The astrology of the Iran-Contra Affair in 1986-87

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

Whenever, I am reminded of an interesting episode in US histroy, I try to look it up and see what was going on in the SAMVA USA chart. Well, here is one such episode, the Iran-Contra affair. That was to become a big political scandal for President Reagan. There are three key events in the drama. The timeline is highlighted below and the events are analysed in terms of the chart at the end. The events show up very well in the SAMVA USA chart.

 

 

The Iran-Contra affair was the result of earlier events during the Reagan administration. It began as an operation to increase U.S.-Iranian relations, wherein Israel would ship weapons to a moderate, politically influential group of Iranians opposed to the Ayatollah Khomeini; the U.S. would reimburse Israel for those weapons and receive payment from Israel. The moderate Iranians agreed to do everything in their power to achieve the release of six U.S. hostages, who were being held by Hezbollah. The plan eventually deteriorated into an arms-for-hostages scheme, in which members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the American hostages, without the direct authorization of President Ronald Reagan. Large modifications to the plan were conjured by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council in late 1985. In North's plan, a portion of the proceeds from the weapon sales was diverted to fund anti-Sandinista and anti-communist rebels, or Contras, in Nicaragua. While President Ronald Reagan was a supporter of the Contra cause, there has not been any evidence uncovered showing that he authorized this plan.

 

After the weapon sales were revealed in November 1986, Ronald Reagan appeared on national television and stated that the weapons transfers had indeed occurred, but that the United States did not trade arms for hostages. The investigation was compounded when large volumes of documents relating to the scandal were destroyed or withheld from investigators by Reagan administration officials.

 

President Ronald Reagan expressed regret regarding the situation during a nationally televised address from the White House Oval Office on March 4, 1987. Reagan took full responsibility for any actions that he was unaware of, and admitting that "what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages."

 

Many investigations ensued, including those by the United States Congress and the three-man, Reagan-appointed Tower Commission. Neither could find any evidence that Reagan himself knew of the extent of the multiple programs. In the end, fourteen administration officials were charged with crimes, and eleven convicted, including then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. They were all pardoned in the final days of the George H. W. Bush presidency, who had been vice-president at the time of the affair.

 

A key White House Official in the affair, Oliver North, testified before the Iran-Contra Joint Congressional Committee on July 7-10, 1987. North’s testimony is considered a “tour de force,” in the words of authors Lou Dubose and Jake Bernstein, that allows Republicans the opportunity to reverse the field of the hearings and go on the offensive instead of defending the conduct of the Reagan administration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Contra_Affair

 

As you can see in the chart set for November 3, 1986, when the scandal first broke, the transit debilitated Sun was exactly conjunct natal Ketu in the SAMVA USA chart. This was a crisis that embarrassed President Reagan. Rahu was exactly afflicting natal Saturn, the sub-period lord, when the manipulation was exposed.

 

In the chart for the event when President Reagan admitted on March 4, 1987 that he was responsible for his underlings actions, transit Saturn was conjunct natal Saturn during the Saturn sub-period.

 

When Oliver North, a key culprit in the scandal, testified before Congress, and he was actually lionised by many conservatives but reviled by others, the transits were not so bad at all.

 

Best wishes,

 

Thor