CIA Denies Feeding Iran, Iraq Deliberately Misleading Data

The CIA on Monday strongly denied a New York Times report that Iran and Iraq were fed “disinformation”--deliberately distorted or inaccurate U.S. intelligence data--to advance the Reagan Administration’s goals in the area.

The data was provided to the two warring countries in an effort to prevent either one from winning the war, now in its seventh year, the newspaper said, citing unidentified Administration officials.

The newspaper said that Administration officials acknowledged the covert operations, aimed in recent years at Iran and Iraq, often conflicted with one another and with diplomatic goals of the State Department.

The secret dealings with the two warring countries, a White House aide said, reflected the thinking of such senior officials as William J. Casey, CIA director, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, former national security adviser, and Donald Fortier, a senior National Security Council staff deputy who died last year.

The operations were largely planned without consulting the regional experts in the Pentagon and the State Department or, in some instances, on the NSC staff, the paper said.

George Lauder, chief spokesman for the CIA, said the disinformation story “is false. . . . It’s not true.” He said it would be “stupid” and against U.S. policy, which is to see an end to the Iraq-Iran war, to disseminate false information to either side.

Asked about the transmittal of disinformation, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said: “I don’t have that information.”

Regarding U.S. policy toward the war in the Persian Gulf, Speakes said: “We would like to see the Iran-Iraq war come to a quick resolution with no winners or losers.”