Ben Linder

One of the most infuriating and shameful acts of U.S. foreign policy in my time was the Reagan Administration's support of the Contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s. The leftist and one-time Sandinista rebel, Daniel Ortega, had come to power on the promise of economic reform in the Central American nation after the overthrow of the U.S. backed dictator Anastasio Somoza.

Ortega's promise to attack poverty and illiteracy in Nicaragua swept him into power and threatened U.S. hegemony in the region. Reagan and his goons fought back with all the poison the CIA could muster, including the illegal Arms-for-Hostages deal with Iran and the arming of anti-Ortega rebels--the so-called Contras.

Naturally, Reagan used the long-dead horse of falling dominoes to justify his policy. A mostly complacent America went along with the ruse, one of the last incongruities of Cold War containment philosophy.

Into the mess walked a Portland kid, Ben Linder (pictured), an idealistic and committed activist with an engineering degree from the University of Washington. Ben was working on a small hydroelectric project in a rural area north of Managua, April, 1987, when the Contras found him and two locals, tossed grenades at them, and finished them off with bullets to the head. Ben and his friends were assassinated by a U.S. sponsored death squad. Our nation was, in the very least, morally culpable.

But you couldn't tell that to Rep. Connie Mack and Elliot Abrams three weeks after the brutal act. They blamed the victim.

Going before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, Ben's parents sought answers about why their son had to die, and blamed U.S. policy-makers for his death. What transpired at those hearings is one of the most despicable and disgraceful abuses of power in the U.S.'s long history of despicable and disgraceful abuse.

That Elliot Abrams, a bastard of the tallest order, could resurface on George W. Bush's team after being convicted in 1991 of obstruction charges related to his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, is all you need to know about the deep corruption of the Republican lineage in America.

TS