FIGURES IN IRAN ARMS CASE ARE NAMED IN FLA. LAWSUIT

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000200710003-2
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
2
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
March 9, 2012
Sequence Number: 
3
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
December 17, 1986
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000200710003-2.pdf122.45 KB
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/03/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200710003-2 h 30STON GLOBE An71CLE' 17 December 1986 a' P_ A FILE ONLY Figures in fran arms case med in Fla are na aws ' . B Y Ben Bradlee Jr. The suit is being. brow Globe Staff 0 the Washington-based Christie Inv '- Two central figures In the [ran- contra affair - retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord and his Iranian business partner, Albert Hakim - are part of a renegade team of former and current gov- ernment agents who have traf- ficked in arms and narcotics since the Vietnam War to support anti- communist insurgency warfare around the world, according to an affidvait filed this week in a little- publicized federal lawsuit in Mi- ami. throe recently fired national urtty C unr'ih(de, taDoed the Secord aid and to help facilitate the secret sae f arms to Iran the lawsuit all The char es are spelled out In a 9 a e affidavit tiled Monday in jj a 23.8 million civt Butt roe b lit Ton A an an , art a lionev. a husband-and wt a ree- lance ournallst team. attainst two dozen contra tea ers an several former ~Z-A and military o leis s The lawsuit. filed in Ma after a two-year Investigation stems press conference held by contra leader en Pastora in os ca In I f ve ersons sere i and two dozen Iniured. inc u Avir an and Hone allegedly t arapt (3zt1oy he considered a puone o The suit charges the defen- dants with responsibility for the bombing in the context of a larger conspiracy to sell cocaine In the United States to raise money to buy arms and other supplies for the contra war effort. The lawsuit exposed details of the contra sup- ply pipeline and has taken on new significance since news first broke of the diversion, f profits from Iran arms sales :o ~e contras. stitute, a liberal Catholic public I nterest law firdl m an poicy center best known for winning a $10.5 million libel verdict for the family of Karen Sllkwood, the nuclear worker allegedly contaminated while handling plutonium at the Kerr McGee Corp. Christie lawyers say they in- tend to bring evidence they have uncovered to the attention of the independent counsel to be ap- pointed In the Iran-contra affair. Among those named in the law- suit besides Secord and Hakim are Theodore Shackley, former deputy director of the CIA in charge of co- vert operations, and his deputy, Thomas Clines; retired Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, chairman of the World Anti-Communist League and active in assisting the con- tras; Rafael Quintero a Cuban - ex ile and CIA contract employee dur- ing the aborted Bav of Pigs Inva- sion: John Hull, an American businessman who owns a ranch In Costa Rica that allegedly served as a staging area for CIA-supplied weapons for the contras; and Rob- ert Owen. a Virginia businessman and consultant to the State De- partment who allegedly served as North's liaison with the contras. The defendants have denied the charges, and at a hearing Monday in Miami on a defense motion to dismiss the case, law- yers for the defense characterized the charges as nothing more than "malicious gossip." Many of the defendants in the Christie suit are former associates of Edwin Wilson, the ex-CIA oper- ative now serving a lengthy feder- al prison term after his conviction of shipping weaponry to the Lib- yan leader. Col. Moammar Kha- dafy, in the 1970s. In his affidavit. the lead Christie attorney. Daniel Sheehan. names Wilson as one of at least 79 witnesses who are sup- plying the plaintiffs with ect- dence, particularly against Shack- ley and Clines. his former associ- ates in the agency and In private business. In trying to estabish the fr ame- work and context in which the Pastora bombing occurred, the pt intiffs allege that the privately fito,nced contra supply operation isrooted in a "secret team" whose core group was Shackley and Chnes and which later Included Secord, Wilson, Hakim and oth- ers. Sheehan argues that this group, disillusioned by what it perceived as the Isolationist bent of Congress and the vicissitudes of Amertear democracy, used mil- li4ns of dollars in profits generat- edby narcotics trafficking to wage secret, unauthorized terrorist wars against communist groups in Cuba, Vietnam, Laos. Iran, Chile, Libya and Nicaragua. As deputy chief of the CIA sta- tion in Laos in 1965, Shacklev and his deputy. Clines. helped forge an alliance with Meo tribes- men and, through air and other tactical support, helped one Meo faction gain a monopoly on opium trafficking, the suit alleges. In re- turn for this assistance, the Men leader turned over a percentage of the drug profits to the CIA. The suit alleges that the Shackle), group skimmed money from this fund and funneled It to a secret bank account in Australia controlled by Shackley, Clines and Secord, who had helped run the CiAs secret air war in Laos from 1966-1968 and that periodically, Secord and Clines would carry suitcases of cash to Australia. Before the fall of Saigon in 1975. the Shackley group also svs- Conti% Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/03/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200710003-2 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/03/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200710003-2 tematically pilfered a large weap- ons cache from US stocks in Viet- nam and hidden it in Thailand, according to the affidavit, where it was later used in other 'off line ' operations. One country where the group was active, according to the affidavit, was Iran. where Wil- son. Secord and Hakim, who rep- resented US business Interests un- der the shah, were based in the late 70s. In 1979. after the overthrow of the shah and Shacklev's and Clines' forced resignation from the CIA because of their dealings with Wilson, most of the network went private. though Secord was still In the Air Force as director of inter- national programs. By 1979. the suit alleges. Shacklev, Clines. Wil- son, Secord and Hakim had cre- ated a number of corporations and subsidiaries around the world to conceal their operations, which would later include aid to the con- tras and selling arms to Iran. Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/03/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200710003-2