KERRY' S ANTI-CONTRA EFFORTS EXTENSIVE, EXPENSIVE, IN VAIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403850013-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: August 13, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403850013-9
Oi'TICLE~.~-Li r0 WASHINGTON TIMES
OPJ PAGE
13 August 1986
Kerry's anti-Contra efforts
extensive, expensive, in vain
By James Morrison
Sen. John Kerry's attempts to
prove criminal activity by the Nica-
raguan resistance have stretched
from California to Costa Rica, cost
thousands of dollars paid by one of
his aides, and have drawn allega-
tions that he offered potential wit-
nesses money or immigration favors
as part of a disinformation cam-
paign.
Sources said Mr. Kerry's staff
worked closely with a Washington-
based organization headed by Rob-
ert White, who is a former U.S. am-
bassador to El Salvador and an
outspoken critic of President Rea-
gan's Central American policies.
The efforts also included fierce
debates between Mr Kerry's staff
to testify against the anti-communist ~Q and that of Indiana Republican Rich-
rebels. \ and Lugar, chairman of the Senate
Lion discovered nothing of signifi-
cance, but gave Mr. Kerry, Massa-
chusetts Democrat, a platform to
denounce the resistance and ask
hostile questions about U.S. policy in
Central America.
Charges of bribery against the
senator were retracted Monday by
British adventurer Peter Glibbery,
who made them in a sworn affidavit
last week.
But letters Mr. Glibbery wrote
while imprisoned in Costa Rica and
interviews he gave British Embassy
officials indicated that he expected
Sen. Kerry to pay his bail and help
him get work papers in the United
States.
Neither Mr. Kerry nor his staff
would discuss his activities with The
Washington Times, despite repeated
telephone calls over two days.
In other newspaper interviews,
Mr. Kerry claimed to have gathered
substantial evidence from various
informants, including Mr. Glibbery,
who had written earlier letters that
contradicted what they told Kerry
staffers.
Cross-country flights were made
to interview Nicaraguan refugees.
At least $10,000, much of it appar-
ently paid by a Kerry aide, was spent
to cover hotel bills, air fares and gas
mileage for informants who eventu-
ally denounced the senator's efforts
Mr. Kerry tried unsuccessfully fo
persuade Mr. Lugar to hold open
committee hearings on charges that
the resistance fighters and their
American supporters smuggled
guns and cocaine, plotted assassina-
tions of U.S. officials and murdered
a mysterious informant who alleg-
edly first revealed the illegal activi-
ties to journalists in Costa Rica.
Mr. Lugar refused, but invited
Justice Department representatives
to the staff meetings to hear the
charges from Kerry aides.
We have looked into each and ev-
ery one of the allegations, in some
cases with extensive investigations,
and none has produced any substan-
tial evidence on the part of any of the
mainstream Contra groups or any of
their leaders," said Justice
spokesman Patrick Korten, refer-
ring to the rebels, who are often
called "Contras," or counter.
revolutionaries.
Said one congressional source:
"Mr. Kerry's staff had run amok."
"The word on Capitol Hill is that
the Kerr sta is the Hems staff of
the left' said t o source, a arent
referring to recent charges, not yet
resolved that an aide to conserva-
tive Nnrth Carolina en Jesse'
Helms gassed U S intelligence to
Chile.
Richard McCall, a legislative aide
to Sen. Kerry, paid $1.193.83 to cover
expenses for one informant, Philip
Mabry, who stayed at the Crystal
City Marriott hotel in March, ac-
cording to a credit card receipt in
Mr. McCall's name that Mr. Mabry
supplied to The Washington Times.
One hotel bill for that visit was
reserved in Mr. McCall's name, and
the address on another bill was
listed as Sen. Kerry's office in the
Russell Senate Office Building, ac-
cording to copies of the bills. that
were also supplied by Mr. Mabry.
Mr. Mabry said Mr. McCall and
two representatives of Mr. White's
organization, the International Cen-
ter for Policy Development, sent him
$6,800 in money orders from March
6 through April 30 to cover travel
expenses to Washington and to San
Francisco.
Mr. Mabry, who said he had evi-
dence of rebel misuse of U.S. funds,
cooperated with the Kerry investi-
gation until he denounced it as a
witch hunt."
Mr. McCall, in an earlier inter-
view, said Sen. Kerry's office had not
paid Mr. Mabry's expenses. It is not
clear whether Mr. McCall was reim-
bursed for his expenses. A Senate
official said rules governing reim-
bursement from Senate office
accounts do not cover such costs.
A report prepared by Sen. Lugar's
staff noted that Mr. Glibbery who
was arrested in Costa Rica in 1985
while helping to take supplies to the
resistance fighters, "said an aide to
Sen. Kerry had assured Glibbery
that the senator would pay bond."
The staffer was identified as admin-
istrative aide Ronald Rosenblith.
The report was quoting from a
May cable to the State Department
from the U.S. Embassy in Costa
Rica.
Approved For Release 2010/08/25: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403850013-9