John Kelly, the U.S. official with whom Lebanese kidnappers want to deal, spent two turbulent years as ambassador to that country, during which he was shot at by Christian gunmen and once was reprimanded for his role in the Iran-Contra affair.
Kelly, 50, is a career Foreign Service officer who worked in obscurity until Ronald Reagan sent him to Lebanon as ambassador in 1986. He quickly found himself involved in "back channel" discussions with the White House on negotiations for the release of American hostages.Kelly consulted with Robert McFarlane, the president's national security adviser; John Poindexter, the successor to McFarlane; Oliver L. North, a National Security Council aide; and Richard V. Secord, a retired Air Force general who was in the arms business.
McFarlane, Poindexter, North and Secord all have been convicted of crimes arising from the U.S. sale of weapons to Iran and the diversion of profits to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
The discussions involving Kelly were so secret that even Secretary of State George Shultz was kept in the dark about them. And when Shultz found out, he was "shocked" that Kelly had discussed the hostages and the use of arms sales as an "inducement" to win their release.
Shultz summoned Kelly to Washington to reprimand him in person for dealing behind the secretary's back. The State Department said Kelly did not take part in "unauthorized negotiations."
In 1988, Kelly's bulletproof limousine was hit by gunfire in a brief shooting exchange between his bodyguards and a Christian militia patrol in East Beirut. He was not hurt, but less than four months later he left the country because of a heart ailment.