The Truth about Colin Powell and Arms for Israel and Iran

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The Truth about Colin Powell and Arms for Israel and Iran

May 1985 - The Central Intelligence Agency proposes that America's allies be allowed to sell arms to Iran to enhance Western influence.

"What's more, the national intelligence officer responsible for coordinating the estimate had already sent a personal memo to the White House stating that the race between the U.S. and USSR `for Tehran is on, and whoever gets there first wins all.'

"No one in my office believed this Cold War hyperbole. There was simply no evidence to support the notion that Moscow was optimistic about its prospects for improved relations with Iran. …

Accoring to former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who prepared the review for senior officials in the Directorate of Intelligence [DI]. "My findings uncovered an unexplained discontinuity," "To wit on 22 November 1985, in an abrupt departure from the longstanding analytical line on Iranian support for terrorism, DI publications began to assert that Iranian-sponsored terrorism had `dropped off substantially' in 1985. I recall being particularly struck by the fact that no evidence was adduced to support that important judgment.

"We protested the conclusions of the NIE, citing evidence such as the Iranian government's repression of the communist Tudeh Party, the expulsion of all Soviet economic advisors … and a continuing public rhetoric that chastised the `godless' communist regime as the `Second Satan' after the United States.

"Despite overwhelming evidence, our analysis was suppressed. At a coordinating meeting, we were told that Gates wanted the language to stay in as it was, presumably to help justify `improving' our strained relations with Tehran through the Iran-Contra weapons sales." [LAT, Nov. 21, 2006]

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/112306.html

NOTE: Did the Reagon administration change its policy toward Iran? I think it was to make a bargin with Isreal to use their MOSSAD forces to aid the Contras and provide covert aid to the them.

The Israelis had just fought a three year long war with Lebanon and Syria and were probably very short of TOW anti-tank missiles used to attack Lebanon and Syrian armered vehicles. And Israel want to get their hands on new improved TOW II missiles.

Operation Peace for the Galilee Israel's invasion of Lebanon in June 1982

When Syria entered the fighting on June 9th, the Cobras were turned against the Syrian military. Cobras engaged and destroyed dozens of Syrian tanks, including T-72s, the most advanced Soviet tank of the time. One attack even involved the destruction of an entire Syrian armour brigade deep behind Syrian lines: AH-1s attacked and destroyed its tanks on board train cars, about to carry them to the front!

Israel was also concerned by increasing Syrian involvement in the Lebanese civil war and wanted to forestall a hostile, Syrian-backed government developing in Lebanon.

The Truth about Colin Powell and Arms for Israel and Iran

November 28, 2007: In 1985, the Israelis were interested in trading U.S. weapons to Iran's radical Islamic government to expand Israel's influence in that important Middle Eastern country. Pres. Reagan's National Security Adviser, Robert McFarlane, circulated a draft presidential order in June 1985, proposing an overture to Iranian moderates.

In July 1985, Weinberger, Powell and McFarlane met to discuss details for doing just that. Iran wanted 100 anti-tank TOW missiles that would be delivered through Israel, according to Weinberger's notes.

Reagan gave his approval, but the White House wanted to keep the operation a closely held secret.

On August 20, 1985, the Israelis delivered the first 96 missiles to Iran. It was a pivotal moment for the Reagan administration. With that missile shipment, the Reagan administration stepped over an important legal line.

The transfer violated laws requiring congressional notification for shipment of U.S. weapons and prohibiting arms to Iran or any other nation designated a terrorist state. Violation of either statute could be a felony.

McFarlane said he discussed Reagan's approval of the missile transfer with Weinberger and Powell, and the need to replenish Israeli stockpiles. That would have put Weinberger and Powell in the middle of a criminal conspiracy The available evidence from that period suggested that Weinberger and Powell were very much in the loop, even though they may have opposed the arms-to-Iran policy.

In early September 1985, Weinberger dispatched a Pentagon emissary to meet with Iranians in Europe, another step that would seem to make little sense if Weinberger and Powell were indeed in the dark about the details of the arms-for-hostage operation.

At the same time, McFarlane told Israel that the United States was prepared to replace 500 Israeli missiles, an assurance that would have required Weinberger's clearance since the missiles would be coming from Defense Department stockpiles.

On September 14, 1985, Israel delivered the second shipment, 408 more missiles to Iran. The next day, one hostage, the Rev. Benjamin Weir, was released in Beirut.

In early 1986, Powell exploited his bureaucratic skills to begin short-circuiting the Pentagon's covert procurement system that would have alerted the military brass that thousands of TOW anti-tank missiles and other sophisticated weaponry were headed to Iran.

Weinberger officially handed Powell the job of shipping the missiles to Iran on January 17, 1986. That was the day Reagan signed an intelligence finding, a formal authorization that is required by law for the conduct of covert operations, in this case, the transfer of arms from U.S. stockpiles and their shipment to Iran.

A day after Reagan's finding, Powell instructed Gen. Max Thurman, then acting Army chief of staff, to prepare for a transfer of 4,000 TOW anti-tank missiles, but Powell made no mention that they were headed to Iran.

Though kept in the dark, Thurman began the process of transferring the TOWs to the CIA, the first step of the journey.

January 29, 1986, thanks to Powell's intervention, 1,000 U.S. TOWs were loaded onto pallets at Redstone Arsenal and transferred to the airfield at Anniston, Alabama.

Major Christopher Simpson, who was making the flight arrangements, later told Iran-Contra investigators that Lt. Gen. Vincent M. Russo, the assistant deputy chief of staff for logistics, "was very uncomfortable with no paperwork to support the mission request. He wasn't going to do nothin', as he said, without seeing some money. … `no tickey, no laundry.'" Powell pulled rank by arranging for "executive instructions" commanding Russo to deliver the first 1,000 TOWs, no questions asked.

The money for the first shipment was finally deposited into a CIA account in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 11, 1986. Three days later, Russo, released the 1,000 TOWs.

On February 25, 1986, Secretary of the Army John Marsh called a meeting of senior Army officers and ordered Russo to "tell General Powell of my concern with regard to adequate notification being given to Congress," Russo testified.

Poindexter's plan for "timely notification" was to tell Congress on the last day of the Reagan presidency, January 20, 1989. Poindexter stuck the Pentagon memo into a White House safe, along with the secret "finding" on the Iran missile shipments.

Under federal law, the Executive was required to notify Congress both of covert action "findings" and the transfer of military equipment to third countries.

Powell "reiterated [that it was] the responsibility of the recipient" agency, the CIA, to notify Congress, "and that the Army did not have the responsibility to do that."

Then, in March 1986, Powell conveyed a second order, this time for 284 HAWK antiaircraft missile parts and 500 HAWK missiles. This time, Powell's order set off alarms not only over legal questions, but whether the safety of U.S forces might be jeopardized.

The HAWK order would force a drawdown of U.S. supplies to a dangerous level. Henry Gaffney, a senior supply official, warned Powell. If there had been an air attack on U.S. forces in Europe during the drawdown, the HAWK missile defense batteries might not have had the necessary spare parts to counter an enemy attack.

NOTE: Some of the communications about the movement of these TOW and HAWKs was made over unsecure telephones, so there is a good chance the Soviets knew what was going on. I know because I was listening on the telephones as part of a US Army operations security mission.

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Source: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/112807a.html


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