WASHINGTON -- Edwin Wilson, an ex-CIA agent serving time for arms smuggling and threats to murder prosecutors, said today the Iran-Contra affair was a 'sloppy, halfway operation' blown open by a disgruntled participant.
Wilson, serving a 15-year sentence at a federal prison, said in an interview on ABC's 'Good Morning America' recorded Monday and broadcast today that Manuchehr Ghorbanifar tipped a Lebanese publication to the Iran arms sales. Wilson offered nothing other than supposition to support his claim.
Ghorbanifar is an Iranian arms dealer the CIA and other intelligence agencies have described as unreliable and prone to unsubstantiated bragging. Despite the reputation, he was used as a channel with the Iranian government.
Wilson said it was 'a stupid operation for them to do it that way (through the National Security Council). To trust the Iranians was doubly stupid. They are a very devious people to deal with. They used Ghorbanifar. They said, 'Take us in, introduce us to all these people.' Once they were in, they said, 'By the way, the CIA thinks you're a no good SOB. You're lousy and we're not going to deal with you.'
'I had to laugh. He just immediately telephoned the newspaper in Lebanon and blew the whole operation, almost blew (President) Reagan out of the White House.'
A Lebanese magazine reported Nov. 3, 1986, that former national security adviser Robert McFarlane had visited Tehran in May. Two days later, the story surfaced in U.S. news reports.
Wilson, convicted of smuggling arms to Libya and of making death threats from his pre-trial jail cell against witnesses and prosecutors, said the entire affair 'was a sloppy, halfway operation.'
'They should have had more people and more intelligence. What Reagan should have done, he should have gone out and set up a first-class private committee -- guys like Ross Perot, General Motors - be open with it and let people donate if they want and have a private operation, instead of trying torun it through the NSC,' said Wilson.
