A Four-Decade Secret: One Man's Untold Story of Sabotaging Carter's Re-election

[Tony_FLADEM]

WASHINGTON — It has been more than four decades, but Ben Barnes said he remembers it vividly. His longtime political mentor invited him on a mission to the Middle East. What Mr. Barnes said he did not realize until later was the real purpose of the mission: to sabotage the re-election campaign of the president of the United States.

It was 1980 and Jimmy Carter was in the White House, bedeviled by a hostage crisis in Iran that had paralyzed his presidency and hampered his effort to win a second term. Mr. Carter’s best chance for victory was to free the 52 Americans held captive before Election Day. That was something that Mr. Barnes said his mentor was determined to prevent.

His mentor was John B. Connally Jr., a titan of American politics and former Texas governor who had served three presidents and just lost his own bid for the White House. A former Democrat, Mr. Connally had sought the Republican nomination in 1980 only to be swamped by former Gov. Ronald Reagan of California. Now Mr. Connally resolved to help Mr. Reagan beat Mr. Carter and in the process, Mr. Barnes said, make his own case for becoming secretary of state or defense in a new administration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html

https://archive.is/FgABN

[IA8IT]

1. He needs to clear his conscious??? Way to late.

Last edited Sat Mar 18, 2023, 08:35 PM - Edit history (1)

edit add

Reagan's re-election slapped me in the face that voting isn't enough. Get out and get active meet people knock on doors phone bank.

Tramp's election shows what a shitty job I did.

[Blues Heron]

2. One of the more evil moves in American history

[Lulu Latech]

3. This wasn't that much of a secret back then

Those who were paying attention suspected that this was going on. The hostage crisis was going on and Carter was blamed for the gas crisis. Things were in turmoil and many Democrats wanted to believe Reagan couldn't win....Sound familiar? And yet Reagan is still put on a pedestal...even though it was the beginnings of the degradation of our democracy.

[crickets]

7. 👆👆

[brush]

4. I remember this. It was sort of like the treason...

Nixon committed by sabotaging the Paris peace talks in '68.

Seems treason is never off the table with Republicans.

[Blues Heron]

5. He should know there is no statute of limitations for kidnapping

If he was involved with those people being held even a minute longer than they would have been, he is guilty of kidnapping.

Lock. Him. Up.

[keep_left]

6. There's a few more links and some additional detail here (locked post in LBN forum).

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143048087

[lame54]

8. Cheating - a Republican tradition

[Initech]

9. Well yeah, all I have to say is fuck that guy.

Imagine where we would be if voters had chosen Carter and avoided Reagan's anti-government bullshit.

[kskiska]

10. John Connolly was in the car when JFK was shot

and had a hand wound, I believe.

[Raine]

11. I always felt that somehow someone had sabotaged Carter

so Raygun could get in. Such an evil thing, how much better and different it all could've been but for this dirty plan. Thanks for the info and link.

[tinrobot]

12. What Republican hasn't cheated since Eisenhower?

[Kid Berwyn]

13. The October Surprise

Capt. Gary Sick, USN (ret.) was correct.

Excerpt…

In December 1979 and January 1980, Cyrus and Jamshid Hashemi, two brothers who had good contacts in Iranian revolutionary circles, approached the Carter Administration seeking support for their candidate in the Iranian presidential elections. I met both of them briefly during that period. Although Washington was sympathetic, their appeal was over taken by events. Their candidate lost but they remained in contact with the U.S. Government, providing useful information about developments in the hostage crisis.

Cyrus died in 1986, only three months after his cooperation with the U.S. Customs Service in a dramatic sting operation that resulted in the arrest of several Americans, Israelis and Europeans on charges of plotting illegal arms sales. Jamshid Hashemi, who was also involved in international arms sales, was not implicated in that affair. I re-established contact with Mr. Hashemi in March 1990 and interviewed him a number of times.

According to Mr. Hashemi, William Casey, who had just become Ronald Reagan's campaign manager, met with him in late February or early March 1980 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. Mr. Casey quickly made it clear that he wanted to prevent Jimmy Carter from gaining any political advantage from the hostage crisis. The Hashemis agreed to cooperate with Mr. Casey without the knowledge of the Carter Administration.

Mr. Hashemi told me that he and his brother helped to arrange two critical meetings. In a Madrid hotel in late July 1980, an important Iranian cleric, Mehdi Karrubi, who is now the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, allegedly met with Mr. Casey and a U.S. intelligence officer who was operating outside authority. The same group met again several weeks later. Mr. Hashemi told me that Mr. Karrubi agreed in the second Madrid meeting to cooperate with the Reagan campaign about the timing of any hostage release.

In return, he was promised that the Reagan Administration, once in office, would return Iran's frozen assets and help them acquire badly needed military equipment and spare parts. Two other sources subsequently described these meetings in very similar terms in interviews with me and my colleagues. The Carter Administration had no knowledge of these meetings.

Continues…

https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_cr/h920205-october-clips.htm

Conspiracy of traitors.