Meanwhile, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan began to run into the problem of an empowered Iran, where over a Afghan million refugees sought shelter while they provided arms to the Hazara and other Shia troops, helping to unify them into one faction by 1985. Many in the region feared Iran's growing strength, and began to build up monetary and military support for Iraq to launch a second invasion. Among them were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan. The Soviet Union also provided equipment, hoping to disrupt the Iranian involvement in Afghanistan. Other foreign contributors were China, France and the United Kingdom. Thus on March 11th 1985, Iraq unleashed a surprise invasion of Iran, beginning the Second Iran-Iraq War.
President Bush feared that Iraq would facilitate the creation of a Soviet foothold in Iran, giving them control of the Persian Gulf and a near monopoly on oil supplies in Eurasia when considered with their alliances with the aforementioned oil producing nations. Thus even more military aid was poured into Iran as a part of the blueprint for rollback against communist influence drafted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
In addition to operations in Cambodia, other covet support included the support of the Contras in Nicaragua, whose funding was prohibited by Congress in the the Moynihan Amendment. Bush nonetheless facilitated further CIA activities without the approval or knowledge of Congress (in direct violation of the Hughes-Ryan Act as the well Intelligence Supervision Act of 1981). Bush also supported UNITA in Angola in violation of the Clark Amendment, by using Israel as a proxy.
On April 7th 1987, the USS La Salle was damaged by Iraqi missiles, killing 46 people on board and injuring hundreds others. The Iraqi government claimed that this was a case of mistaken identity, but nonetheless it was used as a justification for Operation Serpent Strike, an amphibious assault on Iraqi assets by U.S. Naval forces beginning on April 11th of the same year.
These policies might have continued indefinitely if not for Celerino Castillo, who found out about the CIA's support of the Contras through his work for the DEA. He collected evidence of the illegal U.S. operations in Nicaragua before going to the press on May 30th 1987. President George Bush attempts to create a commission to investigate, but House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter W. Rodino Jr. believed that as a former Director of Central Intelligence the President could not be given the benefit of the doubt in overseeing an internal review. On September 12th 1987, the Senate created a Select Committee. and called several high-ranking officials in the CIA to testify about their activities. After several legal hoops were jumped through and a series of fingers were pointed, the current Director of the CIA revealed the full extent of the rollback operations and several overlapping testimonies revealed that Bush had personally ordered the burning of several key documents in March 1988.
George H.W. Bush claimed that he had no involvement, and that the CIA was working almost independently. The public's lukewarm reception of him began to morph into hate, with such slogans as “Bush: Crook or Fool?” being spread across the media. Meanwhile, operations in Nicaragua, Angola and other locations came to screeching halts, while the covert funding of Afghan insurgents and the Iranian military continued because they both had Congressional knowledge and approval.
Bush feared that further investigation might endanger more operations and cause the removal of more agents, while an impeachment trial could drag down his supporters and his party. Thus, George H.W. Bush made this statement on June 16th 1988 “I believe that my colleagues always tried to do their best for this Nation. And in recognition of their patriotism, and the demands placed upon me to fulfill the will of the People, I shall resign as President tomorrow at noon. Although I did not do anything to betray your trust while serving you, I do not want you all to endure another long, drawn out trial for my own personal gain. I pray that the future of this country is as bright as the hope America gives the world”. Many political scientists would later see this resignation as too preemptive, but it was an effective attempt to save face for himself and his party.
Bob Dole thus became the 44th President of the United States on June 17th 1988. The Republican primaries were by the change, but he nonetheless won the nomination, as Jack Kemp became his running mate. Meanwhile, Michael Dukakis won the Democratic primaries, and chose Lloyd Bentsen to add to his ticket. Despite Contragate, Dole still consistently polled over Dukakis by a thin margin, which caused some political commentators to label Republicans the “Teflon Party”. In the debates, neither performed very well, and both were criticized for seeming passionless, “Bob Dull” in particular. On top of the disillusionment carried in by yet another Presidential scandal, voter turnout had dropped to 49.1% by the time of the elections (the lowest it had been since 1924, when voter turnout was at 48.9%).
In the end, Dukakis won Washington (10), Illinois (24), Pennsylvania (25), Maryland (10), Vermont (3), Wisconsin (11), Missouri (11), New York (36), Oregon (7), West Virginia (6), New Mexico (5), Connecticut (8), Minnesota (10), Massachusetts (13), Hawaii (4), D.C. (3), Iowa (8), New York (36), Rhode Island (4), West Virginia (6) and California (47) for a total of 287 Electoral College votes versus Dole, who received 251 votes across 30 states. Thus on January 20th 1989, Michael Dukakis became the 45th President of the United States.
In all seriousness, a fascinating concept, and a decent story. Please keep going.
