Fluent in Farsi, Gene Wheaton spent much of his career as a military investigator, Criminal Investigations Division, in the Middle East. Out there he stalked a broad territory, rubbing shoulders with diplomats and heads of state. Wheaton knows many of the Iran/Contra conspirators personally, and his name turns up in Oliver North's notebooks, first as a potential ally then as a troublesome whistleblower. When Wheaton found out they were breaking the law he didn't like it.
David McMichael, formerly the chief investigator for the Christic Institute considers Gene Wheaton to be one of the most important witnesses in the Iran/Contra affair. He relates that the famous Christic law suit began when Wheaton first solicited a meeting with Daniel Sheahan, the Christic Institute director, and began to channel information from higherİups within the intelligence community who did not approve of CIA director, William Casey's freewheeling methods in the Middle East and Latin America.
Five years after the Iran/Contra hearings, only one individual remains behind bars, Arif Durrani, a Pakistani arms dealer who provided custom machined aircraft parts to Iran under the direction of Oliver North. Durrani currently is serving 10 years in federal prison. Gene Wheaton is the court appointed investigator for Durrani's appeal.
A related incident that does not sit well with Wheaton is the Dec. 12, 1985 crash of a chartered Arrow Air DC-8 which was carrying the 101st Airborne Division home from a mission in the Middle East. The crash of this jet shortly after take off from Gander, Newfoundland was the worst aviation disaster in American military history, killing 156 enlisted men, more than the 1983 Beirut Marine Corps barracks bombing.
While the wreckage burned on the ground, White House spokesperson, Larry Speaks came on TV to state that the cause of the crash was "icing on the wings".
Arrow Air had been involved in missile shipments to Iran from Israel in the fall of 1985. Arrow's role in those shipments point, in Wheaton's opinion, to a highly plausible theory: the Iranians blew up the Arrow Air flight in revenge upon North and Secord who had cheated them regarding obsolete HAWK missiles.
One thing is certain. The government's explanation is wrong. the Department of Defense had the crash site bulldozed, a felony destruction of evidence.
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