Word: ledeen
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...refugee from the revolutionary government of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, which confiscated his businesses in Iran, yet he later became a trusted friend and kitchen adviser to Mir Hussein Mousavi, Prime Minister in the Khomeini government. Some U.S. officials who have dealt with Ghorbanifar praise him highly. Says Michael Ledeen, adviser to the Pentagon on counterterrorism: "He is one of the most honest, educated, honorable men I have ever known." Others call him a liar who, as one puts it, could not tell the truth about the clothes he is wearing...
...vociferous group of critics contends that by turning over any cash at all to the Iranians, the U.S. is paying ransom to the kidnapers and setting a potentially disastrous precedent. Says Michael Ledeen, editor of the Washington Quarterly: "I don't think we should reward criminals with money." Adds Edward Luttwak, a foreign policy expert at Georgetown University: "By saving 52 lives, we sacrificed diplomats all over a world riddled with half-crazy governments." This view is also heard abroad, though mostly in nongovernmental circles. The Swiss newspaper Journal de Genève asserts that the agreement "suggests...