Podbit · The Rest Is History
After failing to defeat the Spanish militarily, William the Silent had his Low Countries properties confiscated, his eldest son seized as a hostage and taken to Spain, and was declared an outlaw. Rather than submit, he mortgaged all his remaining estates and funnelled the proceeds into financing the resistance.
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At 40:15 · chapter starts 39:40
The rebellion reaches its crisis point in 1567 when Philip sends an army of 10,000 veteran soldiers to the Low Countries with orders to terrorise Protestants into submission. William's closest noble allies are executed. William himself had already withdrawn to the safety of his German lands, reading the wind correctly — his properties in the Low Countries are confiscated, his eldest son is seized and sent to Spain as a hostage, and he is formally declared an outlaw. The obvious move at this point was to negotiate a surrender. Instead, William mortgaged his remaining properties, raised loans, and funnelled everything into two streams of resistance: privateering pirates — the Sea Beggars — and a mercenary army he personally led into Brabant. The Spanish simply refused to fight him and waited for his money to run out, which it did.
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Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
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The CIA supply operation used a front company called Southern Air Transport, widely known to be a CIA cover. Crew members of the downed plane carried their Southern Air Transport employee IDs in their wallets. One also had a business card directly linking him to Oliver North's office in Washington.
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