FIGURES IN IRAN ARMS CASE ARE NAMED IN FLA. LAWSUIT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• 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
• Publication Date: December 17, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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