He Never Left - Duane Clarridge (Iran-Contra and still at it!)

[groovedaddy]

Duane Clarridge burst onto the public stage in the mid-1980s for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal. The scheme involved selling weapons to Iran and using the proceeds to fund rebels trying to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. A career officer in the Central Intelligence Agency, Mr. Clarridge, known to virtually everyone as Dewey, was indicted for lying to Congress about the operation but was pardoned by President George H.W. Bush before his trial was finished.

Unfortunately, the experience doesn’t seem to have taught him a lesson or chastened him one bit. Mr. Clarridge, 78, is still organizing spy missions of questionable legality and seeking to interfere with foreign governments, this time from his poolside perch in San Diego.

As reported by Mark Mazzetti on Sunday in The Times, for two years, Mr. Clarridge has fielded operatives in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They gather information on militants, Taliban leaders and Kabul’s ruling class and make reports to military officials and private sector hard-liners, including Oliver North, another Iran-Contra alumni, who is now a television commentator.

Initially, Mr. Clarridge operated under a Defense Department contract arranged by a civilian employee who is now under criminal investigation. After the Pentagon ended his financing last May, he turned to private donors. Among his exploits: trying to discredit President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan by “proving” he is a drug addict — a charge American officials flatly deny.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/opinion/25tue3.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211