http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=34693
The American Presidency Project
Ronald Reagan
XL President of the United States: 1981 - 1989
Address to the Nation on the Iran Arms and Contra Aid Controversy and Administration Goals
August 12, 1987
My fellow Americans:
I've said on several occasions that I wouldn't comment about the recent congressional hearings on the Iran-contra matter until the hearings were over. Well, that time has come, so tonight I want to talk about some of the lessons we've learned. But rest assured, that's not my sole subject this evening. I also want to talk about the future and getting on with things, because the people's business is waiting.
These past 9 months have been confusing and painful ones for the country. I know you have doubts in your own minds about what happened in this whole episode. What I hope is not in doubt, however, is my commitment to the investigations themselves. So far, we've had four investigations—by the Justice Department, the Tower board, the Independent Counsel, and the Congress. I requested three of those investigations, and I endorsed and cooperated fully with the fourth—the congressional hearings—supplying over 250,000 pages of White House documents, including parts of my own private diaries.
Once I realized I hadn't been fully informed, I sought to find the answers. Some of the answers I don't like. As the Tower board reported, and as I said last March, our original initiative rapidly got all tangled up in the sale of arms, and the sale of arms got tangled up with hostages. Secretary Shultz and Secretary Weinberger both predicted that the American people would immediately assume this whole plan was an arms-for-hostages deal and nothing more. Well, unfortunately, their predictions were right. As I said to you in March, I let my preoccupation with the hostages intrude into areas where it didn't belong. The image—the reality—of Americans in chains, deprived of their freedom and families so far from home, burdened my thoughts. And this was a mistake.
My fellow Americans, I've thought long and often about how to explain to you what I intended to accomplish, but I respect you too much to make excuses. The fact of the matter is that there's nothing I can say that will make the situation right. I was stubborn in my pursuit of a policy that went astray.
The other major issue of the hearings, of course, was the diversion of funds to the Nicaraguan contras. Colonel North and Admiral Poindexter believed they were doing what I would have wanted done—keeping the democratic resistance alive in Nicaragua. I believed then and I believe now in preventing the Soviets from establishing a beachhead in Central America. Since I have been so closely associated with the cause of the contras, the big question during the hearings was whether I knew of the diversion. I was aware the resistance was receiving funds directly from third countries and from private efforts, and I endorsed those endeavors wholeheartedly; but—let me put this in capital letters—I did not know about the diversion of funds. Indeed, I didn't know there were excess funds.
Yet the buck does not stop with Admiral Poindexter, as he stated in his testimony; it stops with me. I am the one who is ultimately accountable to the American people. The admiral testified that he wanted to protect me; yet no President should ever be protected from the truth. No operation is so secret that it must be kept from the Commander in Chief. I had the right, the obligation, to make my own decision. I heard someone the other day ask why I wasn't outraged. Well, at times, I've been mad as a hornet. Anyone would be—just look at the damage that's been done and the time that's been lost. But I've always found that the best therapy for outrage and anger is action.
I've tried to take steps so that what we've been through can't happen again, either in this administration or future ones. But I remember very well what the Tower board said last February when it issued this report. It said the failure was more in people than in process. We can build in every precaution known to the world. We can design that best system ever devised by man. But in the end, people are going to have to run it. And we will never be free of human hopes, weaknesses, and enthusiasms.
Let me tell you what I've done to change both the system and the people who operate it. First of all, I've brought in a new and knowledgeable team. I have a new National Security Adviser, a new Director of the CIA, a new Chief of Staff here at the White House. And I've told them that I must be informed and informed fully. In addition, I adopted the Tower board's model of how the NSC process and staff should work, and I prohibited any operational role by the NSC staff in covert activities.
The report I ordered reviewing our nation's covert operations has been completed. There were no surprises. Some operations were continued, and some were eliminated because they'd outlived their usefulness. I am also adopting new, tighter procedures on consulting with and notifying the Congress on future covert action findings. We will still pursue covert operations when appropriate, but each operation must be legal, and it must meet a specific policy objective.
The problem goes deeper, however, than policies and personnel. Probably the biggest lesson we can draw from the hearings is that the executive and legislative branches of government need to regain trust in each other. We've seen the results of that mistrust in the form of lies, leaks, divisions, and mistakes. We need to find a way to cooperate while realizing foreign policy can't be run by committee. And I believe there's now the growing sense that we can accomplish more by cooperating. And in the end, this may be the eventual blessing in disguise to come out of the Iran-contra mess.
But now let me turn to the other subject I promised to discuss this evening—the future. There are now 17 months left in this administration, and I want them to be prosperous, productive ones for the American people. When you first elected me to this office, you elected me to pursue a new, different direction for America. When you elected me the second time, you reaffirmed your desire to continue that course. My hopes for this country are as fervent today as they were in 1981. Up until the morning I leave this house, I intend to do what you sent me here to do—lead the Nation toward the goals we agreed on when you elected me. Let me tell you where I'm going to put my heart and my energies for the remainder of my term.
For my entire political life, I've spoken about the need for the Supreme Court to interpret the law, not make it. During my Presidency, I've proudly appointed two new justices who understand that important principle—Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justice Antonin Scalia. I've now nominated a third—Judge Robert Bork. When I named him to the U.S. Court of Appeals, the American Bar Association gave Judge Bork, who is a brilliant scholar and jurist, its very highest rating. As a member of that court, Judge Bork has written more than a hundred majority opinions and joined in another 300. The Supreme Court has never reversed a single one of these 400 opinions.
His nomination is being opposed by some because he practices judicial restraint. Now, that means he won't put their opinions ahead of the law; he won't put his own opinions ahead of the law. And that's the way it should be. Judge Bork would be an important intellectual addition to the Court, and I will fight for him because I believe in what he stands for. As soon as the Senate returns from its recess next month, it should consider Judge Bork's qualifications and then vote yes or no, up or down. This nation and its citizens deserve a full bench with nine Justices when the Court convenes in October.
In the months ahead, I also hope to reach an agreement, a comprehensive and verifiable agreement, with the 'Soviet Union on reducing nuclear arms. We're making real progress on the global elimination of an entire class of nuclear weapons—the U.S. and Soviet intermediate-range, or INF, missiles. I first proposed this idea to the Soviets back in 1981. They weren't too keen on it and, in fact, walked out of the negotiations at one point. But we kept at it. Until recently, the Soviet Union had insisted on the right to retain some of its INF missiles. But in mid-July, General Secretary Gorbachev announced that he was prepared to drop this demand. That was welcome news, indeed.
We've come this far because in 1980 you gave me a mandate to rebuild our military. I've done that. And today we're seeing the results. The Soviets are now negotiating with us because we're negotiating from strength. This would be an historic agreement. Previous arms control agreements merely put a ceiling on weapons and even allowed for increases; this agreement would reduce the number of nuclear weapons. I am optimistic that we'll soon witness a first in world history—the sight of two countries actually destroying nuclear weapons in their arsenals. And imagine where that might lead.
We're also ready to move ahead on a START agreement that would cut intercontinental nuclear forces by 50 percent, thereby eliminating thousands of nuclear missiles. I urge the Soviets to move ahead with us. And I say to General Secretary Gorbachev, both our nations could begin a new relationship by signing comprehensive agreements to reduce nuclear and conventional weapons.
What we seek in our relationship with the Soviet Union is peace and stability. That is also what we seek in the Persian Gulf, and the Middle East more generally. And bringing stability to this troubled region remains one of the most important goals of my Presidency.
Over the next 17 months, I'll also be advocating an Economic Bill of Rights for our citizens. I believe the American people have a right to expect the Nation's budget to be handled responsibly. Yet chaos reigns in the budgetary process. For the past several months, there's been much debate about getting our fiscal house in order, but the result once again has been inaction. The congressional budget process is neither reliable nor credible; in short, it needs to be fixed. We must face reality: The only force strong enough to stop this nation's massive runaway budget is the Constitution. Only the Constitution—the document from which all government power flows, the document that provides our moral authority as a nation—only the Constitution can compel responsibility.
We desperately need the power of a constitutional amendment to help us balance the budget. Over 70 percent of the American people want such an amendment. They want the Federal Government to have what 44 State governments already have—discipline. To get things moving, I am proposing tonight: If Congress agrees to schedule an up-or-down vote this year on our balanced budget amendment, then I will agree to negotiate on every spending item in the budget. If the Congress continues to oppose the wishes of the people by avoiding a vote on our balanced budget amendment, the call for a constitutional convention will grow louder. The prospect for a constitutional convention is only two States away from approval, and one way or another, the will of the people always prevails.
And there's another area that will occupy my time and my heart: the cause of democracy. There are Americans still burning for freedom: Central Americans, the people of Nicaragua. Over the last 10 years, democrats have been emerging all over the world. In Central and South America alone, 10 countries have been added to the ranks. The question is: Will Nicaragua ever be added to this honor roll? As you know, I am totally committed to the democratic resistance-the freedom fighters—and their pursuit of democracy in Nicaragua. Recently there's been important progress on the diplomatic front, both here in Washington and in the region itself.
My administration and the leadership of Congress have put forth a bipartisan initiative proposing concrete steps that can bring an end to the conflict there. Our key point was that the Communist regime in Nicaragua should do what it formally pledged to do in 1979—respect the Nicaraguan people's basic rights of free speech, free press, free elections, and religious liberty. Instead, those who govern in Nicaragua chose to turn their country over to the Soviet Union to be a base for Communist expansion on the American mainland.
The need for democracy in Nicaragua was also emphasized in the agreement signed by the five Central American presidents in Guatemala last Friday. We welcome this development and pledge our support to democracy and those fighting for freedom. We have always been willing to talk; we have never been willing to abandon those who are fighting for democracy and freedom. I'm especially pleased that in the United States diplomatic initiative, we once again have the beginnings, however uncertain, of a bipartisan foreign policy. The recent hearings emphasized the need for such bipartisanship, and I hope this cautious start will grow and blossom.
These are among the goals for the remainder of my term as President. I believe they're the kinds of goals that will advance the security and prosperity and future of our people. I urge the Congress to be as thorough and energetic in pursuing these ends as it was in pursuing the recent investigation.
My fellow Americans, I have a year and a half before I have to clean out this desk. I'm not about to let the dust and cobwebs settle on the furniture in this office or on me. I have things I intend to do, and with your help, we can do them.
Good night, and God bless you.
Note: The President spoke at 8 p.m. from the Oval Office at the White House. His address was broadcast live on nationwide radio and television.
http://www.gateworld.net/atlantis/s1/transcripts/101.shtml
GateWorld
STARGATE ATLANTIS
RISING, PART 1
EPISODE NUMBER - 101
DVD DISC - Season 1, Disc 1
ORIGINAL U.S. AIR DATE - 07.16.04
SHEPPARD: That was different.
O'NEILL: For me, not so much.
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1988_537336
chron Houston Chronicle Archives
U.S. blasts 5 Iranian targets
Houston Chronicle News Services
MON 04/18/1988 HOUSTON CHRONICLE
He said an Iranian patrol boat fired on the U.S. cruiser Wainwright, which took part in the attack on one of the platforms. The Wainwright was not hit.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Harpoon_missile_launch_aboard_USS_Shiloh.jpg
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/quotes
IMDb
Back to the Future (1985)
Quotes
Marty McFly: Did you rip that off?
Dr. Emmett Brown: Of course. From a group of Libyan nationalists. They wanted me to build them a bomb, so I took their plutonium and, in turn, gave them a shoddy bomb casing full of used pinball machine parts.
http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=young-guns
Springfield! Springfield!
Young Guns (1988)
Is that the gun you're
gonna shoot him down with?
Can I touch it? Please.
You know, Sir, I do admire you,
and I sure would like to touch the gun
that's gonna kill Billy the Kid.
- You know arms boy?
- Yessir.
Go ahead then. Have a look.
Pass it back.
- That's the gun that killed Ed Rollins.
- Is that right?
Hey Mark, let's have
a little round of
"Stone Fence" prep
for the little lady in the house.
Okay, pass it back son.
You stroke a gun like that,
you might as well
be stroking a man's woman.
Pass it up.
Alright.
Now you're best behind
your way before you get hurt.
I'm leaving right now and
wanna know what he looks
for in case I run to him
I'll come back and tell you.
He's a good looking kid,
a way with women,
he dresses like a dandy
and he's a left-hander.
And people say he's fond
of whistling sad ballads.
Now you get out there in the street.
If you see somebody
that fits that Bill
- you just come whispering to me.
- Okay.
Bye bye.
Hey! I see him!
Right there, right there!
Don't you see him?
That's all now.
You know boy, I'm getting
a little tired of your wise lip.
Now you, you get yourself
some place else before I
have to drop your britches
in front of all these fine ladies
and spank you little bottom blue.
Yeah, sure you are a
chesty little cuss.
From 2/6/1911 ( my biological maternal grandfather Ronald Reagan ) To 6/11/1982 ( premiere US film "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" ) is 26058 days
26058 = 13029 + 13029
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 7/5/2001 is 13029 days
From 5/19/1957 ( premiere US film "The Oklahoman" ) To 1/19/1993 ( in Asheville North Carolina as United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess I was seriously wounded by gunfire when I returned fatal gunfire to a fugitive from United States federal justice who was another criminal sent by Bill Gates-Nazi-Microsoft-George Bush the cowardly violent criminal in another attempt to kill me the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) is 13029 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my birth date in Antlers Oklahoma USA and my birthdate as the known official United States Marshal Kerry Wayne Burgess and active duty United States Marine Corps officer ) To 7/5/2001 is 13029 days
[ See also: http://hvom.blogspot.com/2013/02/fbi-inc.html ]
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jul/06/news/mn-19081
Los Angeles Times
Bush Chooses Prosecutor to Reshape FBI
Law: U.S. Atty. Mueller is picked to lead an agency that is struggling with its credibility. A bruising nomination fight is probably avoided.
July 06, 2001 JAMES GERSTENZANG and ERIC LICHTBLAU TIMES STAFF WRITERS
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Thursday chose Robert Mueller, an experienced government prosecutor who is now the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, to direct the FBI and wrestle with the spate of problems that has plagued the bureau.
In nominating Mueller, 56, for the 10-year term to succeed Louis J. Freeh, Bush took a course likely to avoid an angry, politically tinged confirmation battle in the Senate. Still, the hearing on Mueller's nomination is virtually certain to turn into an in-depth look at the agency's recent blunders.
As Mueller stood beside him in the White House Rose Garden on Thursday, Bush referred obliquely to the travails the bureau has encountered.
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2001_3317396
chron Houston Chronicle Archives
Prosecutor nominated to head FBI / `No-nonsense' ex-Marine
MICHAEL HEDGES, Houston Chronicle WashingtonBureau Staff
FRI 07/06/2001 Houston Chronicle
WASHINGTON - Robert S. Mueller III, a career prosecutor and former Marine with a reputation for making tough decisions, was called upon by President Bush on Thursday to resurrect an FBI beset by high-profile blunders.
After a lengthy search, Mueller was picked to head the FBI at a critical point in the history of the nation's largest law enforcement agency. Those who know him said he has the right qualities for the job.
"He is a tough, no-nonsense former Marine who does not brook incompetence," said former Washington U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova.
"One thing I would emphasize about Bob Mueller: He is a guy who will know how to fire people when that is necessary."
In a brief White House ceremony, Bush said, "The FBI must be ready to protect Americans from new types of criminals who will use modern technology to defraud and disrupt our lives . . . And it must do all this with a firm commitment to safeguarding the constitutional rights of our citizens."
The president said, "Bob Mueller's experience and character convinced me that he's ready to shoulder these responsibilities."
http://www.tv.com/shows/colony-2015/in-from-the-cold-3349705/
tv.com
Colony
In From the Cold
Season 1, Ep 8, Aired 3/3/16
http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=colony-2016&episode=s01e08
Springfield! Springfield!
Colony
In From The Cold
He's willing to roll on his crew.
Names, locations, everything.
And why, exactly, is this operative betraying his own cell? Because we broke them.
He knows it's his last opportunity at leverage.
What's this gonna cost me? He wants out of the bloc with a fully-supplied pickup truck.
Outside the Wall? All right, I'm willing to consider an arrangement.
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-08-13/news/mn-1309_1_arms-sales
Los Angeles Times
President Apologizes for Iran-Contra Role : Says He Needs No Protection From Truth
August 13, 1987 MICHAEL WINES Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — President Reagan, conceding "there's nothing I can say that will make the situation right," Wednesday offered the bluntest apology he has made thus far for his role in the Iran- contra scandal, then pledged to press ahead with a familiar agenda of domestic and foreign policy goals during the rest of his term.
In an 18-minute speech billed as a final comment on Congress' summerlong inquiry into the affair, Reagan said that Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger had been right in warning him that secret arms sales to Iran would become a political debacle if made public.
He appeared also to rebuke a central figure in the drama, former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter, for failing to tell him that $3.5 million in Iran arms profits were diverted to Nicaragua's rebels.
"The admiral testified he wanted to protect me," Reagan said. "Yet no President should ever be protected from the truth. No operation is so secret that it must be kept from the commander-in-chief."
Although his words were more contrite than in previous remarks on the scandal, the President went no further Wednesday in accepting blame or responsibility for the scandal as a major foreign policy blunder than he had in his last major statement March 4.
The President did not concede that his approval of the Iranian arms sales was not merely a political misstep but a strategic blunder--as both Shultz and Weinberger told him in 1985, before arms shipments were begun and again in 1986.
Omits Criticism
And Reagan pointedly omitted any direct criticism of Poindexter or his aide, Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, for proceeding with the diversion of money from the arms sales to the contras, the disclosure of which last November plunged the White House into the worst political crisis in a decade.
"Col. North and Adm. Poindexter believed they were doing what I would've wanted done--keeping the democratic resistance alive in Nicaragua," Reagan said. "I believed then, and I believe now, in preventing the Soviets from establishing a beachhead in Central America."
In the one-third of the speech devoted to the scandal, Reagan called for the White House and Congress to "regain trust in each other," describing steps he has taken to prevent a recurrence of abuses in the executive branch but declaring that closer cooperation between the two arms of government on sensitive foreign-policy matters is the best way to keep a tight rein over secret initiatives.
"In the end, this may be the eventual blessing in disguise to come out of the Iran-contra mess," he said.
Reagan's speech came amid signs that public trust in his presidency is undergoing at least partial recovery after 10 months of damaging disclosures, although White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater conceded this week that the Iran-contra issue "will be with us for the rest of the Administration."
An ABC-Washington Post opinion poll concluded that about half of the nation still believes that Reagan is not telling the full truth about the scandal, compared to 69% in June, when the House and Senate Iran-contra hearings were getting under way.
In an apparent effort to show that he considers the affair behind him, Reagan devoted most of Wednesday's address to the sort of conservative agenda which he said got him elected in 1981 and to which he pledged to devote "my heart and my energies for the remainder of my term."
"There are now 17 months left in this Administration, and I want them to be prosperous, productive ones," Reagan said. " . . . Up until the morning I leave this house, I intend to do what you sent me here to do--lead the nation toward the goals we agreed on when you elected me."
Bork Heads List
The list was headed by an already fierce effort to win Senate confirmation for U.S. appeals court Judge Robert H. Bork, Reagan's nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr.
The President repeated his call for a simplified federal budget-making process and for a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget, which he has sought without success throughout his presidency.
Adding a new twist to the balanced-budget campaign, Reagan promised in his speech to negotiate "every spending item" in the budget if Congress agrees to permit a vote on the budget amendment. The White House previously has refused to discuss reductions in many defense spending items.
In foreign policy, Reagan repeated his desire to reach a long-expected agreement with the Soviet Union on eliminating short-range nuclear missiles worldwide and to make progress on a pact to cut the number of intercontinental missiles. He also expressed a desire to stabilize the political situation in the Middle East, particularly in the Persian Gulf.
His most ardent remarks, however, were reserved for Central America, where he said Nicaraguans under the Sandinista regime are "still burning for freedom" as neighboring U.S.-backed nations institute democratic reforms.
'Committed' to Contras
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-08-13/news/mn-1309_1_arms-sales/2
Los Angeles Times
(Page 2 of 2)
President Apologizes for Iran-Contra Role : Says He Needs No Protection From Truth
August 13, 1987 MICHAEL WINES Times Staff Writer
He expressed hope that a peace plan signed last week by five Central American leaders will lead to democratic changes in Nicaragua but stressed that he is "totally committed" to U.S.-backed contra forces opposing the Sandinistas.
White House officials had promised that Reagan's address would be devoid of any bitterness or anger over the Iran-contra affair and the President himself showed none Wednesday evening, though he said that occasionally he had been "mad as a hornet" over the affair.
The only remark in Reagan's speech that appeared to border on bitterness was near the conclusion, when the President urged Congress to be "as thorough and energetic" in enacting his conservative agenda "as it was in pursuing the recent investigation" into the scandal.
Addressing his own credibility troubles stemming from the scandal, Reagan said at the start of his speech that he knew the months of revelations had been "confusing and painful" for the nation and that many people still doubted that the truth had been brought out.
Cooperated With Congress
He said, however, that he had cooperated fully and willingly with Congress, supplying some 250,000 White House documents and "parts of my own diaries" to investigators.
Reagan also declared that the results of investigations made public so far had produced facts that "I don't like:"
--Shultz and Weinberger, he said, had warned him before the Iran arms sales began that "the American people would assume that this whole plan was an arms for hostages deal and nothing more. Unfortunately, they were right."
--Reagan's own concerns for hostages held by radicals in Lebanon--"Americans in chains, deprived of their freedom and families so far from home"--swayed his judgment about the arms sales, he said. "This was a mistake."
--The President said he had thought often about how to explain to the public what he had hoped the Iran project would accomplish, without success. "The fact of the matter is that there's nothing I can say that will make the situation right," he said, in what was perhaps the most frank admission of the entire speech. "I was stubborn in my pursuit of a policy that went astray."
The President was less contrite about North's and Poindexter's secret support of the Nicaraguan rebels, although allegations stemming from their operations ultimately were more politically damaging to the White House than the Iran project itself.
Denies Diversion Knowledge
He repeated that he knew the contras were receiving aid from foreign countries and private citizens, and added "in capital letters" that he did not know North was diverting Iran arms profits to the rebels. "Indeed," he said, "I didn't know there were excess funds" from the sales to divert.
The President disagreed with Poindexter, who had assumed responsibility for the diversion in the House-Senate hearings, saying that "the buck does not stop with Adm. Poindexter, as he stated in his testimony; it stops with me. I am the one who is ultimately accountable to the American people."
However, Reagan did not say in his address whether he approved of Poindexter's and North's secret funneling of arms and money to the rebels.
http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=colony-2016&episode=s01e08
Springfield! Springfield!
Colony
In From The Cold
So, you're the guy, huh? What do I call you? Whatever you want.
Care to explain, Mr.
"Whatever-You-Want," why I should trust a man willing to stab his own friends in the back? Because you're a survivor, like me.
I can give you what you need.
Something real.
Broussard.
If you want him, you need me to set him up.
In exchange, he wants to get outside the Colony.
Why would you want that? Because I'm a pessimist when it comes to the future of the bloc, and I have no desire to live under the thumb of you or your compatriots or the RAPs.
I want a Transit Pass, coded to let me through whatever Wall I want.
Irrevocable.
Hey, come on.
Don't act dumb.
You know they exist.
They're issued by the Governor-General's office.
The bloc governors don't have authority over the transit zones.
The pass, and a fully-stocked pick-up truck.
To avoid confusion, here's a list.
- And I get Broussard.
- I'll set up a meeting.
Broussard'll be there.
Along with some other bonus prizes.
http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1989-05/operation-praying-mantis-surface-view
USNI
U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE
Proceedings Magazine - May 1989 Vol. 115/5/1,035
Operation Praying Mantis: The Surface View
By Captain J.B. Perkins III, U.S. Navy
For the escorts of Battle Group Foxtrot, preparations for the 18 April 1988 Operation Praying Mantis began in the southern California operating area ten months earlier. From this first underway period as a unit, the Battle Group Commander, Rear Admiral Guy Zeller (Commander Cruiser Destroyer Group Three), had insisted on a rigorous set of exercises to prepare for the upcoming tour on station in the North Arabian Sea (NAS). Initially, the ships drilled hard at interpreting rules of engagement (ROE) and at devising means to counter small high-speed surface craft (e.g., Boghammers) and low, slow-flying aircraft—both of which abound in and around the Persian Gulf. We later added exercises stressing anti-Silkworm (an Iranian surface-to-surface missile) tactics, boarding and search, Sledgehammer (a procedure to vector attack aircraft to a surface threat), convoy escort procedures, naval gunfire support (NGFS), and mine detection and destruction exercises.
We practiced in every environment-in the Bering Sea during November, throughout our transit to the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, and on station in the NAS. During the battle group evolution off Hawaii in January, we executed a 96-hour Persian Gulf scenario, with a three submarine threat overlaid. We conducted live, coordinated Harpoon missile firings in southern California and off Hawaii, dropped Rockeye, Skipper, and laser-guided bombs (LGBs) on high-speed targets off Point Mugu and Hawaii and drilled, drilled, drilled. By late March, each ship had completed dozens of these exercises, and we were considering easing the pace and working on ways to make the exercises more interesting, as the day approached when the Forrestal (CV-59) battle group would relieve us. Such philosophic discussions ended abruptly when the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) hit a mine on 14 April.
Four battle group ships en route to a port call in Mombasa were turned around, and the USS Joseph Strauss (DDG-16) and USS Bagley (FF-I069) raced north, refueled from the USS Wabash (AOR-5) and steamed through the Straight of Hormuz at more than 25 knots to join teammates, the USS Merrill (DD-976) and USS Lynde McCormick (DDG-8). They, and their Middle East Force (MEF) counterparts, the USS Simpson (FFG-56), USS O'Brien (DD-975), USS Jack Williams (FFG-24), USS Wainwright (CG-28), USS Gary (FFG-5 I), and USS Trelllon (LPO-14) repositioned at high speed as the plan was developed. In the NAS, the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) closed to within 120 nautical miles of the Strait of Hormuz. Her escorts, the USS Reasoner (FF-1063) and Truxtun (CGN-35), were stationed to counter the potential small combatant threat in the Strait, and the air threat from Chah Bahar.
On 16 April, I flew with Lieutenant Commander Mark "Micro" Kosnik—my one-officer "battle micro staff"—from the Enterprise to Bahrain at the direction of Commander, Joint Task Force Middle East (CJTFME), Rear Admiral Anthony Less, to assist in planning and executing the response. We were joined on the flagship, the USS Coronado (AGF-11), by the MEF Destroyer Squadron Commander and began working on the plan with the CJTFME staff and other players. The objectives were clear:
Sink the Iranian Saam-class frigate Sabalan or a suitable substitute.
Neutralize the surveillance posts on the Sassan and Sirri gas/oil separation platforms (GOSPs) and the Rahkish GOSP, if sinking a ship was not practicable.
There were also a number of caveats (avoid civilian casualties and collateral damage, limit adverse environmental effects) to ensure that this was in fact a "proportional response."
It was a long night, but by 0330 on 17 April we had developed a plan. We formed three surface action groups, each containing both battle group and MEF ships, that were to operate independently but still be mutually supportive. Surface Action Group (SAG) Bravo was assigned Sassan (and Rahkish), SAG Charlie, Sirri, and SAG Delta, the Sabalan. The Gary was our free safety, a lone sentinel on the northern flank protecting the barges. Each SAG commander had an objective and a simple communications plan to direct our forces, to coordinate if required, and to report to CJFTME.
Both GOSPs were to be attacked in the same fashion: we would warn the occupants and give them five minutes to leave the platform, take out any remaining Iranians with naval gunfire, insert a raid force (Marine reconnaissance unit at Sassan/SEALs at Sirri) on the platform, plant demolition charges, and destroy the surveillance post. Colonel Bill Rakow, Commander of Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) 2-88, and I developed a plan to coordinate NGFS and Cobra landing zone preparatory fire and discussed criteria for committing the raid force, which included the possibilities of die-hard defenders, secondary explosions, and booby traps.
At first light, as SAG Bravo approached the Sassan GOSP, the Trenton began launching helos, including the LAMPS-III from the Samuel B. Roberts, which we used for surface surveillance. The GOSP appeared unalerted as we came into view from the southwest and turned to a northerly firing course- our gun target line was limited by a United Arab Emirates oil field three nautical miles south of Sassan and a large hydrogen sulfide tank on the northern end of the GOSP. H-Hour was set at 0800; at 0755, we warned the Sassan GOSP inhabitants in Farsi and English.
"You have five minutes to abandon the platform; I intend to destroy it at 0800."
This transmission stimulated a good deal of interest and activity among a growing group of Iranians, milling about on the roof of the living quarters. Several men manned their 23-mm. gun and trained it on the Merrill about 5,000 yards away, but many more headed for the two tugs tied up alongside the platform. One tug left almost immediately, and the other departed with about 30 men on board soon afterward. The VHF radio blared a cacophony of English and Farsi as the GOSP occupants simultaneously reported to (screamed at) naval headquarters and pleaded with us for more time. At 0804, we told the inhabitants that their time was up and commenced firing at the gun emplacement. This was not a classic NGFS mission; I had decided on airbursts over the GOSP to pin down personnel and destroy command-and-control antennae, but to avoid holing potential helo landing surfaces.
At the first muzzle flash from the Merrill's 5-inch mount 51, the Iranian 23-mm. gun mount opened up, getting the attention of the ship's bridge and topside watchstanders. The Merrill immediately silenced the Iranian gun with a direct hit, and encountered no further opposition. After about 50 rounds had exploded over the southern half of the GOSP, a large crowd of converted martyrs gathered at the northern end.
http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1989-05/operation-praying-mantis-surface-view
USNI
U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE
Proceedings Magazine - May 1989 Vol. 115/5/1,035
Operation Praying Mantis: The Surface View
By Captain J.B. Perkins III, U.S. Navy
"Stop your engines and abandon ship; I intend to sink you."
After thinking this communication over, the Joshan's CO apparently decided to go out firing and launched his only remaining Harpoon. The three SAG Charlie ships, now in a line abreast at 26,000 yards, and the Bagley's LAMPS simultaneously detected the launch and maneuvered and launched chaff. The Harpoon passed down the Wainwright's starboard side close aboard (the seeker may not have activated) and was answered by a volley of SM-1 missiles from the Simpson and the Wainwright. Four missiles fired; four hits. An additional SM-1 (a hit) and a Harpoon (a miss, probably resulting from the sinking Joshan's sudden lack of freeboard
- posted by H.V.O.M - Kerry Wayne Burgess 1:30 PM Pacific Time Spokane Valley Washington USA Sunday 06 March 2016
