David Kimche Dies; Israeli Spy Involved In Iran-Contra Scandal

[Purveyor]

By Patricia Sullivan
Wednesday, March 10, 2010

David Kimche, 82, the Israeli spymaster-turned-diplomat who engineered the swap of American hostages in Lebanon for arms to Iran, touching off what became the Iran-contra scandal of the 1980s, died March 8 of brain cancer at his home in Israel.

Mr. Kimche, a top foreign ministry official and former deputy director of Israel's Mossad intelligence service, told U.S. national security adviser Robert C. "Bud" McFarlane in a 1985 meeting that more than a dozen Americans held by the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon could be freed if the U.S. agreed to pick them up.

No strings were attached to the initial offer, but Mr. Kimche's Iranian intermediary soon upped the ante, demanding that the Americans provide 100 antitank missiles in trade for the hostages, who had been individually seized over the previous three years.

Knowing that the U.S. government would not send arms directly to Iran, Mr. Kimche suggested that Israel provide the weapons, as long as the Americans agreed to sell replacement weapons to Israel. President Ronald Reagan agreed, although the one-step-removed deal violated an international embargo. Some of the profits from the subsequent sale to Israel funded anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua known as the contras, an action that violated a Congressional ban on providing aid to those rebels.

The agreement resulted in freed hostages, although the Israelis ultimately provided more than four times as many weapons as the intermediary, arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar, originally estimated. The deal remained secret until November 1986 when a small Lebanese magazine broke the story. The urbane and cerebral Mr. Kimche (pronounced KIM-khee), was often compared to author John le Carré's fictional spy George Smiley. Sophisticated, mannerly and speaking English with a British accent, Mr. Kimche was known for using Israel's military and economic power to influence the internal politics of Third World countries, news reports indicated.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/09/AR2010030903843.html

[ConsAreLiars]

1. The real 'axis of evil' has a long history and many members (nt)

[Scurrilous]

2. MKs to Biden: Show kindness and mercy for Jonathan Pollard

<snip>

"A group of Knesset faction chairmen on Wednesday sent a letter to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden requesting clemency for Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a life sentence in the U.S. after being convicted of spying for Israel.

"We are turning to you with a heartfelt request: that you act with kindness and mercy toward the ill Jonathan Pollard, and limit his punishment as a humanitarian gesture to the Jewish people ahead of the Passover holiday, the holiday of freedom," read part of the letter sent to Biden by Uri Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party) and other MKs.

Ariel heads the campaign in Israel to free Jonathan Pollard.

"Passover, our nation's holiday of freedom is fast approaching, but our happiness is clouded by the knowledge that Jonathan Pollard has been jailed in the U.S. for 25 years and his health has worsened recently," the letter continued.

"Jonathan expressed regret for his actions and received harsh punishment, despite the fact that others were sentenced for similar crimes in the U.S. The punishment for the type of crime committed by Jonathan is two to four years."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155528.html