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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Monzer Al-Kassar.md
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@ -11,9 +11,16 @@ tags:
- FARC
- 1980s
- 2000s
summary: "Monzer al-Kassar was a Syrian arms dealer who received $1.2 million from Richard Secord during Iran-Contra to facilitate weapons transfers to the Contras, operated from Marbella Spain with connections to Syrian intelligence and multiple intelligence services, and was convicted in 2008 in US federal court on charges of conspiring to provide material support to FARC terrorists."
summary: "Syrian arms dealer based in Marbella, Spain, paid $500,000 by the Iran-Contra Enterprise in July 1986 for Contra weapons, and convicted in 2008 in US federal court of conspiring to support FARC."
born: 1945
location: "al-Nabk, Syria"
relations:
- type: funded
with: "[[Richard Secord]]"
reverse: true
role: "Enterprise run by Secord and Hakim paid 500,000 dollars for contra weapons, July 1986"
start: 1986-07
fn: 3
---
Monzer al-Kassar was born in 1945 in al-Nabk, a town in the Qalamoun region of Syria north of Damascus. He became one of the most extensively documented international arms dealers of the late twentieth century, conducting weapons transfers across multiple conflicts while maintaining relationships with intelligence services in the [[United States]], [[Israel]], [[Spain]], [[Syria]], and elsewhere. He lived for decades in Marbella, Spain, where he owned a substantial villa and was a prominent figure in the expatriate community, and held a passport from multiple countries. He was convicted in US federal court in 2008 following a [[DEA]] sting operation.[^1]
@ -28,21 +35,23 @@ Al-Kassar reportedly developed relationships with Western intelligence services
### Iran-Contra Connection
The [[Tower Commission]]'s investigation and [[Lawrence Walsh]]'s Independent Counsel investigation documented that al-Kassar received approximately $1.2 million from [[Richard Secord]] - General [[Oliver North]]'s co-director of [[The Enterprise (Iran-Contra)|the Enterprise]] - to facilitate the movement of weapons from [[Israel]] to the Nicaraguan [[Contras]]. The payment, made through the Enterprise's Swiss account structure - specifically [[Albert Hakim]]'s Lake Resources S.A. - was for al-Kassar's services in arranging weapons transfers through Eastern European intermediaries and logistics networks that could not be traced directly to the United States.[^1]
In July 1986 the Enterprise run by [[Richard Secord]] and [[Albert Hakim]] paid the Portuguese supplier Defex 2.6 million dollars and paid al-Kassar 500,000 dollars for contra weapons; in late July a shipment of arms left Portugal.[^3] The Independent Counsel left the 500,000 dollar purchase out of his 3.6 million dollar estimate of the Iran-to-contra diversion because al-Kassar "was not available to testify."[^4]
This relationship gave al-Kassar the operational profile of a contractor to American covert operations during the period, complicating subsequent US government efforts to prosecute him for other activities. [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officials who later sought to prevent his use in post-9/11 operations cited his Iran-Contra role as evidence that he had been protected despite his involvement in terrorist-adjacent activities.[^2]
### Pan Am 103 Allegations
Following the December 21, 1988, bombing of [[Pan Am Flight 103]] over [[Lockerbie]], Scotland, allegations circulated that al-Kassar had a connection to the attack. The private investigative firm Interfor, hired by Pan Am's insurance companies, produced a report alleging that the bomb had been planted in a suitcase belonging to a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] drug mule - part of an alleged CIA-protected narcotics pipeline out of the Middle East - and that al-Kassar was involved in a scheme in which the [[PFLP-GC|Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command]] substituted an explosive device for the drug consignment. These allegations were disputed by US government investigators, and al-Kassar was not charged in connection with Lockerbie. The Interfor report's claims were treated skeptically by most intelligence analysts.[^3]
Following the December 21, 1988, bombing of [[Pan Am Flight 103]] over [[Lockerbie]], Scotland, allegations circulated that al-Kassar had a connection to the attack. The private investigative firm Interfor, hired by Pan Am's insurance companies, produced a report alleging that the bomb had been planted in a suitcase belonging to a CIA drug mule - part of an alleged CIA-protected narcotics pipeline out of the Middle East - and that al-Kassar was involved in a scheme in which the [[PFLP-GC|Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command]] substituted an explosive device for the drug consignment. These allegations were disputed by US government investigators, and al-Kassar was not charged in connection with Lockerbie. The Interfor report's claims were treated skeptically by most intelligence analysts.[^5]
### 2008 Conviction
In 2007, the US [[DEA|Drug Enforcement Administration]] conducted a sting operation in which undercover agents posed as representatives of the [[FARC|Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)]] seeking weapons to kill Americans in Colombia. Al-Kassar and a co-conspirator agreed to provide weapons including anti-aircraft missiles. He was arrested in Spain in June 2007 on a US warrant and extradited. Tried in the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] before [[Jed Rakoff|Judge Jed Rakoff]], al-Kassar was convicted in November 2008 on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and conspiracy to kill Americans. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The conviction was the result of straightforward recorded evidence from the [[DEA]]'s sting, with al-Kassar's own statements providing the primary evidence against him.[^4]
In 2007, the US Drug Enforcement Administration conducted a sting operation in which undercover agents posed as representatives of the [[FARC|Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)]] seeking weapons to kill Americans in Colombia. Al-Kassar and a co-conspirator agreed to provide weapons including anti-aircraft missiles. He was arrested in Spain in June 2007 on a US warrant and extradited. Tried in the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] before [[Jed Rakoff|Judge Jed Rakoff]], al-Kassar was convicted in November 2008 on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and conspiracy to kill Americans. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The conviction was the result of straightforward recorded evidence from the DEA's sting, with al-Kassar's own statements providing the primary evidence against him.[^6]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Walsh, Lawrence E. *Iran-Contra: The Final Report.* Random House, 1994. Tower Commission Report. *The Tower Commission Report.* Bantam Books/Times Books, 1987.
[^2]: Farah, Douglas, and Stephen Braun. *Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible.* Wiley, 2007 (on al-Kassar's intelligence service connections and relationship to the Viktor Bout network).
[^3]: Henderson, Ian. *The Lockerbie Trial: A Documentary History.* Palgrave Macmillan, 2001 (covers the competing theories including the Interfor allegations).
[^4]: *United States v. Monzer al-Kassar and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy,* S.D.N.Y., Case No. 07 Cr. 354 (JSR), Verdict November 2008. Press Release, U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, November 21, 2008.
[^3]: Lawrence E. Walsh, Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, vol. I, pt. V, ch. 8, "The Enterprise and Its Finances," pp. 159-172, https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_08.htm.
[^4]: Walsh, Final Report, vol. I, ch. 8, n. 51, https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_08.htm.
[^5]: Henderson, Ian. *The Lockerbie Trial: A Documentary History.* Palgrave Macmillan, 2001 (covers the competing theories including the Interfor allegations).
[^6]: *United States v. Monzer al-Kassar and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy,* S.D.N.Y., Case No. 07 Cr. 354 (JSR), Verdict November 2008. Press Release, U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, November 21, 2008.