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By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

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328 BY WAY OF DECEPTIONthe way regular agents do, but he was using Mossad money formany <strong>of</strong> his exploits. He got loans whenever he needed money totide him over, and considerable sums <strong>of</strong> Mossad money werefunneled through Khashoggi's companies, much <strong>of</strong> it originatingwith Ovadia Gaon, a French-based Jewish multimillionaire <strong>of</strong>Moroccan background who was <strong>of</strong>ten called upon when largeamounts <strong>of</strong> money were needed.In any event, Iran didn't want to pay until it had the weapons inhand, and Israel didn't want to send the 508 TOW missiles until ithad the money, so the bridge loan through Khashoggi was criticalin completing the transaction. Shortly after that deal, anotherAmerican hostage, the Reverend Benjamin Weir, was released,further convincing the Americans that despite his talents as a liar,Ghorbanifar could still deliver hostages through his contacts inIran. At the same time, Israel was secretly selling about $500million worth <strong>of</strong> arms to Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, so there islittle doubt that Ghorbanifar and his associate, Nir, used thisleverage to wrangle deals over American hostages.On July 29, 1986, Nir met with Bush at the King David Hotel inJerusalem. Details <strong>of</strong> the meeting were recorded in a top-secretthree-page memo written by Craig Fuller, Bush's chief <strong>of</strong> staff. Itquotes Nir as telling Bush <strong>of</strong> the Israeli involvement, "We aredealing with the most radical elements [in Iran because] we'velearned they can deliver and the moderates can't." Reagan hadconsistently claimed he was dealing with Iranian "moderates" insending weapons to Iran. Nir told Bush the Israelis "activated thechannel. We gave a front to the operation, provided a physicalbase, provided aircraft."Nir was scheduled to be a key witness in the 1989 trial <strong>of</strong> Northover the Iran-Contra scandal, particularly since he had claimedthat counter-terrorist activities he and North supervised during1985 and 1986 were authorized by a secret U.S.- Israeliagreement. His testimony could have been highly embarrassing,not only to the Reagan administration, but also in outlining justhow large a role the Israelis played in this whole affair.However, on November 30, 1988, while flying in a Cessna

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