24 lines
No EOL
1.9 KiB
Markdown
24 lines
No EOL
1.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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category: "Iran-Contra"
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tags:
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- Person
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- IranContra
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- ArmsDealer
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- CIA
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- Israel
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summary: "Allegations suggest that the CIA was protecting Al-Kassar's operation because he was cooperating with efforts to free U.S."
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born: 1945
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location: "al-Nabk, Syria"
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---
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[[Monzer Al-Kassar]] was a Syrian kingpin and arms dealer, often referred to as the world's biggest arms dealer. He was implicated by the private investigative firm [[Interfor]] as being behind the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Interfor claimed he oversaw a heroin smuggling ring connected to the Syrian regime.[^1]
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Allegations suggest that the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] was protecting Al-Kassar's operation because he was cooperating with efforts to free U.S. hostages in [[Lebanon]]. It was further alleged that a suitcase intended for heroin was covertly substituted with explosives by the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command|PFLP-GC]] and Al-Kassar, unbeknownst to others involved in the alleged drug smuggling operation.[^1]
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Al-Kassar was also alleged to have provided [[Oliver North]] with drug profits to purchase arms for the Nicaraguan [[Contras]]. The [[United States]] Tower Commission probe into Iran-gate revealed that Al-Kassar had been paid $1.2 million by [[Oliver North]]'s co-conspirator General [[Richard Secord]] to move weapons from [[Israel]] to the [[Contras]].[^1]
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[[Barbara Honegger]], in her book *October Surprise*, alleged that Al-Kassar's heroin smuggling network in [[Italy]] was used to launder [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]] arms stocks for diversion to [[Iran]] with the help of corrupt Italian intelligence officials linked to the secretive fascist Masonic lodge, [[P2]]. Al-Kassar was reported to hold large tracts of land in the Bekaa Valley in [[Lebanon]].[^1]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010. |