Larry Bensky Replies:

Re Michael Ledeen as intermediary: Since the Oliver North trial, there is more abundant evidence than ever that Ledeen did not just function for “a few months in 1985” as an intermediary between Israel and the United States. Testimony has shown that as far back as 1981 if not before, Ledeen tried to be a key player in the political-military connection between the United States and our principal Middle East dependent.

Re Ledeen’s role in fabricating the KGB-Bulgarian “plot to kill the pope”: Interested readers may consult “The Rise and Fall of the Bulgarian Connection” by Edward S. Hermann and Frank Broadhead (Sheridan Square Publications, 1986).

Re Ledeen and the CIA: There is abundant testimony--not least from Ledeen himself in his depositions to the Congressional Iran-Contra Committee--that he provided extensive information to both the CIA and the NSC about Iran, Israel, terrorism and any other matter he felt obliged to recount in his frequent meetings with the intelligence agencies. See especially Volume 15, “Iran Contra Hearings Depositions,” pp. 1108-1109, 1210-1215, and 1249-1271.

LARRY BENSKY

WASHINGTON, D.C.