had broken and the government 285 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 2: had been forced to admit to the existence of something 286 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:49,639 Speaker 2: called Project Anne Marie, a year's long propaganda campaign aimed 287 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 2: at undermining anti apartheid activism at home and anti apartheid 288 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 2: opinion abroad. Four high ranking government officials were forced to 289 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 2: resign in disgrace, including Prime Minister Forster. The Secretary of 290 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 2: Information not only resigned but fled the country, only to 291 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:13,399 Speaker 2: be extradited back from France to face fraud charges. It 292 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:17,600 Speaker 2: turned out that throughout the seventies, millions of dollars had 293 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,120 Speaker 2: been spent from the defense budget to do, in part, 294 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 2: exactly what these students feared was happening again, form front 295 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:31,679 Speaker 2: groups to disseminate propaganda and disrupt and discredit anti apartheid 296 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 2: groups like NUSUS and so that student organizer told the paper. 297 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,160 Speaker 2: While we would want to shy away from individualizing political 298 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 2: differences where the true motives of people are being obscured, 299 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 2: it has at times been necessary to draw the links 300 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 2: between such individuals and the National Party and Security Police. 301 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 2: We believe that the NSF represents a growing attempt to 302 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:03,480 Speaker 2: stifle opposition to APARTHEIPE. It would take almost a decade 303 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,320 Speaker 2: to get the government to admit it, but. 304 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:06,920 Speaker 1: She was right. 305 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 2: Russell Crystal's National Student Federation and Student's Moderate Alliance were 306 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:30,399 Speaker 2: both entirely the creation of the apartheid government. While I 307 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 2: was researching this segment, I found a small collection of 308 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,920 Speaker 2: old issues of the Student, that student newspaper at the 309 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,359 Speaker 2: University of the vit vadders Rund. It's such a fascinating 310 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 2: window into the past. It's just a college newspaper. It's 311 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,960 Speaker 2: written by twenty year olds and there are articles about 312 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 2: how to get more information about university sponsored insurance. There 313 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:57,840 Speaker 2: are articles about the tennis team's latest matchups and reviews 314 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:01,679 Speaker 2: of David Bowie albums and John Irving not There's gossip 315 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 2: about student groups and classified ads for bicycles and piano lessons. 316 00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 2: But in those same pages, those same student journalists are 317 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 2: writing stories about the editor of another student paper disappearing 318 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 2: at the hands of the security police, held in detention 319 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:25,000 Speaker 2: without charges. There are headlines like twentieth vis student detained 320 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:28,480 Speaker 2: and the police won't say why and they don't know 321 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:32,400 Speaker 2: when they'll be back. Mixed in with these write ups 322 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:36,040 Speaker 2: about student theater productions, there are images of riot police 323 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:40,200 Speaker 2: with dogs and shotguns marching through campus. 324 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:42,160 Speaker 1: Anyway. 325 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:46,640 Speaker 2: All that to say, it's possible that Jack Abramoff didn't 326 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,440 Speaker 2: know he was meeting with a government funded front group 327 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 2: led by an intelligence asset when he visited Johannesburg in 328 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 2: nineteen eighty three. Again, the actual facts wouldn't come out 329 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:01,720 Speaker 2: until nineteen ninety two. Maybe he didn't know. It was 330 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 2: sort of an open secret, though, and he would have 331 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 2: been able to figure it out had he spent five 332 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,919 Speaker 2: minutes doing his due diligence. But if we take his 333 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:15,080 Speaker 2: word for it, he never had any idea. It was 334 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,920 Speaker 2: obvious to those teenagers in Johannesburg and to the university administrators. 335 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:23,159 Speaker 2: Crystal himself never refuted allegations that he was connected to 336 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:30,280 Speaker 2: the security police, even allegations that surfaced in nineteen eighty two. 337 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:34,719 Speaker 2: But maybe Abramoff never asked. Maybe he's just an idiot. 338 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:39,640 Speaker 2: But despite his later insistence to the contrary, there are 339 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:43,840 Speaker 2: some clues here that might lead you to suspect that 340 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:48,439 Speaker 2: he did know. Not long after returning from this trip, 341 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,360 Speaker 2: the National College Republican Committee formally adopted a resolution pledging 342 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:55,640 Speaker 2: their support to the student's Moderate alliance in their fight 343 00:23:55,720 --> 00:24:01,959 Speaker 2: against communism. The resolution condemned Soviet aggression and claimed that 344 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:07,760 Speaker 2: South Africa was plagued by deliberate KGP propaganda, but it 345 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 2: didn't actually mention apartheid at all. When Abramov gave a 346 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 2: speech to the Republican National Convention in August of nineteen 347 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 2: eighty four, that was his parting message that he's mobilizing 348 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 2: college age voters to reelect Ronald Reagan because America can 349 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:28,600 Speaker 2: only be free if Ronald Reagan is free to fund 350 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:30,240 Speaker 2: the anti communist death squads. 351 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,720 Speaker 3: And a students know that support of anti Soviet freedom 352 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 3: fighters and victory over communism guarantees us security for our nation. 353 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 3: And so it is to our party that they come. 354 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,919 Speaker 3: It is with us that they trust our dreams, and 355 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 3: it is in us that they place their hopes, and 356 00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,080 Speaker 3: so it is for them that we must win in November, 357 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 3: So them that we must re elect Ronald Reagan, and 358 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,159 Speaker 3: it's for them that we must restore liberty and righteousness 359 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:07,919 Speaker 3: throughout the world. Thank you. 360 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 2: By nineteen eighty five, Jack Abramoff had a new gig. 361 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 2: He was the executive director of Citizens for America, a 362 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:28,159 Speaker 2: lobbying group funded by Write eight Heir, Lewis Lherman This 363 00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 2: was very explicitly just a privately funded mouthpiece for Ronald Reagan. 364 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:38,919 Speaker 2: Lahirman was the founder, funder, and leader of CFA, but 365 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,720 Speaker 2: it hadn't actually been his idea. It was Reagan, mega 366 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,359 Speaker 2: donor and producer of most of the world's instant mashed potatoes, 367 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:50,920 Speaker 2: a man named Jack Hume, who approached Reagan in nineteen 368 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:53,520 Speaker 2: eighty three with the idea of forming a group that 369 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 2: could shape public opinion in his favor. But they needed 370 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:01,840 Speaker 2: the right man for the job. It was President Reagan 371 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 2: himself who called up Lahirman and sold him on the idea. 372 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:09,720 Speaker 2: Lherman later described the call saying, quote, our first purpose 373 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,200 Speaker 2: is to induce a mutation in the climate of opinion 374 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 2: in America among opinion leaders. So about a year and 375 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,480 Speaker 2: a half into the existence of CFA, Lherman hired Jack 376 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:27,120 Speaker 2: Abramoff as its executive director, and in that role, Jack 377 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:33,679 Speaker 2: Abramoff was meeting almost daily with Oliver North. You see, 378 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 2: Ronald Reagan very much wanted to fund the anti communist 379 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:43,000 Speaker 2: forces in Nicaragua, but because of their horrific and ongoing 380 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:46,640 Speaker 2: human rights abuses, Congress had passed a series of ever 381 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,679 Speaker 2: tightening restrictions on the kind of US aid that they 382 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:54,200 Speaker 2: could receive, and by nineteen eighty five, Ronald Reagan couldn't 383 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:59,439 Speaker 2: legally send the Contras any US money at all. So 384 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:02,200 Speaker 2: they put theirs together and they found what they thought 385 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:07,560 Speaker 2: was a creative little loophole. Congress didn't actually say that 386 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 2: they couldn't send the Contrasts any money. They said that 387 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:15,679 Speaker 2: they couldn't send them any US government money, money that 388 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,879 Speaker 2: had been appropriated by Congress, money from the budget of 389 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:23,919 Speaker 2: a US agency. There are other kinds of money, and 390 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:28,919 Speaker 2: so the Reagan administration illegally sold weapons to Iran, and 391 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 2: they used that money, money that had never been appropriated 392 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:37,440 Speaker 2: by Congress, to fund the Contrasts. It's a lot more 393 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,760 Speaker 2: complicated than that. Don't email me to explain it. 394 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:41,119 Speaker 3: I know. 395 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 2: I just don't want to write a thousand words about 396 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,160 Speaker 2: the Iran Contra affair. But I don't think anyone wants 397 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:49,840 Speaker 2: to hear that anyway. So if this story is new 398 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:52,240 Speaker 2: to you, all you need to know right now is 399 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 2: that Ronald Reagan was absolutely unwilling to let Congress stand 400 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 2: in the way of his desire to overthrow the Nicaraguan government, 401 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:04,000 Speaker 2: and a lot of people eventually got into some trouble 402 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 2: when that loophole idea turned out to be pretty illegal. 403 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:12,639 Speaker 2: And here's where we finally picked back up with that 404 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 2: strange story we opened with. As director of the CFA, 405 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:22,679 Speaker 2: Abramoff convinced his boss, Lewis Lherman that this summit of 406 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:26,560 Speaker 2: anti communist rebel leaders would be a public relations victory 407 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 2: for Ronald Reagan. Congress had just shut down the last 408 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,040 Speaker 2: bit of USA to the contras in Nicaragua, and they'd 409 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 2: soon be hearing a bill on aid to Jonas Savimbi's 410 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:41,960 Speaker 2: unit of forces in Angola. Reagan insisted that arming what 411 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,760 Speaker 2: he called freedom fighters was actually self defense for the 412 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:49,719 Speaker 2: United States. The idea is that these rebel groups are 413 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 2: fighting Soviet influence abroad, and that's a necessary thing in 414 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 2: these last days of the Cold War. So Abramov's plan 415 00:28:57,560 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 2: was to get them all in one room and brain 416 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:04,040 Speaker 2: storm a strategy for convincing the world that these notorious 417 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 2: human rights abusers are indeed Reagan's freedom fighters. And that's 418 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 2: how Jack Abramoff ended up on a South African charter 419 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 2: plane to Angola to spend four days in a tent 420 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 2: with Oliver North, Grover Norquist, and the leaders of the 421 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 2: Contras and the Mujahadeen. 422 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: The whole affair. 423 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,160 Speaker 2: Sounds like it would make for a darkly funny comedy, 424 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 2: and apparently someone did make a movie about Jack Abramoff 425 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,360 Speaker 2: in twenty ten. It's called Casino Jack. I think Kevin 426 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 2: Spacey plays Jack Abramoff. I didn't watch it, but apparently 427 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,760 Speaker 2: there is a scene in that movie depicting this event. 428 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,760 Speaker 2: On their flight from Johannesburg to Angola, the plane they 429 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,240 Speaker 2: took had to fly very low and change course frequently 430 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,160 Speaker 2: to avoid detection by the Cubans who were in Angola, 431 00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:01,520 Speaker 2: and this left the entire delegation just miserably sick. There 432 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 2: were several reporters along for the ride, and I found 433 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 2: multiple accounts that almost everyone on the plane spent the 434 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,280 Speaker 2: entire flight taking turns vomiting in the plane's filthy toilet. 435 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 2: And after they landed on a makeshift airstrip somewhere in 436 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:18,360 Speaker 2: the bush and southern Angola, they endured a two hour 437 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 2: car ride and old jeeps over unpaved roads before arriving 438 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:27,160 Speaker 2: at the secret location of the United Base camp. Jack 439 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 2: Abramoff later wrote that because he couldn't travel on the Sabbath, 440 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,600 Speaker 2: he had actually departed for Jamba a day earlier than 441 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:36,720 Speaker 2: the rest of the delegation, and so he wouldn't have 442 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 2: to travel alone. Adolfo Colero volunteered to go with him, 443 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,960 Speaker 2: and that just seems so thoughtful, doesn't it. I'm sure 444 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 2: he was just being polite, he was just trying to 445 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 2: make a new friend. There's no source that indicates a 446 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 2: reporter was on that flight. I can't find anything written 447 00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 2: about what they might have talked about, so we can 448 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 2: only guess what a rabid Reaganite and the leader of 449 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:07,320 Speaker 2: the Nicaraguan Contras might have talked about during five hours 450 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:13,200 Speaker 2: alone in May of nineteen eighty five. As bad as 451 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:17,760 Speaker 2: the journey was, it wasn't much better after they'd arrived. 452 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:22,240 Speaker 2: This was Jamba, not DC. There was no Ritz Carlton, 453 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:26,640 Speaker 2: There was no plumbing, there was no air conditioning. They 454 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 2: slept on cots in thatched huts. The delegation from the 455 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:34,560 Speaker 2: Mujahadeen was using Abdul Rahim Mardak's son as a translator, 456 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 2: and Abramoff would later claim that he seemed to be struggling, 457 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,440 Speaker 2: often offering only a few words in translation for very 458 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:45,160 Speaker 2: long statements. A write up in The New York Times 459 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 2: says the Laotian translator kept referring to their Angolan host, 460 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:56,240 Speaker 2: Jonas Savimbi as mister Zimbabwe. And when the group's wealthy patron, 461 00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:00,560 Speaker 2: Lewis Lherman, presented these rebel leaders, each with their own 462 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:05,480 Speaker 2: framed copy of the United States Constitution, they didn't even 463 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:06,560 Speaker 2: pretend to be impressed. 464 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:09,680 Speaker 1: When the group was sat down. 465 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:12,760 Speaker 2: To get to business, Lherman read them a letter from 466 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:17,440 Speaker 2: Ronald Reagan appearing to endorse the summit, and it read, 467 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 2: in part, we have to be moved by the example 468 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,040 Speaker 2: of men and women who struggle every day at great 469 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 2: personal risk, for rights that we have enjoyed since birth. 470 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:34,160 Speaker 2: Their goals are our goals. But in reading this letter aloud, 471 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:39,240 Speaker 2: Lherman omitted a pretty important line. In the President's letter, 472 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 2: it wasn't addressed to this group. It was addressed to 473 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,560 Speaker 2: Lahirman alone, and it was not intended to convey the 474 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 2: President's endorsement of or promised of aid to anyone there. 475 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:59,280 Speaker 2: In Jack Abramoff's memoirs, though he claims quote there wasn't 476 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:01,560 Speaker 2: a dry eye in the house at the end of 477 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 2: the letter, he goes on to say the words of 478 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 2: Ronald Reagan meant the world to this group. That particular 479 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:16,120 Speaker 2: characterization of this moment is notably absent from every other 480 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 2: account I read. One account published in the conservative Washington 481 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,720 Speaker 2: Examiner says there wasn't even enough food for everyone there. 482 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:29,200 Speaker 2: Jack abramof keeps kosher, so he packed an entire suitcase 483 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,080 Speaker 2: with his own provisions for the trip, and he departed 484 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:34,200 Speaker 2: from Angola a little bit early before the event was 485 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:39,120 Speaker 2: entirely over, and the Washington Examiner reports that as he's leaving, 486 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:44,720 Speaker 2: he's auctioning off his remaining cans of tuna fish, reportedly 487 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:50,000 Speaker 2: for as much as twenty dollars a can. Grover Norquis 488 00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:55,360 Speaker 2: dubbed the event the Democratic International. The press called it 489 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:59,600 Speaker 2: the Jamboree in Jamba, and the attendees signed a pack 490 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:04,400 Speaker 2: to read, we free peoples fighting for our national independence 491 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:08,160 Speaker 2: and human rights assembled at Jamba declare our solidarity with 492 00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:10,719 Speaker 2: all freedom movements in the world and state our commitment 493 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,640 Speaker 2: to cooperate to liberate our nations from these Soviet imperialists. 494 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,480 Speaker 2: In a later piece in Harper's Magazine, columnist Thomas Frank 495 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:23,680 Speaker 2: called the declaration a bit of high flown foldol written 496 00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:27,719 Speaker 2: by Grover Norquist that aimed for solemnity, but sounded more 497 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:29,239 Speaker 2: like the work of a fifth grader who had been 498 00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:31,960 Speaker 2: forced to memorize the Gettysburg Address and the Declaration of 499 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:36,839 Speaker 2: Independence and has gotten them all jumbled up somehow, I mean, 500 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:42,400 Speaker 2: honestly sick burn On Grover Norquist. Adolpho Kolero, the representative 501 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:46,520 Speaker 2: from the Contras, clarified to reporters that the pact didn't 502 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:51,400 Speaker 2: call for any exchanges of troops or weapons. It was 503 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:55,919 Speaker 2: kind of just vibes. When the American delegation got home, 504 00:34:56,400 --> 00:35:00,120 Speaker 2: Lewis Lherman discovered that Abramoff and Norquist had been blowing 505 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,840 Speaker 2: through money with reckless abandon and they'd spent nearly three 506 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:06,960 Speaker 2: million dollars out of the budget of Citizens for America. 507 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:13,879 Speaker 2: Lherman claims he fired them. Abramoff says he quit. Who knows, 508 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:16,919 Speaker 2: But by the end of the summer of nineteen eighty five, 509 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:20,960 Speaker 2: Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist no longer worked at Citizens 510 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:25,440 Speaker 2: for America. But luckily for Abramoff, he'd used his time 511 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:29,280 Speaker 2: in Angola to reconnect with an old friend. That summit 512 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:32,240 Speaker 2: had also been attended by representatives from right wing student 513 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:36,840 Speaker 2: groups from South Africa, led by none other than Russell Crystal. 514 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:53,880 Speaker 2: Abramoff soon found himself as the head of a newly 515 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:58,320 Speaker 2: founded DC based think tank called the International Freedom Foundation, 516 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:03,279 Speaker 2: the same sort of nebulous, meaningless mission statement as any 517 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:07,560 Speaker 2: number of think tanks. They promoted freedom and democracy and 518 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:11,360 Speaker 2: the free market. It looked like just another slick lobbying 519 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:15,319 Speaker 2: organization designed to bring in high dollar donations for newsletters 520 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,839 Speaker 2: about the evils of communism, and I guess that's kind 521 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,400 Speaker 2: of what it was, except almost all of the money 522 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:26,839 Speaker 2: came directly from the South African government. It was given 523 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:31,319 Speaker 2: the code name Project pac Man by South African military intelligence, 524 00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:35,240 Speaker 2: and Abramov's new think tank received one point five million 525 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:39,200 Speaker 2: dollars per year every year from nineteen eighty six through 526 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:44,399 Speaker 2: nineteen ninety two to fund Operation Babushka, the code name 527 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:48,480 Speaker 2: given to this propaganda campaign aimed at undermining the African 528 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:54,360 Speaker 2: National Congress, shaping international opinion about apartheid, and combating efforts 529 00:36:54,400 --> 00:37:01,120 Speaker 2: by American politicians to impose sanctions on South Africa. The 530 00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:04,439 Speaker 2: truth didn't come out until nineteen ninety five. That's when 531 00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:08,279 Speaker 2: former South African security policeman Paul Erasmus testified before the 532 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:12,160 Speaker 2: Truth and Reconciliation Commission about the existence of the strapcom 533 00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:17,279 Speaker 2: unit short for Strategic Communications, which I guess is kind 534 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:22,360 Speaker 2: of a cute name for propaganda and disinformation. Erasmus admitted 535 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:25,320 Speaker 2: to his own role in a year's long disinformation campaign 536 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:29,200 Speaker 2: smearing Winnie Mandela, and he's spoken publicly over the years 537 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:33,719 Speaker 2: about the close relationships traccom had with US based Conservatives, 538 00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:37,520 Speaker 2: people like Edwin Fulner, one of the founders of the 539 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:42,240 Speaker 2: Heritage Foundation, and people like prominent Council of Conservative Citizens 540 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:47,879 Speaker 2: member Robert Slim. Slim, interestingly enough, is someone whose name 541 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:51,960 Speaker 2: I found twice, once in the nineteen eighties when he 542 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,760 Speaker 2: was sending faxes to leaders of the Conservative Caucus offering 543 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:59,000 Speaker 2: to set up meetings for them with Eugene terre Blanche 544 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,359 Speaker 2: on their next time trip to South Africa, and then 545 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:05,480 Speaker 2: again in twenty twelve. His name comes up in connection 546 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:11,360 Speaker 2: with Monica Stone's South Africa Project rallies. So now I 547 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:17,000 Speaker 2: wonder how far back those two go. But in nineteen 548 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:21,319 Speaker 2: ninety five, a spokesman for the South African Military did 549 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:25,800 Speaker 2: confirm in a statement that quote the International Freedom Foundation 550 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:31,439 Speaker 2: was a former South African Defense Force project. Former South 551 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:34,560 Speaker 2: African spy Craig Williamson explained to a reporter in nineteen 552 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,880 Speaker 2: ninety five that the IFF was a tool of political 553 00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:42,600 Speaker 2: warfare meant to undermine the African National Congress, but that 554 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:45,600 Speaker 2: they'd taken care to run the operation to prevent the 555 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:49,520 Speaker 2: people they dealt with from realizing that quote. They were 556 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:54,920 Speaker 2: involved with a foreign government. They ran their organization, but 557 00:38:55,040 --> 00:39:01,000 Speaker 2: we steered them. Craig Williamson is not a good man. 558 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:06,640 Speaker 2: He personally murdered several prominent anti apartheid activists, and he 559 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:11,160 Speaker 2: ordered the killings of many others. One bomb he sent 560 00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:14,400 Speaker 2: was meant for a married couple critical of the apartheid regime, 561 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:19,120 Speaker 2: but it owing to have the job. It killed Jeanette 562 00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:23,280 Speaker 2: Shun and her six year old daughter. Her husband, Marius Shun, 563 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:26,719 Speaker 2: returned home to find their two year old son had 564 00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:31,680 Speaker 2: been alone in the house with their bodies for hours. No, 565 00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:36,719 Speaker 2: Craig Williamson is not an honorable man, but I do 566 00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:41,080 Speaker 2: think he's telling something close to the truth here. He 567 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:44,200 Speaker 2: had to if he wanted amnesty for all those murders, 568 00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:48,440 Speaker 2: and he did have a rather astute observation about the 569 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:53,640 Speaker 2: particular gullibility of American conservatives saying to a reporter in 570 00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:57,359 Speaker 2: nineteen ninety five, we decided that the only level we 571 00:39:57,360 --> 00:39:59,319 Speaker 2: were going to be accepted was when it came to 572 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:03,120 Speaker 2: the Soviets and their surrogates. So our strategy was to 573 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:06,919 Speaker 2: paint the A and C as Communist surrogates. The more 574 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:10,880 Speaker 2: we could present ourselves as anti communist, the more people 575 00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:14,840 Speaker 2: looked at us with respect. People you could hardly believe 576 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:16,799 Speaker 2: cooperated with us politically. 577 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:18,040 Speaker 1: When it came to the. 578 00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:22,719 Speaker 2: Soviets, all they had to do was slap anti communism 579 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:25,440 Speaker 2: on the top of the page, and Republican leaders would 580 00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:28,719 Speaker 2: sign on to a project without any follow up questions. 581 00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:33,480 Speaker 2: Senator Jesse Helms served as chairman of the iff's advisory board, 582 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:37,440 Speaker 2: but when this news came out, his spokesman claimed that 583 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:40,799 Speaker 2: Helms had never even heard of such an organization and 584 00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:46,080 Speaker 2: certainly wasn't involved in it. Congressman Dan Burton led a 585 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:49,600 Speaker 2: delegation to observe the nineteen eighty nine elections in Namibia, 586 00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:54,439 Speaker 2: and that trip was paid for by the IFF. Both 587 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:59,360 Speaker 2: Burton and Congressman Robert Dornan frequently attended and spoke at 588 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:05,120 Speaker 2: and wrote for IFF events in publications. They too denied 589 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:07,839 Speaker 2: having any idea that their tabs had been paid by 590 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:12,279 Speaker 2: the South African government. Congressman and Philip Crane served on 591 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:16,239 Speaker 2: the organization's board for three years, but when the news 592 00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:19,480 Speaker 2: broke in nineteen ninety five, his spokesman claimed that he'd 593 00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:27,399 Speaker 2: never actually attended any meetings, And honestly, it is kind 594 00:41:27,440 --> 00:41:32,239 Speaker 2: of possible that those congressmen just never asked where the 595 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:35,239 Speaker 2: money came from. Maybe they had a feeling they didn't 596 00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:38,800 Speaker 2: want to know the answer. They probably could have figured 597 00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:42,000 Speaker 2: it out if they tried. An article written in nineteen 598 00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:45,120 Speaker 2: eighty nine in Covert Affairs, a magazine founded by a 599 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:49,120 Speaker 2: former CIA officer turned critic of the agency, noted that 600 00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:53,880 Speaker 2: the International Freedom Foundation managed to establish itself very quickly 601 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:58,439 Speaker 2: and in under two years. They were very clearly well 602 00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:01,920 Speaker 2: funded and had well established ties to both the international 603 00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:07,200 Speaker 2: extreme right wing and to the intelligence communities in multiple countries. 604 00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:11,839 Speaker 2: The group's support for both the South African government and 605 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:16,719 Speaker 2: the Nicaraguan contras earned them the designation of quote an 606 00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:22,440 Speaker 2: organization to watch from the magazine's editors, and the author 607 00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:25,799 Speaker 2: is careful here he doesn't make any outright allegations, but 608 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:30,600 Speaker 2: the implication is very strong that this isn't a grassroots organization, 609 00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:36,800 Speaker 2: but maybe they didn't know. I can accept that that's possible, 610 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:42,359 Speaker 2: But Jack Abramoff would also vehemently deny that he'd had 611 00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:46,040 Speaker 2: any clue that money wasn't clean, and I find that 612 00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:51,200 Speaker 2: a lot harder to believe. Russell Kristel, the South African 613 00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:54,200 Speaker 2: intelligence asset who'd helped Abramov start the iff in the 614 00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:59,319 Speaker 2: first place, ran the organization's branch office in Johannesburg, and 615 00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:02,360 Speaker 2: Crystal would like to admit that the Johannesburg office was 616 00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:06,120 Speaker 2: less of a branch and more of a nerve center. 617 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:09,399 Speaker 2: It was really the center of the operation, and he 618 00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:11,520 Speaker 2: was the one deciding how much money would get sent 619 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,840 Speaker 2: to DC, and sometimes when the book keeping got a 620 00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:18,120 Speaker 2: little sloppy, he would just have the Military Intelligence Office 621 00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:23,520 Speaker 2: make those wire transfers directly. In nineteen eighty nine, the 622 00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:26,960 Speaker 2: state of New York asked the nonprofit to just provide 623 00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:31,640 Speaker 2: an accountant statement that their financial records were accurate. That's 624 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:34,520 Speaker 2: not terribly unusual for a nonprofit bringing in a lot 625 00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:40,239 Speaker 2: of money, but they couldn't do it or wouldn't, and 626 00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:43,400 Speaker 2: they were subsequently legally barred from soliciting donations in the 627 00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:47,400 Speaker 2: state of New York. Financial records that were produced later 628 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:51,440 Speaker 2: showed that in nineteen ninety two, the organization's revenue dropped 629 00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:56,600 Speaker 2: to half of the level in prior years. That was 630 00:43:56,840 --> 00:44:00,560 Speaker 2: not coincidentally the year that South African President to Clerk 631 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:04,120 Speaker 2: ended funding for such programs as a show of good 632 00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:08,880 Speaker 2: faith during negotiations with the African National Congress. The end 633 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:11,880 Speaker 2: of that official funding didn't end the IFF right away. 634 00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:16,400 Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety three, the IFF commissioned a report that 635 00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:19,680 Speaker 2: was designed to paint the ANC as the true villains. 636 00:44:19,719 --> 00:44:23,120 Speaker 2: You know, things are really almost over in nineteen ninety three, 637 00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:27,920 Speaker 2: the election is coming, apartheid is falling, but they commissioned 638 00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:31,160 Speaker 2: this report to say, well, aren't those the bad guys? 639 00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:34,200 Speaker 2: Should we really be compromising with these people who are 640 00:44:34,239 --> 00:44:38,360 Speaker 2: doing these terrible things? And the funding for that report 641 00:44:38,560 --> 00:44:42,960 Speaker 2: was funneled through a slush fund operated by Lucas Mangope 642 00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:47,279 Speaker 2: the apartheid collaboration as president of the semi sovereign Bantustan 643 00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:51,799 Speaker 2: of Bofu Tatswana. The IFF would close its doors for 644 00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:58,080 Speaker 2: good later that year. But that's really quite enough about 645 00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:01,200 Speaker 2: old memos buried in the archives of conservative think tanks. 646 00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:03,719 Speaker 2: I promised you I was going to tell you about 647 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:09,799 Speaker 2: the nineteen eighty eight cinematic abomination Red Scorpion to give 648 00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:11,960 Speaker 2: you a brief idea of what the movie is about. 649 00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:15,800 Speaker 2: It stars Dolph Lundgren as a Soviet Special Forces operative 650 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:19,280 Speaker 2: assigned to assassinate the leader of an anti communist guerrilla 651 00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:24,400 Speaker 2: force in the fictional African country of Mombaka. And the 652 00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:28,480 Speaker 2: movie opens with Lundgren called before this sinister cabal of 653 00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:31,799 Speaker 2: communist military leaders from Cuba and the Soviet Union, and 654 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:36,240 Speaker 2: they show him this slide show of these evil freedom fighters. 655 00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:40,080 Speaker 2: It's totally very odd because the movie is from the 656 00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:45,200 Speaker 2: perspective of Dolph Lundgren's character, a Soviet Special Forces soldier, 657 00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:47,760 Speaker 2: and he is a Communist, and he is our protagonist, 658 00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:51,640 Speaker 2: and he is going to kill these anti communists. But 659 00:45:51,719 --> 00:45:56,000 Speaker 2: Abrarov has trouble sort of settling into a perspective because 660 00:45:56,640 --> 00:46:01,120 Speaker 2: he's writing this derisively. It's satirically right, because the anti 661 00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:05,000 Speaker 2: communists are the heroes in his world. So it's a 662 00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:07,560 Speaker 2: little difficult to tell what the movie is trying to 663 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:13,040 Speaker 2: achieve because he doesn't successfully right satire. For much of 664 00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:15,560 Speaker 2: the movie, Dulph Luangren is just sort of roaming the 665 00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:21,000 Speaker 2: African bush dressed in a rather striking manner. He's removed 666 00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:23,680 Speaker 2: his outer shirt and he's ripped his khaki pants into 667 00:46:23,680 --> 00:46:28,120 Speaker 2: these tiny little shorts. And on the surface level, this 668 00:46:28,239 --> 00:46:31,239 Speaker 2: is just that sort of eighties action movie aesthetic where 669 00:46:31,239 --> 00:46:34,640 Speaker 2: you're seeing the sort of shining, sweaty pecks of this 670 00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:38,839 Speaker 2: enormous muscle man. But I think there's more to this 671 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:43,920 Speaker 2: particular choice. We have this gigantic blonde Swede and he's 672 00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:47,319 Speaker 2: been outfitted in what I have to assume as a 673 00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:52,640 Speaker 2: very intentional recreation of the iconic uniform of the Selo Scouts, 674 00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:58,759 Speaker 2: the notoriously brutal Rhodesian Special Forces. And when I sat 675 00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:03,239 Speaker 2: down to watch this movie, I realized almost immediately that 676 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:07,640 Speaker 2: Abramov had based the film on his own experience in Angola, 677 00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:13,080 Speaker 2: just backwards right the men he paid to write the 678 00:47:13,080 --> 00:47:16,480 Speaker 2: actual screenplay based on his notes, A man named arn Olsen, 679 00:47:17,520 --> 00:47:21,480 Speaker 2: later said that Abramoff explicitly told him that Mombaka is 680 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:24,480 Speaker 2: supposed to be Angola, and he'd written the character of 681 00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:30,160 Speaker 2: the rebel leader Sundata to represent Jonas Savimbi. So Abramoff 682 00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:32,600 Speaker 2: obviously came up with the plot of this movie in 683 00:47:32,719 --> 00:47:36,680 Speaker 2: nineteen eighty five when he met with those anti communist leaders. 684 00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:40,879 Speaker 2: So he just took that story and he inverted it 685 00:47:42,080 --> 00:47:45,360 Speaker 2: because we know now for a fact that South African 686 00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:49,840 Speaker 2: operatives assassinated leaders of the Soviet supported social estate of 687 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:54,480 Speaker 2: the People's Republic of Angola throughout that conflict. So he 688 00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:57,239 Speaker 2: just took what he knew and he reversed it to 689 00:47:57,360 --> 00:48:00,720 Speaker 2: make the bad guys in his mind the bad guys 690 00:48:00,719 --> 00:48:03,759 Speaker 2: of his movie, regardless of who the bad guy was 691 00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:07,520 Speaker 2: in real life. Some of the actions taken in the 692 00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:11,040 Speaker 2: film by these villainous Cuban soldiers are things that we 693 00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:15,000 Speaker 2: know South African special forces did in multiple conflicts throughout 694 00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:19,000 Speaker 2: the region. Russian soldiers in the movie drop some sort 695 00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:22,839 Speaker 2: of toxic chemical from a plane on innocent civilians of Mombaka, 696 00:48:24,160 --> 00:48:27,680 Speaker 2: and in real life there were later revelations about something 697 00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:33,840 Speaker 2: called Project Coast, South Africa's chemical and biological warfare program. 698 00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:38,680 Speaker 2: There were horrific tales of chemical agents being tested on detainees, 699 00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:43,640 Speaker 2: specifically detainees from the Ankle And conflict, and they used 700 00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:47,640 Speaker 2: biological weapons to wipe out villages in Mozambique, Angola, and 701 00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:53,640 Speaker 2: Namibia spanning years. But in the movie, these anti communist rebels, 702 00:48:53,719 --> 00:48:58,320 Speaker 2: led by this Savimbi stand in are noble freedom fighters 703 00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:01,719 Speaker 2: and this Soviet killing has been sent to destroy them, 704 00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:06,879 Speaker 2: but he has second thoughts and et cetera. I don't 705 00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:09,239 Speaker 2: know why it's an hour and forty minutes long. There 706 00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:13,719 Speaker 2: is an extended sequence with no dialogue where a Kalahari 707 00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:17,120 Speaker 2: bushman is teaching Dolph Lundgren to hunt or hogs. 708 00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:18,640 Speaker 1: I don't know. 709 00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:20,680 Speaker 2: I was kind of looking at my phone at that point. 710 00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:26,319 Speaker 2: Dolph Lungren is basically just playing Ivan Drego again. He's 711 00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:30,160 Speaker 2: fresh off playing that Russian boxer in Rocky four. I 712 00:49:30,200 --> 00:49:33,400 Speaker 2: guess he's just kind of a one note guy. The 713 00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:36,360 Speaker 2: only interesting character in the whole movie is that Kalahari 714 00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:39,840 Speaker 2: bushman who rescues our protagonists from certain death in the desert. 715 00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:44,640 Speaker 2: He's played by rekhobstan an elder in the Komani clan 716 00:49:44,719 --> 00:49:48,279 Speaker 2: of the San People. He was ninety five years old 717 00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:51,400 Speaker 2: when the movie was filmed, and I was kind of 718 00:49:51,440 --> 00:49:54,200 Speaker 2: curious about who they got to play this role, and 719 00:49:54,239 --> 00:49:57,240 Speaker 2: so I looked him up and Rekhobe's son's son, David 720 00:49:57,360 --> 00:50:01,359 Speaker 2: would years later, after the fall of apartheid, successfully win 721 00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:04,080 Speaker 2: a legal battle for the return of their ancestral lands. 722 00:50:05,239 --> 00:50:07,960 Speaker 2: So the movie sucked, but at least it gave me 723 00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:11,000 Speaker 2: the opportunity to read a little bit about this rightful 724 00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:14,640 Speaker 2: restoration of the Komani lands, which are now protected as 725 00:50:14,640 --> 00:50:21,040 Speaker 2: a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is hard to say 726 00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:25,759 Speaker 2: exactly how Red Scorpion came to be. Abramoff's version of 727 00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:30,880 Speaker 2: events doesn't pass the smell test. He was outraged at 728 00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:34,600 Speaker 2: the allegation that the South African government had played any 729 00:50:34,640 --> 00:50:39,360 Speaker 2: part in his movie, but Craig Williamson, that South African 730 00:50:39,400 --> 00:50:43,680 Speaker 2: spy is on record claiming the film was absolutely quote 731 00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:48,560 Speaker 2: funded by our guys, and it would certainly be hard 732 00:50:48,640 --> 00:50:55,360 Speaker 2: to explain away everything about the film if that's not true. 733 00:50:55,520 --> 00:51:00,560 Speaker 2: Extras are played by South African soldiers. South African military 734 00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:04,800 Speaker 2: hardware is used for props. Vehicles with South African military 735 00:51:04,880 --> 00:51:08,480 Speaker 2: license plates were seen on set by cast and crew 736 00:51:08,560 --> 00:51:12,640 Speaker 2: and reporters. The South African military provided the production with 737 00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:15,759 Speaker 2: an old Soviet tank that they'd captured earlier in the 738 00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:20,319 Speaker 2: Angolan conflict, and South Africa allowed Abramoff to film the 739 00:51:20,480 --> 00:51:25,960 Speaker 2: entire movie in Namibia in nineteen eighty eight and nineteen 740 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:28,400 Speaker 2: eighty eight was the last year that the South African 741 00:51:28,400 --> 00:51:32,799 Speaker 2: military was actively occupying much of Namibia before the UN 742 00:51:32,880 --> 00:51:35,680 Speaker 2: arrived in nineteen eighty nine to facilitate the ceasefire and 743 00:51:35,760 --> 00:51:42,040 Speaker 2: the transition to Namibian independence. Carmen Aargenziano, the American actor 744 00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:46,880 Speaker 2: cast as the Cuban colonel, later told reporters that actors 745 00:51:47,040 --> 00:51:50,319 Speaker 2: knew during filming that most of the extras in the 746 00:51:50,320 --> 00:51:54,520 Speaker 2: movie were South African soldiers, and during filming there were 747 00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:58,560 Speaker 2: rumors on set that there was some kind of intelligence operation. 748 00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:04,799 Speaker 2: Argenza called it very fishy quote. We heard that very 749 00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:07,520 Speaker 2: right wing South African money was helping fund the movie. 750 00:52:08,320 --> 00:52:11,360 Speaker 2: It wasn't very clear. We were pretty upset about the 751 00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:14,879 Speaker 2: source of the money. We thought we were misled. We 752 00:52:14,880 --> 00:52:18,280 Speaker 2: were shocked that these brothers who we thought were showbiz liberals, 753 00:52:18,320 --> 00:52:23,600 Speaker 2: Beverly Hill's Jewish kids were doing this. Argenziano recounted one 754 00:52:23,640 --> 00:52:26,120 Speaker 2: incident at the hotel where all the actors were staying. 755 00:52:27,200 --> 00:52:30,719 Speaker 2: Some black Namibian children were playing on the escalator and 756 00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:34,360 Speaker 2: the South African soldiers working for the production were shouting 757 00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:39,560 Speaker 2: racial slurs of the children, chasing them away. Unnamed sources 758 00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:42,520 Speaker 2: close to apramoff told Ken Silverstein, writing for Harper's in 759 00:52:42,520 --> 00:52:47,760 Speaker 2: two thousand and six, quote, Yes, some people were duped 760 00:52:47,800 --> 00:52:52,760 Speaker 2: by the iff, but Jack wasn't one of them. As chairman, 761 00:52:53,400 --> 00:52:56,759 Speaker 2: he understood where the money was coming from. He knew 762 00:52:56,840 --> 00:53:01,400 Speaker 2: exactly who he was playing with. Another source told Silverstein 763 00:53:01,440 --> 00:53:05,080 Speaker 2: that Red Scorpion had absolutely been a propaganda project, and 764 00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:09,319 Speaker 2: Abramoff certainly knew it. Asked in nineteen eighty seven by 765 00:53:09,320 --> 00:53:11,200 Speaker 2: The New York Times if the film, which was still 766 00:53:11,239 --> 00:53:13,640 Speaker 2: in production at that point, was being financed by the 767 00:53:13,680 --> 00:53:19,160 Speaker 2: South African government, Abramoff gave the incredibly normal sounding answer 768 00:53:19,800 --> 00:53:24,280 Speaker 2: that he had raised the money from quote normal film investors. 769 00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:28,000 Speaker 2: In his own memoirs, Abramoff repeats his claim that the 770 00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:31,680 Speaker 2: film had been financed by private investors, but the only 771 00:53:31,680 --> 00:53:36,439 Speaker 2: investor he names is quoting from the book, Robert Hall, 772 00:53:36,600 --> 00:53:39,640 Speaker 2: a retired physician turned investor who owned a vineyard on 773 00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:44,879 Speaker 2: the cape of South Africa. And that's true. Robert Hall 774 00:53:45,040 --> 00:53:48,799 Speaker 2: was a retired doctor of sorts who was now an 775 00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:52,239 Speaker 2: investor of sorts and did own a vineyard on the 776 00:53:52,280 --> 00:53:56,880 Speaker 2: cape of South Africa. That's true, but Abramoff neglects to 777 00:53:57,000 --> 00:54:00,360 Speaker 2: include that Robert Hall was actually an American oral so virgin. 778 00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:03,480 Speaker 2: He'd invented a variety of high speed drills used in 779 00:54:03,640 --> 00:54:07,960 Speaker 2: dental and orthopedic surgical procedures, but he fled the United 780 00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:11,600 Speaker 2: States in the late nineteen seventies to avoid paying millions 781 00:54:11,600 --> 00:54:12,359 Speaker 2: of dollars. 782 00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:13,760 Speaker 1: To the IRS. 783 00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:17,680 Speaker 2: It's a little hard to google a generic sounding name 784 00:54:17,880 --> 00:54:20,439 Speaker 2: like Robert Hall. There are a lot of guys called 785 00:54:20,560 --> 00:54:23,040 Speaker 2: Robert Hall who might be a doctor and might live 786 00:54:23,080 --> 00:54:27,400 Speaker 2: in South Africa. But luckily for us this Robert Hall 787 00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:31,480 Speaker 2: unsuccessfully sued a South African magazine in the nineteen nineties. 788 00:54:32,840 --> 00:54:34,719 Speaker 2: A judge in the Cape of Good Hope ruled that 789 00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:37,760 Speaker 2: the magazine had in fact only been reporting the facts, 790 00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:42,920 Speaker 2: not defaming Hall, when they reported, among other things, that 791 00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:45,839 Speaker 2: he'd pressured a South African bank in nineteen eighty three 792 00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:49,920 Speaker 2: to allow him to engage in currency exchange transactions that 793 00:54:49,960 --> 00:54:52,360 Speaker 2: would be illegal for someone who is a permanent resident 794 00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:56,080 Speaker 2: of South Africa, and as part of his strategy to 795 00:54:56,160 --> 00:54:59,040 Speaker 2: convince the bank to let him keep doing these transactions, 796 00:55:00,040 --> 00:55:02,200 Speaker 2: he told the bank manager that he was a personal 797 00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:09,520 Speaker 2: friend of President Ronald Reagan. So yeah, just normal investors. 798 00:55:09,520 --> 00:55:14,719 Speaker 2: He raised money the normal way. Jeff Pandon who worked 799 00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:19,320 Speaker 2: under Abramoff at the International Freedom Foundation, says that Abramoff 800 00:55:19,440 --> 00:55:23,640 Speaker 2: hired Russell Kristel as an executive producer on the film, 801 00:55:23,960 --> 00:55:27,000 Speaker 2: and Krystal, in addition to being a state intelligence asset 802 00:55:27,080 --> 00:55:30,480 Speaker 2: running front groups throughout the nineteen eighties, was at this 803 00:55:30,600 --> 00:55:35,719 Speaker 2: time serving on President de Clerk's Presidential Council, and Abramoff 804 00:55:35,800 --> 00:55:39,319 Speaker 2: absolutely would have known that there's just no good faith 805 00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:43,520 Speaker 2: explanation that can possibly leave you believing that Jack Abramoff 806 00:55:43,560 --> 00:55:49,400 Speaker 2: had no idea that his movie was South African state propaganda. 807 00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:53,280 Speaker 2: The film flopped Warner Brothers pulled out of the agreement 808 00:55:53,320 --> 00:55:57,000 Speaker 2: to distribute it after pressure from anti apartheid activists led 809 00:55:57,040 --> 00:56:01,560 Speaker 2: mainly by Tennis Legend Arthur Ashe. Shooting delays left the 810 00:56:01,560 --> 00:56:05,879 Speaker 2: movie wildly over budget, and several actors claim they never 811 00:56:05,920 --> 00:56:10,800 Speaker 2: got paid. The International Freedom Foundation folded in nineteen ninety 812 00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:15,240 Speaker 2: three when the South African funding dried up, apartheid ended, 813 00:56:16,640 --> 00:56:19,680 Speaker 2: and by nineteen ninety five, Jack Abramoff was working as 814 00:56:19,680 --> 00:56:23,680 Speaker 2: a lobbyist for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, one 815 00:56:23,680 --> 00:56:25,920 Speaker 2: of the clients that he would eventually go to prison 816 00:56:26,000 --> 00:56:31,040 Speaker 2: for defrauding out of millions of dollars and that, I 817 00:56:31,040 --> 00:56:34,399 Speaker 2: guess is the story of how apartheid funded a bad 818 00:56:34,440 --> 00:56:38,480 Speaker 2: action movie and Jack abramoff Ate Cantuna at the Mujahadeen 819 00:56:39,760 --> 00:56:42,560 Speaker 2: and half the conservative think tags in Washington. 820 00:56:42,239 --> 00:56:42,440 Speaker 1: D C. 821 00:56:43,680 --> 00:56:55,240 Speaker 2: Secretly collaborated with South African military intelligence. Weird Little Guys 822 00:56:55,239 --> 00:56:59,120 Speaker 2: as a production of Kolzone Media and iHeartRadio. Its researched, 823 00:56:59,160 --> 00:57:03,360 Speaker 2: written and recorded by me Nelly Conger. Our executive producers 824 00:57:03,360 --> 00:57:07,040 Speaker 2: are Sophie Lichterman and Robert Evans. The show is edited 825 00:57:07,080 --> 00:57:10,440 Speaker 2: by the wildly talented Rory Gagan. The theme music was 826 00:57:10,480 --> 00:57:13,719 Speaker 2: composed by Brad Dickert. You can email me at Weird 827 00:57:13,719 --> 00:57:17,280 Speaker 2: Little Guys podcast at gmail dot com. I will definitely 828 00:57:17,360 --> 00:57:20,960 Speaker 2: read it, but I almost certainly will not answer it. 829 00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:23,520 Speaker 2: It's nothing personal. I don't answer any of my emails. 830 00:57:24,360 --> 00:57:26,680 Speaker 2: You can exchange conspiracy theories about the show with other 831 00:57:26,760 --> 00:57:30,360 Speaker 2: listeners on the Weird Little Guys subreddit. Just don't post 832 00:57:30,360 --> 00:57:31,959 Speaker 2: anything that's going to make you one of my Weird 833 00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:32,560 Speaker 2: Little Guys.