SCOOP LINK:
McCain linked to private group in Iran-Contra case
By Pete Yost, Associated Press
Oct 7, 2008
For full story see…
WASHINGTON (AP) — GOP presidential nominee John McCain has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to
guerrillas seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra affair.
McCain's ties are facing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Barack Obama for his link to a former radical
who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago.
The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and
ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. The group was dedicated to stamping out communism around the globe.
The council's founder, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, said McCain became associated with the organization in the
early 1980s as McCain was launching his political career in Arizona. Singlaub said McCain was a supporter but not an
active member in the group.
"McCain was a new guy on the block learning the ropes," Singlaub told The Associated Press in an interview. "I think I
met him in the Washington area when he was just a new congressman. We had McCain on the board to make him feel like he
wasn't left out. It looks good to have names on a letterhead who are well-known and appreciated.
"I don't recall talking to McCain at all on the work of the group," Singlaub said.
The renewed attention over McCain's association with Singlaub's group comes as McCain's campaign steps up criticism of
Obama's dealings with William Ayers, a college professor who co-founded the Weather Underground and years later worked
on education reform in Chicago alongside Obama. Ayers held a meet-the-candidate event at his home when Obama first ran
for public office in the mid-1990s.
Obama was roughly 8 years old when Ayers, now at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was working with the Weather
Underground, which took responsibility for bombings that included nonfatal blasts at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.
McCain's vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, has said that Obama "pals around with terrorists."
In McCain's case, Singlaub knew McCain's father, a Navy admiral who had sought Singlaub's counsel when McCain, a Navy
pilot, became a prisoner of war and spent 5 1/2 years in North Vietnamese hands.
For full story see…