July 13, 1991

At the Central Intelligence Agency he was the consummate spymaster, the clandestine operations officer incarnate, but now Clair E. George is the man under the harshest glare of the Iran-contra investigation. As the intelligence agency's third-ranking official when the Iran-contra affair unraveled, Mr. George had risen through overseas intelligence posts in places like Hong Kong, Lebanon and Greece to be Deputy Director for Operations, responsible for managing the C.I.A.'s espionage operations and covert activities around the world. Next Stop on Trail Former intelligence agents describe him as charming, aggressive, profane, independent, temperamental, tough and totally absorbed in the espionage trade. Those agents said his personality meshed seamlessly with that of William J. Casey, the Director of Central Intelligence who promoted Mr. George to some of the agency's highest and most trouble-prone jobs in the Reagan Administration.

The Pentagon said the last U.S. forces in northern Iraq have begun to withdraw, ending one of the largest military relief efforts ever. Page 3.

The Central Intelligence Agency used the Bank of Credit and Commerce International for intelligence operations before the bank was seized last week by international regulators, according to Government and bank documents and current and former Government and bank officials. The bank was also involved in secret arms deals, including the covert sale of American arms to Iran in 1986, according to the documents and the officials.

President Bush's nomination of Judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court has focused attention on a small group of critics of the traditional civil rights agenda who are identified as black conservatives. But rather than a cohesive movement, those who, like Judge Thomas, are called black conservatives are a diverse group. Some are conservative, some not. They are defined by the one thing they all have in common -- a frustration with the idea that black people have one agenda defined by civil rights leaders.

Leading Senators today accused the former United States Ambassador to Iraq of misleading Congress in March when she testified about a crucial meeting with President Saddam Hussein eight days before his forces invaded Kuwait. The Senators' remarks came after they reviewed several secret cables, particularly one from the Ambassador, April C. Glaspie, summarizing the meeting. The cables were provided by the State Department to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week. [ Excerpts, page 4. ]