Revelations
A lot of political revelations in the US last night. Bryan reports at Hot Air about a plan Kennedy seemed to have in 1983 to defeat Reagan during the US Presidential elections. Quote:
There’s a new book on Ronald Reagan making the rounds, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism. Its author, Paul Kengor, unearthed a sensational document from the Soviet archives. That document is a memo regarding an offer made by Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts via former Senator John Tunney, both Democrats, to the General Secretary of the Communist Party, USSR, Yuri Andropov, in 1983. The offer was to help the Soviet leadership, military and civilian, conduct a PR campaign in the United States as President Ronald Reagan sought re-election. The goal of the PR campaign would be to cast President Reagan as a warmonger, the Soviets as willing to peacefully co-exist, and thereby turn the electorate away from Reagan. It was a plan to enlist Soviet help, and use the American press, in unseating an American president.I received a review copy of The Crusader on Wednesday. The book first references the Kennedy plan on page 206, and includes the complete Soviet memo, dated May 14, 1983, in the Appendix. It’s an eye opener.
If the proposal is recognized as worthy, then Kennedy and his friends will bring about suitable steps to have representatives of the largest television companies in the USA contact Y. V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interview. Specifically, the board of directors of ABC, Elton Raul and the television columnists Walter Cronkite or Barbara Walters could visit Moscow. The senator underlined the importance that this initiative should be seen as coming from the American side.
- If true, Dan Riehl’s assessment of the situation is quite an understatement: “This is freaking outrageous,” he wrote. If this is true, it is not just outrageous, it is a US Senator working with the enemy of his country to make sure that a US President will not be re-elected. That is dangerously close to something called treason. I would say, let someone carry out an investigation into the nature of these accusations. Of course, it could all be part of some smear campaign but if it is not, if it is true, I do not see how Kennedy could be a Senator any minute longer. I will leave it up to the American legal experts to speculate about possible legal consequences.
And oh, guess who is suspected of leaking the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) information. Larry Hanauer: an aide to… Harman.
In a letter to Hoekstra dated Sept. 29, committee member Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., said a committee staff member — identified by FOX sources as Hanauer — requested the document from National Intelligence Director John Negroponte three days before the Times story appeared.“I have no credible information to say any classified information was leaked from the committee’s minority staff, but the implications of such would be dramatic,” LaHood said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. “This may, in fact, be only coincidence, and simply ‘look bad.’ But coincidence, in this town, is rare.”
– Of course I cannot possibly know whether or not Hanauer is the one who leaked the NIE (and how much Harman knew about it if true). But… this has the potential to hurt the Democrats tremendously and if true those involved should be held accountable… including Jane Harman.
Others blogging:
The American Thinker
The Jawa Report
Jeff Goldstein
USS Neverdock
UPDATE
James Joyner points out:
Several rather important caveats apply here. First, we don’t know the authenticity of the letter. Why the KGB would fake such a memo and then not use it is unclear but it could certainly happen. Second, Kengor is a rabid partisan. He’s the author of God and Ronald Reagan, God and George W. Bush, and several other books praising contemporary Republican presidents. He’s also the director of The Center for Vision & Values which “embrace[s] the wisdom of Western Civilization that biblical truth is the foundation of freedom.� His scholarship is very much informed by his ideology. Third, 1983 was hardly “the height of the Cold War.�
He is very much right about all of that. This is – of course – captured in my ‘if’: I repeat, it could all be a smear campaign, but if not…
38 Responses to “Revelations”
October Surprise?
Of course, the Soviet document could well be a fake and the NIE could have been leaked by somebody else.
Oh, and AIPAC had been dragged in for gratuitous anti-Semitism.
Well, I’ll believe the Kennedy-Soviet connection when I see it. By all means investigate, they are serious allegations, but on the face they sound a little far-fetched. They seem to be in the same group as “North Korea did it’s nuclear test to influence the US elections against Bush!” and “Bush knew about and cooperated with the 9/11 attacks!”. Wingnutish statements, all of them. Not that it makes them automatically false, just that they should all be taken with a couple hundred pounds of salt.
Do a google search on this subject. This is hardly something new that Paul Kengor has “unearthed.” It has been floating out there for a while — highlighted by Human Events Online, Freerepublic, et al.
Color me sceptical.
From the media organizations that invented TrooperGate…we bring you…”If the Democrats Win The Communists Have Won.” As stated above, I’ll believe it when I see some sort of corrobaration outside of the right wing media. I guess Chappaquiddick just doesn’t have the media punch it once did.
An additional level of authentication will be required even if it is established that the document Kengor cites did in fact originate within the KGB. Disinformation is always a possible tactic, and investigators will need to rule out the possibility that the document, while authentic in the sense of originating within Soviet intelligence, is nevertheless a forgery prepared by the KGB or GRU during the Cold War for the purpose of blackmailing Senator Kennedy and former Senator Tunney.
Ruling out forgery would also include the need to rule out a contemporary forgery by the Russian intelligence services for the purpose of setting off political controversy here. Russia, like France, is what has been called a “frenemy,” which is to say that it is an enemy doing whatever damage it can while protesting its friendship. The “frenemy” nature of our relations with Russia makes it necessary to check the possibility that the document was forged.
“Soviet or Russian forgery” would certainly be a good line for Kennedy and his partisans to take if the issue gains traction. It might even be true.
I dunno, you think the Soviet thing would have surfaced sooner. It also doesn’t help that the book’s review on Amazon starts by saying “In this hagiographic account…” and books like that need major enemies from all sides. The real kicker though is Walter Cronkite: who in their right mind would think that Walter Cronkite would help with this plan? That would be like finding out your sweet grandpa was a top SS officer.
The NIE suspension was just humorous, with the Republicans literally saying “We have no idea whether this aide was responsible but Harman made us angry so we needed payback.” The amazing thing is that the last two scandals — Foley and Reid — it was actually leaked to the press from within their own parties. Will the streak continue?
Also it doesn’t really matter whether any of this is true, it’ll have the same effect.
So the plan here was to have the charismatic Yuri Andropov speak directly to the American people during the peak of the Reagan Administration and convince them that the Soviets were a peaceful, reasonable regime and Reagan was being unreasonable and warlike and then that was going to help Ted Kennedy get elected?
He’s probably offering the same deal to Iran right now.
In regards to the leaks, I am really tired of the two standards. If leaks are bad then BOTH sides of the political spectrum need to stop doing it. It is not okay for the Republicans to leak for “background information” and Democrats are held to a higher standard.
On the flip-side the amount of accountability by bot the Congress and the Executive Branch is totally sad. Not everything the government does is classified state secrets, but when it is, then it should be relugated to those with the security clearance to view the information. Even then, the information needs to be accessible to members of both parties to enable some oversight of the other party.
If this thing about Kennedy is true, then he needs to step-down. If this allegation against Kennedy is untrue, then people need to be thrown in the slammer (even those political bloggers who pass typical crap as if it were the Gospel).
I hope you mean symbolic slammer. Only the original author could be held liable for libel and then only if he just made the whole thing up. Also while it would be the rightful political end for Kennedy, I am not sure that it was illegal as long as he didn’t tell them any state secrets. It’s not like the plan said he meant to trick the American people into thinking the Soviets were peaceful and then let them invade the country under the dead of the night, just that they should end the Cold War. Perhaps he did though I don’t know. I do find this interpretation sort of weird though:
So if Andropov hadn’t died, then Reagan’s policies could have very well led to a major war, but Kennedy was wrong for trying to stop it at the time? Unless there’s something that’s missing — like Kennedy would make a deal to betray Europe or something — that line of reasoning makes no sense. I guess you could have argued it would have given the Soviets time to rebuild, but they were collapsing under their own weight at that moment anyhow.
Just to make this more clear: I am – of course – not convinced of the truth of this story. James Joyner dealt with that more than I did, but because it could be valuable, I have added his post to my original post in an update.
I agree with Daniel L. If the accusations are substantial, there should be an investigation into it all.
How often have we read that the present political atmosphere is unrivaled in terms of bitterness, contentiousness and bile? This isn’t even true in my lifetime, having lived through LBJ, Nixon, Watergate and Reagan, to name a few. I recall repeated attacks against Reagan as a wild-eyed nuclear cowboy; many were petrified of him, including Ted Kennedy. This story will play itself out. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that the current schism originated with Vietnam, and has been a recurring one since at least 1968.
Oh the treason of those Democrats….
Rudi, link? I would like to read the entire article.
And: nobody said that stuff like that is limited to Democrats.
I will dig them up, what about your links to the street battles involving the Hofstad gang?
Here. One thing though, the war was when they tried to arrest not Samir A, but two other members of the Hofstad gang: Jason Walters (yes, partially American) and Ismail Akhnikh.
(the other articles are in Dutch so this is much more handy for you)
Also: yes please dig the article up: I have never read it.
Rudi, more:
1
“Jason Walters, the son of a US citizen, received the heaviest sentence of 15 years, while Ismael Aknikh was given a 13-year jail term.
Both men were alleged to have worked together during a confrontation with police in November 2004, in which a hand grenade was thrown, injuring five officers.”
2
“*November 10 2004 – The police attempt to arrest Jason Walters and Ismail Akhnikh in The Hague. As the police breaks through the door the suspects throw a hand grenade at the police officers. After a 14-hour siege of their house by Dutch police and marines they are arrested. The same day several other suspected members of the network are arrested. The Hofstad Network is mentioned for the first time in public sources. The group gets much attention in both Dutch and international media.”
3
“Ismael Aknikh and Muslim convert Jason Walters, the son of an American soldier and a Dutch mother, received the heaviest sentences. Aknikh received a 13 year sentence, and Jason Walters received 15 years.
Aknikh and Walters were convicted for attempted murder, which relates to an incident which happened on Thursday 11 November 2004, when an apartment that they were in had been surrounded by armed police, near Holland Spoor station in the Hague. As police tried to arrest them, they threw a hand grenade which injured four officers, two of them seriously. In the lead-up to the grenade-throwing, they had exchanged gunfire with police. One of the pair had been shot in the shoulder when he failed to obey police instructions during his arrest.”
4
“The court was told the group – codenamed ‘Hofstadgroep’ by investigators – was centred on Mohammed Bouyeri.
Prosecutors also named Jason W. and Ismail A. as key members of the alleged terrorist group. The court sentenced them to 15 and 13 years respectively.
They were involved in a 10-hour siege at a home in The Hague after five members of a police arrest team were wounded by a hand grenade. Prosecutors had sought 20-year sentences for both.
Although the aim was to kill the police officers, the court found that the throwing of the had grenade was not carried out as a terrorist act.”
5
“Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Dutch police arrested seven people suspected of planning terrorist attacks on politicians and sealed off parliamentary buildings in The Hague. The main suspect was acquitted at an April trial of a plot to attack national targets.
Police raided sites in The Hague, Amsterdam and Almere today, said Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the national prosecutor’s office. He said officers used thunderflashes — devices that create a noise and flash intended to stun. No shots were fired, he said, responding to an RTL broadcast that there was gunfire.
“There was a clear threat for some politicians and buildings,” Interior Minister Johan Remkes said today at a press conference in The Hague. The “acute threat” has now diminished.
The chief suspect is Samir Azzouz, 19, who was trying to get guns and explosives, the national prosecution service said. Remkes said the suspects are members of the so-called Hofstad Group. The group is linked by authorities to the murder of moviemaker Theo Van Gogh, killed for his criticism of Islam by a man, Mohammed Bouyeri, serving life imprisonment for the crime.”
You can find more articles here.
One nice thing about Samir A. for instance: right after he was acquitted, he left the jail and punched down a reporter.
in Dutch.
Great guys aren’t they?
These types of accusations appear all of the time, the person being attacked would have to spend considerable time and effort to refute them or just blow it off as more propaganda. The trouble is that if it is a forgery Kengor can always claim that he was deceived, that is was not intentional. Trying to prove harmful intent would be difficult. Kennedy should respond, at least a demand to turn over the document to show it was a forgery or an attempt by the KGB at disinformation. That could very well be the problem here, the information might be known as outright disinformation but without the background and presented at face value it is damaging. The intelligence agencies involved can’t reveal the background [how and when it was obtained, checks on authenticity etc.] for security reasons so you are left with a document that has no context.
Wait, fella’s. Hold on there just a second. Everything was particularly different 23 years ago. Kennedy doesn’t always have his head screwed on right, but to call that treason may have been avoiding the fact that we were in a tense situation that could’ve simply exploded into an all out nuclear war, and perhaps the only way of doing that was in trying to calm or tame one side that was too anxious to head into it.
Since both leaders were aggressive men, you’d only be able to deal with the one on your side. It doesn’t read like treason to me. It reads like something intentioned to avoid unneccessary loss of American lives with an undertone of political gimmickry. If you’ll note, however, history did turn out quite substantially different from Kennedy’s view, with Gorbachev kicking in, and it was all right for Soviets and Americans to work together then…
All I’m saying is that this case is 23 years old, and the apologies and concessions have already long since been handed down. We are in a different time with very different enemies.If you want to go about it like this, let’s go have a second investigation into Iran-Contra as well…
I mean, to think of it in utter absolutes is to deny the reality of the situation. To frame the issue as one of did it or did it not happen is to remove what it actually means or would’ve meant if it did happen.
Playing good cop to Regan’s bad cop is treason?
Bryan at Hot Air?
Dan Riehl?
Jeff Goldstein?
Is this another one of your jokes, Michael? Or are you just banging out the talking points, yet again?
Let us all remember that the Kennedy story and the Harman story are two different things. They aren’t really related. The Kennedy story emerges in documents found in the KGB archive by someone who is clearly a conservative. By the way, this isn’t the first time that it has been reported that evidence has emerged from KGB documents tying Ted Kennedy to the Soviets. If true, this is just the most blatant example so far.
By contrast, Time magazine is reporting that Harman and AIPAC are under suspicion from the FBI and the Justice Department. AIPAC was in trouble for another scandal recently, though I can’t quite call the details.
Lest anyone have any doubts that Hot Air’s description of Kennedy in the book is inaccurate, Publisher’s Weekly has this exerpt on the book on Amazon.com:
Kennedy, on the other hand, emerges as a sneak and a dupe, willing to undermine U.S. foreign policy and make nice with the Russians.
Whether or not you believe the book is accurate or the document is real is another question. However, it seems strange to me that the KGB would attempt to attack Kennedy and while the author may be conservative, he does seem like a serious Cold War researcher and obviously knows that anything he writes can be checked by others.
Sorry, I’m still tired. “Lest anything have any doubts that Hot Air’s description of Kennedy in the book is accurate…”
Gosh, you know it must be rough for the Republicans. Three weeks before the election and they’re reduced to bashing Teddy Kennedy. Because that’s what the base really loves!
And I guess that’s all they’ve got left to keep the base focused.
It’s really a little poignant.
BeYourGuest,
This isn’t about the election. This is about whether or not the senator from Massachusetts has betrayed this country or not. If he has, the very least he needs to do is step down from office. I would also like to see him prosecuted, but I doubt that is going to happen.
Tommy–
OMG!! He’s gonna escape prosecution on treason, just like he did on murder!!!
Who will save the Republic!!
Not the Dems, that is for sure.
HOLY electoral scandals, Batman! This is nothing like the Reagan-Bush engineering of the 1980 election that suspiciously ended the Iran Hostage Crisis the day of Reagan’s inauguration. In fact, the later Iran-Contra scandal, where missiles were sold to Islamic-facist terrorists, pales in comparison to these breathless accusations that surfaced just in time before the 2006 elections. After all, only a President was involved in that scandal, but I always knew that Ted Kennedy was a shifty fellow.
A game of pin the treason on the donkey, anyone? I agree Ted Kennedy is an idiot and needs to take a cue from Strom Thurmond and just DIE for God’s sake. But shame on you for running with the partisan wolves on this one.
I, personally, cannot wait to vote.
MvdG – I looked into the Dutch terror cell and found those sources and others. During that search I found two Dutch authors:
“Mujahideen of the Lowlands” Judit Neurink
Militant Islam Monitor Emerson Vermaat
I must thank you for the chance to read Neurink and his ties to the Jamestown Foundation. JF seems to be a diverse source of terror experts from around the world. You might even like them, Right Web Profile sees them as part of the Neocon conspiracy. I think RWP is crazier than Media Matters. A Neurink article tells how the Hague mosque and female friends of the terror cell turned the group into the Dutch police. I didn’t find any mention of this in your previous post.
Ther Nixon/Kissinger story is mentioned in numerous left to far left stories. The articles didn’t source the material. A long Google search found that this quote comes from the Lefty Neocon Chris Hitchens’ book about Kissinger – The Trial of Henry Kissinger.
Hitchens hates Kissinger
This is a from a writer who hates Mother Teresa but loves the Kurds. His sources for this plot come from Seymour Hersch and other writers.
The Reagan source needs more research.
This isn’t about the election. This is about whether or not the senator from Massachusetts has betrayed this country or not.
These people had a stroke over Rathergate but will buy into a 25 year old KGB source – talk about Wingnuts!!!
The completely unproven 1980 election engineering that the left has never been able to offer a shred of solid evidence for?
Mikey:
You’ve been doing a good job boy! Dig up every rumor that shows them to be terrorist commies! Even if the facts are a little off you’ve planted the seed in people’s minds! Don’t forget the Illuminati?UN connection.
Except that the facts are probably not off when it comes to Kennedy. The London Times dug up evidence a few years ago from KGB archives that Kennedy had ties to the Soviets also. Meanwhile we have people on the same side of the aisle as Kennedy trying to pass off the October Surprise conspiracy as proven fact. I think Wikipedia does a dcent job summing up the evidence regarding the October Surprise Conspiracy:
Actually, unsufficient is putting it mildly. Many of the original allegations have been proven completely false. That is OK. Lyndon LaRouche still has your back!
When truthers attack!
jee wiz, guys. whats the big news.
kennedy worked with commies against his own country. yeah, so what? anyone who knows the dems KNOWS they are socialists. they were bros in arms with the cccp’ers. no news there.
and harman leaked sensitive info to the enemy at a time of war. yeah, so? dems always do that when there is a rep prez. always have. in that case, its not that they are islamic fascist sympathizers as in the case of the commies. they are simply blinded by hatred, and would do anything even assist their own countries enemy for political gain. again, i have to say, wheres the news here?
histroy has proven who and what they are. only thing we have to do now, is wait for them to go the way of the whigs, and free-soilers etc. they are a temporary irritant. and their exp date is juuuuuuuust about due. wait til the ’08 implosion. bu. bye.
PING:
TITLE: Book: Teddy Kennedy Plotted with Soviets to Oust Reagan
BLOG NAME: Outside The Beltway | OTB
A conservative author and political scientist alleges in a new book that Senator Teddy Kennedy made an overture to the Soviet government to assist in a campaign to smear President Ronald Reagan to derail his 1984 re-election bid.
The antipathy that con…
PING:
TITLE: How . . . Drudgey!
BLOG NAME: Public Reason
“Revelationsâ€? is the rather remarkable title that The Moderate Voice’s Michael van der Galien chooses this morning for a post that gleefully retails a pair of sensational charges that most English speakers would call “allegationsâ€? — and deeply partisans ones,