A wrap-up of who knew what and when they first did not recall it.
A wrap-up of who knew what and when they first did not recall it.
Given the possibility of some lingering confusion over the double-dealing, Arms for Ayatollahs Cash for Contras sting caper crisis affair, here’s a wrap-up of who knew what and when they first did not recall it.
Senator Inouye said that President Reagan had been a bit more knowledgeable than he had professed to publicly. The White House admitted to preparing a series of inaccurate chronologies. Elliot Abrams said he had given Congress testimony that was honest and wrong. Robert McFarlane acknowledged, but stopped short of admitting, that he had misrepresented the White House role, but said that withholding certain information and using tortured language wasn’t as bad as William Casey’s tactic of playing fast and loose with the facts, while mumbling.
Colonel North maintained that he had misled the Congress in good faith, and that he himself had been “provided with input that was radically different from the truth.” In the end, congressional questioners expressed relief that no one had lied.
The CIA’s Chief of Central American affairs, Allan Fiers, said he knew about arms drops to the Contras that took place while they were prohibited by law. He found out about them, he told the panel, while he was directing them.
Attorney General Meese said he had not talked to Casey or Reagan about their roles because “I didn’t want to ask questions until I knew what had happened.”
President Reagan was said to have been pleased with what General Secord had been doing, without being formally aware of what it was.
There are a lot of people who knew more than we know they knew, and before we knew they knew it. At this hour it appears that the diversion of funds to the Contras was known only to National Hero Lt. Col. Oliver North and Admiral Poindexter. Bud McFarlane, Don Regan, the Defense Department and the CIA may have had an inkling of what was going on, but they were too polite to ask about it. However, it appears that there are a lot of people who knew more than we know they knew, and before we knew they knew it.
President Reagan said initially that to limit perceptions that we traded arms for hostages, he would stop doing it. Asked why arms were shipped every time hostages were freed, he replied, “I can’t get into that question with regard to answering it.” As to the diversion of funds to the Nicaraguan Founding Freedom Fighter Fathers (4F’s), the President said “There has been no use of contradeception on my part, and I will carry my Presidency to term.” He also denied bombing clinics in Nicaragua on behalf of the Right to Lie Movement.
Mr. Reagan also maintained that we have not sold arms to terrorists. We sold them, rather, to individuals, some of them within the Iranian government, all of them moderates, or at least willing to become moderates. Further, he explained, the terrorist nations are Libya and Syria, this week. Iran was a terrorist nation when it bombed our Marines in Lebanon, but w