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AIM Report: Kerry Subverted Reagan's Pro-Freedom Policies - July


July 12, 2004 The media recognized how Reagan contributed to the collapse of Soviet communism but not how Kerry used his position in the U.S. Senate to protect Soviet advances in the Western hemisphere.

The passing of Ronald Reagan produced an emotional tribute to the former president from Dan Rather, anchoring the CBS Evening News on June 5. Rather appeared to choke up at the end of the broadcast after describing Reagan's impressive life and career. This reaction to Reagan's death may reflect awareness, even in this crusty veteran liberal news anchor, that a truly great American who had changed history for the better had passed from the scene. But while many journalists went back in history to analyze and comment on Reagan's extraordinary political career, they left out the name of one of Reagan's most prominent adversaries—Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Kerry's statement in honor of President Reagan mentioned that he "shaped one of the greatest victories of freedom." This was the victory over Soviet-style communism. The Senator conveniently forgot to mention that he was on the wrong side of this epic struggle. But in a press release distributed to the media, Cliff Kincaid, editor of the AIM Report, charged that what was missing from the media's extensive coverage of Reagan was a factual account of how Kerry tried to sabotage the former president's pro-freedom policies in Central America.

The media recognized how Reagan contributed to the collapse of Soviet communism but not how Kerry used his position in the U.S. Senate to protect Soviet advances in the Western hemisphere. One of Reagan's main adversaries in the Senate at the time, Kerry tried to undermine the "Reagan Doctrine" of supporting anti-communist freedom fighters, known as the Contras, in Nicaragua.

The Kerry Committee

In 1988, Kerry chaired a Senate Subcommittee on Narcotics, Terrorism and International Operations and promoted unsubstantiated charges that the Nicaraguan freedom fighters, some of their supporters, and the CIA had condoned or been active in narcotics trafficking. The purpose was to discredit the policy of stopping communist subversion in the Western hemisphere. A House Committee headed by Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton found no evidence to support the charges.

At the time, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky charged that Kerry was running the subcommittee "like a division of the Dukakis campaign." Michael Dukakis, the former Massachusetts governor, was running against Vice President George H.W. Bush for the presidency that year. Kerry had served as Dukakis' lieutenant governor and was clearly trying to damage Bush politically by linking him to illegal activities.

But Kerry's office was itself accused in signed statements and affidavits of offering money to jailed mercenaries in Costa Rica if they would say negative things about Contra activities. One of the witnesses before Kerry's subcommittee, who made wild allegations that Bush's office had links to drug traffickers, falsely claimed a connection to the CIA.

One of the most embarrassing episodes for what became known as "the Kerry Committee" came when the Senator took false testimony from a convicted drug-money launderer, Ramon Milian-Rodriquez, who said he had funneled $10 million to the Contras through Felix Rodriquez. Rodriquez was a Bay of Pigs veteran, retired CIA operative and associate of Vice President Bush who helped the Contras and had played a role in the operation that apprehended and killed Che Guevara. Rodriquez, who dismissed the drug charges as a ploy by a convicted felon to get a reduced prison sentence, said that Kerry had asked him in a private session why he didn't do more to save Castro associate Che Guevara's life. He replied that while he tried to save his life, he was glad he didn't succeed because it would have meant more communist regimes in the Western hemisphere.

Kerry's staff, mostly left-wingers recruited from radical organizations in Washington, D.C., collaborated with the Christic Institute, an organization promoting a lawsuit against a "secret team" of former military and CIA officials that charged them with arms and drug smuggling and other crimes. Some of the defendants in the suit did support the Contras while others had no such involvement whatsoever. The suit received extensive publicity from the media but it was thrown out of court for lack of evidence......

The balance of the article may be found at:

http://www.aim.org/aim_report/1786_0_4_0_C/
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