A plane Hasenfus was on was shot down in Nicaragua in October 1986. He was the sole survivor of the crew but was captured by the Sandinistas and jailed for 73 days while the U.S. government denied any knowledge that he was running guns to the contra rebels as part of a CIA-directed operation.
The incident prompted a lengthy investigation into the involvement of the Reagan administration in a CIA-directed operation to arm the contra rebels through money obtained by secret U.S. arms sales to Iran.
When Mawdsley asked Hasenfus if he was receiving treatment for any emotional disorders, Hasenfus said: "My name goes back into 1985 with President Reagan and the contra affairs. I was a lone survivor of an aircraft shot down . . . and I have received a very good case of post-traumatic stress."
Hasenfus has been dogged by a series of problems - from financial woes to divorce - in recent years. In 1996, the Clinton administration rejected his claim for $800,000 for injuries he said he suffered in the plane crash. Hasenfus' wife filed for divorce in December 1998, and it was granted earlier this year.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wauk/nov00/eugene03110200a.asp
"With a song in my heart I took all the blows."
--Jackie Leven, "Ballad of a Simple Heart" -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20001106/f10811cd/attachment.htm>