Patriots Pursuing Profits

Iran-contra probers find new evidence of money schemes

When he testified on Capitol Hill as the first witness in the Iran-contra hearings, retired Air Force Major General Richard Secord portrayed himself as a patriotic private citizen recruited by the White House to help support the Nicaraguan contras after Congress had cut off U.S. Government assistance. Although Secord told his story without insisting on immunity from prosecution, last week he assailed the hearings in a Wall Street Journal column, calling the proceedings an "obscene spewing of information and misinformation" and an example of the nation's "periodic, spasmodic flirtation with self- destruction."

The general's ire may reflect his concern over the...

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