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By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

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BY WAY OF DECEPTION 327<strong>of</strong> things was such that he carried the famous Bible autographedby Ronald Reagan when North and former United States nationalsecurityadviser Robert McFarlane — using false Irish passports --- secretly visited Iran in May 1986 to sell arms. Money from thatsale was used to buy arms for the U.S.-backed Contras inNicaragua.Nir was definitely a man with connections and inside knowledge.He had played a major role in capturing the hijackers <strong>of</strong> the cruiseship Achille Lauro in 1985, and he briefed then U.S. vice-president(and former CIA director) George Bush on the Iran armsnegotiations.Nir was on record as saying that he and North supervised severalcounter-terrorist operations in 1985 and 1986, authorized by asecret U.S.-Israel agreement. In November 1985, North creditedNir with the idea <strong>of</strong> generating pr<strong>of</strong>its from arms sales to Iran topay for other covert operations.Nir's involvement in all this becomes even more intriguing because<strong>of</strong> his relationship with a shadowy Iran-based businessman calledManucher Ghorbanifar. CIA chief Bill Casey eventually warnedNorth that Ghorbanifar was almost certainly an Israeli intelligenceagent. Still, Ghorbanifar and Nir did successfully arrange forIranian help in the July 29, 1986, release <strong>of</strong> the ReverendLawrence Jenco, an American hostage held by Lebaneseextremists. Within days <strong>of</strong> Jenco's release, Nir briefed GeorgeBush on the need to respond by shipping arms to Iran.Ghorbinafar had been a CIA source since 1974, the man whoplanted rumors in 1981 about Libyan hit teams being sent to theUnited States to kill Reagan. Two years later, after determining therumor was fabricated, the CIA ended his relationship as a source,and in 1984 issued a formal "burn notice" warning thatGhorbinafar was a "talented fabricator."Even so, it was Ghorbinafar who produced a bridge loan <strong>of</strong> $5million from Saudi Arabian billionaire Adnan Khashoggi toovercome distrust between Iran and Israel in the arms deal.Khashoggi himself had been recruited years earlier as an agent bythe Mossad. Indeed, his spectacular personal jet, about whichmuch has been written, was fitted in Israel. Khashoggi was notgetting a base salary from the Mossad

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