BUSH ROLE IN RECRUITING CONTRA AID FIGURE DOUBTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130002-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: April 27, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130002~0 ~~ ~
ON PaGE - ~-
L U 5 ANGELES TIMES Washington," recalled Isin Craw-
27 Ap ri 1 19 87 ford, a crewman on several of tt e
Bush Role in Recruiting
Contra Aid Figure Doubted
f By DOYLE McMANUS, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON-A key figure
in the secret airlift that aided
Nicaraguan rebels during 1985 and
1986 was apparently recruited by
then-White House aide Lt. Col.
Oliver L. North, not by Vice Presi-
~~} dent Geor a Bush, sources familiar
wit con c ndal investiga-
tionssaid Sunday.
Felix Rodri uez a former CIA
operative w o elped direct the
contra airlift's operations at El
Salvador's Ilopango air base, ini-
tially went to Central America with
the help of a Bush aide,
Grrgg, the sources said. utB Rodri-
~uez has told congressional inves-
tigators that it was North, not
Gregg, who asked him to help the
contras, they said.
Investigators have also obtained
a letter, appazently written by
North in 1985, asking Rodriguez to
help with the contra airlift and
warning him not to tell anyone of
the plan.
Gregg said Sunday that the new
evidence confirms. the contention
of Bush and his aides that they
were not directly involved in the
contra airlift, which North directed
despite a congressional ban on U.S.
aid to the rebels during 1985 and
1986.
The chazges of involvement in
the Iran-contra scandal have
dogged Bush as he has prepazed to
run for President in the 1988
election.
The chazges first azose last fall
when associates of Rodriguez told
reporters that Rodriguez said he
had met with Bush and had been
conducting operations against the
Nicazaguan government from El
Salvador with the vice president's
knowledge and approved.
"The accusations have been that
the vice president or I have been
;:running contra operations; 'Gregg.
.said in a telephone interview. "This
`~howa that those accusations are
Kalae.... The fact is, the only time
`I talked to Felix about this thing
~+vas when he came to me to blow
e whistle on some people in-
Zolved inthe supply operation."
. Gregg said Rodriguez did not tell
dim about the airlift until August,
4986, even though the two men
~overe longtime friends.
"Felix and I were trained as
intelligence officers," he said. "We
believe in the need-to-know prin-
ciple, and I didn't need to know....
When Felix finally came to me, he
said: `Don, I really hate to tell you
this, because Ollie [North) asked
me not to talk about it."'
Bay of Piga Veteran
Rodriguez, a veteran of the CIA's
abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of
Cuba in 1961, went to El Salvador
in early 1985 to advise the Salva-
doran air force on operations
against leftist guerrillas, according
to Gregg and other associates of
Rodriguez.
Later that year, North and re-
tired Air Force Ma4j. Gen. Richard
V. Secord began organizing a new
airlift operation for the contras.
-The Nicazaguan rebels' main air
'base was in Honduras, but North
and Secord wanted to use El Salva-
dor's main air base as well, partly
because Honduran authorities were
'restricting contra operations there,
U.S. officials said.
" The letter obtained by investiga-
tors. dated Sept. 20, 1985, asks
Rodriguez to seek the approval of
EI Salvador's air force chief, Gen.
Juan Rafael Bustillo, for the airlift's
use of Ilopango, according to one
source who has seen a copy.
"Dear Felix," the letter says,
"After reading this letter please
destroy it.... Within the next 15
days, the (contras'] air arm will
commence operations with two
new types of aircraft ... for
airdrop/aerial resupply to unite
inside Nicaragua
"Since thin Is a completely com-
partmentalized operation being
handled by the resistance, you aze
the only person in the area who can
set up the servicing of these air-
craft," the letter says.
Rodriguez and Buatillo both
agreed. and the contra airlift began
using Ilopango as one of its main
staging points.
Rodriguez, using the name "Max
Gomez," ran the Ilopango operation
from a safe house in San Salvador,
where his office displayed a promi-
nent photograph of Vice President
Bush. associates said.
secret flights. "He said he had
known Bush from when he [Bush]
was director of the CIA."
Bodriguez Gave Warning
Last Aug. 8, Gregg said, Rodri-
guez came to Washington to warn
him that all was not well with the
airlift operation.
"Some of it, he thought, smelled
to high heaven," Gregg recalled.
"He was afraid these guys (running
the operation) would either take
the money and run, or-worse-
somehow make themselves attrac-
tive enough to get hired by the CIA
when Congress restored funding
for the Nicaraguan resistance.
"He wanted to warn the CIA not
to touch them with a 10-foot pole."
Gregg said.
A few days later, Gregg set up a
meeting between Rodriguez and
officials from the CIA, the State
Department and the NSC to relay
the message, he said.
Last Oct. 5, one of the airlift's
planes was shot down by Nicaza-
guan forces. To inform the White
House. Rodriguez telephoned
Gregg's deputy, Army Col. Sam
Watson.
After the crash, The Times and
other newspapers discovered Ro-
driguez'slink toGregg. Atthe time,
Gregg said he had never discussed
the contra airlift with Rodriguez,
but on Sunday he said: "That was a
bad answer, because on one occa-
sion Felix came to me and talked
about it"-a reference to the Au-
gustmeetings.
Rodriguez also met with Bush
three times during the period when
the contra airlift was operating, but
both Bush and Gregg said the
contra issue did not come up.
North's direct involvement in
the contra airlift during the period
when Congress banned U.S. aid to
the rebels has been well document-
ed. His reported letter recruiting
Rodriguez was dated only eight
days after his superior, then-Na-
tional Security Adviser Robert C.
McFazlane, wrote to a member of
Congress that no NSC funds were
being spent for "supporting direct-
ly or indirectly paramilitary opera-
tions in Nicaragua."
Gregg said Sunday that he had
gone to Bush twice to offer his
resignation first in December, af-
ter his link to Rodriguez was
revealed, and again last month
when the issue was raised again.
"I felt the vice president was
being unfairly attacked; ' he said.
"But he was superb. His response
was: 'Hang in there.' He was
always convinced that the true
story would come out."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504130002-0