WEBVTT - Selects: Iran-Contra Affair: Shady in the 80s, Part 1 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:03.440 Hey guys, it's me Josh. For this week's select I've 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:08.000 chosen our twenty nineteen episode on the Iran Contra affair. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.440 We called it Shady in the eighties for two good reasons. 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:14.520 One it took place in the eighties, and two it 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:18.880 was probably the shadiest thing the US government has ever done. 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:23.160 And that's really saying something. Anyway, if you like your stuff, 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:26.760 you should know episodes eye popping, then prepare for this one. 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:40.880 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.520 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:49.240 Charles w Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry over there eating with chopstick. 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:50.760 As a matter of fact. 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:52.520 You know what, Jerry pulls up the chopsticks. 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:53.560 It's time to record. 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:54.160 That's right. 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:57.160 Yeah, she's got she's got Facebook open and she's sitting 0:00:57.160 --> 0:00:59.680 there with her chopstick. So it's we're recording now. 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.120 He's been fork free since eighty three. 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:08.000 Speaking of eighty three, your shirt, I guess it's kind 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:08.800 of eighty three ish. 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:10.120 It looks very Thomas Magnum. 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:13.000 It does, Chuck. It does not just the shirt, the 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:15.360 whole outfit. Look at the jeans, the shoes. 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:18.400 Yeah, yeah, you got the Ferrari out back. 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:21.479 Thank you for noticing. Man, I look like a chubby 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:22.560 Thomas Magnum. 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.600 It's funny because I just finished Stranger Things three and 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:29.880 I saw that there was a have you seen it yet? 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:30.480 Are you into that? 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:33.840 No? I like the first season. I never really got 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.280 back into it after that. No, no offense to anybody. 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:41.240 Sure, the main the sheriff guy, Yeah, Hopper wears a 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:43.400 shirt kind of like that through most of this season. 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:44.040 Is that right? 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.280 And so someone did a cut of a like a 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.800 Magnum p I intro and had him running around and 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:52.880 shooting things and jumping into cars, all set to the 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:55.000 Magnum thing, and it really fits. All I gotta do 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:59.200 is throw that song with the guy with a shirt 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:00.680 like that Magnum. 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:02.840 Yep. Of course he has the mustache too. Well, I'm 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.120 a mustacheless chubby Magnum. 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:07.160 You should wear a mustache. That looks interesting. 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.280 I don't know. I do solve a lot of mysteries though. 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:12.040 Nothing can change a look like. 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:16.160 Mustaches, Oh dude, especially right, especially a. 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:18.440 Fake mustache, because you just put it on and bam, 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.480 you're done. Right, So I tried. I'm going to go 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:23.920 back to the eighty three segue. 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:25.760 Yeah we're here, right, We're right in the middle of 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:26.200 the eighties. 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:30.080 Yeah, like this was super eighties. This is as eighties 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:32.799 as it gets. Yeah, Iran Contra, fair, that's what we're 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:35.399 talking about. Some people call it iron Gate. I poo 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:36.240 poo that name. 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:37.160 Iran Contra. 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:42.160 Sure. I remember this going on at the time, me too. 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.880 I remember watching All Over North Testify me too, and 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.680 my sister was like, he's so dreamy. Look at how 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:49.919 much poise he has. 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.840 He had his dress greens on right exactly those metal. 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:56.520 Had his boy scout three fingers up like swearing. I 0:02:56.639 --> 0:03:01.640 really think he did do that. But even as an adult, 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:04.480 like everything I knew about around Contra was like, until 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:08.160 researching this, it was just the glossiest version. 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:11.400 Well, I mean I was like ten and eleven, so 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:12.720 you were like seven and eight. 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.440 Sure, sure, but I mean like it's still over time. 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:18.080 As you age, you're like, oh, that's what was going 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.800 on or oh I understand that. Even as an adult, 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.080 my conception of it was not very thorough at all. 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:26.480 And as I dug into I'm like, this is one 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.120 of the shadiest things in Meerica has ever done yeah ever. 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:33.000 Yeah, and it was really great to do this, and like, 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:35.920 now I know it. Now I have a full understanding 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.360 of what happened. And if it ever comes up at 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.160 a party, right and people are like, oh, what was 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:44.360 that all about? Anyway, I'm gonna be like, wow. 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:45.960 Please sit down for an hour and. 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.040 I'll just pull up my smartphone and play our episodes. 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.800 Right, actually, maybe an hour and a half. We'll see 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:51.400 how this goes. 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:53.680 Yeah, by the way, everyone, this is a two parter. Yeah, 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.880 buckle up, and so, uh this is part one. 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:58.960 I figured we'd start with the beginning. 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:00.960 I think that that's a really good idea. 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:05.200 That reminds me of my friend in college watched the movie, 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:07.000 Oh which one was it? 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:09.320 Burned Shortcuts? 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.640 The movie that was on two video cassettes? What it 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:13.240 was so long? 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:13.600 You know? 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.120 I had to split him up? Was it Magnolia? 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:17.159 The Bridge Too Far? 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:18.239 I can't remember. 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:20.960 My friend in college, very very famously among our friends 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:24.760 watched the second tape first and then watched the first 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.040 tape second and didn't really put it together. 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.240 She was just like, I thought it was a little. 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.240 Confusing, really, so it was accidental. 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.800 Oh yeah, oh, and then she was like and then 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:36.719 she showed up in the in the second part, and 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:38.080 I was like, she's already dead. 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.080 She was kind of country. This is kind of funny. 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:44.839 This movie is one of them an achronisms. Yeah, well, 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.839 this is not an acronism, because we're going to be normal, smart, 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:49.560 singing people and start at the beginning. 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:50.000 That's right. 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:51.920 And there's really no better place to start than the 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:56.000 election of Ronald Reagan in nineteen eighty Ronald Reagan, if 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.000 you weren't familiar with him already when he was president, 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.160 he had already been governor of California, But even before that, 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:06.719 he had a pretty extensive career in Hollywood. And while 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:10.279 he was a pretty big star in Hollywood, at least 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:12.920 B plus list, if not a list. 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.000 Actor, yeah him. Mean, he was a medium sized. 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.200 Star, sure, but definitely way more famous as president than 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:19.479 he ever was as a movie star. 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:19.880 Sure. 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:25.800 He learned to detest communism. Yeah, and at the time, 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:29.919 communism was a really big thing in Hollywood, Like it 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:34.839 was very fashionable, especially among the intellectuals of Hollywood. Yeah, 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:37.040 and he learned to hate it so much so that 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:39.880 by the time he got to be president, he had 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:45.440 this idea that there was. It was impossible for capitalist 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:51.120 democracy and communism to coexist even peacefully on earth. You 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:53.599 couldn't have both. You had to have one or the other. 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.320 And by god, Ronald Breagan was going to see to 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.600 it that the one that we had was a capitalist democracy. 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:04.080 Ye want to stamp out communism wherever it reared its head, 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.440 and it was rearing its head close to home, which 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:10.080 we'll see here in a second, but all over the world. 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.720 Oh, yeah, for sure. It was called the Reagan. 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:14.520 Yeah, bits and pieces of it were right. 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.680 And he came up with the Reagan doctrine. And the 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:23.080 Reagan doctrine was, we will aid any any opposition to 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:26.520 communism wherever it sprouts, Like if you're if you're fighting 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.840 against a communist revolution, we'll support your country. If you're 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:35.039 a rebel fighting against a leftist communist government, we'll help 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.279 you overthrow. That's the Reagan doctrine. 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:44.760 Yeah, via money, via arms, via training, via covert operations 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.440 that we carried out ourselves. Yeah, there were all kinds 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.520 of ways that we could and did help stem the 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:51.359 flow of communism. 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:53.760 So there was, as you were saying, there was a 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.800 place pretty close to home where communism had sprouted up, 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.279 and that was Nicaragua down in Central America, and in 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:04.920 Central America in the thirties, the Sandinista government had taken 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:08.400 power and had held onto power well into the seventies 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.560 and by this time the early eighties, and it drove 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:15.160 Ronald Reagan nuts that there was a communist power right 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:20.200 there that was being supported by the Soviet Union through Cuba. Ostensibly. 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:23.960 I've never gotten the impression that this was ever conclusively proven. 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:27.120 They definitely got support from Cuba. But whether it was 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.240 the Soviet Union who was really calling the shots of 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.200 Nicaragua or not, I don't know. 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:35.000 Yeah, And I think, you know, to go even further 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:38.600 back and draw the lines a little even more clear. 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:43.280 The Sandinistans were named for Augusto Sandino, who led the 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:49.960 nationalist rebellion against what the US occupation of Central America. 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:50.960 Oh that's where it started. 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.440 Huh, that's where it all started. And from nineteen you know, 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.640 the US occupied. This is all part of the Banana Wars. 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.280 So we occupied Nicaragua from nineteen twelve to nineteen thirty 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:03.440 three for a lot of reasons, but one was like, hey, 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.800 no one's going to build a canal here unless it's us, right. 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.600 That was sort of one of the main reasons, and 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.760 that all ceased in nineteen thirty to three with Roosevelt's 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.840 Good Neighbor policy, which is basically like, we're going to 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:16.040 pull out in Nicaragua. 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.240 Oh really, yeah, okay, So, but we. 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:23.080 Had our fingers all over Central America right for many, many, 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:26.720 many years. And that's why when people forget or choose 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:30.560 not to remember when people flee horrible situations in Central 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.199 America to come to the United States now like kind 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.600 of where all these horrible situations started years and years 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.560 ago because of things that we did right well. 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:44.520 When Reagan became president, intervening in Nicaragua, Nick Man, I'm 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:46.360 going to have a hard time if I can't say 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:53.120 Nicaragua intervening in Nicaragua became like a like first and 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:54.640 foremost priority for them. 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:55.320 Yeah, for sure. 0:08:55.440 --> 0:09:00.360 Almost immediately they started funding the Contras. The Contra are 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:03.439 the groups who were fighting against the Santa Nista government. 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.600 They were right wing groups, and they were funding them, 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:09.360 they were training them, like you were saying, and they're 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.880 doing all this secretly. There was an operation called Operation 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.880 Black Eagle Man that one that was something else. Yeah, 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:19.120 So we were already funding them, and at the time, 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:22.000 Congress was on board. Congress was on board, especially at 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.320 first because the Republicans controlled the House. Well, you know 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:27.960 how when somebody comes in and just steamrolls over the 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:32.880 other party, usually in a presidential election, very frequently in 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:36.400 the midterms, the congressional midterms, there's like a backlash against that. 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:37.520 Yeah, like a house flip. 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.439 Believe it or not. That happened to Ronald Reagan in 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:43.080 nineteen eighty two, and the House did flip. They flipped 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:49.480 over to the Democrats. And that Democrat controlled House, combined 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:53.160 with a Newsweek cover story that came out, kind of 0:09:53.360 --> 0:10:00.120 turned the tide against Reagan's policy on helping out in Nicaragua. 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.720 There was a CIA director named William Casey who was 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:06.720 he was kind of telling Congress what they needed to 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:10.240 hear here and there you have been here vague briefings. 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:15.120 That was probably a generous way to say it. Sometimes 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.520 Casey would send another guy, though, named Dwayne Dewey Clarridge. 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.880 And this is where things really went south because Clarridge 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:27.040 did not present well to Congress, and anytime Congress feels 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:32.319 like they're being subverted or ignored or like kept out 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:34.400 of the loop, or like not able to offer their 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:38.040 checks and balances on the executive branch. They really get mad, 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:40.160 they do. And like we're seeing that today. This is 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.840 like history just repeats itself over and over again. 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.920 Exactly. Yeah. And in this particular case, the place where 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:51.960 where the administration, the regular administration in Congress just started 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:55.000 butting heads over niic Aragua, it was Duane Claridge. Yeah, 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.720 you know, he just that's how poor a job he did. 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.200 But in his defense, he was coming from a place 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.200 where he was a CIA man through and through. And 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.920 this is less than ten years after Congress had just 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:11.240 basically rooted out the CIA, held public hearings. That's when 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:15.240 like the MK ultra came out and the fact that 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.439 they've been dosing unsuspecting Americans with LSD. 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:21.160 Yeah, So in his defense, he was mad because they 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:22.679 uncovered all the awful things that. 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.400 He'd been doing, right right, right, true compassion, Chuck, Yeah, 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:30.959 that's true, compassion. So Congress is starting to get a 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:35.720 little unhappy with this. And there was one congressman in 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:39.520 particular named Edward Edward Boland I believe, and he was 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.000 from Massachusetts, and he said Hey, I just read about 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:47.400 this cover story in Newsweek has a title America's Secret 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:51.400 War colon Nicaragua. Seems like they should have flip flopped that, 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.160 you know, Nicaragua colon America's Secret War. 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.720 I think they both had the same end goal. 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:00.560 It's fine, right, But he was like, wait. 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:02.720 Why am I reading about this in a magazine? Yes, 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:04.800 and I'm a member of Congress, right. 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:08.040 Because at this time, like Congress was like, well, okay, 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:10.600 we think we're just kind of funding things, we're maybe 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.920 helping out a little bit. This Newsweek magazine was like, no, no, no, 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.840 it's way more than that. Yeah, like there is way 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.080 more American involvement down in Nicaragua then you've been led 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:21.520 to believe Congress. 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:26.880 Like actual covert CIA ops like blowing up bridges and 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:32.240 blowing up buildings and you know, direct saboteur type ops. 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:35.320 Yeah, not just here's some arms. Yeah, and then you 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:38.040 know you close this one eye, believe this eye open 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.920 when you're shooting. There was way more involved than that. 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:45.000 Or we could just do the shooting basically here, just 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:45.800 let me do it. 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:50.960 So Congress in the guys of Edward Bolan said Nope, 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:53.840 we're not doing that, and they passed the bowl In Amendment, 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:58.080 which basically said, if you cannot use CIA funds or 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:03.439 Department Defense Department funds to aid the Contras in Nicaragua, 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.920 it's done. Good night. Congress went to sleep. 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:08.840 And so that should have been the that's the end 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.040 of it, right, because Congress passed a well it was 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:13.240 at a law, now passed. 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:14.840 An amendment in act in act. 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.480 Yeah, and so everyone just stopped, right, that's how it works, 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:19.480 all right, what's part two going to be about that? 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:21.240 We're just going to see here quietly. 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:27.199 So this did not stop anything. Here's what happened. In 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:31.080 nineteen eighty three. The CIA had this one operation where 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.600 they went into the commercial shipping harbors of Nicaragua. 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.520 Oh boy, I know it's it's pageous. 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.080 I said it right in my head all morning. Nicaragua. 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:43.800 And they put mines there. You know, I was about 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:46.640 to say land mines, but they were sea mines, yeah, 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.960 floating mines, right. And the idea here was we're going 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.360 to plant these mines that we're going to whip up 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:57.200 our own press releases for the Contras where they take 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:58.840 credit for it, like we don't even trust them to 0:13:58.840 --> 0:13:59.800 write a good press release. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:01.719 The CIA wrote the press release for. 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:03.800 It, so where the Contras are saying that they. 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:07.199 Did it, and the overall effect it's going to have 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:09.320 is they're not gonna be able to ship arms via 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:11.479 the seaport, at least into Nicaragua. 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.439 Plus it also makes the Contras look way more together, 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.079 sure and with it than they actually were. 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:18.319 Right, like, all we need to do is give them 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:19.360 some money, and they got it covered. 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.840 Right. So the CIA does this and they're thinking, okay, 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.560 so mine are shipping in the Nicaragua Harbor's is going 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.480 to stop. It does not stop. No, as a matter 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.720 of fact, there there was damage. So they used little 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.200 firecracker mines which make a big blast in a lot 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:37.040 of water everywhere. But if it's a big ship, it's 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.000 not going to hurt the ship. Well, it's sunk a 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.040 lot of small fishing vessels. But it also damaged ships 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:46.640 from the Netherlands, Great Britain, Oops, Japan, and the USSR 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.880 commercial ships. So the Wall Street Journal broke this story 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:54.000 and said, hey, you guys, Congress, you remember how you 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.960 pass this amendment saying there could be no CIA involvement 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.520 in Nicaragua. Well, they mined the whole arbor of the 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.960 sovereign nation, and it blew up a bunch of other 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:05.479 other country ships. 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:09.400 In Congress once again, it's like, man, you keep doing 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.400 secret things behind our back. That really makes us mad. 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:14.520 Should we take a break. 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:16.040 All right, let's take a break. 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:28.000 Stuff you should know, Josh and shuck. Stuff you should know. 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:29.320 Stuff you should know. 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.840 Okay, let's keep going. So what does Congress do? They're like, 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.480 all right, they're mad. We passed one Bowlan amendment, which 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.200 I don't think we said chuck. That first Bowlin Amendment 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:56.840 was pasted four hundred and eleven to zero, unanimously saying 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:59.680 do not mess around in Nicaragua anymore. That's when you 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.200 know VERSU is mad, right, when they unanimously agree on something. 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:05.800 And then then the Wall Street Journal breaks the story 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:09.160 about the harbor mining long after the Bowling Amendment was passed. 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:11.840 And now Congress is even madder. 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:16.480 Right, So they passed two more amendments, Boland amendments, because 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:21.440 there were loopholes basically that allowed you know, the US 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.400 to sort of do these things semi legally. So it 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:26.200 was like, well, here's a loophole, so it wasn't really 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:27.680 fully illegal that we did this stuff. 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.280 Yeah, that's like the Reagan administration's way. 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:31.680 All right. 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:37.200 They closed these loopholes and now this was like it 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:39.880 was pretty ironclad. I don't know about iron clad, but 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.360 it was pretty tight amendment wise. 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:46.360 At the very least. Congress walked away thinking it's done. 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:49.600 So we made ourselves quite clear, right, Ronald Reagan signed 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:50.400 these into law. 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:52.280 Yeah, he didn't bete him. 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.600 No, he accepted these things. I think he even said like, yeah, 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.520 this is a good idea, great way to go Congress 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:01.720 and signed it. I'm not going to do a Reagan impression. 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:05.560 But so Congress thought that the matter was settled, but 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:09.440 it wasn't settled. Like this is how laser focused Reagan 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:15.399 was on overthrowing the Santainista government down in Nicaragua. He 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:21.520 just took a CIA operation and took it even further 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:24.840 underground than it had been before. Basically, he was like, Okay, 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:28.160 if you guys are going to outlaw this stuff, we're 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:30.560 just going to have to get even more illegal. 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:31.359 Yeah. 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:33.320 So there were a couple of factions here at work. 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:37.640 One was this continued operation underground, deep deep underground now, 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:40.800 and then there was Reagan's public like he still wanted 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:44.440 to get real money from Congress, so he didn't have. 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:45.119 To do this stuff. 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:49.360 So he kept up this public PR campaign, beating this 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:53.879 drum about communism at our doorstep. He said that the 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:56.880 contrast were the moral equals of our founding fathers. 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:58.720 That's a big one to pull out, Like that's. 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:00.880 A direct quote, Yeah, of our found founding fathers. Yeah, 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:05.920 and started in with the and again you see this 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.120 stuff kind of repeating itself, the campaign of fear, where 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.920 he basically said, unless we do something tough here, then 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:15.720 there will be a tidal wave of feet people. 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.119 I don't even know what that means, but that's that 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:20.119 just seems super offensive. 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:22.680 Swarming into our country. He meant, you know, refugees, feat 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:24.359 people seeking a safe haven. 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.000 It was one word, even I think one word. 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.040 It's funny because I looked up feet People and that's 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:32.000 a company that, like, I think, makes shoelaces. 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:37.080 And they're like, yes, say it again, say dot com. Uh. 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:40.280 So this is all going on and on the on 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.160 the on the down low, all the operations are going 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.520 on and on the public facing side, Reagan's just continuing 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:47.800 this PR push. 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:50.320 Right basically saying, like Congress, look at these heartless old 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:53.560 you know, gas bags. Turning off the funding to these 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:57.400 Founding father moral equivalent to our Founding fathers. Go vote 0:18:57.440 --> 0:18:59.359 these guys out of office and vote in some people 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:00.919 who will turn the funding back on. 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.800 Yeah. And while the Contras may have been fighting Communism, 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:09.639 they were doing so through means that the Founding Fathers 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.800 probably would not have approved of, like murder and torture 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:18.280 and rape and mutilation, kidnapping and not. You know, I 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:20.320 mean it wasn't so widespread that it was like that's 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.560 all they were doing, but they would resort to those tactics, right, 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.080 And that's not Founding father stuff. 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:28.320 No, it's definitely not, not as far as I've ever learned. 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:28.960 No, I don't think so. 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:31.440 And I mean it's had a few hundred couple hundred 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.200 years to come out, yeah, and it still hasn't. So Yeah. 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:35.960 I read some of the stuff too, Like some of 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.640 the affidavits were like just brutal. 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:43.160 Oh yeah, dude. The war down in Nicaragua, the civil war, Yeah, 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:46.679 that the US basically fomented and supported. It went on 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:49.200 for a decade, like it was, it went on into 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:53.440 the nineties, and it was like not just like countrymen 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:58.680 against countrymen, like civilians were getting murdered by the scores. Yeah, 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.439 and just they would get kidnapp and tortured and killed, 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.800 and like, it was a really brutal time in Nicaragua. 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:07.680 And the Reggae administration is right in the middle of this, 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:09.720 like providing as much I eat as they can to 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:10.320 one side. 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:11.119 Yeah, and it was. 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:15.000 One of the big problems was that the Contras back 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.800 then were a bunch of different factions and they did 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:20.480 an answer to a single leader. And the one thing 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:22.800 I got out of the affidavits, one of which this 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.040 woman described them taking her children and her finding their 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:27.600 mutilated bodies the next day. 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:28.640 It was brutal. 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:33.320 One of the leaders said that there's no disciplinary system 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:38.080 at all within the Contra groups, so oh yeah, yeah, 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:40.760