Word: secords
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...general's ire may reflect his concern over the damage that recent testimony has done to his reputation. Last week several members of the congressional committees ridiculed Secord's claims that he was not in the arms trade for the money. Said Republican Senator Paul Trible of Virginia: "Secord and his companions were profiteers amassing huge sums over which they had complete control. They were also pursuing investments requiring millions of dollars. This doesn't rule out their being patriots as well. But to pose as selfless patriots alone is ludicrous...
...Secord was not the only middleman who saw opportunities for profit in the Reagan Administration's private foreign policy ventures. Saudi Arms Merchant Adnan Khashoggi and Iranian Manucher Ghorbanifar earned lucrative commissions on the sales of U.S. weapons to Iran. Fund Raiser Carl Channell reportedly kept 35% of the private donations he solicited for the contras to bankroll his plush Washington offices, stretch limos and hefty payments to friends and associates. Even Oliver North, the superpatriotic National Security Council aide who ran the Iran-contra initiatives, cashed $2,000 worth of traveler's checks received from Contra Leader Adolfo Calero...
Much of the testimony at the congressional hearings has revolved around the question of profiteering. Secord admitted that he and his business partner, Albert Hakim, hold in Swiss bank accounts some $8 million generated by the Iran-contra "enterprise." He said he had no interest in keeping this money and would gladly give it to the contras as a memorial to the late CIA director William Casey. But meanwhile he has taken court action to keep U.S. investigators from acquiring the bank records of these accounts...
During last week's hearings, Republican Senator Warren Rudman of New Hampshire waved an invoice that, he said, showed that one of Secord's companies (East, Inc.) had billed another of his firms (Lake Resources) $100,357 for the salaries of private American pilots used in air-dropping weapons to the contras. This, said Rudman, meant that the pilots should have been getting $450 a day. In fact, according to Rudman and a witness, former CIA Agent Felix Rodriguez, the pilots were paid at most $150 a day, suggesting that East, Inc., earned about $35,000 on this transaction alone...
After watching Major General Richard Secord's testimony in the Iran-contra hearings ((NATION, May 18)), I have come to admire this man. We live in a complicated world, and our Government must have people like Secord who are qualified both technically and temperamentally to handle the brutal realities...