REAGAN'S 1980 "OCTOBER SURPRISE" -- ARMS FOR HOSTAGES

	  In October 1980, nothing worried the Reagan campaign as much as
     the possibility that the 52 hostages held by Iran might come home.
     A "paramilitary wing" created by Reagan's campaign staff to prevent
     such a possibility	was largely unreported in 1987.
	  The revelations report that then campaign manager William J.
     Casey headed an "October surprise"	team engaging the services of both
     retired and active	military personnel.
	  During the course of the 1980	campaign, campaign leaders Richard
     Allen, Edwin Meese, and Casey became concerned, almost to the point of
     paranoia (according to journalists	Jack Germond and Jules Witcover)
     that Carter would get the hostages	released thereby stealing away
     Reagan's election momentum and assuring Carter of re-election.
	  Following is a brief overview	of the reported	activities of
     Reagan's "October 1980 surprise" team:
	  Various reports reveal that Casey's "paramilitary wing"
     monitored U.S. military movements for the Reagan campaign,	met with
     representatives of	the Bani-Sadr government of Iran, and covertly
     obtained President	Carter's debate briefing materials prior to the
     November election.
	  These	revelations alone carry	enormous constitutional
     implications -- private citizens soliciting military and intelligence
     assistance	in monitoring U.S. government operations, private citizens
     meeting with foreign dignitaries in possible state	negotiations, and
     private citizens clandestinely obtaining property of the United States
     President -- and yet they were not	followed up by the major media once
     discovered	and revealed in	small, non-mass	media publications.
	  Even more disturbing is the issue of Iranian arms shipments.
     Documents confirm that within its first month, the	Reagan
     administration gave a green light to Israel to resume its arms
     shipments to the Iranian government.
	  These	revelations support former Iranian President Bani-Sadr's
     assertion that the	arms supply contract Iran signed with Israel in
     March 1981, less than two months after Reagan's inauguration, was the
     payoff for	delaying the release of	the American hostages until after
     the November 4, 1980 election.
	  The hostages remained	in captivity until January 20, 1981, the
     day Reagan	took the oath of office, and they left Teheran minutes
     after he became president.
	  A conspiracy between a presidential candidate	and a hostile
     foreign power against an incumbent	president would	seem to	be without
     precedent in American history. At the very	least, it would	seem that
     the documented charges revealed by	a few journalists last year
     deserved to be investigated for the benefit of the	American public	by
     the U.S. media.

	  SOURCES: L.A.	WEEKLY,	7/10/87, "Reagan's 1980 Hostage Deal," by
     Barbara Honegger with Jim Naureckas, pp 12, 14, 16; THE NATION,
     6/20/87 (p	842), 7/4/87 (p	7), 8/1/87 (p 80), 10/24/87 (p 440),
     11/21/87 (p 582), "Minority Report," all by Christopher Hitchens; S.F.
     EXAMINER, 7/12/87,	"October Surprise," by Warren Hinckle, p A-13.