light in the Iran-Contra scandal, another participant in this one deal decided not to bother
hiding his own part in it. Thus, we are able to see how Colonel North got his false
certificate.
April 20, 1986:Felix Rodriguez met in San Salvador with Oliver North and Enrique Bermudez, the
Contras' military commander. Rodriguez informs us of the following in his own, ghost-
written book:
Shortly before that April 20 meeting, Rafael Quintero had asked me to impose upon my good relations with the Salvadoran military to obtain `end-user' certificates made out to Lake Resources, which he told me was a Chilean company.... ''@s6@s0 The plan was to acquire false end-user certificates from his contacts in the Salvadoran armed forces for Blowpipe ground-to-air missiles supposedly being shipped into El Salvador. The missiles would then be illegally diverted to the Contras in Honduras and Nicaragua. Rodriguez continues, with self-puffery: The Salvadorans complied with my
request, and in turn I supplied the certificates, handing them over personally to Richard
Secord at that April 20 meeting. ''@s6@s1 While arranging the forgery for the munitions
sale, Rodriguez was in touch with the George Bush staff back in his home office. On
April 16, four days before the Rodriguez-North missile meeting, Bush national security
adviser Donald Gregg asked his staff to put a meeting with Rodriguez on George Bush's
calendar. Gregg said the purpose of the White House meeting would be `` to brief the
Vice President on the war in El Salvador and resupply of the Contras. '' The meeting was
arranged for 11:30 A.M. on May 1.@s6@s2 Due its explicitly stated purpose--
clandestine weapons trafficking in an undeclared war against the rigid congressional
prohibition--the planned meeting was to become one of the most notorious of the Iran-
Contra scandal.
April 30, 1986 (Wednesday):Felix Rodriguez met in Washington with Bush aide Col. Sam Watson.
The following reminder message was sent to George Bush:
Briefing Memorandum for the Vice President
Event: Meeting with Felix Rodriguez
Date: Thursday, May 1, 1986
Time: 11:30-11:45 a.m.--West Wing
From: Don Gregg
I. PURPOSE
Felix Rodriguez, a counterinsurgency expert who is visiting from El Salvador, will provide a briefing on
the status of the war in El Salvador and resupply of the Contras.
III. [sic] PARTICIPANTS
The Vice President Felix Rodriguez