‘Didn’t Come Here to Be Badgered,’ Secord Retorts

The Iran- contra hearings turned combative today with leadoff witness Richard V. Secord snapping, “I didn’t come here voluntarily to be badgered,” and insisting repeatedly that he did not profit from arranging secret arms deliveries to Tehran and the Nicaraguan rebels.

At other points he complained that the special prosecutor is “trying to throw all of us in jail,” and said Lt. Col. Oliver L. North once joked that if the facts became known, he--North--would receive a pardon.

The nationally broadcast House-Senate inquiry, in its third day, was transformed to a confrontational session as Senate counsel Arthur I. Liman pressed Secord repeatedly on the issue of profiteering.

Persistent Questioning

Liman persistently questioned Secord about an estimated $8 million that has been left in Swiss bank accounts since the Iran-contra enterprise was abruptly aborted six months ago when it became public knowledge.

After repeatedly denying Liman’s suggestion that he was in line to take some of those funds, Secord said, “I did not come here voluntarily to be badgered.” He is testifying without immunity

At one point, Thomas Green, Secord’s attorney, intervened to complain to Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate panel, that Liman was “purely argumentative. It is harassment.”

Secord said the $8 million--part of the proceeds from Iranian arms sales--remains frozen in bank accounts under the control of his business partner, Albert Hakim. When Liman asked him whether he has any plans for a share of the money if it is unfrozen, Secord replied, “No, Mr. Liman, I do not.”

He said he forswore any profits and left them for Hakim “to do with what he wished.”

During a less contentious afternoon session, Secord said that North, the National Security Council aide who recruited him for the projects, had once joked with him that if the facts surrounding the secret contra supply effort became known, he--North--would receive a pardon.

Secord said he told North that type of talk was ridiculous. “We discussed repeatedly that no laws were being broken,” Secord said.

He told the hearing he believed the supply effort did not violate a congressional ban then in effect on direct or indirect U.S. aid to the contras, even though North and some CIA and military officers and U.S. diplomats aided Secord’s operation.

“It never even occurred to me that someone would construe normal governmental salaries as covered by the ban,” Secord said.

Assistance ‘Invaluable’

But Rep. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) said salaried U.S. government officials were instrumental in the operation. Secord agreed, saying “Their aid and assistance were invaluable” and “the operation could not have been carried out without that aid.”

During his first two days at the witness table, Secord was a calm, confident, sometimes lighthearted witness. But under Liman’s cross-examination, he became combative.

Once, as Liman questioned him at length on financial points, Secord finally said those were only bookkeeping issues.

“I’ve got a special prosecutor (independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh) over here across the street that’s trying to throw all of us in jail for performing our duty as we saw it,” he said. “I haven’t focused on some technical issue like you’re bringing up here. This is crazy.”