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Michael Ledeen, enmeshed in the Iran Contra scandal, is
convinced that it was a worthwhile action that went sour.
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
A
s scandals go, it was
not a particularly
satisfying one.
Despite early hints of illegal
conspiracies by top officials of
the Reagan administration,
the Iran-Contra affair
brought down no govern-
ments, dragged no top of-
ficials to ignominious defeat.
To a country schooled in
scandal by the "smoking
gun" of Watergate days, there
was a frustrating lack of clari-
ty to the entire Iran-Contra
saga, a deflating sense of
anti-climax.
This indistinct quality
defines the role of Michael Le-
deen in this peculiar episode
in American foreign policy.
According to the official in-
vestigations, Ledeen was lit-
tle more than an in-
termediary among higher-
level administration officials,
Israel and Manucher Ghor-
banifar, the shadowy mid-
dleman in the complex
transaction.
Some observers, especially
in the press, took a
dramatically different view of
Ledeen's activities. According
to one theory, he was part of
a vast "disinformation" cam-
paign planned and executed
by Israeli agents. "Ledeen is
the kind of person who thinks
that the shortest distance bet-
ween two points is a tunnel,"
said a writer in Covert Action,
a publication devoted to
highly critical analyses of
U.S. intelligence activities.
His image as a cloak-and-
dagger enthusiast, he says,
stems more from the blood-
lust of the press — and from
a growing distrust of Jews in
high places.
"It's been a combination of
some of the nastier rumors,
plus the Pollard case, plus the
current behavior of the Israeli
government and their inabili-
ty to make a convincing case
for anything," he said in a re-
cent interview. "This has put
a cloud over Jews in govern-
ment. Indeed, it's been
tougher for pro-Israel gentiles
than it was five years ago."
Political Pragmatist
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1989
Michael Ledeen is an in-
tense looking man with an
abrupt manner and a visible
impatience with what he sees
as ethical hand-wringing. He
is given to long historical
digressions, a bit of baggage
from his academic past.
But mostly, he speaks in the
tough-minded lexicon of the
political pragmatist. He offers
no apologies for his work on
behalf of the Reagan white
House; indeed, he conveys the
impression that the very no-
tion that he should apologize
for his Iran-Contra activities
is just another symptom of a
nation that has lost its abili-
Michael Ledeen:
Says press and public
misunderstood.
ty to think realistically about
a world filled with diplomatic
and military hazards.
"I have always described
myself as a Scoop Jackson
Democrat," he says. "In the
area of foreign policy, I have
what are now considered
quite conservative views. On
the domestic side, I'm a trade
union supporter; I'm in favor
of urban renewal. So my
views are very mixed."
Ledeen earned a doctorate
in modern European history,
and at various times has
worked as a history professor
and a reporter — including a
stint as Rome correspondent
for The New Republic. In the
late '70s, he served as editor
of the Jewish Institute for Na-
tional Security Affairs
newsletter. He has published
eight books, ranging from his
current analysis of the Iran-
Contra affair Perilous
Statecraft — to academic
works on Italian history. He
is also a champion bridge
player; in 1975, he coached
the Israeli national bridge
team.
Today, he frequently uses
bridge analogies to describe
problems in government and
diplomacy. "One of the
reasons I find foreign policy so
interesting is the flow of infor-
mation," he says. "As in
bridge, there are times when
you want to limit the flow of
information to your partner
to conceal it from your op-
ponents. That is one of the
basic foreign policy pro-
blems."
In 1977, Ledeen became
editor of the Washington
Quarterly, a publication of
the Georgetown University
Center for Strategic and In-
ternational Studies. It was a
momentous move; while
working for CSIS, he
developed close ties to Henry
Kissinger and Alexander
Haig.
When Haig became Ronald
Reagan's first secretary of
state, Ledeen signed on as a
special adviser. When Haig
left the State Department,
Ledeen resigned as well, on-
ly to sign on as a consultant
to the administration, in the
areas of European policy and
terrorism.
As a consultant, Ledeen
gradually became more in-
volved in the nexus of ac-
tivities that led to the con-
voluted plan to trade arms for
hostages, and surreptitiously
to provide the help for the
Nicaraguan Contras that
Congress had denied.
"I had written a book on
Iran, on the fall of the Shah's
government," Ledeen says,
"and I was interested in the
idea that it was time for the
United States to become more
engaged in Iran."
But American policy-
makers were poorly informed
about the volatile political
situation in Iran. The Islamic
revolution had shattered the
American intelligence net-
work there. In some ways, Le-
deen suggests, U.S. in-
telligence officials almost
seemed intent- on ignoring
Iran. The CIA officer in
charge of Iranian affairs, Le-
deen says, was a man whose
specialty was Latin America.
Ledeen made a fateful sug-
gestion: why not go to the
Israelis for information?
Israel had maintained its con-
tacts with Teheran — in part
because of the continuing
arms traffic between Israel
and Iran.
And Ledeen was just the
man to broach the subject of
Iran with the Israelis. He had
a personal relationship with
Prime Minister Shimon
Peres, going back to his days
as special adviser to Haig.