North Hired British Mercenary, Singlaub Alleges

White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver L. North sought out a British mercenary to destroy Soviet-made HIND-D assault helicopters in Nicaragua, retired Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub said Thursday in testimony before the House and Senate congressional committees investigating the Iran- contra scandal.

Although rebel leader Adolfo Calero testified earlier that the operation was never carried out because it was too dangerous, one congressional investigator said that the action is among the most direct and clear-cut examples indicating that North violated a congressional ban on official U.S. aid to the Nicaraguan rebels, known as contras.

Singlaub said that North hired David Walker, a former colonel in the British Special Air Service, “to infiltrate a team of non-U.S. personnel into the vicinity of the airfield at Managua, with a view of destroying the HIND-D helicopters that were known to be located there.”

The Soviet-made helicopters, Singlaub said, are “the most effective people-killing machine in the world.”

“Walker quite accurately points out that the helicopters are more easily destroyed on the ground than in the air,” North wrote in a Dec. 4, 1984, memorandum to Robert C. McFarlane, then national security adviser to the President. “Unless otherwise directed, Walker will be introduced to Calero and efforts will be made to defray the cost of Walker’s operations from other than Calero’s limited assets.”

In a subsequent letter to Calero, North urged the contra leader to use donations from Saudi Arabia to employ “my British friend and his services for special operations. I can produce him at the end of the month.”