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thorne93 · 5 years ago

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Inside the Criminal Mind (Part 17)

Prompt: You’re married to Dr. Spencer Reid of the BAU, and are a distinguished doctor yourself on the team. You’re sent down to Miami, Florida for teaching and as a side request from the FBI, to investigate a string of missing persons. When you think you’ve figured out who the unsub is, your life becomes more complicated than you ever could’ve imagined.

Word Count: 4839

Warnings: (throughout the fic –>) death, blood, gore, killings, language, disturbing mental notions, mentions of rapes/murder/etc (You know, Dexter and Criminal Minds related business)

Notes: Thank you so much to @arrow-guy, @carryonmyswansong, and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo - without each of you, I couldn’t have finished, written, or properly navigated this story. Each of you helped me fish out details that were incredibly important to me. Beta’d by @carryonmyswansong and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo… Aesthetic by @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo

This is a crossover of Criminal Minds x Dexter. First time writing Dexter.

Also, the timeline is after Season 1 of Dexter, but during season 14-ish of Criminal minds into Season 15. Enjoy!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another week went by when you were at Dexter’s. He tried to balance his time with you and Rita a bit more, so she didn’t get suspicious of all the time together, and tonight was your night together. He was doing some research on an unsub -- or victim, depending on who you asked -- when you got a call from Emily.

You frowned, looking at the number. Why would she be calling? No one on the team had called you since you left for Miami since you weren’t working. What could she need?

You answered the phone, a sense of despair already building in your gut before any words were out of your or her mouth.

“Hello?” you greeted uneasily as you stood from the chair beside Dexter.

“Y/N? It’s Reid,” she said, her voice totally in “chief” mode.

“What? What is it?” you demanded, desperately trying to keep your wits.

“He’s been taken. We had an unsub in custody, Benjamin Merva, and he’s left the building. Garcia and Reid are nowhere to be found.”

“Oh my god. Okay. I’m on my way,” you said quickly. “Update me with anything you have.”

“I will.”

With that, you two hung up and you grabbed your purse, stuffing your things into it.

“I have to go,” you urgently said before Dexter stood.

“Wait, what’s going on?” he asked.

“It’s Spence. He’s been kidnapped.”

“Shit. Okay. Uh, what are you going to do?”

“Fly up to Washington and help my team,” you said without even thinking. You got to his door and turned to him, your hand on the handle. “I’m going to find my husband.”

He strode over to you. “Wait. Do you… Do you want me to come with you?”

You frowned at him for a moment. “I… I mean I wouldn’t mind but why would you want to come with me?” you asked, a little flabbergasted.

“Because… I lie to everyone I know... but not you. I tell you the truth, all of it, and you don't run from me. Deb’s my sister, but she doesn’t know the truth about me. You’re...well for lack of a better term, my best friend, and I don’t want to see you go through this alone.”

“But what about work? Rita? Deb?”

“I’ve got some vacation time, and Rita will understand.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, Spencer needs you, and you need a friend.”

Part of you wanted to say you’d have friends up in D.C, but Dexter was right. Neither of you had anyone that knew the whole truth about you and accepted you, and right now, before you went berserk, you needed that odd calming sensation that Dex always provided.

“Okay, yeah. Let’s go. Call Rita from the car. I’ll go straight to the airport. The Bureau should have a jet on standby,” you informed as you exited the apartment and he locked it quickly behind him.

“And they’ll just let you use it?” he wondered, trying to keep up with your pace.

“A high profile criminal has escaped, two federal agents are his prisoners, and we have no clue where they went. So yes, they’ll want their best profiler on the case, no expense is too large,” you said with an assuring look before jumping into your rental car.

You tried not to break every law on the way to the airport, but it was hard. Dexter called Rita and she was fully supportive, unsurprisingly. Finally, you got there, already calling the Bureau, and got clearance to use the jet. They had it ready and fueled and let you and Dexter on. Of course, they wondered who he was and you told him he was with Miami PD, explaining he was a friend and colleague that might be able to help on the case.

Then you two were in the air.

Your leg was bouncing erratically. You tried calling Spencer twice yourself, but it only went to voicemail and on the second time, you couldn’t stop the tears. Without leads from Emily, and no distraction from the team, and nothing to do but sit on the plane, there was nothing to stop you from breaking down. The heels of your palms went into your eyes as you began to sob. Dexter sat across from you, unsure how to console you.

“They’re going to find him,” he tried and you just looked at him, not trusting yourself to say a word.

You picked up the laptop on the jet and opened it, trying to get a video chat going with someone on the team -- Emily.

“When was he taken?” you demanded in an even tone as soon as he picked up.

“An hour ago.”

“It took you an hour to report this to me?”

“We didn’t know he was taken. We thought he was part of the evacuation.”

“Evacuation? Emily, what the hell is going on?”

“Owen Quinn, an agent who worked here over a year ago sent an email to Spencer. It had his badge and where to find him. Spence found him in a storage unit barely alive. He told us he was held captive and tortured by the Strangler.”

“I remember that guy. Wouldn’t let the case go so he quit, right?”

“Right. He says he was abducted and tortured by a husband and wife, but their son was kind to him. Now we didn’t know if he was concocting this or if he was telling the truth. The parents were dead, and the son, Theo, was gone. We thought maybe he killed the parents, maybe he was the strangler, because the storage unit was in Quinn’s named, paid for in cash, and inside we found seven hyoid bones. We thought he might have broken Benjamin out, but they left him for dead in the garage.”

“Okay, so where are Spence and Garcia?” you questioned.

“That’s what we need to find out. We aren’t sure who took them yet, but we do know Benjamin and them are missing. Someone must’ve been on the inside to help because he was locked on the fifth floor.”

“Wait, you said Spence found the guy in a storage unit. Did he go alone?”

“Not exactly. He told me what was happening and requested that SWAT go with him.”

“Why didn’t he just take you and the team?” you wondered, and more importantly, why didn’t he tell you he was going to find him on his own?

“He said whoever sent him the email wanted him to find it. I was outside as soon as they called in finding a body.”

“So now what? Any leads?”

“We thought that Quinn was converted, but we got that part wrong. Benjamin leads a cult, and agent Meadows is part of it all.”

“A… a cult?” you questioned. “What the hell would a cult want with Garcia and Spencer?” you asked, more to yourself than anything else. “Okay so no leads?”

“No, and the systems are down.”

“Fantastic,” you groaned. “Alright. Find out what you can about this Meadows… Call if you have any updates. I’m going to go over what I can on the ride up. By the way, I’m bringing a friend,” you said, your eyes shooting at Dex across the table.

“Oh? Who?”

“Dexter Morgan. Forensics for Miami PD.”

She peered at you for a moment before nodding. “Okay, we’ll get him a visitors badge when he gets in.”

“Thanks, Em.”

You shut the laptop lid and sat back into the chair, thinking, dissecting everything you knew about cults.

“You’re pretty...collected when you’re working.”

You smirked. “Funny, I could say the same for you. You get a calm that washes over you when you...work,” you said, giving him a look that you both meant something other than work.

“Your team seem really good, and you’re intelligent. You’ll find him,” he assured.

You shook your head, tears coming to your eyes. “What if I don’t, Dex? What if the last times we spoke were all just bullshit because I couldn’t keep my insecurities in check?”

“Hey, you can’t help how you feel. You can’t live your life as if every moment would be the last with someone. If that were true, no one would ever hurt anyone and we’d always be forgiving and never mad. It’s just not realistic.”

“I know but--” you stopped, a sob choking you. You let the tears flow before bending over to sob. “I just want him safe.”

“He will be,” he said, consoling you.

-------------------

You marched into the FBI building, after getting Dexter a visitor’s badge. He followed you diligently into the bullpen.

“Get me up to speed,” you ordered as soon as you walked into the area, eyeing your colleagues.

“Uh, Y/N, are you sure you’re up for this?” Tara asked. “It is Spence. Maybe you should just let us work and--”

“No,” you firmly said, a darkness in your eyes. Your eyes flashed to Emily’s. “You can fire me for insubordination if you’d like but if you all get to stay on the case, then so do I. Whether I’m on or off the FBI payroll, I will be here, fighting to find him just as much as you.”

Emily nodded at you. “Okay. We take care of our own.”

Rossi clapped your back as Luke smiled at you.

“Meadows, she’s one of his followers. She took Theo, their new messiah, Reid, and Garcia. Our systems just came back up and it looks like someone hacked it from within the building.”

“Okay, she worked for ViCAP, why?” you asked.

“That’s the million dollar question,” Rossi agreed.

“We’re about to check out the camera’s,” Matt informed and you glanced over to him. You followed him while Dexter stayed behind and looked at the case files you’d given him.

Three of you watched the security footage, watching where Merva went, where Meadows went, when Garcia used her key card, until finally -- there he was. Spencer. Your heart felt relief and despair in one swift moment. You kept your eyes glued to the screen to see what clue’s he’d leave behind.

Sure enough, on a second watchthrough, he was signing “Ben’s Believers” and this threw everyone for a loop.

“Why would he sign that? He already knows we figured that out.”

You and Luke looked at each other with quizzical faces. What was that supposed to mean?

Everyone regrouped in the roundtable room, where Rossi led the new question.

“Why is at the heart of every BAU investigation, and this one isn’t any different.”

“Why did she work for ViCap,” Luke surmised.

“Exactly. As we know, ViCAP agents liaison between federal and local agencies. The whole point is to put together details of crimes that could be connected across the U.S. Then it gets on our radar,” Rossi explained.

You made the connection in your head quickly. “So she’s been wiping out any connection to the cult,” you said, your stomach getting queasy.

Rossi continued, “We had to go back to when she joined and rebuild her case histories.

We found a pattern that she was hiding.”

JJ added, “So the murders she was covering up were the ones where the victims were missing hyoid bones.”

“Like the ones you found in the storage unit. Seven, right?” you affirmed.

“As it turns out, this cult has killed more than seven,” Rossi said with a bit of solemness in his voice.

Emily frowned as she asked, “How many?”

“299,” JJ informed and suddenly your legs felt like jello.

“Oh my god,” you gasped out, holding onto the chair in front of you.

Dexter reached for you. “I’m gonna get her to some fresh air,” he informed, and the team nodded. You leaned into him as he led you from the room, out into the elevator area.

“Dex… 299 kills… and she’s been hiding it,” you breathed. “299… What if… What if they want Spencer for the last kill?” You shook your head as tears rolled down your cheeks. “I can’t lose him. I just can’t. Not like this, alright?”

He suddenly pulled you close to his chest and wrapped his arms around you as you sobbed into him, clinging to his shirt. Some would say it was odd, finding comfort in the arms of a serial killer, especially being an FBI agent - but for you, this made sense. Dexter was no more monster than you or anyone on your team. He only did what most of them wished they could do.

Eventually, you dried your eyes and went back to the round table room. You hated to hear the things you were hearing about your husband, but you had to hear them.

“All right, look, The Believers, they're just like Jonestown, Manson, Heaven's Gate, even Rajneeshpuram in Oregon. There's always a charismatic leader and a strong right hand who appears as a devoted disciple. In this case, Meadows,” Tara was saying as you stepped back in, all eyes on you but discussion still flowed.

Merva has killed 299 innocents for a reason. We just don't know why. But now that he's taken Reid and Garcia, The Believers have declared war on the BAU. So this has got to be working toward their end game, one that could make either Reid or Garcia their 300th victim, perhaps their last,” Emily stated, her eyes flashing to you. “I’m sorry, Y/N, I know this is hard to hear but--”

“No, I know. I was just… thinking the same thing out there. They’re a cult, right? They’ve got victims. It only makes sense to round it off to a certain number,” you said shakily.

“Garcia wasn’t part of this, she was just racing to the elevator,” Matt said.

“So then it’s Spence,” you said definitely, your eyes touching on all of your teammates. “It’s always been him. According to what you’ve gathered, he fits the victimology. A protector…” You bit your lip to keep from breaking down.

“Reid has to know something we don’t,” Tara insisted.

Luke added, “Ben's Believers. Reid could have told us anything, but he chose that.”

“Okay, so why? What is it about them that we’re missing?” you questioned.

With that, you wracked your brain for several minutes before you went to the restroom. One, you were in there to take a breather from this, get out of your own head for a moment. Secondly, mother nature was calling.

A minute later, you heard someone leave their stall and wash their hands. Then the door opened and you heard a second pair of feet. Now there were three people in the restroom.

“Hey,” Emily said so someone.

“Hi,” JJ said back and instantly, your blood boiled. You rolled your eyes, about to just leave so you wouldn’t have to hear this, but then suddenly she spoke again, and the words caught your attention. “Did I ever tell you about the Redskins game? Gosh, 14 years ago, now? Well, uh, Spence--Spence got us good tickets. Actually, Gideon gave them to him., and talked him into asking me to go. So you know, I just figured all the youngest team members should hang out, so I, of course, asked Garcia to come along. Ugh.” She made a sound of embarrassment. “Turns out Morgan and Hotch were giving him pointers on the side thinking it was going to be a date.”

Emily made a sort of amused noise before JJ continued.

“Gosh, I mean, he’d never been on one before. Poor Spence. He didn’t know what to do.”

You closed your eyes and slowly shook your head. You were trying to remember this was a long time ago, and that he’d proven he didn’t want her like that any more. But right now, with him missing, and her remembering this date so… fondly…. It was really crawling up your spine.

“I’m just glad he forgave me.”

“Ah, he adores you,” Emily implored. “And it sounds like that was the beginning of something even better. The 3 of you have been inseparable since I met you.”

Suddenly, it sounded like JJ got choked up and said, “I don’t know how to do this without them. If we can’t get them back--”

“It’s okay,” Emily assured and that was your cue. You ripped open the stall door and stared at JJ and Emily. They broke apart and JJ’s eyes slightly widened at you.

“Uh, Y/N, I didn’t realize you were in here,” she suddenly said, trying to wipe her eyes.

“Yeah, I bet you didn’t,” you all but spat. “Probably wouldn’t be going on about a date you had with my husband years ago if you didn’t. Maybe we should call Will and tell him how fond you are of that time?” you asked, your eyes narrowing.

“Y/N,” Emily said carefully.

“No, this is not okay,” you said, your eyes shooting to hers. “I know their missing but using this to cash in on some missed connection with my husband is fucking sick, don’t you think?”

“We’re all a little high strung right now,” Emily started. “Let’s just take a breather. She didn’t mean anything by it. We all want Spencer and Penelope to come back home safe and sound.”

“Yeah maybe some more than others. Emily, do you know what she did? What she’s trying to do to my family?” you shouted. “She’s waited years to bring this up, and now… now that Spence is missing it’s just--”

A knock came to the bathroom door before Dexter suddenly poked his head in.

“Everything okay in here?” he asked, eyeing the three of you.

“No, it’s not okay. JJ thinks it’s fine to just--”

“Okay, yeah, we’re just going to take a little walk, alright?” he asked, stepping in and putting his hands on your shoulders from behind to pivot you out.

“Let go of me, Dex!” you ordered.

“As soon as you calm the fuck down. This isn’t the time or place to lose your cool. You need to remember who you are, and what you do, and what your mission is right now,” he informed once he got you at the end of the hallway, in a secluded corner. His face was just inches from yours as he tired to get you to focus up. “Remember your husband is on the line. You can deal with this other shit later, right?”

You sighed, running your hands through your hair. “You’re right. You’re right. You’re always right,” you said in defeat. You shook your head. “This case...whew….” You blew out air and kept shaking your head. “Dex, I…. I’ve been thinking, and… I love my husband very much. I would do anything for him. He’s my one true love. I can’t imagine life without him,” you explained watching his face as he tried to digest what you were saying. “I want you to know that… if it ever came down to it… to choosing him over what we do, I’ll choose him. Every time. I need to know that you’re okay with that.”

He blinked for a few seconds, looking at you, searching your face for questions to answers that you weren’t sure of.

“Okay. Yeah. I can respect that,” he agreed.

“Thank you. I just… I can’t lose him, and if I get him back....I don’t want to lose him to the other side of me. I can’t live without him. I hope you can understand.”

“I do,” he assured with a nod. “When my brother tried to kill Deb, I just… I guess I snapped. Sure, Bryan was blood, he was like me, but he wasn’t the one who had always been there for me. Deb knows me. We shared a childhood, a father, a mother. We work together. Bryan was just a distant memory to me. I chose her because I guess… a life without her seemed a hell of a lot harder than losing Bryan. He was nothing to me, I’d lived without him this long…”

“Because you love her,” you assured. “It’s the same reason you protect Rita, Deb, everyone you’re close to.”

“I think you forget my diagnosis.”

“I think you devolve into self-fulfilling prophecies,” you accused with a half smile. “Thank you for being here with me,” you said, squeezing his arm.

“Sure. You wanna get back to the investigation now?”

You nodded with a smile. The two of you walked into the bullpen where Emily and Rossi were putting together more of Meadows’ profile. Suddenly, it clicked for her and she remembered both of them. They were both at a ranch in Colorado, they were part of a cult then. Meadows was one of the wives the cult leader had taken, and that’s how they knew Merva, he was there too.

Tara, Luke, and Matt set up video to watch it. You’d seen it a few times too, but now it meant more. There were kids they were trying to rescue, Prentiss and Spence had gone in undercover. Then the place had exploded, killing the messiah, now they were out for revenge. Emily and JJ approached with news that local FBI was guarding the ranch, and that the women and kids were offered a fresh start through WITSEC. That’s where Meadows took her chance - she accepted help, knowing she’d betray the government.

You were listening, your eyes flashed to Dexter, when behind him, a battered Garcia came in.

“Holy shit. Are you okay?” you asked, breezing past Dex to get to her. You put your hands on her shoulders just as she began talking.

“It’s a warehouse that’s in Hillcrest. 18 minutes,” she informed, clearly distraught. “I can take you there. You gotta hurry. They hurt Reid, he’s been bleeding there. They’re in trucks with Theo. I heard a gunshot. It’s a warehouse--” Garcia began again and you closed your eyes before hugging her. She was still talking. She was in shock.

“Someone grab a jacket, or a blanket, or something,” you directed.

“On it,” Luke said quickly.

“Garcia, Garcia, listen to me. Is Spence okay?” you asked but she just kept rambling. You looked to Dexter, worry evident in your eyes. Within three minutes, the team was geared up and ready to head out the door on Garcia’s directions.

“We’re going to the warehouse now,” Emily informed. “Y/N, are you coming? You can’t come as an agent but I’ll let you ride along.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m coming.” You turned to Dexter as you walked by. “You’re coming with me. I can’t do this without you. If he’s…. If he’s not--”

“He’s going to be fine. Your team is good. They’re serial killers, Y/N, they aren’t just going to shoot him and walk away. It’s all about a protocol, and MO with these people. If they really want him to be his 300th victim, they won’t do it unceremoniously.”

You nodded, choking back tears and the lump in your throat as he spoke to you.

“Alright. Let’s go find my husband.”

He gave you a nod and the two of you left, joining the team in an SUV. They raced to the warehouse. You stayed in the car, too nerve wracked to go in. Dexter and you sat quietly, and the team came out. They shook their heads.

Emily got in the car with you. “He wasn’t in there. They killed Theo though. That must’ve been the gunshot Garcia heard.”

“Then… where did they take him?” you wondered.

With that, Emily and the team called Garcia and JJ. Spence apparently told Garcia that it all happens at 10:23, but it was past that time so no one knew what it meant. She explained how they made her rig the system so they could get past weigh stations and clear the trucks of all history. She blamed herself and you felt so bad for her.

Now all of you were racking your brains trying to figure out what that could possibly mean. Theories and ideas were flying across the room. Garcia suddenly remembered that Cyrus was technically reborn in Kentucky due to his prison time.

At least it was a start. All of you boarded the plane and more ideas continued to go around. Dexter even threw in a couple of bible passages he knew, and you threw in one as well, but nothing was sticking until JJ found something.

The team realized it was Arcadia, a synonym of Eden, that he needed to be found in. You wanted to relax, but what if you all were wrong? What if it was a misdirect? What if it wasn’t the right place at all?

But then, Garcia pulled land deeds, and sure enough, Merva had land in the area. The team landed, got their gear on, and you joined them.

Emily put her hand up as she was fastening her vest when you picked a vest up. “Woah, hey, I don’t think you should be in the field on this one.”

“They have Spence, Emily. My husband? I’m not going to sit in the car on this one. I need to be here. It’s one more pair of hands to help in case the situation gets out of hand.”

She eyed you up and down but then nodded. With that, you put the vest on, strapped on your gun, pulled your hair back into a small bun, and all of you got into the cars to make your way to the plot of land they owned.

SWAT and your team stealthily walked across the land as Dexter stayed behind in the cars. You wanted him there with you, knowing he would kill better, quieter, and faster than most of the others, but seeing as he was just forensics to the FBI, he wasn’t allowed anywhere near this.

You took out one gunman from behind, before sweeping around a tent, and suddenly, the sound of Heaven filled your ears -- Spencer was talking. He was alive, thank God. You wanted to breathe a sigh of relief but you still needed to be quiet.

Then Meadows said he was stalling and suddenly he was silent again. Your heart felt heavy again but you plucked up, realizing he needed you now more than ever.

The team was still patrolling as Merva was speaking, when suddenly Rossi saw one of the Believers and shot him, before he could shoot Rossi. Immediately, everyone made a break for the front, where the sacrifice was taking place. Matt, Emily, and you stormed the area. Matt took out two men with automatic guns when Merva ran towards Spence with the knife at his throat.

“Merva!” you shouted, and as soon as he turned, you shot at him - twice. He fell down and Emily ran to check his pulse. With everyone away from Spence, you immediately went to his side, unbuckling him from the wood he was strapped too.

“Are you okay?” you asked, worry in your voice.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he assured just as you got the last buckle undone. He fell into your arms and you hugged him tighter than you ever had in your life before peppering his cheeks and lips with kisses. You didn’t care who was around or if PDA was a problem for anyone. You almost lost the love of your life.

Which then reminded you that behind you was a pack of wild animals that were willing to let him get sacrificed. Your bloodlust kicked into maximum overdrive and you had to mentally calm yourself.

You helped him out of the area and got him back to the SUV where Dexter stood, leaning against the car waiting for you all.

When he saw you, he smiled, extending his hand. “You must be the famous Dr. Reid,” he said cheerfully.

Spence took his hand.

“I’m sorry, have we met?” he asked.

“Oh, Spence, this is Dexter. He’s… he’s a good friend from Miami. He came up to support me and help on this case,” you informed.

“Ah. Well, I’m glad to meet you.”

“I’m glad you’re okay. This one was going out of her mind,” Dex said as he looked at you.

“I’m sorry,” he said, apologizing before kissing your hair. “I never want to make you worry.”

“Well let’s just get you home, okay?”

On the way back, you rode in the back of the SUV, sandwiched between Dexter and Spence. You rested your head on Spencer’s, smiling every so often at Dex. For just a few moments, life, despite being messy, felt completely right between these two.

On the plane ride back, Dexter sat across from you two and Spencer and him got to know each other rather well. Dex seemed to like to pick his brain, and Spencer seemed to like getting asked a million and one questions about himself or any myriad of things.

It didn’t go unnoticed by you that JJ had glanced your way a few times with an odd look on her face. You returned the look, keeping your expression even.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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#inside the criminal mind #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fic #spencer reid #dexter #dexter morgan #dexter morgan fic #dexter fic

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thinkveganworld · 5 years ago

Text

Reagan Administration Undermined the Constitution - A Cautionary Tale from History

Written by “thinkveganworld.tumblr.com”

I wrote this series of articles on Iran-Contra a few years ago. Many people who lived through the episode then, and most people today, don’t understand the scandal. For anybody who might want to know what Iran-Contra was about, I thought I’d re-post this updated version. This is Part One, and I’ll add Parts Two and Three later.

Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and other members of the Reagan Administration participated in a cover-up of Iran-Contra during the 1980′s, and the cover-up continues to this day.

Americans often either wince or yawn at the mention of Iran-Contra, a scandal lost to memory for most of us. However, the story is important now because the son of one of the Iran-Contra participants is running for president. [When I wrote this article the candidate was George W. Bush.] The elder Bush lied to the public when he claimed he was "out of the loop" on Iran-Contra.

People might find Iran-Contra interesting if it were more accurately named. An apt name for Iran-Contra would be the "Republicans-Undermine-the-Constitution" scandal. If the public fully understood that George W. Bush's father participated in a forceful assault on the Constitution, George-the-Younger would not likely be the GOP front-runner today.

One reason Iran-Contra is lost to the American memory is that television news commentators did not do a good job explaining it to the public. The problem is not that mainstream media censored the story. They did not. Print journalists ran detailed accounts, and the Iran-Contra hearings were televised. The problem is, many Americans get all their news from television newscasts. Many people believe a news story is important only if TV journalists discuss it on news talk shows day after day. [Iran-Contra happened at a time before the Internet was open to the public and long before YouTube existed.]

Television journalists did not repeatedly dissect Reagan's and Bush's behavior and explain the constitutional implications of Iran-Contra. ��Journalists did manage to set aside enough air time to saturate the public with detailed explanations of the Clinton scandal. If TV commentators had spent an equal amount of time sifting through and explaining Iran-Contra, most Americans would now fully understand why the scandal mattered and how it threatened our constitutional system. If journalists understood Iran-Contra, they would not say George W. Bush's father had a "clean presidency."

This week I replayed 1987 and 1990 broadcasts of "PBS Frontline" with Bill Moyers on the subject of Iran-Contra. I also re-read substantial portions of the "Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair" published by the New York Times (Times Books, 1988.) The Moyers broadcast and the Congressional Report are the sources for all the information which follows, except where I specify other sources.

Moyers says that Congress's report on the Iran-Contra affair shows "the common ingredients of the White House policies were secrecy, deception, and disdain for the law." Moyers is right. The Congressional Report does show the Reagan White House deceived the American people and expressed contempt for the Constitution and the law.

The Congressional Report says: "The President did know of the Iran arms sales, and he made a deliberate decision not to notify Congress. ... As a consequence of the President's decision not to notify Congress, the operation continued for over a year through failure after failure, and when Congress finally did learn, it was not through notification by the Administration, but from a story published in a Beirut weekly."

President Ronald Reagan repeatedly told the American people he would not negotiate with terrorists. That was a lie. A November 3, 1986 report in a Lebanese magazine broke the story that Reagan was bargaining with the Ayatollah Khomeni for release of American hostages. Moyers shows footage of Reagan looking straight into TV cameras denying it. Reagan lied to the public again during a news conference the following week, claiming there were no U. S. sales of arms to Iran.

Reagan also lied to the American people about the nature of the Contras and the purpose of their operations. Reagan and CIA director William Casey created the Contras. Reagan portrayed them as democratic "freedom fighters," but the Contras' ultimate goal was the overthrow of the Nicaraguan government, a government legally recognized by the United States.

The Contras were not interested in promoting democracy, as Reagan claimed. A March 1986 report by the human rights monitoring group America's Watch said: "The testimony we obtained frequently showed gratuitous brutality: the Contras not only murdered their victims; they also tortured and mutilated them. In some cases they also killed members of the families of their targets." (William D. Hartung, AND WEAPONS FOR ALL.)

Around 70 percent of the American people disapproved of Reagan's Central American policy, but he zealously (and secretly) pursued it anyway. When CIA agents under Reagan's CIA director Casey mined Nicaraguan harbors and blew up fuel tanks, Congress cut off Contra funds. Reagan then secretly and illegally turned to foreign governments for money to keep the Contras going. He lied about that to the American people, too.

The Reagan White House enlisted a group called the "Enterprise" to help get around the law. General Richard Secord defined the Enterprise during the Iran-Contra hearings. He said, "The Enterprise is the group of companies that Mr. Hakim formed to manage the Contra and the Iranian project. ... I exercise overall control." Secord admitted to the Congressional Committee that he sold arms to the Contras for a profit.

The Enterprise included, in Moyer's words, "a shadowy network of arms dealers, fraudulent companies, and secret bank accounts." Senator Daniel K. Inouye, chairman of the Senate Select Committee, described the Enterprise as a "shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fund-raising mechanism and the ability to pursue its own ideas of the national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself."

Enterprise leader Richard Secord purchased 1,000 missiles from the CIA for $3.7 million. He sold them to an Iranian middle man for $10 million. The Enterprise made millions of dollars of profits from sales to Iran, and most of the money did not reach the Contras. Around $8 million remained in a private Swiss bank account at the time of the Moyers broadcasts.

During the Iran-Contra hearings, Senator Paul Sarbanes asked Secord, "If the purpose of the Enterprise was to help the Contras, why did you charge [Contra leader] Calero a mark-up that included a profit?" Secord answered, "We were in business to make a living, Senator. We had to make a living. I didn't see anything wrong with it at the time."

Bill Moyers says, "While profits were being made, lives were being lost. ... In Nicaragua the Contras use weapons from the Enterprise against civilians. It is a terrorist war they are fighting. Old men, women, children are caught in the middle." Lt. Col. Oliver North learned the Contra leaders were not noble "freedom fighters." North's liaison with the Contras, Robert Owen, told North in a memo that the people surrounding Contra leader Adolfo Calero "are not first-rate people. They are liars, greed and power motivated. This war has become a business to many of them."

Moyers interviewed a disillusioned former Contra officer. The officer said of Contra leaders, "They bought shoddy goods and sold them at hiked up prices. They bought low-grade grains...and put them up for sale or billed them to themselves at the highest prices. They did the same with ammunition. They did the same with rifles."

"All this," says Moyers, "the contempt for Congress, the defiance of law, the huge mark-ups and profits, the secret bank accounts, the shady characters, the shakedown of foreign governments, the complicity in death and destruction -- they did all this in the dark, because it would never stand the light of day. Secrecy is the freedom zealots dream of. No watchman to check the door. No accountant to check the books. No judge to check the law. The secret government has no Constitution. The rules it follows are the rules it makes up."

The Reagan Administration repeatedly lied to the American people throughout the Iran-Contra scandal. In fact, Reagan, Bush, and the other Iran-Contra participants managed to get away with their wrongdoing precisely because they lied, stalled, stonewalled, and participated in a cover-up -- not because they were innocent, as many of their supporters still believe.

The many lies of both President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush, and further details of the Iran-Contra operations, will be the subject of the next article in this series.

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thinkveganworld · 6 years ago

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Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it ...Iran-Contra

Here’s Part One of a four-part series on Iran-Contra I wrote a few years ago. It was published at a number of online sites including Online Journal (now Intrepid Report), the Daily Kos, and several others. Though Iran-Contra happened years ago, the history of this episode should be understood. As the old saying goes, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

George H. W. Bush's many lies - Part One

By Carla Binion (”thinkveganworldtumblrcom”)

January 14, 2000 | George W. Bush is the Republican party's confident front-runner and a "pet" of certain mainstream TV journalists. Chris Matthews of CNBC's "Hardball" said recently that Bush's father had a clean presidency, and commentator Cokie Roberts said on ABC's "Sunday Morning" that Bush comes from a nice family.

Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and other members of the Reagan Administration participated in a cover-up of Iran-Contra during the 1980s, and the cover-up continues to this day. In their glowing praise of the Bush family, Matthews and Roberts did not mention George Herbert Walker Bush's many lies to the American people regarding Iran-Contra.

During Iran-contra, Republicans undermined the Constitution in ways Democrats have never done. Many people say Democrats and Republicans are both owned by large corporations. They say there is little difference between the parties, and that neither represents the people. That is true to an extent, but, on the whole, it is only Republicans who have aggressively threatened the Constitution.

Americans often either wince or yawn at the mention of Iran-Contra, a scandal lost to memory for most of us. However, the story is important now because the son of one of the Iran-Contra participants is running for president. The elder Bush lied to the public when he claimed he was "out of the loop" on Iran-Contra.

People might find Iran-Contra interesting if it were more accurately named. An apt name for Iran-Contra would be the"Republicans-Undermine-the-Constitution" scandal. If the public fully understood that George W. Bush's father participated in a forceful assault on the Constitution, George-the-Younger would not likely be the GOP front-runner today.

One reason Iran-Contra is lost to the American memory is that television news commentators did not do a good job explaining it to the public. The problem is not that mainstream media censored the story. They did not. Print journalists ran detailed accounts, and the Iran-Contra hearings were televised. The problem is, many Americans get all their news from television. Many people believe a news story is important only if TV journalists discuss it on news talk shows day after day.

Television journalists did not repeatedly dissect Reagan's and Bush's behavior and explain the constitutional implications of Iran-Contra. Journalists did manage to set aside enough air time to saturate the public with detailed explanations of the Clinton scandal. If TV commentators had spent an equal amount of time sifting through and explaining Iran-Contra, most Americans would now fully understand why the scandal mattered and how it threatened our constitutional system. If journalists understood Iran-Contra, they would not say George W. Bush's father had a "clean presidency."

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Note: I’ll post the other parts of this series later.

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