Lt. Col. Oliver North said under oath Tuesday that he told Israel in January 1986 that proceeds from Israel’s sale of U.S. missiles to Iran were used to fund the Administration-backed Nicaraguan rebels known as Contras.
In his first day of testimony before the Senate-House select committee’s hearing on the Iran-Contra affair, North described the Israeli role in November 1985 in selling I-Hawk missiles in its possession to Iran, which were later returned because they were the wrong type.
North said the Israelis later asked him what happened to the $1 million they had deposited to cover the cost of transporting the arms with Lake Resources, the Swiss firm set up to handle the funds for the Contras.
The former National Security Council aide said he told the Israelis that the money was “used for the purpose of the Contras, and they acknowledged that.”
“No one ever came and asked for it again,” North added later in response to questioning by House counsel John Nields.
North, reiterating past testimony, said the Israelis “royally fouled up” in sending medium-altitude missiles to Iran instead of the high-altitude missiles the Iranians wanted to meet the threat of “high flying” reconnaissance plane and bombers.
“We were very concerned that they (the Israelis) were demonstrating a certain ineptness in trying to pull this thing off,” North said.
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