Bush Linked to Contra Supply Operation : Had Vice President’s Approval, Air Drops Organizer Tells Aides

WASHINGTON — Max Gomez, a Cuban-American veteran of the CIA’s ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion, has told associates that he reported to Vice President George Bush about his activities as head of the secret air-supply operation that lost a cargo plane to Nicaraguan missile fire last weekend, knowledgeable sources said Friday.

Gomez has said that he met with Bush twice and has been conducting operations against the Nicaraguan government from El Salvador with the vice president’s knowledge and approval, the sources said.

The emerging story of Max Gomez illustrates the way a group of White House and Administration officials over the last two years knit together a web of private military and financial assistance to sidestep the legal restrictions imposed by Congress in 1984 and keep the Nicaraguan guerrillas, or contras, fighting while President Reagan campaigned here for resumption of direct aid.

The exposure of the secret supply effort has caused an uproar in Congress, consternation in El Salvador and alarm in the Administration. But leading members of Congress said they do not expect the disclosures to block the final passage of a new $100-million fund of U.S. aid for the contras that both houses have already approved.

And as far as Administration officials are concerned, the private supply effort has been a success--for it has kept the contras fighting during two years without U.S. military aid.

“What’s kept the resistance alive has been private help,” said Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams. “Some members of Congress accuse us of approving of this with a wink and a nod. A wink and a nod, hell. We think it’s been fine.”

Organized at Reagan’s behest and operating with critical assistance from senior government officials, a network of private citizens and foreign governments has worked to provide the contras with airplanes, guns and food--to maintain their war against Nicaragua’s leftist government whether Congress approved or not.

No U.S. government funds were directly involved, officials said, and the CIA was carefully kept at arms’ length because of Congress’ close scrutiny of that agency’s operations. But Reagan, Bush and other officials made it clear--both to conservative donors at home and allied governments abroad--that they hoped others would aid the contras where Congress did not.

And, several U.S. officials and contra sources said, Reagan and Bush detailed aides to help the private aid network get organized--with instructions to insulate the Administration from any direct responsibility for its operations.

As a result, members of Congress said, the White House appears to have skirted and stretched the law forbidding direct aid to the rebels, but stopped just short of breaking it.

On Thursday, Eugene Hasenfus--the American crewman who survived the crash of the cargo plane and was captured by Nicaraguan troops--identified Gomez as head of the elaborate aerial supply system based in El Salvador that sent his plane over Nicaragua. Hasenfus, speaking at a press conference organized by Sandinista officials, told reporters that he believed Gomez worked for the CIA.

But several sources said that Gomez formally works for the air force of El Salvador--a job he apparently gained with the help of an aide to Bush, not the CIA.

Gomez’s account of meetings with Bush and the vice president’s staff was first reported by the San Francisco Examiner on Friday. Knowledgeable sources confirmed the story and provided additional information about the overall relationship between senior Administration officials and the contras.

U.S. officials refused to confirm or deny the accounts of Gomez’s link to the White House. Marlin Fitzwater, a spokesman for Bush, said: “Neither the vice president nor anyone on his staff is directing or coordinating an operation in Central America.” But he refused to say whether Bush had met with Gomez, or whether Bush’s staff had helped Gomez in any other way.

According to one knowledgeable source, Bush aide Donald Gregg provided Gomez with a recommendation that introduced the Cuban-American to Gen. Juan Rafael Bustillo, the chief of staff of El Salvador’s air force, from whose base at Ilopango many of the contras’ supply flights ran.

In other cases, Administration and contra sources said, a National Security Council aide, Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, put rebel officials in touch with Americans who could help them raise money and obtain arms.

But in every case, the sources said, the White House aides were careful to avoid giving direct orders to either the contras or their backers.

“You’re not going to find a smoking memo in this program,” one knowledgeable U.S. official said. “It’s not that simple.”

Still, members of Congress said Friday that they want to investigate the Administration’s conduct further. And after a secret, three-hour briefing by Administration officials, several said that their focus has shifted from the CIA to the White House.

“The CIA has been staying away from the active promotion of the paramilitary operation,” said Sen. David Durenberger (R-Minn.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I cannot say the same thing about the President of the United States or a lot of other people who have by their own admission actively encouraged the private supply of the contras.

“I urge the Administration to be a little more forthcoming about two years of privatizing in Nicaragua,” he said. “I think the White House knows and has not been telling the world.”

‘Stretched the Law’

Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, added: “It would seem to me the CIA and our government have stretched the law, but stayed within it.”

“We’ve got some people down at the White House, perhaps in the National Security Council, who have been watching too many Rambo movies,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a leading opponent of aid to the contras. “It is time that this Administration came out of the closet and came clean.”

So far, however, the Administration has publicly refused to provide any details of its role in the secret supply network. House Democrats formally demanded documents on Lt. Col. North’s activities last year from the National Security Council but the White House refused. NSC officials admitted that they had met with contra leaders and even given them political advice, but denied any action that would violate Congress’ ban on aid.

“The actions of the National Security Council staff were in compliance with both the spirit and the letter of the law,” White House National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter said in a letter to House members in July.

Opponents Disagree

Congressional opponents of the Administration’s policy in Nicaragua disagree.

“I personally think it’s imperative that we hear from the National Security Council,” said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). “I think we should hear from Oliver North under oath.”

U.S. officials and contra sources have said that North put the rebels in contact with Richard Secord, a retired Air Force general with wide experience in arms sales and supply lines. Secord later arranged for the purchase of several small airplanes for the contras’ air force, according to sales documents; the source of the funds for the purchase has never been disclosed.

North also worked with Robert W. Owen, a conservative activist who helped the rebels to set up their supply lines in Honduras, according to contra sources. Owen was awarded a State Department contract to help with U.S. non-military aid for the rebels last year, which was not prohibited under the Congressional ban, at the insistence of contra chief Adolfo Calero--and over the objections of Robert Duemling, the administrator of the “humanitarian aid” fund.

Owen, in turn, dealt with John K. Singlaub, a retired army general who has been the contras’ most visible fund-raiser in the United States. Singlaub has acknowledged that he met with Owen; he says that he knows North, but could not legally discuss the contra issue with him. “That was one of the no-nos when the Boland Amendment (forbidding U.S. aid to the contras) went into effect,” Singlaub said.

In the case of Max Gomez--who has also gone by the name of Felix Rodriguez, one source said--the White House role was even more subtle. Gomez first went to El Salvador to advise the Salvadoran air force on anti-guerrilla operations in 1985, several sources said.

Only this year did Gomez begin working solely on the contra supply system, the sources said--but he continued reporting to Gregg and Bush. He was paid by the Salvadoran air force, not by the U.S. government, they said.