Dangerous Addiction to Secrecy

[unhappycamper]

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-parry/51787/dangerous-addiction-to-secrecy

Dangerous Addiction to Secrecy
by Robert Parry | September 25, 2013 - 8:39am

If President Barack Obama is right about the revived hopes for settling several interlocking crises in the Middle East — from Iran’s nuclear program to the Israel-Palestinian conflict – a good starting place would be a decision by the various sides to lift the curtains of unnecessary secrecy surrounding both current events and their historical context.

But the key actors in these geopolitical dramas can’t seem to shake their addiction to secrecy. For instance, on the historical front, Iran and Russia – as well as Israel and the U.S. intelligence community – have evidence about alleged Republican-Iranian interference in President Jimmy Carter’s hostage negotiations with Iran in 1980, but this material is still kept hidden.

Over the years, key Iranians, including former President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, have declared that a secret deal was struck with Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign to delay the release of 52 American hostages in Iran until after the U.S. election to guarantee Carter’s defeat. But the Iranian government has kept officially mum on its role in the so-called October Surprise case.the U.S. government confirmed that the CIA, indeed, had organized a coup d’etat against the elected Iranian government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953, installing the autocratic Shah of Iran who governed Iran harshly until 1979.

The Iranians could now show their appreciation for that belated U.S. admission by disclosing whatever evidence they have about Republican double-dealing during the 1980 hostage crisis. Whatever those facts may show, the truth could clear the air – and establish some trust – as the United States and Iran grapple with how to resolve the current dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. (For the latest and most detailed account of the October Surprise evidence, see Robert Parry’s America’s Stolen Narrative.)




unhappycamper comment: St. Ronnie stole a page from Tricky Dick and Henry the K's playbook