Saving babies is our goal! CAPITOL REPORT WOLF BLITZER Iran Arms Continued from Page 30 Support the March of Dimes eon., DEFEcrs FouNcAnow THIS SPACE CONTRIBUTED B BUBLISHER MICHIGAN BONE AND JOINT AND REHABILITATION INSTITUTE ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY RHEUMATOLOGY MARTIN L. WEISSMAN, M.D. KENNETH W. GITLIN, M.D. HARRY N. HERKOWITZ, M.D. JEROLD SHAGRIN, M.D. HAND SURGERY STEPHEN E. BOODIN, M.D. THOMAS D. MF1GNELL, M.D. MICHAEL D. POCHRON, M.D. NEUROSURGERY NEUROLOGY RAINA M. ERNSTOFF, M.D. PHYSICAL MEDICINE RONALD S. TAYLOR, M.D. ALL PHYSICIANS ON TEACHING STAFF AT BEAUMONT HOSPITAL 5641 WEST MAPLE ROAD, (1 BLOCK E. OF ORCHARD LAKE RD.), WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354 6060 - t4' ;32 Friday, December 5, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 851-0555 datelined report by correspon- dent Judith Miller, Saudi Arabia began to warm up its relations with Iran "after Iranian troops stunned what was judged to be militarily superior Iraqi forces by cap- turing the Iraqi port city of Fao." After that Iraqi defeat, the report said, "King Fand approved in principle ship- ments of badly needed fuel oil to 'Teheran." Meantime, the Saudis were working closely with the U.S. in funding anticommunist rebels in Afghanistan and Angola. The Saudis had reached such a formal agree- ment with the Reagan Ad- ministration as part of the American AWACS surveil- lance aircraft sale to the Saudis in 1981. During a meeting between King Fand and Central Intelligence Agency Director William Casey in February 1984, the Saudis agreed to fund the "contras" in Nicaragua as well. A key connection between the.U.S. and Saudi Arabia in the "contra" operation was retired U.S. Air Force General Richard Secord — today a private arms dealer — who had worked closely with the Saudis during the AWACS battle on Capitol Hill. Secord is also very deeply involved in channeling arms to the "con- tras," according to several of- ficials. On the Israeli side, Nimrodi was deeply involved in ar- ranging the U.S. arms ship- ments to Iran — as were Kimche, Al Schwimmer, a founder of Israel Aircraft In- dustries and today an adviser to Peres, and Amiram Nir, ad- viser to the Prime Minister on counter-terrorism and a former military affairs cor- respondent for Israel Iblevi- sion. Nir, in fact, was the fourth person on the military transport plane which brought former National Security Ad- viser Robert McFarlane to Teheran last May. The others were North and George Cave, a veteran Central Intelligence Agency expert on Iran who speaks Persian. According to The New York Times, Khashoggi has done many favors for Israel and vice versa. "Sources said it was Mr. Khashoggi who in the early 1980s introduced Israeli officials to Gaafar al- Nimeiry, then President of the Sudan. Mr. Nimeiry even met with a prominent Israeli Cabinet minister at Mr. Khashoggi's ranch in Kenya" "It was through this con- nection that Israel ultimate- ly worked out the arrange- ments for some 18,000 Ethio- pian Jews to flee from their homes in Ethiopia and across into the northern Sudan," the report continued. Diplomatic sources in Washington said that various Israeli "representatives" have also met over the years with the Saudi Ambassador in Washington, Prince Bandar. Israel has also cooperated with the U.S. in Central America. Recently, for in- stance, the two countries have joined forces in trying to strengthen the military forces of Honduras. There are all sorts of other joint projects underway. Israeli officials deny that they directly arm or fund the contras. They also deny that they knew anything about the secret Ira- nian arms funding to the con- tras. But over the past 18 months, as senior Israeli of- ficials repeatedly denied that any Israeli arms were being sold to Iran, Israel was deep- ly involved in such transac- tions. The Israeli government publicly confirmed what Peres and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin had earlier flatly denied. Peres' personal credibility has been severely shaken in Congress because he privately assured several U.S. lawmakers, including a recent delegation of pro- Israeli members, that Israel was not selling weapons to Iran. Thus, there is a prevailing sense in Washington that so- meone in Israel knew about the contra funding — as Meese has suggested. There is also a suspicion that Nimrodi and the other "private" arms agents took a healthy commission on the sales. Several members of Con- gress have continued to press for an independent "Watergate" type Special Counsel to investigate the widespread allegations of criminal activity on the part of some Administration of- ficials. They also want to question Israelis implicated in the deal, including Nimrodi, Kimche, Schwim- mer and Nir. Whether Israel makes these people and others available to U.S. in- vestigators remains to be seen. Some U.S. officials believe that Reagan will per- sonally ask for full Israeli cooperation in the procedure. What started off as a demonstration of U.S.:Israeli strategic cooperation with all the promise of a public rela- tions bonanza for Israel has turned into a sordid mess for everyone concerned. Things are likely to get worse for Reagan, the Israeli govern- ment and others involved in the deal before they get any better.