Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0103/01032.txt

Text File | 1993-07-27 | 10KB | 189 lines

$Unique_ID{bob01032}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Iran-Contra Affair: The Report
Chapter 7C   September 1986:  The Santa Elena Airfield}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Various}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{north
airfield
government
press
costa
conference
arias
officials
poindexter
tambs}
$Date{1987}
$Log{}
Title:       Iran-Contra Affair: The Report
Author:      Various
Date:        1987

Chapter 7C   September 1986:  The Santa Elena Airfield

     Soon after North had turned aside the Congressional inquiry, he learned
of a new threat of exposure, this one involving the Santa Elena airfield in
Costa Rica.  It came just as Congress was taking steps to fund the Contras
again.

     The airfield at Santa Elena had been built with the covert assistance of
several U.S. Government officials, including North, Tambs, and Castillo.
Completed in early 1986, the airfield was originally intended to serve as an
abort base and refueling site for resupply aircraft, but never became a
crucial element in the operation.  The new Costa Rican Government that took
office in May 1986, requested that the field not be used to aid the Contras.
Ambassador Tambs agreed, and the operation relied on alternative means to drop
supplies to Resistance troops inside Nicaragua.

     North learned late Friday, September 5, that the Costa Rican Government
planned a press conference about the airfield the next morning.  Officials at
the press conference, North was told, would reveal that Santa Elena had been
used as part of an operation to resupply the Contras and that U.S. Government
officials were involved with the airfield.  In response, North mobilized
several government officials to pressure high Costa Rican officials to call
off the press conference.

     North told a good deal of the story in a PROF sent the next day to
Poindexter:  "Last night at 2330 our Project Democracy rep. in Costa Rica
called to advise" that the Arias Government would hold a press conference the
next morning "announcing that an illegal support operation for the Contras had
been taking place from an airfield in Costa Rica for over a year."  North
wrote that Secord and CIA Station Chief Tomas Castillo would be "predominantly
mentioned."  From North's notebook it appears that he too was in danger of
being mentioned at the press conference.  The first entry relating to the
incident reads:  "0005 - call from [Castillo] - Security Minister plans to
make public Udall role w/Base West [Santa Elena airfield] and allege violation
of C[osta] R[ican] law by Udall, Bacon, North, Secord, et al."

     North immediately arranged a conference call with Elliott Abrams and
Louis Tambs.  North claimed in his PROF note to Poindexter that the three
officials agreed that North would call President Arias and make two threats:
if the press conference proceeded as scheduled Arias would not be permitted to
meet with President Reagan and he "w[ould] never see a nickel of the $80 M
that [Agency for International Development Director M. Peter] McPherson had
promised him" the day before.  North's notebook also reflected his intention
to threaten a foreign government if necessary to maintain secrecy.  The entry
reads:

     0008 - Conf . . . .  Call to Elliott Abrams and Amb Lew Tambs

     - Tell Arias:

     - Never set foot in W.H.

     - Never get 5 [cents] of $80 M promised by McPherson.

According to North's PROF Note to Poindexter, Abrams and another Government
official passed "the same word" to President Arias.  However, according to
their testimony, neither North, Abrams, nor the other official called Arias.
North testified that he falsified the facts in his PROF note to "protect" the
other officials involved.  He did not offer any explanation why he felt it
necessary to hide the facts from Poindexter, who knew details of the resupply
operation, including the existence of the airfield.

     Ambassador Tambs did call President Arias.  The purpose, he testified,
was to "dissuade him from this press conference.  Abrams recalled instructing
Tambs before the call to President Arias that revelation of the airfield would
put at risk Arias' upcoming meeting with President Reagan.  Tambs testified
that he merely told President Arias that it would not be prudent to hold the
planned press conference in light of the pending case before the International
Court of Justice.

     In his PROF note, North assured Poindexter that steps had been taken to
ensure that the NSC-coordinated Contra operation would not be linked to the
airfield:  "As a precaution the Project a/c [aircraft] were flown to [another
base] last night and no project personnel remain on site at the field."  The
next day, Poindexter indicated his approval of North's actions.  He wrote in a
PROF:  "Thanks, Ollie.  You did the right thing, but let's try to keep it
quiet."

Airfield Revealed:  Damage Control

     Although the initial news conference was cancelled, the Costa Rican
Government announced the existence of the airfield three weeks later.  On
September 26, the Costa Rican Interior Minister told reporters that his
government had discovered and shut down an airfield that had been used for
resupplying the Contras, for trafficking drugs, or both.  Secord and North
were not mentioned, although the name of the Enterprise Panamanian company
that built the airfield, Udall Resources, Inc., was revealed, as was the
pseudonym (Robert Olmstead) of William Haskell, the man who purchased the
land.

     The airfield had not been used in the resupply operation for several
months, and the press conference had compromised its location and purpose.
Nonetheless, action was taken to ensure that the roles of U.S. officials and
the Enterprise remained concealed.  In a PROF note, North told Poindexter:
"There are no USG fingerprints on any of the operation."  Udall Resources,
which North described as "a proprietary of Project Democracy," will "cease to
exist by noon today."  The company's resources - $48,000 - were moved to
another Panamanian account.  And Udall's office in Panama "is now gone as are
all files and paperwork."  Olmstead, North added, "is not the name of the
agent - Olmstead does not exist."

     In a second PROF note to Poindexter written that day, North blamed the
failure to head off the press conference in part on the absence of Ambassador
Tambs, who was on leave.  North wrote that Tambs "put this thing back in its
box two weeks ago when I called you in the middle of the night to threaten
that Arias would not get in the door of the oval office if this came out.
North's PROF continued with a lengthy slur directed against Costa Rican
officials who exposed activities in their own country.

     North concluded the message:

Believe we have taken all appropriate damage control measures to keep any USG
fingerprints off this and with Elliott and [CIA Chief Castillo], have worked
up appropriate "if asked" press guidance.

     The press guidance went to Poindexter for approval on September 30.  The
guidance, which according to the cover memo had been coordinated with Elliott
Abrams, the CIA Chief of the Central American Task Force (C/CATF) and Richard
Armitage, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs,
consisted of answers to two likely questions.

     The first potential question and suggested answer were:

     [Question:]  Did U.S. personnel supervise construction of the airstrip in
Northern Costa Rica?

     [Answer:]  The U.S. Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica, has reported that
during the Administration of Former President Monge the Ministry of Public
Security was offered the use of a site on the Santa Elena Peninsula which
could be used as an extension of the civil guard training center at
Murcielago.  The site included a serviceable airstrip which could have
supplemented the small one which is located near the training center.  The
offer was reportedly made by the owners of the property who had apparently
decided to abandon plans for a tourism project.  The Embassy has no
information on the Ministry's decision concerning the offer.

The answer concluded:  "No U.S. Government funds were allocated or used in
connection with this site nor were any U.S. Government personnel involved in
its construction."  The press guidance thus concealed the involvement in the
airfield's construction of North, Tambs, and Castillo.

     The suggested answer in the press guidance to the second possible
question was also misleading:

     [Question:]  Was the airstrip intended for use by the Contras?

     [Answer:]  The Government of Costa Rica has made clear its position that
it will not permit the use of its territory for military action against
neighboring states.  The U.S. Government respects that position.

     In fact, the airfield had been used to help the Contras.  The Costa Rican
Government had already revealed that the airfield's purpose had been to help
the Contras, to traffic drugs, or both.  Among the officials who had helped
prepare the guidance, Abrams and CIA Central American Task Force Chief
acknowledged knowing that the airfield was intended to help the Contras and
that U.S. citizens - if not Government officials - were involved.  North and
Poindexter, to whom the press guidance was sent for approval, knew the
airfield was part of the covert operation to help the Resistance.

     The steps taken to keep reporters from finding "USG fingerprints" on the
airfield were successful for the time being.  Not until October 24 did
evidence emerge suggesting ties between the airfield and the U.S. Government.
That revelation would come from Eugene Hasenfus after he was shot down and
captured by the Sandinistas.