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George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography - Get a Free Blog

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system for the Contras. <strong>The</strong> explosive, public phase of the Iran-Contra scandal had<br />

begun.<br />

October 11, 1986:<br />

<strong>The</strong> Washington Post ran two headlines side-by-side: `` Captured American Flyer to be<br />

Tried in Nicaragua '' and `` <strong>Bush</strong> is Linked to Head of Contra Aid Network. '' <strong>The</strong> Post<br />

reported:<br />

Asked about these matters, a spokesman for <strong>Bush</strong>, Marlin Fitzwater, said: ``<br />

Neither the vice president nor anyone on his staff is directing or coordinating an<br />

operation in Central America. '' ...<br />

<strong>The</strong> San Francisco Examiner, which earlier this week linked [<strong>Bush</strong> adviser<br />

Donald] Gregg to Gomez, reported that Gomez maintains daily contact with<br />

<strong>Bush</strong>'s office....<br />

[M]embers of Congress said yesterday they wanted to investigate the<br />

administration's conduct further. And ... several said that their focus had shifted<br />

from the CIA to the White House....<br />

[T]he Sunday crash will be among events covered by a [Senate] Foreign Relations<br />

Committee probe into allegations that the contras may have been involved in<br />

drug-running and abuse of U.S. aid funds, [Senator Richard G.] Lugar said....<br />

<strong>The</strong> Customs Service said yesterday it is investigating whether the downed plane<br />

may have carried guns out of Miami, which would violate federal restrictions on<br />

arms exports and other laws, including the Neutrality Act, which bars U.S.<br />

citizens from working to overthrow governments not at war with the United<br />

States....<br />

Hasenfus told reporters in Nicaragua the plane had flown out of Miami.@s7@s6<br />

<strong>George</strong> <strong>Bush</strong>'s career was now on the line. News media throughout the world broke the<br />

story of the Hasenfus capture, and of the crewman's fingering of <strong>Bush</strong> and his underlings<br />

Rodriguez and Posada Carriles. <strong>Bush</strong> was now besieged by inquiries from around the<br />

world, as to how and why he was directing the gun-running into Latin America. Speaking<br />

in Charleston, South Carolina, <strong>George</strong> <strong>Bush</strong> described Max Gomez/Rodriguez as `` a<br />

patriot. '' <strong>The</strong> Vice President denied that he himself was directing the illegal operations to<br />

supply the Contras: `` To say I'm running the operation ... it's absolutely untrue. '' <strong>Bush</strong><br />

said of Rodriguez: `` I know what he was doing in El Salvador, and I strongly support it,<br />

as does the president of El Salvador, Mr. Napoleon Duarte, and as does the chief of the<br />

armed forces in El Salvador, because this man, an expert in counterinsurgency, was down<br />

there helping them put down a communist- led revolution [i.e. in El Salvador, not<br />

Nicaragua]. ''@s7@s7<br />

Two days later, Gen. Adolfo Blando@aan, armed forces chief of staff in El Salvador,<br />

denied <strong>Bush</strong>'s contention that Felix Rodriguez worked for his country's military forces: ``<br />

This intrigues me. It would have to be authorized [by our] joint chiefs of staff [and] the<br />

government. '' He said such authorization had not been given.@s7@s8

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