The Daily Nightly began on May 31, 2005. As Brian wrote in his first post it aims to provide a narrative of the broadcast day and a window into the editorial process at NBC Nightly News. Brian weighs in every weekday and NBC News correspondents and producers post regularly.
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On Nov. 4, 1986, smack in the middle of midterm elections in the United States, NBC News began reporting the story that would ultimately result in the Iran/Contra hearings. The day before, a Lebanese weekly magazine reported that the United States had been secretly selling arms to Iran in hopes of having seven American hostages released. The U.S., including President Ronald Reagan's administration, would not confirm the reports. When U.S. intelligence sources finally did so on Nov. 6, it was a shock to the nation because it went against the administration's policy to never negotiate with terrorists, and it violated a U.S. arms embargo in against Iran.
The controversy compounded on Nov. 25 when U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announced that the proceeds of the arms sales were being diverted to fund Nicaraguan rebels fighting a guerilla war against the seated government.That same day, President Reagan accepted the resignation of Vice Admiral John Poindexter, his national security advisor, and fired Lt. Col. Oliver North. Both men played key roles in the operation, and later, North in particular, became a major focus of the investigation.
Watch the Nightly News coverage from Nov. 4, 1986
Here's NBC News Senior Investigative Producer Robert Windrem shares some of his recollections of the story as it broke:
Even twenty years later, it’s hard to forget how stunned we were the day Iran-Contra broke. It was so unlikely, so bizarre that it took a day or two to sink in. And then the revelations began to pile up: the cake in the shape of the key, the TOW missile parts, the Israeli connection and finally, the Contra connections -- Ollie North’s “neat idea.” Bizarre wasn’t the word for it. Breathtaking might have been.
Moreover, the country had just gone through a hard-fought midterm election and Democrats were angry that the public had gone to the polls without knowing of an explosive issue that no doubt would have had an effect on the campaign. Note that Tom Brokaw was still sitting on the Election Night set in the attached video clip!
Many thought that this would be Reagan’s Watergate, but it never reached that level of outrage or rancor for reasons that had more to do with the President’s political skills than the substance. Resignations, firings, indictments, trials, mea culpas all followed just as they did in Watergate, but by the time he left office a little more than two years later, the affable President was again riding high.
The scandal also resonates now in ways that couldn’t be imagined back then. Today, the Lebanese magazine that broke the story would be online. Experts and journalists with responsibility for the region —- not to mention bloggers -- would have found it almost immediately and pushed it out a lot quicker. And what few recall is that the scandal unfolded in large measure because of the White House’s nascent e-mail system, a prototype electronic mail system from IBM called the Professional Office System (PROFs). As North and countless others have learned since, e-mail leaves a long digital tail that lives on even after being deleted.
The National Security Archive sued the government in 1989 when it learned the White House was going to destroy the entire e-mail record. It won, got the e-mails under the Freedom of Information Act and published as both a book and diskette. The material can now be found at: http://fas.org/spp/starwars/offdocs/reagan/nsa_book.htm
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Monday's outlook
To quote DEVO, "We must REPEAT". We are condemned to repeat, because we are much too stupid to do anything else. We have such a myopic view of the world, and of our place in it. As MSNBC has reported, DoD has hired a whole new staff to produce propaganda directed at the American people, designed to improve public opinion of the war and this administration. Thank God someone is willing to tell us all how we should think and feel. We are much too stupid to figure it out on our own. I think I will go watch TV... I need to boost my self-esteem.
Wake up, America. The Matrix has you.
Spudboy, Devonia, oHIo (Sent Oct 31, 2006 11:34:23 AM)
We'd all like to think our presidents and their administrations look out for the American people, but we are shown time and time again their proclivity to look out for their own behinds first, in other words—to maintain power. Every president has something of this in his legacy. In Bush's case, it IS his legacy.
WHY US?
Matt in Las Vegas, you raise a good point. Many Americans ask "why us?" I've heard some say it to me too. It’s just like in personal relationships "it takes two to tango" so goes it with our world affairs. We have our noses in other country’s business as much as we claim they are in ours. Some in America seem to be sheltered in their knowledge of world history and therefore think it is always the foreign countries coming after America. This doesn't help the situation because these same sheltered Americans go out and cast their votes, and the politicians who run on the pure "rah rah America, I'm a patriot" agenda get their votes. We should be voting it candidates who address us as intelligent citizens (who know what goes on in the world at large) and promise to employ diplomacy and integrity when dealing with the rest of the world on our behalf.
As regular Americans grow more "world-conscious", politicians are now feeling the pressure of our independent opinions and views that they cannot manipulate. The best thing we can do to further this is to help educate those American friends who ask, "Why America?" "What did we ever do to anybody?" :)
One final thought: Bush is always holding the rest of the world accountable in his speech and rhetoric--since when does holding others solely accountable solve conflicts and disputes? It only works in one circumstance--imperial rule. If we go down that path, we'll lose more lives (military and possibly civilian) and spend more money (taxes) in an attempt to make the world comply with our authority. Worst of all, it could very well signal our defeat--remember the Roman Empire?
Tiffany, Beijing (Sent Oct 30, 2006 9:19:32 PM)
Funny that I was only 12 years old when this story broke, but I never forgot it. It's ironic that we still haven't learned ANYTHING from our Middle Eastern "diplomacy" post WWII. Much of the mess we find ourselves in now, is a product of our underhanded dealings with factions, anti-government rebels, and terrorists in the 60's thru the 90's. We got in bed with terrorists in the 80's to try to "fight the spread of communism" and now it's all come full circle.
Only people who don't pay attention to what's going on were shocked on 9/11, only people who don't pay attention are in shock of what's happened in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Isreal, Lebanon, etc....in the past 6 years.
The writing is ALWAYS on the wall, but most Americans don't bother to read it....and then they stand back years later and say "why us?"
We made the bed we lay in, now find a comfy spot and hold on for the ride.
Matt, Las Vegas, NV (Sent Oct 30, 2006 7:20:57 PM)
I love this! It would be great if you all would show old video on historic days more often. Heck, even non-historic days would be fun to see. Think about it.
(Sent Oct 30, 2006 4:00:34 PM)
And we learned nothing from the experience. Disgraced Iran-Contra criminals and join disgraced Watergate criminals with radio and TV shows. The right wing wallows in its criminality - they value it.
Lee Steele (Sent Oct 30, 2006 1:43:33 PM)
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