BUSH SAYS HE SUPPORTED U.S. WEAPONS SALES TO IRAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 125
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 13, 2005
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 22, 1987
• Content Type: NSPR

Bush gifYg r suppor
U.S. weapons sales
to Iran
By Owen Ullmann
/nom, a,htngtori Bureau
WASHINGTON ? Vice Prefident
Bush acknowledged yesterday that
he solidly supported President Rea-
gan's secret weapons sales to Iran
from the outset, even though both of
them had misgivings about it.
In an interview, Bush said he con-
tinues to "strongly support what. the
President was doing," even though
in hindsight it was clear that the
administration had engaged in an
arms-for-hostage deal.
"Does that mean he ;Reagani had
ever had any misgivings about it or
concerns about it or reservations?
Absolutely," said Bush. "Did I? Yes."
But Bush added that "I see nothing
incompatible" about. supporting the
initiative. "And I still am solid," he
added. "Then, as time went on, as
time goes on and you have the bene-
fit of looking ex post facto at things,
you say, 'Gosh, if we had seen all
this.' "
Bush, the front-runner for the Re-
publican presidential nomination,
discussed the Iran-contra affair at
length for the first time since the
release last week of a newly discov-
ered White House memorandum
from Feb. 1. 1986, which described
the vice president as being "solid" in
support of the arms sales.
The memo, written by former na-
tional security adviser John M. Poin-
dexter, was released by the Senate's
Iran-contra investigative committee,
which called the memo "the first
evidence (albeit hearsay) the com-
mittees have found concerning the
vice president's position on the Iran
initiative."
Bush has said little about .his In-
volvement in the scandal, contend-
ing that his loyalty to Reagan pre-
vents him from discussing his
confidential advice to the President
or from criticizing the operation.
But in subtle ways, Bush has
sought to distance himself from the
politically unpopular operation,
which his GOP opponents have tried
to use against him.
his strategy has been to support
the initiative as a worthwhile diplo-
matic overture to Iran and an oppor-
tunity to free American hostages.
But he has said he would have op-
posed it had he been aware that it
was an arms-for-hostage deal.
The vice president yesterday
sought to play down the significance
of Poindexter's memo by saying it ,
merely confirms what was already
known about his position._
"Poindexter, I think, has testified
under oath about my misgivings. So,
yes, I've stood with the President and
will continue to stand with him and
have no concerns about that at all,"
he said.
Bush press secretary Steve Hart
later said that although there is no
record of public testimony by Poin-
dexter to that effect, Bush was refer-
ring to a Poindexter deposition that
corraborated the vice president's
claim of support with reservations.
Hart said he did not know how Bush
learned of the deposition, which has
not been made public.
'Ile vice president declined to say
what his reservations were, but in
his autobiography, Looking Forwatd,
which was published this fall, he
writes that one misgiving he shared
with Reagan "was that the United
States was involved in a major for-
eign-policy initiative with only lim-
ited control over how it was carried
out" because Israel was playing a
major role.
Bush also says.in the book that he
was not aware that the operation was
an arms?for-hostage swap because
"I'd been deliberately excluded from
key meetings involving details of the
Iran operation" and was unaware of
vigorous objections to the arms sales
voiced by both Secretary of State
George P. Shultz and ,then-Secretary
of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger.
"As it turned out ... this was arms
for hostage," he said yesterday. "This
was wrong. That should not have
happened. Now, do you wish that
you'd been clairvoyant enough to say
that that was arms for hostages?
Well, yes I do."
The Washington Post STATINTL
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The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
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But at the outset of the operation,
Bush said, he shared Reagan's con-
cern about the American hostages in
Lebanon and a keen desire to secure
their release.
Poindexter's February 1986 memo,
which referred to "this risky opera-
tion," said "President and VP are
solid in taking the position that we
have to try."
"Look at the Poindexter memo,"
Bush said. "Did I care about those
hostages? Did 1-think the President
was right coming down taking the
risk to &et the torturers to stop on
JCIA Beirut station eEfel- Williaml
laTe-y and to free 1E-ose other hos-
ta es? Yeah, I did.
that's the human side of the
equation, that now in our infinite
wisdom we can look back on because
the hostages aren't released. But that
weighed very heavily on my mind at
the time ... but it was not presented
as arms for hostages."
U.S. officials learned in October
1985, about four months before Poin-
dexter wrote his memo, that Buck-
ley, one of the hostages, had died in
captivity the preceding June.
Page
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
9.
Vice Prgs
projedRen-iirg00gOeinCt-lalk?901
of faine's campaign
STAT
by Elaine Gilbert
Vice President Csearge_,Bush will make a
good president because of his varied
background, which includes an understanding
of world politics, hino-n, George Bush Jr.
said during an iiiTerview last week in
Hastings.
Bush Jr., 41, the eldest of vice president
and Barbara Bush's five children, was in
Hastings Thursday and Friday on a campaign
swing to rally support for his father's
Republican presidential nomination. Friday
he spoke to the Hastings Women's Club.
In the interview, Bush Jr. talked of his
father's international experiences as am-
bassador to the United Nations, ambassador to
China and head of the Central Intelligence
Agency.
He said the vice president would not have to
compromise his CIA training and experiences
to be open with the American people if he is
elected president.
"As head of the CIA. the most important
thing about that is that he understands the
world the way it is," Bush Jr. said.
"I think there are some secrets that we
don't need to be sharing with the world and I
think the American public understands that.
But what we don't need is some covert ac-
tivities taking place out of the National Securi-
ty Council and George Bush has said this.
"People say 'why didn't he do something
about it (the Iran-Contra affair)?" and the
answer to that was 'like the president, he
(Bush) didn't know.' It's hard for people to
believe but the hearings proved that out...that
it was simply that some people withheld infor-
mation from the president and the vice presi-
dent and that's wrong and George Bush has
said it's wrong."
George Bush, if elected President, "will
understand what's available for knowledge
and what shouldn't be," his son said. "But,
he won't use the National Security Council as
an operating branch. It's an advisory branch.
"When he. (the vice president) was head of
the CIA, the Senate was trying to dismantle
the CIA and he fought for the integrity of the
CIA.
"He also spent a lot of time testifying on
'the Hill' and brought some reforms to the
agency that did prevent unrecognized ac-
tivities ? in other words, not to allow the
agency to run unfettered to do a bunch of
covert activities that were not acceptable to
the elected officials. So he has been a part of
the reform (of the CIA) as well," Bush Jr.
said.
Turning to the race for the nomination,
Bush said that his father and Pat Robertson
have a close race in Michigan.
Bush Jr. said he feels the level of en-
thusiasm for his father's nomination is in-
creasing as Jan. 14 draws near. That's the day
when Michigan county delegates convene.
"Bush supporters now realize that we've
got a battle on our hands and realize the time
is coming closer and therefore people are
more enthusiastic than they have been in the
past," he said.
Nationally, "the polls show George Bush
with a pretty good lead," his son said.
Of the vice president's nearest challenger,
Sen. Robert Dole, Bush Jr. said, "I think
George Bush will beat him, but Bob Dole is
running a good campaign.
"Dole has been in the U.S. Senate and
House of Representatives for most of his
career and that's good. I just happen to
believe that a varied background (like George
Bush has) is more important. George Bush has
served in the Congress like Bob Dole but he's
held other jobs and learned from other jobs as
well, such as running the CIA, serving as am-
bassador to China and being vice president.
"We live in a complicated world today and
so as a result it makes sense to have someone
who sees the world and has been involved in
world politics," Bush Jr. said. "Bob Dole is a
good man, don't get me wrong. I just happen
to think George Bush is a better person."
"George Bush knows most of the leaders of
the free world and the Communist world for
that matter, and therefore has a better chance
to take the U.S. message and negotiate for the
United States."
Raised in Connecticut, Bush Jr. said his
father fought in World War II immediately
after high school graduation.
"He (George Bush) was a fighter pilot, a
highly decorated World War II hero. A lot of
people don't know that. He was actually shot
down in combat and rescued by a United
States submarine:
"He did write a book about it that's out
right now, called 'Looking.Forward.' It talks
about that incident and the questions about
whether or not he'd be rescued by a U.S. sub
as opposed to a Japanese vessel that was corn-
ing.after him. He had some very prayerful
moments during that experience in his life."
After graduating from Yale University,
where Bush was a Phi Betta Kappa and a good
athlete, he moved to West Texas and started
his own company in the oil and gas drilling
and contracting business.
As a businessman, Bush Jr. said his father
dealt with roughnecks, drilling
superintendents and a variety of other people.
"He was a good man and people liked him
and worked hard with him for a common pur-
pose which was to build his little company up
and provide more jobs. He then ran for U.S.
Congress and won out of Houston, Tex."
Bush Jr. also pointed out that his father ran
the Republican Party "during Watergate,
which was a very difficult time."
If Bush receives the presidential nomina-
tion, his son said his father will campaign on
The Washington Post S-TATI NT L
01, Yoork Tmes
R00010?C;rrOWabilligtoni Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
14 Bother (mt)
Pec? 17
Date
four major platforms.
"The first one is the economy ? real jobs
in the private sector, not raising taxes, en-
couraging fiscal control at the House of
Representatives level.
"I think we'll be talking about peace, the
INF (Intermediate Nuclear Freeze) Treaty.
Bush is very much in favor of it. He wants to
build on that ? a verifiable peace treaty so
that we can get rid of chemical and biological
weapons that can wipe out civilizations..."
Bush Jr. said his father also wants to be
known as "the education president" and will
be concerned with environmental issues.
"There are millions of issues, but you've
got to concentrate on four or five of them,"
he said.
Bush Jr., himself, may be a candidate for
some public office in the future. He was nar-
rowly defeated in a bid for a 19th Congres-
sional seat in West Texas in 1978, but says
"I'm not discouraged in the least by having
gotten whipped.
"At times," he said he has considered the
possibly of seeking an office, but has no idea
what one it might be or when.
"Timing is so important in politics, you
never know what's going to fall into your
path."
Page 3? .
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
sTATc
Forgisident'S?StinctalkS9?1
of father's campaign
by Elaine Gilbert
Vice PresidentSze,Auge?Bush will make a
good president bs_oge. of his varied
background, which includes an understanding
of world politics, hiT-s-O-n. George Bush Jr.
said during an inre-rview last week in
Hastings.
Bush Jr., 41, the eldest of vice president
and Barbara Bush's five children, was in
Hastings Thursday and Friday on a campaign
swing to rally support for his father's
Republican presidential nomination. Friday
he spoke to the Hastings Women's Club.
In the interview. Bush Jr. talked of his
father's international experiences as am-
bassador to the United Nations, ambassador to
China and head of the Central Intelligence
Agency.
He said the vice president would not have to
compromise his CIA training and experiences
to be open with the American people if he is
elected president.
As head of the CIA, the most important
thing about that is that he understands the
world the way it is," Bush Jr. said.
"I think there are some secrets that we
don't need to be sharing with the world and I
think the American public understands that.
But what we don't need is some covert ac-
tivities taking place out of the National Securi-
ty Council and GeOrge Bush has said this.
"People say 'why didn't he do something
about it (the Iran-Contra affair)?" and the
answer to that was 'like the president, he
(Bush) didn't know.' It's hard for people to
believe but the hearings proved that out.. .that
it was simply that some people withheld infor-
mation from the president and the vice presi-
dent and that's wrong and George Bush has
said it's wrong."
George Bush. if elected President. will
understand what's available for knowledge
and what shouldn't be," his son said. "But.
he won't use the National Security Council as
an operating branch. It's an advisory branch.
"When he (the vice president) was head of
the CIA, the Senate was trying to dismantle
the CIA and he fought for the integrity of the
CIA.
"He also spent a lot of time testifying on
'the Hill' and brought some reforms to the
agency that did prevent unrecognized ac-
tivities ? in other words, not to allow the
agency to run unfettered to do a bunch of
covert activities that were not acceptable to
the elected officials. So he has been a part of
the reform (of the CIA) as well," Bush Jr.
said.
Turning to the race for the nomination,
Bush said that his father and Pat Robertson
have a close race in Michigan.
Bush Jr. said he feels the level of en-
thusiasm for his father's nomination is in-
creasing as Jan. 14 draws near. That's the day
when Michigan county delegates convene.
"Bush supporters now realize that we've
got a battle on our hands and realize the time
is coming closer and therefore people are
more enthusiastic than they have been in the
past," he said.
Nationally, "the polls show George Bush
with a pretty good lead.'' his son said.
Of the vice president's nearest challenger,
Sen. Robert Dole. Bush Jr. said, "I think
George Bush will beat him, but Bob Dole is
running a good campaign.
"Dole has been in the U.S. Senate and
House of Representatives for most of his
career and that's good. I just happen to
believe that a varied background (like George
Bush has) is more important. George Bush has
served in the Congress like Bob Dole but he's
held other jobs and learned from other jobs as
well, such as running the CIA, serving as am-
bassador to China and being vice president.
"We live in a complicated world today and
so as a result it makes sense to have someone
who sees the world and has been involved in
world politics." Bush Jr. said. ?Bob Dole is a
good man, don't get me wrong. I just happen
to think George Bush is a better person."
"George Bush knows most of the leaders of
the free world and the Communist world for
that matter, and therefore has a better chance
to take the U.S. message and negotiate for the
United States."
Raised in Connecticut, Bush Jr. said his
father fought in World War II immediately
after high school graduation.
"He (George Bush) was a fighter pilot, a
highly decorated World War II hero. A lot of
people don't know that. He was actually shot
down in combat and rescued by a United
States submarine
.-
'He did write a book about it that's out
right now, called 'Looking forward.' It talks
about that incident =ind the questions about
whether or not he'd be rescued by a U.S. sub
as opposed to a Japanese vessel that was com-
ing-after him. He had some very prayerful
moments during that experience in his life."
After graduating from Yale University.
where Bush was a Phi Betta Kappa and a good
athlete, he moved to West Texas and started
his own company in the oil and gas drilling
and contracting business.
As a businessman. Bush Jr. said his father
dealt with roughnecks. drilling
superintendents and a variety of other people.
"He was a good man and people liked him
and worked hard with him for a common pur-
pose which was to build his little company up
and provide more jobs. He then ran for U.S.
Congress and won out of Houston, Tex."
Bush Jr. also pointed out that his father ran
the Republican Party "during Watergate,
which was a very difficult time."
If Bush receives the presidential nomina-
tion, his son said his father will campaign on
The Washington Post
The New York Times _
R00010001-00411h>on Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
!is Barite r (m
Date / _peC. /37
four major platforms.
"The first one is the economy ? real jobs
in the private sector, not raising taxes, en-
couraging fiscal control at the House of
Representatives level.
?I think we'll be talking about peace, the
INF (Intermediate Nuclear Freeze) Treaty.
Bush is very much in favor of it. He wants to
build on that ? a verifiable peace treaty so
that we can get rid of chemical and biological
weapons that can wipe out civilizations..."
Bush Jr. said his father also wants to be
known as "the education president" and will
be concerned with environmental issues.
"There are millions of issues, but you've
got to concentrate on four or five of them,"
he said.
Bush Jr., himself, may be a candidate for
some public office in the future. He was nar-
rowly defeated in a bid for a 19th Congres-
sional seat in West Texas in 1978, but says
"I'm not discouraged in the least by having
gotten whipped.
"At times," he said he has considered the
possibly of seeking an office, but has no idea
what one it might be or when.
"Timing is so important in politics. you
never know what's going to fall into your
path."
STATINTL
Page 3? .
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The Washington Post STATINTL
The New York Times
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : C A-RDP91-00901R00010001main4 R
.--,...sngtor Times
The Wail Street Journal
? -
Patience and Prudence for President="""s
The Christian Science Monitor
LOOKING FORWARD
by George Bush
with Victor Gold
( Doubleday:
$18.95; 770 pp., illustrated)
Reviewed by Leonard 13ushicoff
The campaign biography/auto-
biography is a uniquely Ameri-
can creation, a throwaway adver-
tisement for political shoppers, its
ultimate destination the remainder
table or the yard sale. But don't
dismiss it as sheer blarney. The
pitch being made, the mixture of
fact and fancy, high-lighting and
omission, all suggest how Candi-
date X or Y hopes to be per-
ceived?and admired.
If so, then George Bush and
Victor Gold (a well-known Wash-
ington political writer) haven't
helped their cause. This bland,
episodic, straight-arrow book por-
trays Bush as a regular guy, a "Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington," by
veneering his upper-class back-
ground with a populist, Texas over-
lay of oil fields and Tex-Mex food.
It doesn't work. Bush is not just
plain folks, and it is absurd to cast
him so wildly against type. "Look-
ing Forward" presents him as loy-
al, rational, reasonable, every
mother's most reliable son-in-law.
Of imagination, there is none, of
originality, no spark. And why
should there be? Working hard
within the system has already
brought Bush a heartbeat away
from the Oval Office. Once upon a
time, this outlook might have satis-
fied a nation contest with good
administration rather than dynam-
ic leadership. But now. . . ?
Bush remains an Establishment
offspring, of elite family and educa-
tion, his self-confidence tempered
by modesty, his ambition by good
form. He comes from a large,
wealthy, hard-working Connecti-
cut, i.e., suburban New York, fami-
ly. His father, Prescott Bush, had
moved East from Ohio to build a
very successful career, first as a
Wall Street banker, and then as a
moderate Republican senator dur-
ing the Eieenhower presidency.
Approved For Release 2
Bush, always in a hurry, did all
the right things early on. He went
straight from a New England prep
school to a carrier deck in the
Pacific. (His father had fought in
World War I.) As the youngest
pilot in the Navy, Bush flew bomb-
ers against Japanese-held islands
in 1943-'44; he flew 58- combat
masons, was shot down twice and
rescued twice. He seems to-have
put it all behind him, offering no
hint about its effect?if any?on his
thinking or outlook.
Bush met his wife at 17, married
at 20, and raced through Yale?his
father's school?as a war veteran.
Of ideas, courses, teachers, he says
nothing ( actually, he was a Phi
Beta Kappa); of his college baseball
career, far too much. A stray
remark suggests a road not taken..
Bush was urged to apply far a
Rhodes scholarship. He decided not
to With a wife and child to support
after three lost years at war,
entering "the real world" of busi-
ness was far more important.
That meant West Texas, where
insiders saw big bucks to be made.
This Bush did, starting at the
bottom in dusty oil towns, gaining
experience in an established com-
pany before joining other ambitious
young men in snapping up hot
properties and going an their own.
This could be a classic American
story of risk, grit, and drive, but
Bush skims right over it, barely
touching both the wheeling and
dealing, and also the struggles of a
Yalie making good in the outback..
Even the lingering death of his
young daughter from leukemia in
1953 is handled briskly, almost
impersonally. As Bush says about
suffering briefly from a bleeding
ulcer: "All my life rd worked at
channeling my emotions, trying
not to let anger or frustration
influence my thinking."
Bush's national career ?igen
with his election to Congress from
Houston in 1966. The upward
moves continued ( the Bush family
moved 28 times in 40 years), with
short-lived stops to bolster his
experience?and his resume:
Bush's trump card is expertise, not
policy. After four years in Con-
gress, there were two as ambassa-
dor to the United Nations, 11/2 as
chairman of the Republican Na-
decal Committee, and 13 months
0 Nichtglindigil*Orand director. 100701-sc?. R000 10
The Chicago Tribune
-7:7>r/9s - /0
Date Noi Lqe 7_
Again, Bush tells us virtually.
nothing of events, but it is clear
that his upbringing enabled him to
fit gracefully into institutions, to
adjust totheir dynamics and to the
peraocal relationships that grease
the wheels. So he performed ably,
treating each new job as "a chal-
lenge, learning giddily from his
subordinates, and faithfully carry-
ing out his instructions from above.
At the United Nations, he reached
out even to the smelled Third
World country; at the National
Committee, he performed faithfully
through the worst of Watergate; at
the,CIA, he tried to improve rela-
tions with Congress and the morale
of a demoralised staff; and in China,
he managed to get along with
Henry Kissinger while also tightly
raising the very low profile of the
American presence.
But are cotnpetence, experience,
and prudence sufficient for a Presi-
dent? Bush tells two stories that
suggest air answer. While serving
in China during 1975, Bush joined
Knger in a fascinating conver-
sation with Mao Zedang. then 81,
and very ill. Mao invited Bush to
return. Bush was interested, but
chose to consult, his staff, who
advised against it: Mao was just
being diplomatic, they argued. Mao
later died. Bush spoke of the invita-
tion to a Chinese official who
regretted Bush's caution: "The
Chairman would never have made
such an invitation tmless he meant
it."
In 1953. Bush and his business
friends in Tens needed a name for
their new oil company, a name that
would stand out in the phone book.
They chose Zapata. after "Viva
Zapata." the Marion Brando film
then playing, about the charismatic
peasant Mexican leader of the 1911
Revolution. Bush may have seen
the film, but he didn't grasp the
point: Zapata loathed everything
that prudent businessmen repre-
sented.
Page
?
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00 1 000 1-8
The Washington Po%
The New York Times TATtNTL
shI _
Approved For Releas- . - - 901R0001000100.11t8 ngton Times
The Wall Street Journal
ARNOLD BUCHMAN
VP(
,ryt
,-CoA-41
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
Date 74, 0---csrez,
Master of the ill-chosen word?
Vice President George Bush
has a propensity for saying
foolish things whenever he
goes live. We all know that.
His latest gaffe, a denigration of De-
troit auto workers and the quality of
American automobiles, , concerned
the superiority of Soviet tank me-
chanics over American mechanics.
Mr. Bush's staff has laughed it off
as another Bush-ism.
However, the words of a possible
future president of the United States
are not to be laughed off without
first examining the record of other
Bush off-the-cuff comments. And
that record shows, to be charitable,
an innocence about the Soviet Union
which bodes ill for U.S. security un-
der a Bush administration.
The present Bush contretemps
began in Brussels on Oct. 2 when the
vice president was asked what he
had learned on his just-completed
10-day trip to Western Europe and
Poland. This was his answer:
"Well, it wasn't so much a question
of learning what is new except I
learned from the ambassador of
Italy, or maybe it was Norway, that
the Soviets had had an operation re-
cently where they had 350 tanks and
never had a mechanical breakdown.
"That's what I learned that was
new. You might say what's the sig-
nificance of that, as I told them in
there, hey, when the mechanics that
keep those tanks running run out of
work in the Soviet Union, send them
to Detroit, because we could use that
kind of ability. That's quite an
achievement in an operation."
You might ask, as Mr. Bush did,
what's the significance of that
statement.
First, the significance lies in Mr.
Bush's will to believe that 350 Soviet
tanks could run (I assume it must
have been in a military exercise) and
"never" have a mechanical
breakdown, thereby implying that
Detroit's tanks lack the ministra-
tions of equally efficient mechanics.
In the second place, how would
the ambassador of Italy (or maybe it
was Norway or some other ambassa-
dor) know about those Soviet tanks
and how long they had run without a
breakdown. An hour? A week?
Twenty-four hours straight? Ten sec-
onds?
In the third place, before uttering
on the subject of the durability of
Soviet tanks, I would have thought
the vice president of the United
States would check with the Penta-
gon to see whether some ambassa-
dor or other's statements could be
confirmed by our military people.
After all, there is such a thing as
KGB disinformation.
If the ill-chosen words in Brussels
were the only example of Mr. Bush's
foolish rhetoric about the Soviet
Union, we could attribute it to jet lag.
But there are some rather remark-
able statements he has made which
reflect a will to believe great and
good things about the Soviet Union.
For example, in a tape-recorded in-
terview with the Christian Science
Monitor, Dec. 20, 1982, Mr. Bush
Who had served briefly as CIA direc-
tor from 1976 to 1977, said about Yuri
V. Andropov, the newly chosen So-
viet leader and former head of the
Soviet secret police:
"My view of Andropov is that
some people make this KGB thing
sound horrendous. Maybe I speak
defensively as a former head of the
CIA. But leave out the operational
side of KGB ? the naughty things
they do..
Naughty things they do? Time
magazine quoted Mr. Bush's
greeting to Mr. Andropov after at-
tending the Leonid Brezhnev fu-
neral, "I feel I already know you,
since we served in similar positions."
Nothing could be further from the
truth than that the KC-13 chairman
and the CIA director hold similar
positions. The omnicompetence, om-
nipresence and utier ruthlessness of
the KGB make the position of KGB
chairmani_gualitatively and quanti-
tatively, different from that of CIA
director. All we need as doc-
umentation for my argument is to
ask: Could a Soviet journalist write
the kind of book about the KGB that
Bob Woodward has just published
about the CIA?
Why should a former CIA direc-
tor, a former U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations, a holder of other
high government positions and now
vice president of the United States
with access to information about Mr.
Andropov, the Butcher of Budapest
in the 1956 uprising, want to
whitewash the KGB? During the pe-
riod the KGB was headed by Mr.
Andropov, the perversion of psychi-
atry and pharmacology reached a
horrifying peak. But for Mr. Bush
these were "naughty things."
More and more, questions must
be raised as to the political
knowledge and convictions of
George Bush on the most important
question before the democratic
world ? how to deal with the Soviet
Union.
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41-sin Post
sec
y ot rge Bush? The New York Times
The Washington Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
Date 13 SEP r7
.9.,
LOOIUNG FORWARD
By George Bush with Victor Gold
Doubleday. 270 pp. $18.95
By Chalmers M. Roberts
GEORGE Herbert Walker Bush's
basic problem, as every politic:id
jimkie knows, is this he is attempt-
ing to do what no other American
has nnceeded in doing in over a century and
a half, to mrne directly from the vice pres-
idency to the presidency. The last to do so
was ifattin Van Ibsen in 1836, and he did it
essentially an the powerful poblical back of
his president Andrew Jackson.
Stal, a couple of recent cases demoestrate
how close a sitting vice president can get in
1960 Richard Main, constrained as he then
was by parts of the Eisenhower record, was
barely nosed out by Jahn Kennedy; in 1968
Hubert ffmnsamy, wearing the weight of
Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam War, almost
dosed the gap ce /faze in those final days.
Why not George Bush?
It's not easy at the moment to weigh the
power of a Reagan endorsenient--that is,
assimag I3ush can win the Republican nem-
inatice?bot in this, the fust of the '88 cam-
paign biographies, Bush is truly the hear-no-
evil, speak-no-evil, see-no-evil candidate as
far as Reagan is concerned. On the very first
page Bush tells us that this is no" 'inside sto-
ry' of the Reagan Administration." And it
isn't.
But it is something of an inside story on
Bush, despite all the cautious, play-it-safe-
ness that laces the book, not to mention its
bland title. (President Reagan's 1965 biog-
raphy was Where's the Rest of Me?, Jimmy
Carter's in 1975 was Why Not the Best??and
don't ask whether either question has been
answered.)
Despite ail of Bush's recitation of his years
in Texas and his efforts to become a resident
there, he just can't escape the Yankee he was
born to be. En book is dedicated to "my
mother and Mier, whose values lit the way?
The values? His parents 'embodied the Pu-
ritan ethic," and the children "all grew up
understanding that life isn't an open-ended
checking account? Bush had to earn it, and
he did but it was tough to begin with. Dad, an
investment banker, was twice elected to the
U.S. Senate as a Connecticut gentleman, but
young George got no more help than a raw
beginner's job in the Texas oil fields by way
of a family connection. For a while the
Bushes did live checkbook poor, George as a
traveling salesman peddling drilling bits.
But when he wised up enough to see where
the real cs1 matey was to be made and he
needed some Investment minim" he appar-
ently didn't even try dad; rather, he managed
a loan on his own from financier Eugene
Meyer, then owner of The Washington Post.
And soon success came. By the time his dad
died, Bush was the U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations, and this is the most he could
manage to say: "It was a real blow for me, for
all his children. We had lost a best friend?
Out of his Puritan raising came the charge
of "preppyism," which Bash tries to rearciae
in a couple of fat footnotes. He hasn't worn
button-down Oxford shirts In twenty years,"
his popular music taste nms "to couotry-md-
western" and so on. He ev en asked "one me-
dia specialist" why the two Roosevehs. two_
Tani and Kennedy, who had also gave to ivy
League hadn't been diarged with
aefitiarie; bat he couldn't get as aasurer that
went *cod maamething to do with 'percep-
time
There are beamed Memories et vaca-
tions at ?S * bonne in Maine. where
'Inc pure summertime piessone," brisgiog in
a mackerel or polo& lianked tight np there
with eating ice amen and atm* ap late? In
recounting la early Texas days, Both even
says?or says la wife Barlisra saps?that he
awe got drunk with the fellows at a Clea-
n= party.
George Ito& was a genuine World War II
naval aviation hem (before he went to Yale),
and his story retold here is a duller. Yet
somehow it lacks the dash and daring-do of
Kennedy's PT-109 esplot, though equally
lifethreateniog. In 1962, when the Jahn
I3irdi Society threatened to wile axed of
the GOP organisation in Hards County
(Honstax). Binh defeated the ultralighters,
but in doing so he 'found oat that jugular pol-
itics ... wasn't my style? In has" est* 30s he
had had a bkeifing ulcer; be learned to am-
trol it, once cued, by Athannefieg my eser-
gies"kss is, "All my bie I'd sleeked at chan-
nefing Ili emotions?
There is. by contrast. a moment of fire in
the belly in Hades accont of a when
he was numiog the CIA far President ant
wjth Attonev General Edward Len. Levi
demanded the an QAeaiiioe
tried to aeliheT use3--ni:w?-att
Bthre4J. to the sourceL while
the two alkids iTaitmg to see Presi-
dent' Ford, Levi remarked that withholding
the docnnents _
*smacked of a Watergate covert*?
At this "my patience snapped,*
writes Bush. We'll be talking to the
President in a few minutes," said
Bush, "Why don't you tell him
that?ix isirt those monit* Both
men *cooks) down"; Levi "now re-
alized he'd hit a raw nerve" (Bush
had been GOP national chairman
during Watergate), so Levi sug-
t
gested working it out without both-
ering the president. They clid;_the
criminal was convicted withoutuse
of the "documents the CTA didn't
want to release?
Which George Bush will we see
in the coming primary battles with
Bob Dole, Jack Kemp and others?
Incidentally, I could find no clue as
to whether Bush, if he does win the
nomination, would be daring enough
to offer Elisabeth Dole the number
Alyckspot. _ _
The book ccetains a lot about
presidential-vice presidential com-
patability, and most of it you've
heard many times. There are hints
of important issues discussed?but
not Iran?at the Thursday Reagan-
Bush-only hmcheces. Indeed, Bush
writes that the Iran-Contra affair
was not lust an aberration caused
by a particular mix of personalities"
but In some ways, it wits an excess
waiting to happen." This means, as
Bush explains it, that Presidents
Kennedy and Johnson had so altered
the original concept of the National
Security Council that somehow in
1985-86 the staff "took the ultimate
step of not only shaping but oper-
ating an independent covert action
in the foreign-policy area." There's
more about Iran but no more light.
Looking Forward was written
"with Victor Gold? Vic Gold is a
much respected political journalist
and political adviser who, in mem-
ory, goes back to us boys on the bus -
during the Goldwater campaign. I
kept looking for bits of pure Gold
prose but without success. This
book sounds hie Bush talking or, to
give Gold his due, Gold has learned
to write the way Bush talks. The
Looking Fonoard part really isn't
there; that will have to come later
in the camel/P. The book con-
cludes with questions and answers
in which someone Me You
wouldn't!) is tossing the softballs
and Bush is slamming them true
and hard. It ends this way:
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Q: Last question. Going back to
1948, the year you left college and
went out to Texas. Out of all the
things you've done since then?in
business, Congress, the U.N., Chi-
na, the CIA, the vice presidency?
what single accomplishment are
you proudest of?
GB: The fact that our children
still come home.si
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ON PAGE
NEW YORK TIMES
ALS 26 I
Bush and Dole Trade Barbs on Congress's Foreign
Policy Role
By BERNARD WEINRAUB
Vicki le The New York Ilrowv
SAN ANTONIO, Tex, Aug. 25? Vice
President Bush attacked Congress to-
day as having "tied the President's
hands" and seeking to "micrornan-
age" Administration efforts in the
Persian Gulf and Central America.
Bob Dole, the Senate minority leader,
who is a key rival to Mr. Bush for the
Republican Presidential nominatioo
next year, promptly criticized the Vice
President's blunt comments before the
naticend convention of American
Legion.
'When he's attacking Congress, he's
attacking the Republican leadership in
the Senate," Mr. Dole told reporters
atter speaking to the legionnaires at
the Municipal Auditorum here. "I hap-
pen to be the leader of that group and
we don't think that's an accurate mat
ment."
"If he wants to attack Congress, he
ought to tell us in advance he's goingi
after all of us," said an obviously
!toyed Mr. Dole. "He shouldn't lump uui
all together. If he's saying Congreuj
without any distinction, he's attacklnj
the President's best supporters in Con-
gress." ,
Dole Increasingly Irked
Asked by reporters about the Bush
comments, Mr. Dole first said that per-
haps what Mr. Bush said was "pardy
true" but "it's not a fair accusation."
Moments later, as questions persisted
about the Bush speech, Mr. Dole spoke
In stronger language about the vice
President's comments.
Lee Atwater, campaign manager for
Mr. Bush, implied later in the day that
the Vice President's attack on Con-
gress was not meant to include conser-
vatives like Mr. Dole.
"The Vice President is obviously
referring to big spenders and the big
liberals and hopefully Senator Dols
doesn't fall ben any one of those came
stories," said Mr. Atwater.
Both men received sustained ova-
tions front the thousands of. !Vow-
mires gathered in this sweltering town
after the crowd heard speeches that,
despite their focus on Central America
and East-West relations, were plait*
political 'Vents tied to the 1988 else-
tions.
Meanwhile, American Legion offir
dais emphasized that the visits of Mr.
Bush and Mr. Dole, who are each plan-
ning announcements of their candida-
cies in the fall, were unrelated to the
campaign. The officials said that sev-
eral Democrats, Including Senator
Sam Nunn of Georgia, former Gover-
nor Charles S. Robb of Virginia and
Speaker of the House Jim Wright of
Texas had also been invited to the con-
vention. but declined to appear.
Officials said that the Democratic
and Republican Presidential nominees
will be invited to speak at next year's
Convention.
Doubts on Central America
Both Mr. Bush and Mr. Dole, in their
speeches, expressed strong reserva-
tions about peace plans for Central
America that postpone military aid to
the Nicaraguan rebels, or contras,
while diplomatic moves are under way.
"What we must resist at all costs 1st
sham," Mr. Bush said, "an illusion of
progress that takes the the pressure off
the Sandinistas, cripples the contras
and strengthens the Communists' grip
in power.' ? ,
"We cannot ? and this Administra-
tion will not ? simply cut and run"
from the contras, he stated.
"In foreign DOI
the relationship between Coig?iis?a B
the President diould be a partnershiph
based on honest dealings and mutual
reaped, not on rigid legislative restric-
tions that reflect a frozen moment of
politicalconsensus." Mr. Bth sald
"But with let:Wive ranging -from ?the
War Powers Resolution to the 'Wand
Amendment. Congress has led the
President's hands tighter and tighter
Os the conduct ofTeri, policy over the
last 15 years."
The Boland Amendments restricted
aid to the contras in a variety of ways
from 1983 to 1985. The legislation is
named for its sponsor, Representative
Edward P. Boland, Democrat of Mas
sachusetts.
The War Powers Resolution requires
the Administration to notify Congress
that it has introduced forces into a re-
gion where hostilities are imminent.
Mr. Bush said that recently 100 legis-
lators "went to court alleging that the
deployment of U.S. forces in the
Persian Gulf constitutes a violation el
the War Powers Resolution."
"What kind of wacky world is this
where the President is taken to court
every time he moves our troops
around?" he said.
Mr. Bush added that a total of "23
committees and 84 subcommittees
claim some jurisdiction over interna-
tionaal affairs."
"The result has been a series of mis-
guided attempts to micromanage our
foreign policy," he said.
The Bush organization, meanwhile,
announced that the Vice President
would participate in an Oct. 28 debate
In Houston on the television program
"Firing Line," with other Republican
Presidential candidates.
Mr. Dole's speech to the Legion out-
lined conservative foreign policy views
that seemed to mirror those of Presi-
dent Reagan. The Senator made it
plain that he viewed the;Soviet leader,
Mikhail S. Gorbachev, as well as his
policy of "glasnost," or openness, with
deep suspicion. Mr. Dole went so far as
to compare Mr. Gorbachev with the
leaders of Libya and Iran.
"The soviet threat is a lot different In
nature than the Iran-Libya threat," he
said. "But the basic goal is the same:
to get Uncle Sam out of the way. Be-
cause once you get rid of Uncle Sam,
you've got a clear path to spread what-
ever brand of aggression and oppres-
sion you happen to espouse."
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'119.cPPEARtfl
I ?Li
-00901R000100010001-8
Bush Gets Personal in Iowa
Vice President's New Focus in Campaigning Is His Life Story
many that are out there because
I've served my country."
As a businessman, Bush said, he
learned about government regula-
tion and "I'm head of the deregu-
lation task force for the entire Unit-
ed States for the president. And
we've done a good job, and I feel
viscerally about doing it and doing a
better job at it." Bush was ap-
pointed to lead a deregulation task
force that largely finished its work
in 1983.
As U.S. envoy to China, Bush
said he and his wife, Barbara, "lived
in a communist country." While oth-
er Republicans are talking about
fighting communism, "we know a
little bit more about it, because we
lived there, we saw what it was like,
to see a system just bereft of the
freedoms that we used to take for
granted every day of our lives."
"I think I know more about for-
eign affairs because I did_ that. be-
cause I was at the U.N. because
ran the CIA," he said. If Reagan
gets an arms control agreement, he
added, "I think I'd be best to build
on it. Not just lecturing about it, but
knowing what it is to negotiate with
the Soviets, as I did at the U.N., or
with the Chinese, when we wel-
comed them into the U.N., or in
China itself."
Bush said some unidentified o-
pie have told him to "stay sway"
from his service as director _of_ the
Central Intelligence Agency, but "I
don't duck that one?I'm proud of
it. very proud of it." He recalled
that he ran the Republica!' National
toir?nrnitfieriii a difficult ti, Wa-
tergate days," and remembered his
1980 presidential campaign in
terms arbeatinuff everybody else
ihat was out there except for one,
Reagan.
Bush said little about his role as
Reagan's vice president, except to
reiterate his view that "loyalty is
not a character flaw," repeat some
economic statistics of recent years
and recall that he has traveled to 74
nations. In the past, Bush has re-
fused to talk about the details of his
advice to the president or tne
cisions he influenced.
DP91-00901R000100010001-8
By David Hoffman
Washington Post Staff Writer
VAN HORNE, Iowa?Vice Pres-
ident Bush unveiled a new stump
speech here last week featuring his
life story, from captain of the col-
lege baseball team to war hero,
businessman, politician, diplomat
and loyal vice president to Ronald
Reagan.
Bush appears to have set aside
for a while the task of articulating
his "vision" for the nation and in-
stead is making an unabashedly per-
sonal sales pitch that his long and
varied resume shows that he would
make a good president.
"I think the American people are
going to be looking for experience,"
he said in opening a series of "Ask
George Bush" town-meeting style
forums in Iowa last week.
"Everything I've done in my life
has equated with leadership," he
said, "whether it was starting way
back in college as captain of our
almost national-championship base-
ball team right up to being, the only
survivor left on the playing field
when Ronald Reagan bowled us all
over in 1980."
Bush said he has "experience that
not one single candidate, Republi-
can or Democrat, has ever had run-
ning for president over the last
election, certainly this time, and I
really mean it."
The vice president's political
strategists have frequently said one
of his strong suits is a "stature ad-
vantage" over other candidates,
referring .to his many jobs in gov-
ernment and politics.
The Iran-contra affair may have
clouded this approach somewhat.
While Bush has stressed his foreign
policy experience, he appears to
have acquiesced in one of Reagan's
biggest foreign policy blunders, the
Iran arms sales, and questions have
been raised about the role of two of
his aides in helping the secret re-
supply missions for the Nicaraguan
rebels.
As with Reagan, the scandal has
left lingering public , doubts, about
whether Bush is telling the truth
about the Iran story, according to
the latest Washington Post-ABC
News poll. Of those questioned in
the June 25-29 telephone survey,
52 percent said Bush is not telling
the truth, compared with 38 per-
cent who said he is. In January, 43
percent said he is not and 45 per-
cent said he is.
Bush described the Iran arms
sales as a "big mistake that was
wrong" when asked about it last
week, and he insisted that he and
Reagan did not know of the diver-
sion of money to the contras.
Earlier this year, as his presiden-
tial campaigning began to intensify,
Bush gingerly tried at a series of
college commencement addresses
to start defining his vision for the
nation in the years after the Reagan
presidency. Now, he says he will
wait until after his formal announce-
ment in the fall to offer a detailed
program. Instead, he is advertising
his resume.
"It starts with a war record,"
Bush said. "You don't have to have
been in combat, as I was, shot down
two months after my 20th birthday,
but it helps. You have to make de-
cisions about war and peace, com-
mitting somebody else's kids. . . to
war perhaps, it helps if you've been
there yourself, seen your friends
die, and I have. I'll lay that out
proudly as something that height-
ens my convictions about strong
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JUN Ii)
,\IGION POST
Buil' Says He Led
A CIA Weakened by
'Untutored SquVA
cEntievang tut we Vice
President Bush attempted to flu
conaervattre muscle, but
his comments could backfire.
Built, According to The New
York Times, boasted to a CCP
audience that he was director of
the 4at a very dtMoult time.
I there when it had been
demoralized by the attacks of. a
bunch of little untutored seWrts
from Capitol Hill, going_ _out
there, looking at these =Van-
tlai documents lvithout one elm.
pie lota of Concern for the legit-
bite national security interests
of this country. And I stood up
for the CIA then, and I staild
for It now. And defend it So !et
the liberals wan their hands
and consider it a liability; I cone
eider it a strength.'
Bush's remarks - seemed
dearly directed at the acttvitlea
of the Senate select committee
that investigated the CM,
known as the Church Commit-
tee for its chairmsn, the late
meta Ptak Church (D-
Idaho). In 19/5 the penal issued
a report highly critical . of the
CIA.
The report was endorsed by
such consit1tt4 'members al
Republicans Chiries ma Ma.
thLis Jr., CM.). and Richard S.
Schweiker (Ps.), President Rea-
sta's first secretary of health
and human services. White
HOGS chief of staff Howard H.
Beimthen a committee
member, ;aid, Me abuses (un-
covered by the ?ommitteel can-
not be condoned. and should
hal, been investigated long
Asked whether that 'bunch of
little *acted squirts' included
Baker; While and Schweiker.
a Bush aide reported that the
aim provident 'was referring to
committee staffers and not to
member. of Oxigrems."
1117
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Nation
New Look at an Old Failure
010001-8
An ex-CIA historian fights to air his version of the Bay of Pigs
As the nation picks through
the wreckage of the Iran-
contra affair for lessons, a dis-
pute is brewing within the in-
telligence community that
could throw new light on the
granddaddy of all covert-ac-
tion fiascos: the Bay of Pigs.
0 the CIA's former chief histori-
an, Jack Pfeiffer, Es suing to
force the release of his de- Historian Pfeiffer
tailed and still classified stud- .
ies on the invasion, which challenge the
conventional historical wisdom about
why it failed.
Previous historians have tended to
place most of the blame on the CIA's depu-
ty director for planning, Richard Bissell.
His penchant for secrecy, they say. led
him to keep the agency's intelligence divi-
sion and other military analysts pretty
much in the dark, thus resulting in a poor
assessment of the risks involved. Indeed, a
still secret case study prepared for the
Tower commission, one of a series that
sought to compare previous covert activi-
ties with the Iran-contra affair, also attri-
butes the Bay of Pigs failure to excessive
secrecy of CIA planners and lack of ade-
quate review by intelligence experts.
In fact, Pfeiffer argues. a series of
meetings and memos shows that senior
officials of the CIA's intelligence division
and Pentagon planners were briefed at all
stages of the discussion. According to
Pfeiffer, the conventional view casting
Bissell as the villain of the tale is reflected
[
n a damning report by the CIA's inspector
eneral at the time.1_.y. man Kirkearjgji.
Although Kirkpatrick, 70, who resigned
from the CIA in 1965, ordered the destruc-
tion of all the records on which his report
was based. Pfeiffer managed to uncover
the material. He says it led him to con-
clude that Kirkpatrick had deliberately
skewed the report to discredit Bissell,
who was his rival for the position of CIA
director.
Kirkpatrick defends his original as-
sessment. "Bissell was running it [with a
group' that was cut off from everyone who
should have assessed the
plan." Denying that his con-
clusions were based on per-
sonal rivalry. Kirkpatrick ar-
gues. "Bissell and I were
friends." Bissell, 77, who was
eased out of the agency in
1962 and until now has never
publicly defended his role,
comments dryly, "That's not
the case."
In his view, and that of
Historian Pfeiffer, the reason that the Bay
of Pigs failed was not because the machin-
ery of Government was short-circuited.
Rather, it was a case in which the entire
system worked the way it was supposed
to--and produced a fiasco.
The newly elected President, John
Kennedy, was adamant about not involv-
ing American forces. Indeed, he insisted
on hiding any evidence of American sup-
port for the exile army. For that reason
the White House decided to cancel crucial
air strikes and change the site of the land-
ing from the town of Trinidad, at the foot
of the central mountains, to the quieter
venue of the Bay of Pigs. It was these deci-
sions. Pfeiffer argues, rather than a faulty
process of consultations, that doomed the
operation from the start.
The Navy was ready in case Kennedy
decided to lift his ban on direct U.S. in-
volvement. Bissell revealed in his inter-
view with TIME. As the Cuban exiles went
ashore that moonless night in April 1961,
a force of about 1,500 Marines waited on a
ship near the coast. Admiral Arleigh
Burke, Chief of Naval Operations at the
time, confirms this previously unreported
deployment. The Marines were "avail-
able," says Burke. now 85. "These things
are just a general military precaution."
After 25 years, Pfeiffer thinks it is
time for his own studies of the fiasco to
be made public. "Kirkpatrick's order to
destroy the documents was outrageous."
he commented last week. "What's to
say the CIA's records on the Iran
contra matter won't disappear the sam
way?" ?ByJayPeterzelI/WashIngtoi
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ON W196'PjrRelean 2s(46/qmpi3 : CIA-RDP91-00901R00010
MEMO. LINKS
BOSH STAFF.
TO IRANSCAM
By ELI TIMBER, Post Correspondent -
ASHINGTON ? A politically explosive memo suggest-
ing that Vice President George Bush% taff knew about
ranscam" last summer was re ease by congressional
robers yesterday.
The stunning memo ? telling of profits from secret Iran arms
les being diverted to the Nicaraguan, rebels known as contras
emerged during scheme officially de-
uestioning of for- -,;e44- scribed by the White
mer CIA agent ...,....A.4. House as a renegade
Felb_rag_tOdUM91,7i operation.
guez met with. It also draws Bush
nald Gre Bush's deeper into the Iran-
o sec ty ad- scam morass ? which
r, last August. cogid damage, his
In his notes on the , ,.:;.4 presidential campaign.
meeting, Gregg wrote: Bush's offise refused
'A swap of weapons to coznn2ent on the
for $ was arranged to revelations but sug-
get aid for contras. gested that testimony
and Gen. 8e- "may yet be contra-
cord tied in." (The. dieted or modified by
memo just used a del- later testimony."
lar sign.) GIORGI BUSH Rodrigues, who
The meeting was top aide "knew." nerved as Iffi Salvador'
held more than threeliaison for the private
months before Atter- chronology of Bush's contra supply pipeline,
ney General Edwin Iranscam role would said he wanted to tell
Meese publicly dis- be "flatly contradict- , Gregg of his suspicions
closed the contra- ed" by Rodriguez. that the operation wail
Iran arms connection.
Gregg's notes are overcharging the con-
The poet reported the strongest hint yet Was and that key
May 15 that a key part that one of Bush's top players were linked to
of Greor's official aides was ?oware of a jailed- cm renegade
Edwin Wilson.
But he denied dis-
cussing any links to
an arms swap with
Gregg and could not
explain how it ended
up in an account of
their conversation.
Meanwhile, Lewis
Tombs, former 'U.&
ambassador to Costa
Rica, testified that he -
aided- "privide pa-
triotic Americans" ,in
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Mg%
icaraguan border.
10001-8
STATINTL
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G UN 1ME
APP' RED WASHIN
ON PAGE 28 May 1987
Agent quotes
"ANorth's boast
of protection
by president
By Mary Belcher
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
STAT Lt. Col. Oliver North once bragged that President
Reagan was protecting him from Congress, a former
IA a ent involved in secret su .1 missions to the
STAT
n ras testi
ester
? F,...'sgzagagignez, who was a contact -between private
Contra suppliers and officials at Ilopango Air Base in El
Salvador, also told the congressional Iran-Contra inves-
tigative committee that he met with Vice President
George Bush twice in 1986. But he denied having dis-
cussed the secret missions with the vice president.
Mr. Rodriguez, a Cuban expatriate who also went by
the name Max Gomez, told the panel he expressed to Col.
North in June 1986 his concerns about shoddy equip-
ment and overpriced weapons being
supplied to the Contras by retired
Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord.
At that meeting in t ld Execu-
tive Office Minding, MiRodriguez
said he warned Col. Nor that "it's
going to be worse than tergate" if
the Secord operation was exposed.
Col. North, who was unreceptive
to the former agent's concerns, later
pointed to a televised congressional
debate on Contra aid and said,
"Those people want me, but they
cannot touch me because the old
man loves my ass," Mr. Rodriguez
testified.
Col. North, who was fired from
the National Security Council staff
last November when the Iran-Contra
affair was exposed, was the subject
of congressional scrutiny in 1985
and 1986, when reports of his pro-
Contra activities continued to sur-
face during a two-year ban on U.S.
aid.
Mr. Rodriguez met wit,p
at the White House in May 1986,
after telling Col. North he wanted
out of the Contra supply operation.
During the meeting with the vice
president, Mr. Rodriguez said, he de-
cided not to abandon his position as
the liaison to Salvadoran officials.
But Mr. Rodriguez said he did not
discuss with Mr. Bush the private
supply missions. Instead, he said, he
showed the vice president pictures
of a helicopter operation he was per-
forming to help El Salvador rout
communist guerrillas.
He met with Mr Bush in Miami
later in May for a photo-taking ses-
sion with his family, Mr. Rodriguez
said.
He also described several encoun-
ters with longtime friend.p.maisL
Gre , the vice president's national
un y adviser. At an August 1986
meeting in Washington, Mr. Rodri-
guez told Mr. Gregg the Secord op-
eration was charging the Contras $9
for $3 hand grenades and that the
equipment being used for supply
missions was in disrepair.
He also expressed concern that
Col. North had fallen in with bad
company ? namely Secord associ-
ate Thomas Clines; who had been in-
voldra?Olth convicted arms dealer
Edwin Wilson.
Mr. Rodriguez' ties to the vice
president's office were troublesome
to the Secord operation, according to
yesterday morning's testimony by
retired Air Force Col. Robert Dut-
ton, who between May and Novem-
ber 1986 oversaw Contra supply mis-
sions out of El Salvador for Gen.
Secord.
When the Southern Air ltansport
plane carrying Eugene Hasenfus
was shot down in Nicaragua in early
October 1986, Mr. Rodriguez pro-
vided the vice president's office with
the wrong names of the four fatali-
ties in the crash, Col. Dutton told the
Iran-Contra panel.
Rodriguez, who had fought
communist opponents around the
world as a_CIA agent since 1960. be-
came involved in a power struggle
with Col Dutton for control of the
Contra supply operation. It peaked
in late August 1986, when Mr. Rodri-
guez apparently pirated a Secord-
owned plane from Miami to El Sal-
vador, intending to start his own
supply missions.
"He didn't want to work for any-
body;' Col. Dutton testified.
Also, he said, Mr. Rodriguez did
little to soothe the often "touchy" re-
lations between Ilopango Air Base
officials and the Secord operation.
Air base officials frequently locked
the gate to the runway so that supply
crews could not even reach the air-
craft.
Col. Dutton said he refused Mr.
Rodriguez' requests for a $10,000
emergency fund and control of a
$50,000 airplane-fuel fund.
In June 1986, Col. North called Mr.
Rodriguez and Col. Dutton to his
White House office, where he tried
to rein in Mr. Rodriguez and explain
to him his role as a "host liaison" for
the supply mission. Col. North also
chastised Mr. Rodriguez for using an
unsecure phone line to discuss the
operation.
After meeting with Col. North,
STATINTL
Mr. Rodriguez was accompanied by
Col. Dutton to see Samuel Watson in
the vice president's office. Mr. iNat-
son, an aide to Mr. Gregg, and Mr.
Rodriguez privately discussed his
counterinsurgency efforts in El Sal-
vador, according to Mr. Rodriguez.
Col. Dutton, who has been granted
immunity from prosecution by inde-
pendent counsel Lawrence Walsh
and limited immunity by the Iran-
Contra Committee, discussed the
day-to-day operations of the Contra
supply effort. He said he received
$5,000 a month from Gen. Secord's
firm, Stanford Technology Trading
Group International in Virginia.
In one unusual incident, he said, a
Secord secretary, Shirley Napier,
was sent to Miami to pick up a pack-
age at Southern Air gransport. He
said Miss Napier delivered the pack-
age to Col. North's secretary, Fawn
Hall, at the White House.
Col. Dutton, who could not recall
the date of Miss Napier's trip to Mi-
ami, said he did not know until she
returned to Washington that she had
picked up and delivered $16,000 in
cash. He said he learned what the
package contained because she
signed a receipt for its contents in
Miami.
He told the committee Gen.
Secord assured him that the opera-
tion was legal, as long as no Amer-
ican troops were transported to
Nicaragua by the private air mis-
sidns.
Col. Duttori, a veteran of covert
operations during his 26 years in the
Air Force, said he regarded Col.
North and Gen. Secord as co-
commanders in the Contra supply
effort.
Col. North had "very broad con-
tact at the highest levels," Col. Dut-
ton said. He said Col. North appar-
ently had contacted Attorney
General Edwin Meese III to post-
pone federal investigations in Miami
of Southern Air Transport, which
was being used for both the Contra
missions and to ship U.S. weapons to
Iran. .
He said_ Col. North referred to
then-CIA Director WilliamSasev asygi
And, according to Col. Dutton,
Col. North told him: "Bob, you're
never going to get a medal for this,
but some day the president will
shake your hand and thank you."
After repeated trials and
tribulations, airlift missions to the
Contras' southern front finally be-
came regular in September 1986,
Col. Dutton testified.
rIeiraeff
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,Congress had approved $100 mil-
-
I! i I. I 11,.
,ain flowing in October 1986. and the
Secord operation was contem lating
,e I s -
lifts,he recalled.
He denied that he had proposed
that the CIA buy the operation for
about $4 million, although Gen.
Secord testified four weeks ago that
such an option had been suggested
by the colonel.
Col. Dutton also told the commit-
tee he had prepared a photo album
of the operation ? with snapshots of
where supplies had been dropped
and the four planes that were used ?
and presented it to Col. North, who
said he would "show it to the top
boss."
In a day of often-drab testimony,
an FBI agent assigned to the inde-
pendent counsel's office appeared
behind Col. Dutton and handed him
the photo album. Col. Dutton flipped
through the laminated pages bear-
ing colored photos, commenting that
it had been dirtied with what ap-
peared to be fingerprint powder.
Briefly describing a trip to Beirut
in November 1986, Col. Dutton shed
new light on what American hos-
tages knew about the shipment of
arms to Iran.
Before a five-hour debriefing of
then-newly released hostage David
Jacobsen, Col. Dutton said the White
House expected two more hostages
to be released as well. "In de-
briefing, David told us from his in-
formation, he didn't believe that we
would get the other two {hostages]
until another 'arms] shipment was
made," Col. Dutton testified.
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y ARTICLE= Approved For Release 2019E91flpit9apP91-00901R00
ON PAGE
25 May 1987
The strategic planning of the Iran-contra operat
0100010001-8
OLLIE'S BLUEPRINT
BY JEFFERSON MORLEY
THE mosT interesting question of the Iran-contra al
-
fair is not how high the official misdeeds went but
how low. The active involvement of President Reagan is
now apparent. The Tower Commission documented how
his closest aides received presidential direction on even
small details of the Iranian arms deal. The guilty plea of
Carl "Spitz" Channell, a right-wing fund-raiser, also im-
plicates the president. Channell brought wealthy donors to
meet with Reagan in the Oval Office. Reagan denies
knowing what the money would be used for. But Oliver
North wrote to John Poindexter in May 1986 that "the
president obviously knows why he has been meeting with
several select people to thank them for their 'support for
Democracy' in Cent[ral] Am[erical."
Much less obvious is how the Reagan administration
managed to execute the clandestine foreign policies that
Congress had specifically forbidden. How did the adminis-
tration enlist so many people in the arms-for-hostages deal
and the secret contra war, and how did it coordinate their
far-flung activities? If only logistically, these operations
were impressive.
Thus far Congress and the media have tried three differ-
ent theories of how the scandal happened. The first was
that North and other National Security Council "cow-
boys" were "out of control." This theory has been dis-
carded as it has become clear that North kept his superiors
well-informed of his adventures. The second is that the
NSC staff was "inept." The problem with this theory is
that for all their alleged ineptitude the White House ran a
full-scale multimillion-dollar guerrilla war in defiance of
an explicit congressional prohibition. A third possibility is
now beginning to dawn on the Washington press corps.
"Did the president and a few trusted advisers operate in a
calculated manner outside the law and their own regula-
tions . . . ?" the Washington Post asked on the eve of the
congressional hearings.
The president did, and he had the help not merely of "a
few trusted advisers" but of dozens of administration offi-
cials. As early as March 1983?a full year before most press
accounts say the scandal began?administration officials
were devising the strategies that would be used in both the
Iranian arms deal and the contra war. Moreover, they did so
publicly and in accordance with Reagan's ideology. One
example of such strategic planning was a conference on
"Special Operations in U.S. Strategy" held in Washington
on March 4 and 5, 1983.
The stated purpose of the conference was "to focus
attention on a larger potential role for special operations in
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STAT I NT L
the 1980s." It was sponsored by a non-partisan think tank
called the National Strategy Information Center, by
Georgetown University, and by the National Defense Uni-
versity. In attendance were about 125 military officers,
intelligence agents, Reagan administration officials, Penta_
gon consultants, and conservative journalists. An obscure
major from the staff of the National Security Council
named Oliver North was in the audience.
The national security bureaucrats who attended this
gathering hammered out in fairly precise detail many of the
different strategies Oliver North later used to execute Pres-
ident Reagan's clandestine foreign policies between 1983
and 1986. The conference was no secret: an edited version of
the proceedings was published by the government. Thus
while reporters scramble for high-level sources and sena-
tors grill witnesses, a blueprint for the scandal entitled Spe-
cial Operations in US. Strategy (now in its second printing) is
available for $4.25 from the Government Printing Office.
Special operations were a staple in the Reagan military
buildup. Such operations, in the words of one speaker at the
conference, are "small-scale, clandestine, covert or overt
operations of an unorthodox and frequently high-risk na-
ture, undertaken to achieve significant political or military
objectives in support of foreign policy." The administration
has nearly doubled spending on U.S. Special Forces, the
military unit specifically designed for special operations.
While this buildup was applauded by the conference par-
ticipants, it was seen as only a first step toward effectively
integrating special operations into U.S. foreign policy.
It is no surprise that North was interested. He reportedly
conducted special operations in Vietnam and earned sever-
al medals, before being relieved of his duties for emotional
distress. He returned to active duty and in 1981 was ap-
pointed to the NSC (the hospitalization having been
purged from his file), where he would become deputy
director of "political-military affairs." The prevailing tone
of the conference was also no doubt congenial to North. In
his portentous keynote address, Secretary of the Army
John 0. Marsh Jr. declared, "The die for our society may
well be cast within the next few years. . . The Visigoth
and the Vandal are with us yet." Sound familiar? Sure: this
is just how 011ie North talks.
The timing of the conference was important too. In
March 1983 the administration was in the throes of over-
hauling its Central America military policy. That month
the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Jeane Kirkpat-
rick, returned from a trip to the region and declared that it
was "in crisis." Two years of Rea/an 63olicy in Central
Continuef
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America had not made much progress. In Nicaragua, the
contras were not going to topple the Sandinistas by the
summer of 1983 CIA officials had predicted1,2nd in El
Salvador, the armed forces were killing thousands of civil-
ians but still losing ground to leftist insurgents.
The administration's first step in solving the problem
was the creation of the Kissinger Commission in June
1983, which President Reagan described as "a means of
building a national consensus on a comprehensive United
States policy for the region." Militarily, policy-makers
wanted to increase aid to the contras and embark on what
the Kissinger Commission called an "enlightened coun-
terinsurgency campaign" in El Salvador. But the bigger
problem was political. The administration needed to
overcome substantial and persistent public reluctance to
become militarily involved.
The special operations conference was based on the
premise that the military methods had to be tailored to the
political realities of the 1980s. In the words of the confer-
ence organizers, "an untutored American public" showed
"little enthusiasm for unconventional acts in time of 'for-
mal peace.' "As a result, they said, "The United States must
develop diverse and even novel ways to defend its econom-
ic and geopolitical interests when these are affected by un-
conventional conflicts, especially in the Third World."
The discussion of these strategies took two forms at the
conference. The first was a replay of the long-standing
"hearts and minds" debate among U.S. military strategists.
The second debate concerned the difficulties of conducting
special operations within the constraints of U.S. public
opinion.
Edward Luttwak, a civilian strategist and Pentagon con-
sultant on Central America, thought the desire to win
hearts and minds distracted from military goals. He ex-
pressed admiration for the single-mindedness of the armed
forces of Guatemala. "Even a bad army can win a guerrilla
war," Luttwak observed, "if it uses the appropriate tactics
and methods systematically." At the time, the Guatemalan
army's tactics (according to the 'Organization of American
States) included "the destruction, burning, and plundering
of entire campesino villages." Douglas Blaufarb,
clffisio,1_, disagreed with Luttwak's thesis. "To destroy
homes and property, to kill and maim the civilian popula-
tion is counterproductive," he suggested. Excessive brutal-
ity, Blaufarb suggested, was why "the results of our securi-
ty assistance continue to disappoint us" in El Salvador.
(Luttwak said the problem in El Salvador was just the
opposite: insufficient "determination to win.")
The second, more extensive and more interesting discus-
sion concerned how to deal with North American hearts
and minds. It was launched by William V O'Brien, identi-
fied as a professor of government at Georgetown Universi-
ty, in his lecture on "Special Operations in the 1980s: Amer-
ican Moral, Legal, Political, and Cultural Constraints."
Over the course of the conference, O'Brien and others ap-
plauded the administration's efforts to coax the public and
the Pentagon out of their post-Vietnam reluctance to inter-
vene militarily. But most of the participants were pessimis-
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tic that such efforts would succeed. Theodore Shackley, an-
other former high-ranking CIA official, noted that "an
innate dislike for special operations by the mainstream of
American political life will, perforce, limit Washington to a
defensive mode in considering irregular warfare options."
AROUGH CONSENSUS was reached on the need to
proceed quietly. A retired British officer suggested
that if public opinion could not be won over, elite opinion
might be. "The concept of special operations as required
today must be marketed and sold?in a subtle way per-
haps?to generals, admirals, Cabinet members, congress-
men, and ambassadors," he said. Blaufarb recommended
that any initiative to upgrade and consolidate special oper-
ations "should be kept low-key, with a minimum of fan-
fare." Blaufarb noted that "as program proposals emerge,
the question of funding would certainly come to the fore"
but suggested that "the relatively modest amounts in-
volved" would not arouse public ire. With such an organi-
zation in place, pre-emptive special operations could win
public approval after the fact. "It is a hard, but true, fact of
life," Professor O'Brien noted, "that success overcomes a
lot of moral, legal, political, and cultural scruples."
Marsh himself suggested one Reagartesque way to tran-
scend what he delicately described as the "limitations of
our current defense structure." He proposed transferring
some of the tasks of special operations to the private sector.
(As one right-wing analyst with a knack for self-parody
describes it, "Privatizing the Reagan Doctrine.") Marsh
cited "economic, political, and psychological warfare" in
particular. "This is an enormous area in which private
sector resources can be used," he said.
By common consent, the top priority was to create what
Roger M. Pezzelle, a former aide to the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, called "a joint special operations organization at the
national level." Shackley envisioned "a special element of
government dedicated to the multiple tasks of counterin-
surgency, guerrilla warfare, and anti-terrorist operations."
He said it "might bring a fresh and dynamic approach to
these pressing needs."
Many participants, though, argued that rivalries be-
tween the Pentagon, State Department, intelligence com-
munity, and other agencies would probably kill any formal
initiative. There had to be a new bureaucratic nerve center.
John Norton Moore, identified as a law professor from the
University of Virginia, argued for "improved control
mechanisms. . . at levels above those of the armed forces."
Blaufarb made Moore's implication explicit by saying that
the only special operations command with the "necessary
authority" to overcome bureaucratic rivalries and Penta-
gon resistance "probably would have to be located in the
White House staff, which means the National Security
Council." He added that "unless the highest authority,
namely the president, gives his strong support" the ven-
ture would probably fail.
In the final discussion of the conference, devoted to "or-
ganizational strategy," participants developed the concept.
Kenneth Bergquist, a deputy assistant secretary of the
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Army, said that special operations commanders "should
work within the system?if necessary by expanding the
size and resources of the NSC." Sam Sarkesian, a political
scientist, stressed that whatever reforms were adopted, one
task was essential: "To devise an organizational strategy
that is linked to the existing system, but one that provides
enough freedom of maneuver for developing flexible and
imaginative responses."
Sarkesian and Bergquist agreed that unconventional tac-
tics had to be used not only against America's adversaries
but on the American political system itself. Sarkesian said
that if the existing structure of the NSC could not be
changed, he would favor "the gadfly approach?the inser-
tion of specialists within the existing system to goad and
pressure those in command to make the right decisions."
Bergquist agreed. By "using special operations techniques
on the system, the system could probably be made to
work," he said.
During this discussion, someone identified as a member
of the NSC staff, probably North himself, spoke up. The
conference proceedings state: "Citing his own experience
with the National Security Council and its small staff, he
saw the latter as incapable?even with strong support from
the president?of doing more than setting broad policy
and issue decision documents." Specifically, this NSC staff
member said, "Serious coordination of the myriad intelli-
gence agencies and State and Defense department compo-
nents is beyond their [the NSC staffers] capability." He
added his view that any new unified special operations
command had to include psychological operations and
psychological warfare. It is not absolutely certain that the
speaker was North (there was one other NSC staff member
present), but it certainly sounds like him, especially given
North's fondness for psychological operations.
IT IS CERTAIN that by 1983 North was gaining influence
on the administration's Central America policy. In the
summer of 1983 North accompanied the Kissinger Com-
mission on its tour of Central America. (In Nicaragua North
quipped that he was the advance man for the U.S. invasion.)
In October 1983 North gained prestige for his still-shadowy
role in the invasion of Grenada. And in December 1983
North accompanied Vice President Bush on an important
mission to El Salvador. By early 1984 North had reportedly
sent national security adviser Robert McFarlane a memo
proposing the creation of a private aid network for the con-
tras. According to Associated Press reporters Robert Parry
and Brian Barger, McFarlane then orally briefed Reagan on
the plan and Reagan approved. By late 1984 something re-
sembling "a joint special operations organization at the na-
tional level" was functioning and under North's control.
North's synthesis of the ideas presented at the confer-
ence was at once obvious and ingenious (although the
participants had not advocated that U.S. law be broken).
North combined "private sector resources" (as Marsh
suggested) with a "gadfly" network "to goad and pres-
sure" the State Department, Pentagon, and intelligence
community (as Sarkliqixtrrpraptifecb): Edema),Ilia0161011103
to effectively expand "the size and the resources" of the
NSC staff (as Bergquist suggested) and still keep the
whole operation "low-key" (as Blaufarb urged). When
"the question of funding came to the fore," (as Blaufarb
predicted), North avoided the controversy of using gov-
ernment funds by diverting the profits of the Iran arms
deal into the contra operation.
In Shackley's prescription cum description, North's ?:.p-
eration was "dedicated to the multiple tasks of counter-
insurgency, guerrilla warfare, and anti-terrorist opera-
tions." North was attempting to direct the "enlightened
counterinsurgency effort" in El Salvador, to assist the
contras in their guerrilla war, and to conduct anti-terrorist
operations in the Middle East.
INDEED, Shackley, Sarkesian, and Luttwak seem to
have been part of the "special element" that was
"linked to the existing system." Shackley is a legendary
figure who ran the CIA's covert war in Laos in the mid-
1960s. While there he met Richard Secord, North's right-
hand man in setting up the Iran arms deal and the secret
contra network. Ousted from the CIA during the Carte!
)Tars, Shackley has since been involved in shady dealings
in the Middle East. No surprise, then, that the Tower
Commission discovered that the first person to put the
NSC in contact with Iranians interested in dealing arms for
hostages in late 1984 was one Theodore Shackley.
Luttwak and Sarkesian also worked closely with North
and other gadflies who wanted to prod the bureaucracy to
execute the clandestine policy. The two consultants were
named to a seven-member panel (which included at least
three other close friends of North's) on a top-secret mis-
sion to El Salvador in August 1984. The panel produced a
classified seven-page report that is reportedly highly criti-
cal of the Pentagon's unimaginative tactics.
Through Carl Channell, North tapped "private sector
resources" to buy weapons for the contras. North also used
his private aid to wage "political and psychological war-
fare," as Marsh had recommended. He relied on Channell
to produce television ads attacking the foes of aid to the
contras. (The "untutored public" didn't learn its lesson:
almost all of the contra opponents targeted by Channel
were re-elected.) More effective was North's funding of
moderate Nicaraguan opposition politicians and Washing-
ton policy intellectuals who could articulate the case for
administration policy among the capital elite. In this way,
the idea of North's special operation command was, as the
British gentleman urged, "marketed and sold?in a subtle
way perhaps" to a Washington elite that had previously
deferred to public opinion.
And the ingredient that made it possible to wage a secret
war and sell arms to the Iranians was "the White House
leadership" that Blaufarb, Sarkesian, and others recog-
nized was so important. This was the ultimate improve-
ment in "control mechanisms . . . at levels above those of
the armed forces." The professor of government had it
right: "success" overcame a lot of moral, legal, cultural, and
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UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
21 May 1987
Bush: strong covert capabilities are "absolutely essential "
By SEENA D. GRESSIN
FIW YORK
Vice President George Bush warned Thursday against weakening the nation's
covert capabilities, calling effective intelligence operations 'absolutely
essential" to the country's survival.
While not specifically mentioning the Iran arms-Contra scandal, the vice
president and former head of the CIA noted covert operations have increasingly
come under fire. He said such activities must be within legal bounds but that
the ability to carry out secret operations should strengthened rather than
weakened.
"A strong intelligence capability, second to none, is absolutely essential
to the survival of the United States," he said. "We must not decimate the
front line and that is the intelligence community."
Speaking at a fundraiser for his bid for the 1988 Republican nomination, Bush
noted no incumbent vice president has successfully run for president since
Martin Van Buren in 1782, largely becase the vice president is "stripped to
some degree of his own identity."
However, he sought to assure 850 supporters at the $1,000-a-plate luncheon at
the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel that "myths are made to be broken" and that while he
will remain loyal to President Reagan, he also will set his own agenda once he
formally becomes a candidate.
''The agenda is there and I will establish my Own priorities based on
experience and based on conviction,' he said.
Among top priorities will be support for education, which he called the
"best poverty program," the battle against AIDS, creation of new jobs and
efforts to eliminate all chemical weapons and reduce nuclear arsenals.
On jobs, Bush said, "I don't think there are any radical new answers" but
"I think it's essential to hold the line on taxes," as part of policies to
encourage the economy.
On AIDS, Bush said the United States must lead the battle against the deadly
disease.
"It's going to mean more federal money for research, it's going to mean more
education," he said. "Not that the family values or the church values or the
neighborhood values have to be eroded out but it means using the White House as
a bully pulpit to help educate, not just in the United States but around the
world."
The event raised at least $875,000, bringing Bush's campaign warchest to more
than $6 million, said Fred Bush, deputy finance chairman for the campaign and
unrelated to the vice president.
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The event marked the debut of a giant model of the front of the White House,
complete with foliage, covering the stage of the Waldorf-Astoria's grand
ballroom.
Fred Bush said the Bush campaign "wanted to make an especially good
Impression here and we wanted to give New York a special look," and so decided
to bring the model at a cost of $6,000.
The campaign has already held some 30 major fundraisers this year and expects
to hold about BO by year's end but the New York event was one of the largest
planned, he said.
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BTAT
STAT
opuottlApp roved For RIII&E.eAM/96RA-RDP91-00901R0001000100
15 May 1987
CX PASLAI
Push's Office Revises Rodriguez Chronology
:Vice President's Staff Says Aide Met Last June With Contra Resupply Operative
By David Hoffman
vtudiington Pest Staff Writer
The office of Vice President Bush
ailed to report on a meeting last
une between one of Bush'?_pational .
jvjis and Felix 1. Rod-
iguez, a=e_thcaraguall_n die secret
esu
contras.
Bush has maintained he provided
'full disclosurend_hia_ancLhis_xtafes
contacts with Rodriguez, a former
rks3Ifici.Ta ,- in a chronologyjmued
$jc. 1This is the second
time the Bush staff has acknowl-
edged that the chronology was in-
complete.
Bush has repeatedly said that his
Office was not directing or coordinat-
ing the resupply missions, which oc-
curred at a time when Congress had
it off military aid to the contras.
Bush's counsel, C. Boyden Gray,
disclosed that the December chro-
nology omitted mention of a meet-
ing between Rodriguez and Army
Col. Samuel J. Watson, deputy na-
tional security adviser to Bush. The
meeting occurred June 25 in Wat-
son's office in the Old Executive
Office Building.
Gray said the meeting was over-
looked because it was recorded in
Watson's personal files and was not
on his official daily schedule.
Gray said Rodriguez was accom-
panied to the office by retired Air
Force colonel Robert Dutton, who
worked on the resupply missions
with retired Air Force major gen-
eral Richard V. Secord and National
Security Council aide Lt. Col. Oliver
L. North, who was fired in Novem-
ber. Dutton did not participate in
the 20-minute meeting with Rod-
riguez and Watson, Gray said. Rod-
riguez and Dutton came to the of-
fice, however, after meeting with
North elsewhere in the White
House complex, another source
said.
Bush's ,pational security adviser,
Donald P. Gregg, has maintained
that he and his staff did not discuss
?with Rodriguez the secret resupply
mission for the contras until last
Aug. 8. Gregg has said that numer-
ous contacts with Rodrigues con-
cerned his activities helping the El
Salvadoran Air Force conduct coun-
terinsurgency raids _gainst leftist
guerrillas.
Rodriguez, a longtime friend of
Gregg who served with him in Viet-
nam, had been sent to El Salvador
with the recommendation of Gregg
and Bush to help fight the Salvador-
an insurgency. However, according
to a letter recently made public,
Rodriguez was secretly recruited in
September 1985 by North to help
him set up the resupply missions at
the same time, working from the
Salvadoran Air Force base at Ilo-
pango.
When one of the resupply planes
crashed over Nicaragua last Octo-
ber, the first word came from Rod-
riguez to Watson, according to the
Bush chronology.
Gray said yesterday that Watson
maintains that the omitted June 25
meeting was about counterinsur-
gency in El Salvador, not about the
contras. However, Watson has no
notes or documents to verify what
was said. Rather, he turned over to
investigators a pocket-size card
showing his schedule for the day in
which he noted in handwriting,
"1:30?Felix."
Ina written statement, Gray said
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a search of Bush's files shows that
the vice president never talked
about the contras with Rodriguez.
Bush met Rodriguez three times in
1985 and 1986. The statement also
said Gregg was "never involved" in
"directing, coordinating or approv-
ing military aid to the contras in
Nicaragua."
Gray also said that the vice pres-
ident was unaware of the omitted
June 25 meeting.
Gregg has acknolwedged that his
friend Rodriguez came to him last
Aug. 8 to tell him of problems in the
resupply operation and that, in re-
sponse, Gregg convened a meeting
of administration officials in his of-
fice four days later.
Gray said yesterday that Rodri-
guez and Watson talked about the
Salvadoran military's need for hel-
icopter parts from the United
States, a subject that, according to
the chronology, they also discussed
on April 30.
Gray said Gregg was in Jordan at
the time of the June visit and that
the vice president did not see Rod-
riguez then. Secord had made a ref-
erence to a possible meeting with
Bush in his testimony last week.
After the chronolgy was issued
Dec. 15, Bush aides admitted thatiV
omitted two trips that Watson made
to contra training camps in Hondik
,
ras.
Gregg initially denied to reporti
ers that he ever talked about the
contras with Rodriguez, also know
as Max Gomez. "The only thing thaf
I talked to Max about was his Int
volvement in the insurgency insja
Salvador," Gregg said then. He l?
er acknowledged talking with RcKir
riguez about the contras.
The vice president has defended
Gregg and said he was "not in the
least bit troubled" by his aide's no.
tions.
However, some other Bush adr.
visers have pressed for Gregif,s
resignation. Gregg has said Jae
twice offered to resign but has sinc0
decided not to because it would'
cause Bush more harm than good.
Other officials have said that Bu4
rots
s
rIttf(Ilia call. fir
comment3,t-b
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14 May 1987
ARTICLEAPPZED
R
OH PAL__-"
Bush readies his obligatory bio
GEORGE Bush will have his autobiography on bookstore shelves by
September, in plenty of time to woo voters for the '88 race. The book,
from Doubleday, will no doubt also give his version of Iranscam, which
Is threatening to damage his political standing. "There will be some
new revelations," a publishing source told PAGE SIX. "But this isn't a
David Stockman book. Because he's still in office, there are obviously
some things he can't say." For instance, the source said, to get George's
feelings about Ronald Reagan "you have to read between the lines."
The book was originally contracted for 10 years ago, after Bush quit as
director of the CIA. Since he was a friend of Nelson Doubleday, the
house didn't pressure him to deliver anything and he finally got down
to work ? with the help of journalist Victor Gold ? in 1985. Doubleday
won't say what it paid to get his typewriter cranked up. But the Los An-
geles Times reports that his contract was renegotiated, with the VP
pledging his earnings from it to leukemia research (he lost a daughter
to the disease) and the United Negro College Fund. "Looking For-
ward," as it's being called, won't be a "campaign tract as such,' Gold
pledged. Still, since Bush is a presidential prospect, the book certainly
will be scrutinized for clues to his character ? and to his relationship
with his wife. "It's not dwelled on, but the early part of the book reflects
that she was a big influence on him," the publishing source said. One
time he presumably had to listen to her was when, aged 24, he passed
out, dead drunk, at a Texas Christmas party. Pals trucked him home,
dumped him on the lawn and announced "well, there's George" when
Barbara opened the door.
STATINTL
00010001-8
Fight brews
MAGGIE Thatcher vs the First
Amendment? As PAGE SIX pre-
dicted, Viking is rushing out "Spy-
catcher," the explosive book about
espionage that the PM suppressed
by going to court in Britain and
Australia. 'There's a lot of ma-
terial in this book that's of interest
to an American audience because
the author [ex-M15 spook Peter
Wright] interfaced with high levels
of the FBI and CIA," said Viking
president Alan Kellock. He intends
to have the book in the stores by
the end of June and thinks Maggie
will have a hard time stopping
him. "We've taken a lot of legal ad-
vice and feel we're fully protected.
This is very much a First Amend-
ment issue," he said.
By RICHARD JOHNSON
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ON PAGE
ARTICLE APP
NEW YORK TIMES
11 May 1987
0100010001-8
STATINTL
Aides to the President and Vice President
Are Braced for Bombshells
By GERALD M. BOYD Mr. Secord testified-thil John Dot - For example, after the meeting
specie' to The New Yoe( Times ton, a retired military officer who with Mr. Rodriguez had become
known they released a chronology
WASHINGTON, May 9 ? The good worked with him on the airlift opera-
that they said covered all the contacts
tion, told him that he escorted Mr. Ro-
news, aides to yjo, President Bush
among the C.I.A. operative, Mr. Bush
driguez to the Vice President's office
say, is that no evidence exists to cor-
and his staff. Similarly, they made no
in early August 1986 for a meeting.
roborate Claims by a retired Air
mention that Mr. Bush had praised a
Bush aides dispute that account
Force general that Mr. Bush knew of
One top aide said that a check of key player in the arms deals, Lieut.
a covert program to supply weapons
White House entry logs for August Oliver L North, in a telephone call
to Nicaraguan insurgents.
until that was also public. "We don't
had found no record of a Visit by Mr.
The bad news is that the man who
typically announce the Vice Presi-
Dutton. In addition, the staff exam-
made the claims, Richard V. Secord,
dent's phone calls to anyone and this
ined Mr. Bush's schedule for August
is only the first witness to testify at
was simply a short phone call to wish
and found that on Aug. 8, the day that
the Congressional hearings on the
a man well," Mr. Thomas said.
Mr. Rodriguez met with two top Bush
Iran-contra affair.
With the hearings scheduled to assistants, the Vice President had left
Part of a Pattern?
Washington for his home in Kenne-
stretch into the summer, aides to Mr.
But some Republican strategists,
bunkport, Me., the aide said.
Bush are bracing for other witnesses
Mr. Thomas, the Bush spokesman, including one close to Mr. Bush,
and other claims. But they are also
arguing that such assertions will also said of General Secord's testimony: argue that the approach is a part of a
go uncorroborated. "He's misinformed, and his source or pattern suggesting reluctance by Mr.
"Let's wait until it happens," a
friend is mistaken. Left unchallenged Bush to take forceful actions that
might put the affair behind him.
spokesman, Larry Thomas, said of
or unsubstantiated they could hurt,
As another example, the strategist'
the possibility that Mr. Bush and his
but we are confident that the truth is
Said Mr. Bush been advised to de-
campaign for the 1988 Republican
different and that it will come out as a
mand the resignation of Donald P.
Presidential nomination might be
result of the entire hearings."
Gregg, his national security adviser,
damaged by disclosures from the
But some advisers who asked not to
televised hearings that are bringing
who introduced Mr. Bush to Mr. Ro-
be identified accept the possibility
driguez and whose role in the arms
Ro-
the secret policy into the open.
that Mr. Dutton might support the Se-
affair has generated considerable at-
tention.
On Friday Mr. Bush's office took
cord account if called to testify.
the unusual step of releasing a letter
Since the scandal came to public at-
Mr, Gregg had made it clear that
the Vice President received recently
tention last fall, Mr. Bush has
he would leave if Mr. Bush made the
from a central figure in the affair, the
dropped in public opinion polls, al he
The Vice President did not.
Saudi arms merchant Adnan M. Kha-
though the latest New York Times/
shoggi, that they said supported their
CBS News Poll showed that he has
denials of an article published by The
Washington Times in March.
gained strength in the last two
tide, based on an interview with Mr. The ar-
months. The sampling, taken Tues-
day and Wednesday of 234 registered
Khashoggi, contended that Mr. Bush
Republican voters, found Mr. Bush
had been trying "to raise money right
the choice of 41 percent, compared to
and left" for the rebels.
a preference of 33 percent in a simi-
Mr. Khashoggi wrote that he
lar poll in March. The next choice in
"wanted to set the record straight"
and that the "whole episode" had the more recent poll was Senator Bob
been blown out of portion. He said he Dole of Kansas with 18 percent.
had been "misunderstood" and "ex-
Incumbency an Asset?
ploited" by the newspaper. Even so, many political strategists
The Presidential commission that believe that the Iran-contra scandal
investigated the scandal portrayed could have a major impact on the
Mr. Bush's role in the sale of arms to Vice President's election prospects,
Iran as minor. But it left unanswered although aides have argued that it is
many questions concerning the diver- less an issue outside Washington than
sion of profits to the Nicaraguan in- it is inside the capital.
surgents, including questions about a "It's clear on the Republican side
private network that supplied weap- in 1988, George Bush's Vice Presi-
ons to the rebels during a period in dency incumbency is turning out not
which Congress had banned such to be a strategic asset," said Kevin P.
assistance by the Government. Phillips, a Republican political
Although Mr. Bush, a former Direc- strategist, "principally because it
tor of Central Intelligence, has denied spotlights the Vice President's lack of
involvement in the supply network, independence and subjects him from
he has been a target of public and fallout from the Iran affair."
Congressional suspicion based on dr- Mr. Bush's aides have responded
cumstantial evidence. For example, with a strategy that displays willing-
when a rebel supply plane was shot ness to provide information on his
down in Nicaragua last October, role. But often it is forthcoming only
aides on his staff were the first after public disclosures have been
United States officials to be notified. made about his activities.
In addition, the Vice President has
acknowledged meeting in September
1986 with a C.I.A. operative, Felix Ro-
driguez, who was coordinating a pri-
vate airlift operation for the rebels,
based in El Salvador-. Mr. Bush has
said that he aiV_Mr. Rdstopez did
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not discuss the .0.PAf 9
STAT
ARTICLE AP
ON PAGE :2_ LOS An
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Fired North Got
Call From Bush,
Secord Testifies
By DOYLE McMANUS,
Times Staff Writer
1111117ASHINGTON
ent George Bosh?fillioned
White House aide Oliver L North
after North was fired last year to
offer his support, retired Air Force
Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord told
Congress Wednesday.
"It was. . . [a] laudatory call?
sad?a very short call," Secord
said.
Bush told North that he admired
the work he had done, another
source said, and told the fired aide:
"Sorry to see it end this way." A
spokeswoman for Bush, Gayle
Fisher, confirmed the account.
North was fired by President
Reagan last Nov. 25 after investi-
gators discovered that he had se-
cretly diverted profits from the
Reagan Administration's Iranian
arms sales to aid Nicaragua's contra
rebels.
Reagan himself also telephoned
North to offer his support and later
called the Marine lieutenant colo-
nel "a national hero."
Secord, who was with North
when both calls came, said he
realized that the President was on
the line when North answered the
INDP91-00901R000100010001-8
Questions Inquiry Seeks to Answer
From a Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON?Here are the key questions that Sen. Daniel
K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) said the Iran-contra hearings are trying to
answer:
?Were the statutory restrictions on U.S. aid to the contras
violated?
?Was Congress misled?
?Were the executive branch's own internal checks and
balances bypassed in policy decisions on Nicaragua and Iran?
?Was there a public foreign policy and, simultaneously, a very
different covert foreign policy?
?Was American foreign policy turned over to people outside
the government?
?Were national security decisions driven or influenced by
private profit motives?
telephone and stood at attention
"like a good Marine."
Secord told the House and Sen-
ate committees investigating the
Iran-contra scandal that Bush met
last August with a former CIA
officer who had helped set up a
secret contra air base in El Salva-
dor, suggesting that the vice presi-
dent was aware of the secret contra
airlift.
But Bush contested that account,
saying through Fisher that he did
not meet with former CIA officer
Felix Rodriguez. Instead, he said,
Rodriguez met with two of his top
aides, Donald Gregg and Sam Wat-
son.
"Gen. Secord is mistaken," she
said.
Rodriguez came to Washington
to complain that Secord's airlift
operation was badly managed and
was wasting money, Secord and
other sources said.
Rodriguez was a friend and polit-
ical supporter of Bush who first
went to El Salvador with a recom-
mendation from Bush's office to
help in counterguerrilla operations
there.
Bush, who is an unannounced
candidate for the Republican presi-
dential nomination, has been strug-
gling to free himself from charges
that he was more deeply enmeshed
in the Iran-contra secret operation
than he has admitted.
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STATINTL
vARTICLE 401 For Release 20P 9'8
1)1441/(1( VATFiDP91-00901R00010001J001 8
2
ON PAGE p ay
SECORD RECOUNTS
BEING TOLD REAGA
KNEW OF HIS WOliK
By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, May 6 ? Maj. Gen.
Richard V. Secord, a main organizer of
the Iran arms sales and the contra sup-
ply operation, testified today that he
had been told several times that Presi-
dent Reagan knew of his efforts.
General Secord, a retired Air Force
officer, in his second day, as the opening
witness before the Congressional com-
mittees investigating the Iran-contra
affair, said he had never talked with
the President personally about either
matter. But he added:
"On a few occasions, I heard Oliver
North, in an offhand and I think humor-
ous vein, remark that in some conver-
sations with the President, he men
tioned that it was very ironic that som
of the Ayatollah's money was being
used to support the contras.
"Whether he actually said this to the
President, or whether he was joking
with me, I'm not sure." [Excerpts, page
A15.1
John M. Poindexter, while national se-
curity adviser, had told him that Presi-
:dent Reagan knew of and appreciated
his work. General Secord said in his
opening testimony Tuesday that every-
:thing he had done on behalf of the Iran
;sales and the supply of arms to the con-
tras had been approved by the Admin-
istration, and his remarks today were
'meant to bolster that contention.
1
; At the end of the day, committee
/members said they were intrigued by
General Secord's remarks about the
President but did not view it as conclu-
/
sive evidence.
Most of the day was .spent in a de-
'tailed recounting of the various arms
'transactions with Iran. Much of the
material was explored thoroughly in,
the Tower Commission report, which
was made public in February.
Still, General Secord broke some new
ground, including these points:
(lAs early as December 1985, Colonel
North suggested that surplus money
from the arms deals with Iran should
be used for the benefit of the contras.
9The general provided more precise
information about the help that his ac-
tivities for the contras received from
William J. Case Jien Director of Cen-
igence, and other officials.
1
The general destroyed some of his
idocuments after the Iran arms sales
became publicly known but before
legal investigation had been an-
nounced.
General Secord also disclosed that on
the afternoon last November when the
diversion of profits to the contras was
made public and Colonel North was dis-
missed from the White House staff, the
colonel received telephone calls of sup-
port from Mr. Reagan and Vice Presi-
dent Bush.
The President's call, in which he is
said to have referred to the colonel as a
"hero" and told him his work "would
make a great movie one day," has been
widely reported. But this was the first
mention of a similar call from Mr.
B
Not Taken as a Joke
Lieut. Col. Oliver L. North, a former
National Security Council official, has
been reported to exaggerate at times.
But General Secord added, "I did not
take it as a joke."
Mr. Reagan has maintained thathe
never held detailed private conversa-
tions with Colonel North, who was in
charge of, the secret operations, and
that he knew nothing of the diversion of
funds from the Iran arms sales to th
Nicaraguan rebels, known as contras.
The White House spokesman, IWArl
Fitzwater, refused to comment di-
rectly on General Secord's assertbins.
But he noted that the President had
said previously that he was unaware of
the diversion of money.
Reagan's Knowledge at Issue
The question of Mr. Reagan's per-
sonalAnowledge is the central issue of
the investigation. The committee mem-
bers did not have the opportunity to
pursue the matter further today, but
General Secord will return to the wit-
ness stand Thursday.
General Secord also said Vice Adm.
Mostly Matter of Fact
As he had Tuesday in his opening
testimony, General Secord, a stocky
man with a military bearing, defended
his activities as selfless and patriotic.
He spoke mostly in a matter-of-fact
tone, rattling off dates and figures
without emotion.
But occasionally he raised his voice,
especially when questions implied
profiteering on his part. And at least
once, he cracked a joke.
The chief counsel of the House com-
mittee, John W. Nields Jr., was trying
to determine whether General Secord
believed he could use proceeds from
the arms sales in any way he wished.
"So you could have gone off and
bought an island in the Mediterra-
nean?" Mr. Nields asked.
"Yes, Mr. Nields," the general re-
plied, "but I did not go to Bimini."
STATINTL
on the investigation, apparently did not
get the allusion to former Senator Gary
Hart's travails. When the spectators
laughed, Mr. Nields turned to Repre-
sentative Michael DeWine, a Ohio Re-
publican who sat to his left, to have the
joke ekplained to him.
The hearings are expected to last at
least through most of the summer, and
General Secord was called as the first
witness to provide an overview of the
affair. His testimony is meant to set the
stage for witnesses to follow.
Most of the day's interest focused on
his answer to a single question Mr.
Nields asked in midafternoon about his
"understanding of the President's
knowledge of the issue."
"I have no direct, first-hand knowl-
edge about what the President knew or
didn't know," the general replied. "As I
think everyone knows, I never spoke
with the President on this."
But he went on to say what officials
including Colonel North, Mr. Casey,
Robert C. McFarlane and Admiral
Poindexter told him during the rieriod.
Mr. McFarlane, who resigned in
December 1985, preceded Admiral
Poindexter as security adviser. Mr.
McFarlane is due to testify next week.
"I was told on a number of occasions,
and I even recorded it once in a Decem-
ber 1984 n,iemo to myself, that the
President was informed of my partici-
pation in the contra and later in the Ira-
nian operation," General Secord said.
"I had talked with the Director of the
C.I.A., who was a close confidant.of the
President," he continued. "I assumed
that he was passing information to
him."
Mr. Casey died this morning.
President Reported Pleased
"I talked with two different national
security advisers during the two years
in question here," General Secord said.
"I've been at all the projects I was
worki4ig on with Oliver North, and I
was told by Admiral Poindexter in
Janu of '86 that not only was he
pleas d with the work that I had been
doing, but the President was as well."
The general then recounted how
Colon 1 North had told him how he and
the P esident had joked about using
mone from Ayatollah Ruhollah Kho-
meini the Iranian leader, to finance the
contr s.
Col nel North has often been accused
by hi critics of exaggerating his im-
porta ce and his relationship with the
Presi ent. But Admiral Poindexter and
Mr. asey are known to have spoken
with he President directly and regu-
larly, and they do not have Colonel
Nort 's reputation f O exaggeration.
Colbnel North and'Admiral Poindex-
ter ill be called to testify before the '
panels next month.
Mr. Nields, a stolid man who has
been working day and night for weeks
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Continued
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
General Secord said he had wanted
to talk to the President to urge him not
to abandon support for the Iran and
contra operations.
He was in a hotel room with Colonel
tiorth when Mr. Reagan called to offer
support the day the colonel was dis-
missed from the White House staff. "I
said, 'Let me have the phone,'" Gen-
eral Secord said, indicating that he had
almost tried to grab the phone. "But it
was too late. He hung up. I wasn't fast
enough."
'The People Would Understand'
He wanted to tell the President, he
testified, "that it was a good policy, and
it was worth a try."
"The American people would under-
stand the rationale that underlie such a
policy, and we've done nothing wrong,"
he continued. "My advice would have
been: 'Let's stake out our position.
Don't cut and run.'"
Then General Secord's voice
dropped. "I didn't get a chance to make
that kind of speech," he said softly. "So
I'll make it now."
He said the idea that surplus money
from arms transactions be diverted to
the contras was first suggested by
Colonel North in December of 1985.
There have been conflicting stories
in the past on how the diversion began.
Some sources have said the idea came I
from the Israelis, and others that it
came from the Iranian middleman,
Manucher Ghorbanifar.
General Secord said the idea arose
because a month earlier, an Israeli
named Al Schwimmer, a founder of the
Israeli aircraft industry, had deposited
$1 million in a Swiss bank account that
was being used for both the arms
?
transactions to Iran and the contra
supplies. The $1 million was meant to
pay the transportation costs of a ship-
ment of American anti-tank missiles
from Israel to Iran.
He 'Made a Contra-bution'
The shipment's expenses, however,
amounted to only about $200,000, Gen-
eral Secord said, and he asked Colonel
North what to do with the surplus.
Colonel North said the money should
be used for the contras, he said. "So
Mr. Schwimmer made a contra-bu-
tion," General Secord said, apparently
intending the pun.
"We'll let that one sink in for a
minute," Mr. Nields said.
After that episode, the general said,
Colonel North was "consistent" in sug-
gesting that money left over from
arms transactions be spent on the con-
tra operation.
There was plenty of left-over money,
? nearly half of the total of $30 million the
Iranians paid. But General Secord said
only about $3.5 million was actually
used to supply the contras.
More than half the remainder, ac-
cording to financial records, is still in
an account of General Secord's busi-
ness partner, Albert Hakim, and the
rest was used for other purposes. Some
of the money was intended as normal
business profit for the Hakim-Secord
company, Stanford Technology Trad-
ing Group. But it was unclear what the
rest of the money was intended for.
Says He Took No Money
General Secord said Tuesday that he
had decided not to make any money
from the deals because he feared that
might hurt his chances for rejoining
the military. He said today that his only
income was the normal salary of $6,000
a inonth that he drew from the compa-
ny.
In fact, the general took offense at
the notion that he might have made
money from the deals.
"There was no intention of profiteer-
ing," he said, a sharp edge to his voice.
"I know that some people were tossing
this word around right now, and I re-
sent it. There was no intention of prof i-
teering. None."
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STAT
opArtg:f212eproved
For Release 2/9R9/pARL:FrphRD/PN9400/0/9p1R000100010001_
FILE
6 May
Testimony,.
conflicts
with Bush's
By Steve Stecklow
and Matthew Putcly
',Nu! Per wa.clungion Bureuu
1987
WASHINGTON ? Retired Air Force
Gen. Richard V. Secord testified yes-
r?Irday that he believed.g
Its.graL.,
ent Bush attended a meeting last
Tigigr5flitfich the secret operation
to supply arms to the contras was
discussed.
Secord's testimony contradicts
statements by Bush's office that the
vice president never attended such .a
meeting. The office has stated that
on last Aug. 8, two of Bush's ?top
aides, Donald Gregg and Col. Samuel
Watson, met with Felix Rodriguez, a
former CIA employee who was a key
participant in the contra supply op-
eration. However, according to a
Dec. 15 statement by Bush's office,
the vice president was not informed
of that meeting.
Gayle Fisher, a Bush spokeswoni-
an, said yesterday that Secord's testi-
mony about the vice president. was
"not true. The vice president did n6t
sit in on a meeting of that kind in
August," she said.
Secord referred to the meeting
during his first day of testimony
fore the joint congressional cominit-
tee investigating the Iran-contra af-
fair. He was not questioned further
about how he came to believe Bush
attended the meeting.
Secord described Rodriguez, Who
woriced with the CIA in the 1961 flay
of Pigs operation and later in Viet-
nam, as a key player in the contra
supply operation as far back as:Sep-
tember 1985. He acted as a "liaison"
with local authorities in El Salvador,
where the operation was based, Se-
cord said.
But because of a misunderstand-
ing, Secord said, Rodriguez came to
believe that Secord and his asso-
ciates were "profiteering" at the ex-
pense of the contras, and were sell-
ing them old weapons in poor
condition ? charges Secord said
were untrue.
Rodriguez, according to Secord,
first voiced his concerns at a meet-
ing with White House national secu-
rity aide Oliver L. North and Robert
Dutton, a Secord associate. The meet-
ing "didn't go well," Secord said, and
Rodriguez then took his complaints
to Bush and Gregg. ?
According to a chronology 're-
leased by Bush's office in December,
Gregg, Bush's national security af-
fairs assistant, helped place Rodri-
guez in El Salvador in early 1985 to
help fight communist guerrillas
there. Although Rodriguez was .re-
peatedly in communication with the
vice president or his staff in 1985 and
1986, according to the chronology, it
was not until last Aug. 8 that Rodri-
guez told Gregg about the contra
supply network.
Bush has said he knew nothing
about Rodriguez's involvement with
the contras, even though he or his
staff had had contact with Rodriguez
16 times since 1983.
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STATINTL
STAT
STAT
Release 209LEWM: ctkgDP91-00901R000100010001-8
6 May 1987
SECORD SAYS HIGH OFFICIALS STATINTL
HELPED HIM SUPPLY CONTRAS
DESPITE BAN ON U.S. ARMS AID
By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, May 5 ? The first
witness at the Confessional hearings
on the Iran-contra d, Maj. Gen.
testfNadttoday that
"troVernment officials including Wil-
liam J. Casey, then Director of Central
-11ffellillerM1elped in the operation to
supply weapons to the Nicaraguan
rebels after Congress had prohibited
such aid.
General Secord also testified that
only about $3.5 million of the $12 mil-
lion in profits from the sale of arms to
Iran was actually spent on behalf of the
contras. More than half of the money,
he said, was kept by his business part-
ner, Albert Hakim, and part of the rest
was used for a secret project unrelated
to Iran or Nicaragua that he did not
identify.
"We believed our conduct was in the
furtherance of the President's poli-
cies," General Secord asserted, speak-
Ing of himself and his colleagues in the
various transactions. "I also under-
stood that this Administration knew of
my conduct and approved it."
First Account by Participant
This was the first detailed, public ac-
counting by an actual participant in the
operation of how the proceeds from the
arms sales were used.
General Secord's testimony is to re-
sume Wednesday. Today, he made
these other points:
He was first asked by Lieut. Col.
Oliver L. North in 1084 to work with the
National Security Council's covert pro-
gram to obtain and supply weapons for
the contras.
ilHe believed he was working on be-
half of and with the full backing of the
Reagan Administration.
gOfficials of the C.I.A and the State
Department in Central America as-
sisted his efforts to supply the contras
with weapons.
OHe was told, but did not know first-
hand, that Vice President Bush was ap-
prised of the contra-supply operation.
eLast year, Government officials in
El Salvador voiced objections about
the use of their country in the supply
operation.
eHe worked extensively with Israeli
shipment to Iran.
General Second, who is retired from
the Air Force and who was a Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense early in
the Reagan Administration, was testi-
fying voluntarily. He began his testi-
mony this afternoon after a morning
session devoted to solemn speeches by
the members of the investigative com-
mittees.
General Secord said he had origi-
nally refused to testify because he felt
"abandoned" by Attorney General
Edwin Meese 3d and other top officials
of the Administration, and because his
"instincts were self-protective."
"With the passage of time," he said,
he reconsidered.
Spectators Lined Up
The Senate Caucus Room, the stage
for the Senate Watergate hearings and
many other memorable political
events, was jammed for the opening
session. Hundreds of spectators lined
up for the 50 or so unassigned seats,
hoping to witness an important chapter
in American history.
"These hearings," said the chairman
of the Senate panel, Daniel K. Inouye,
In his opening address, "will examine
what happens when the trust which is
the lubricant of our system is breached
by high officials in the Government." !
"The story is not a pretty one," he
continued. "As it unfolds, the American
people will have every right to ask,
'How could this have happened here?'
Indeed, it never should have happened
at all."
The committees, whose joint hear-
ings are expected to last at least
through the middle of August, called
General Secord as the first witness in
the hope that he could provide an over-
view of the whole affair.
Recalls Trip to Europe
He seemed prepared to comply. Tes-i
tifying with a steady, matter-of-fact I
tone, he told of being recruited in 1984
by Lieut. Col. Oliver L. North, then a
White House national security assist-
ant, to obtain weapons for the strug-
gling rebels in Nicaragua, He also de-
scribed how he was sent to Europe in
1985 to try to resurrect an arms ship-
ment to Iran that had gone awry.
With the exception of Colonel North
and perhaps Rear Adm. John M. Poin-
dexter, President Reagan's former na-
tional security adviser, no other wit-
ness is likely to have evidence of so
many different aspects of the affair.
General Secord said he was not
"ashamed" of anything he had done,
and he said "unconventional methods"
were necessary "because conventional
wisdom had been exhausted."
He saj4 that he inet onjjam.
sions with Mr. Casey, the Director of
Central Intelligence until he became ill
last December. and that Mr. Casey had
encouraged his activities.
The general said he had received in-
telligence information or other support
for the effort to supply arms to the con-
tras from senior C.I.A. officials in
Costa Rica and Honduras and received
"moral sporoort" from the United
States Ambassadors in costa Rica and
El Salvador. He also said senior United
States military officers in El Salvadoi,
were aware of the program.
In addition, under questioning from
the chief counsel of the House investi-I
gative committee, General Secord tes-1
titled that he understood Vice Presi-
dent Bush had been told about the con-
tra supply operation during a meeting
in Washington.
General Secord said that F
driguez. a former C.I.A. operative who
served as a liaison between him and
the Nicaraguan rebels, became dissat-
isfied with the operation and came toi
Washington to complain.
Mr. Rodriguez, according to the Gen-
eral, met with Vice President Bush's
national security adviser,
Gregg. General Secord said he was
,tmu0m did not have first-hand knowl-
edge, that Mr. Rodriguez then met with
Mr. Bush as welL
But a spokesman for the Vice Presi-
dent said Mr. Bush did not attend the
meeting firVerfron. Mr. Bush has said
repeatedly that he was unaware of the
covert program to supply the contras.
General I rd was not soecdic
a... , _ ? -
STAT
Casey provided, but he said it was no
arms merchanAspt? arrange-an 'provgcri-or Keiease 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
STAT
Continued
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as much as he wanted.
"I was never able to get the profes-
sional intelligence product I was accus-
Wined to having," he testified.
General Secord said he wok his or-
ders from Colonel North, who was dis-
charged from the White House staff
last November after the arms sale and
the diversion of proceeds to the contras
became known.
He said Colonel North had given him
and those working with him sophisti-
cated code machines that look like lap-
top computers. Several messages be-
tween General Secord and Colonel
North that were written on the ma-
chines were submitted into evidence to-
day, an indication of the extensive
documentary material the investiga-
tors have accumulated.
One of those messages involved the
purchase of a ship to be used in a
United States Government project not
related to Iran or Nicaragua.
General Secord did not identify the
project, although some people said
they believed it involved Libya. "The
mission they had for the ship was ex-
tremely dangerous," General Secord
said. Slightly more than $1 million
from the Iran arms sales was used to
buy the ship, he said.
General Secord testified without im-
munity from prosecution. He said he
had legal opinions that his contra sup-
ply operation was within the law, but
other authorities have suggested other-
wise.
A person close to the general said
that after invoking his Fifth Amend-
ment right against self-incrimination
and refusing to testify in other investi-
gative forums, he decided to come for-
ward because he thought it would help
his legal position if he cooperated.
Under questioning from John W.
NieIds Jr., chief counsel for the House
committee, General Secord described
what happened to the $30 million paid
by Iran for American missiles and
other weapons.
About $12.3 million, he said, was
given to the United States Treasury to
pay for the arms. Another $8 million is
still in a Swiss bank account or in a fi-
duciary account for the "benefit" of
Mr. Hakim, he said. Mr. Hakim, who
'arranged most of the financial transac-
tions, is a partner with General Secord
in a Virginia-based company called
Stanford Technology Trading Group.
About $3.5 million was diverted to as-
sist the contras, $3 million went for ex-
penses connected with the delivery of
the arms to Iran, slightly more than $1
million was used to buy the ship for the
unidentified project in a third country
and for other unidentified projects, and
about $2.5 million is still unaccounted
for.
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5 May 1987
Hints of Conspiracy
The /ran-contra hearings will renew pressure on the White House
It is a uniquely American
ritual. A concerned and cu-
rious citizenry gathers in an
electronic version of a Colo-
nial town meeting to watch
their elected representatives grill Govern-
ment officials, high and low, about a sorry
episode in contemporary history. The
viewing can be painful yet mysteriously
exhilarating, boring at times yet somehow
fascinating. It is an odd self-flagellation,
but out of it can emerge a catharsis. The
Government's secrets are exposed, its ac-
tions explained, condoned or condemned.
The issue is faced. The nation moves on.
The process begins again this week
as klieg lights illuminate the solemn
faces of 15 Congressmen and eleven
Senators seated on a two-tiered dais
draped in burgundy bunting, at the
opening of a four-month public explora-
tion of the Iran-contra affair. This is the
same Senate Caucus Room where televi-
sion cameras revealed Senator Joseph
McCarthy as a snarling bully. It is
where Richard Nixon's closest aides
told lies in a vain effort to support the
President's Watergate crimes.
Are the stakes as high this time?
Probably not, but the unpredictable lurks.
Said a White House aide last week: "You
can never tell in what direction a hearing
like this may go." Panel Member Peter
Rodino, the New Jersey Congressman
whose steady hand in 1974 dignified the
impeachment proceedings against Nixon,
hears echoes. "We have a situation again
where we have much of the Executive
Branch misunderstanding the rule of
law," he says. "We just can't let that go
unchallenged and unaddressed."
The alleged "misunderstanding" of
the "rule of law" that Congress plans to
probe goes far beyond the unhinged arms-
for-hostages deals with Iran and the
siphoning of profits to the Nicaraguan
contras, which formed the focus of the
Tower board's report in February. In-
stead, a central issue this time will be the
role Administration officials played in
pursuing a secret and possibly illegal for-
eign policy by using a shady cadre of pri-
vate and semiprivate operatives to supply
military aid to the contras when such aid
was restricted by Congress.
How explosive this investigation
could be was revealed last week, when In-
dependent Counsel Lawrence Walsh se-
cured the scandal's first guilty plea, one
that led uncomfortably close to the Oval
Office. Conservative Fund Rais- _
er Carl ("Spitz") Channell admit-
ted he had conspired to defraud
the Government b
Y using resupply. He was at NSC when
exempt "charitable" foundation
to send military sup pi3Kol.fgd For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R0001t0001000148iendment bannectontinued
contras. He named former Na-
direct military aid to the rebels.
tional Security Council Aide
Lieut. Colonel Oliver North as
his "co-conspirator." North had
not only helped persuade donors
to give to Channell but had also
successfully urged Ronald Rea-
gan to thank many who did so. ?
White House Spokesman
Marlin Fitzwater reiterated Rea-
gan's earlier claim that he
thought the money was used only
to buy TV ads to persuade Congress to
support the contras. But Fitzwater's re-
sponse was carefully hedged. Said he: "In
the legal view of the White House, the
President is not a part of this conspiracy."
Another aide fretted about what might be
next in the chain of criminal charges:
"These pleas tend to set up a domino ef-
fect, with one target leading to others. We
have no real idea where it's going."
Even if Channell or others reveal that
Reagan knew some of the private dona-
tions were being used for military sup-
plies, it would not necessarily mean Rea-
gan was a conspirator in breaking the tax-
exemption laws. But at the very least it
would show his earlier denials to be false.
And if the conspiracy to use private dona-
tions for arming the contras turns out to
have violated other laws, such as the Neu-
trality Act and the Boland Amendment,
questions of White House involvement
could become far more serious.
Before its hearings begin this Tues-
day, the joint congressional committee
staff will have interviewed 300 witnesses,
reviewed more than 100,000 documents
and issued 140 subpoenas. The investiga-
tion is prying loose what promises to be a
spate of intriguing revelations about the
Iran-contra affair.
By focusing on the covert policies the
Administration pursued in Nicaragua, as
well as Iran, the members plan to depict
what many feel amounted to a dangerous
privatization of foreign policy. The lesson
of the hearings, predicts New Hampshire
Republican Warren Rudman, will be that
the Administration "cannot have a stated
foreign policy aggressively pursued and a
private foreign policy that is 180? opposite
to it."
The role North and the CIA played in
setting up this rogue network is already
well documented. A central question will
be the degree to which the President gave
his knowing approval to the secret contra-
funding efforts. The Tower board por-
trayed Reagan as incredibly uninformed
about the specific activities of his Nation-
al Security Council staff. But some Con-
gressmen say the evidence indicates Rea-
gan was well aware of the basic policies
pursued. "The President was very knowl-
insists Hawaii Democrat Daniel Inouye,
chairman of the Senate panel. Oklaho-
ma's David Boren posed the committee's
key question in phrases that carry a Wa-
tergate-era ring: "Did the President faith-
fully carry out the spirit of the law, or was
he ignoring it? Did he subvert the process
himself by trying to raise funds to get
money to the contras?"
The panel selected as its first wit-
ness one who is likely to engage
the public's attention. After taking
the Fifth Amendment in earlier
hearings and even risking a contempt ci-
tation for refusing to turn over financial
records, retired Air Force Major General
Richard Secord agreed to testify?with-
out immunity from prosecution. Why?
"He's convinced he did nothing wrong
and wants to tell his story," explained
Maine Senator George Mitchell. Consid-
ering his involvement in both the gunrun-
ning to the contras and the logistics of
sending arms to Iran, Secord could credi-
bly hold such a view only if he believed he
had been given clear authority for what
he did. Declared Inouye: "Few people can
tell this story from beginning to end, and
General Secord is one of those people."
In addition to describing the network
of private operatives North used in both
the Iran arms deals and the contra-supply
operations, Secord is expected to help un-
tangle one of the scandal's chief remain-
ing mysteries: Where did the money go?
An arms dealer ever since he left the Pen-
tagon in 1983, Secord joined a company
run by Albert Hakim, an Iranian Ameri-
can who recently gave committee investi-
gators thick notebooks containing details
of the firm's various bank accounts. Pro-
ceeds from the Iranian arms sales as well
as covert money for contra military sup-
plies are believed to have moved through
these accounts.
The committee's plan is to conduct its
hearings in three stages: 1) the contra
funding and military-resupply operation,
which may take about four weeks; 2) the
Iran arms deals and who may have been
responsible for the diversion of profits to
the contras, running into August; 3) a
wrap-up period exploring the lessons
learned and what legislation, if any, might
be needed to prevent a similar breakdown
in the orderly and accountable
conduct of foreign policy. The
committee should be finished by
Labor Day.
The joint committee has
compiled an interesting list of
26 witnesses for the first phase,
which some staffers refer to as
an exploration of "Contra, Inc."
Secord will be followed by Rob-
ert McFarlane, the former Na-
tional Security Adviser, who has
testified extensively about his
unfortunate dealings with Iran
but not about the secret contra
ved or Rel
006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R
The committee counsel: John Nields Jr. for the House and Arthur Liman for the Senate
Filling out the picture will be some
lesser-known field agents who helped cre-
ate the private network that kept the
contras fighting despite the official cutoff.
Among them: Robert Owen, who as
North's roving envoy in Central America
allegedly arranged weapons shipments,
and Contra Leader Adolfo Calero, who
will be asked about what help the rebels
actually received.
Next will come the fund raisers who
made the private military aid possible.
They will include retired Army General
John Singlaub, who solicited money open-
ly for the contras on a worldwide basis;
Barbara Studley, a rather mysterious
friend of Singlaub's; Ellen Garwood, the
Texas multimillionaire who donated lav-
ishly to Channell's groups: and Jane
McLaughlin, a former Channel! aide who
has spoken freely about his White House
ties. Hakim, expected to return from liv-
ing abroad, will flesh out the details of se-
cret money transfers through Switzerland
and the Cayman Islands.
The role of the NSC staff in setting up
this contra-sup .l network will be ex-
piorerthroug t e testimony o such Se-
cord associates as Robert Dutton and
.Richard Gadd, both of w
to have worked closely with North. Then
Felix Rodriguez, identified as a CIA agent
who uses the moniker Max _Gomez, will
be asked to explain his job as liaison be-
tween El Salvador's air force and private
pilots some of whom wound up air-drop-
ping supplies to the contras from Salva-
dor's Ilopango Air Base. Recommended
for his role by Donald Gregg, a top aide to
Vice President George Bush, Rodriguez
will beguestioned about meetings jie has
had with Bush.
The offaal ties may be tightened as
Lewis Tanibs, former U.S. Ambassador to
Costa Rica is asked about working_ with
North to get Costa Rica to keep a secret
contra airstrip operating. The CIA station
chief in Costa Ric-iTrecefilly identified as
Joseph Fernandez, Will be quizzed about
the contras MT whiChTif his CIA Su_periOrS
was aware of his activities.
Some of the toughest grilling may be
inflicted on Elliott Abrams, Assistant
Secretary of State for Inter-American
Affairs, who had insisted publicly that
"nobody in this building had any idea of
any contributions coming from a foreign
government" just days before it was dis-
closed he had solicited $10 million for
the contras from the Sultan of Brunei.
Worse yet, the money deposited into a
Swiss account provided by North has
disappeared. Says an Administration of-
ficial: "Aside from the question of
whether he did anything indictable, he
will at the very least be sacrificed. Elliott
knew most of the essential details of
what 011ie and his boys were up to."
After starting Phase 1 with a po-
tential bomb thrower, Secord, the
committee expects to end it with
the scandal's bombshell: North's
secretary, Fawn Hall. Charges of a possi-
ble obstruction of justice could hinge in
part on how she describes the documents
Was he unknowing or In charge?
One witness may have an answer.
00100010001-8
she shredded, altered or spirited off to
North after Attorney General Edwin
Meese carelessly interviewed him about
the Iran-contra diversion but failed to call
in the FBI or lock up North's files.
Meese, who will not be called until
Phase 2, can expect rough handling over
his sloppy initial investigation as well as
his dubious legal advice to the President
that it was proper to withhold notification
of the Iran deals from Congress. But as to
whether there was a cover-up, Maine Re-
publican Senator William Cohen notes,
"You cannot prove that Meese's inepti-
tude was calculated."
By agreement with Independent
Counsel Walsh, who has voiced deep con-
cern about protecting possible indict-
ments, the two key figures in the entire
affair will not be heard until at least mid-
June. Former National Security Adviser
John Poindexter, who was kept informed
by North about almost everything he did,
poses the most direct peril to the Presi-
dent. Cool and at least outwardly serene
at the center of the scandal, the pipe-puff-
ing admiral has told friends he intends to
lay his story out candidly and will not be
shaken by others. He has privately said
he feels that he kept the President in-
formed of the Iran and contra-funding
operations, including telling him in gen-
eral terms on at least two occasions that
the Iranian operations were benefiting
the contras. Some committee members
were irked last week when Reagan
seemed to be sending Poindexter a signal.
Asked whether he was worried about the
admiral's testimony, Reagan replied,
"No. John Poindexter's an honorable
man. . . I was not informed."
As for North, no one can be sure of
what the erratic officer will say. But the
big question for North will be one that has
the ring of Watergate: What did the Presi-
dent know?
This schedule of witnesses is daunting
and certain to include hours of tedious tes-
timony about secret bank accounts and
weapons shipments. As one White House
aide predicts, viewers (and the networks)
are sure to switch back to the soap operas
except when some of the major witnesses
are on camera. "Our responsibility is not
to entertain, but to inform," says Cohen,
whose eloquence in the House Judiciary
Committee impeachment debate helped
propel him into the Senate.
But even if the hearings produce few
explosions or smoking guns that can top-
ple high officials, they could have a pow-
erful historic impact. With the emotional
force that often emerges from the accu-
mulation of dry details, the nation will
be shown how some in the Administra-
tion used a shady network to undermine
America's policy of not trading for hos-
tages and to circumventiaws prohibiting
the Government from supplying military
aid to the contras. The critical lesson.
Cohen predicts, will be the discovery
that "you can't formulate policy in some
dark corner without heading toward
anarchy." ?Ely Ed Magnuson. Reported by
Michael Duffy and Hays Gorey/Washington
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ARTICLE APPEARED
ON 4
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
4 May 1987
STATINTL
Man that wasn't there
But Bush may get hit
in IranCon this week
STAT By FRANK JACKMAN
News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON?So far in
he Iran-Contra affair, Vice
_siglas been
STAT
w o wasn't there.
But that is likely to change
this week as congressional
investigators focus on the
private networks that ftm-
neled arms to the Nicara-
guan rebels.
The Tower Commission
report last February barely
mentioned Bush. The vice
president has said he knew
of, but had "reservations"
about, the sale of arms to
Iran, but he has been reti-
cent about his knowledge of
the Contra part of the equa-
tion.
Iran-Contra special prose-
cutor Lawrence Walsh, in a
progress report last week,
specifically mentioned the
office of the vice president
as one of those which are
the subject of "ongoing in-
vestigations." He said that
the inquiry was "proving
fruitful."
Top Bush aide
One focus may be Bush's
top aide, ex-CIA amajuir?..,
alcegg.
?It-is expected Gregg will
be called to testitr about his
relationship withJLxe-
.driguez, former: agent
.00414 IsAbititaiGootra
supply network.
Gregg has acknowledged
that in December 1984, he
recommended the Cuban-
born Rodriguez, a former
colleague from their days
together in Vietnam, as on-
the-scene adviser to the Sal-
vadoran Air Force at Ilo-
pango air base in El
Salvador. Ilopango was the
site of an extensive resup-
ply network to the Contras
during 1985 and 1986.
'Never involved'
But in a chronology of
events issued by Bush's of-
fice last December, Gregg
claimed that while he and
his staff "maintained peri-
odic communication with
Felix Rodriguez... (we)
were never involved in di-
recting, coordinating or ap-
proving military aid to the
Contras."
Twice, however, In August
1986 and again in October of
that year, when the Contra
support program ran into
trouble, Rodriguez took his
problems directly to the
vice president's office. The
first time, Rodriguez was
concerned about the ade-
quacy of the Contra resup-
ply program, and Gregg re-
sponded by setting up a
meeting with CIA, State De-
partment, Pentagon and
White House officials to
0.-.1101V419WOWIWAllaimm
SCHOOL DAYS: Vice President Bush takes weekend stroll at Phillips
Academy in Andover, Mass., the prep school of which he is a graduate.
The second time, accord-
ing to the Bush chronology,
came when a Contra-supply
plane was shot down in Nic-
aragua and a crewman, Eu-
gene Hasenfus, was cap-
tured by the Sandinistas.
Rodriguez twice called
Gregg's office with the
news, and a Gregg aide,
Samuel Watson, told the
White House Situation
Room and the National Se-
curity Council.,
Questioned after the Hs-
senfus plane was downed,
Gregg insisted that he never
had discussed Nicaragur
with Rodriguez. Later, how-
ever, Bush told CBS-TV's
"60 Minutes" program that
Gregg had to change his sto-
ry because "he forgot.'
Bush, himself a former
CIA director, met three
times with Rodriguez. But
according to the vice presi-
dent's account of' the meet-
ings, tbey did not discuss.
the Coutrataid Attswirs
Approved For Release 2006/01/03: CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
ARTICLE APPEAKOp roved For
ON PAGE-A-L-....
British
Spy Agency
Criticized
Former Official
Describes Abuses
In Unpublished Book
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Foreign Service
LONDON, May 2? A retired
senior intelligence official has de-
picted Britain's domestic counter-
intelligence agency, MI5, as fre-
quently incompetent and character-
ized by systematic abuses of power
and illegal acts, including efforts to
spy on and overthrow former prime
minister Harold Wilson.
The allegations are contained in
an unpublished book called "Spy-
catcher" by Peter Wright, a 21-year
veteran of MI5 who left the service
in 1976. The British government is
engaged in a continuing legal battle
to ban publication of the book. But
new demands arose this week in
Parliament for an independent in-
quiry into the charges after a Lon-
don newspaper published an ac-
count of some of the allegations.
In the manuscript, a copy of
which has been obtained by The
Washington Post, Wright describes
an organization that often operated
outside the control or knowledge of
the British government of the day.
According to Wright, MI5 routinely
used other British institutions, from
the post office to the media, to fur-
ther its aims, and covered up its
more questionable activities.
Wright's account is taken from
his detailed diary of events between
1955 and 1976, when he held a se-
ries of senior MI5 positions. Its pri-
mary focus is on proving Wright's
long-held and widely aired belief
that former MI5 head Roger Hollis
was the undiscovered Soviet agent
long suspected to be at the top of
British intelligence.
WASHINGTON PO_SJ"
Release 2006/91gq, :96NTRDP61-00901R0 i01000100018
According to Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher, a secret gov-
ernment investigation in the late
1970s cleared Hollis of suspicion.
But the manuscript also details
two decades of day-to-dal viltelli-
gence activities, fix in the bugging
of embassies of both friends and
foes by London and Washington to
plots to assassinate heads of foreign
governments.
,Thatcher's government has
sought repeatedly to suppress pub-
lication of the book on grounds of
national security, and it is unlikely.
ever to be published here because
of Britain's severe secrecy laws.
The government is involved in a
court battle to prevent its publica-
tion in Australia, where Wright, 71,
now lives.
Last week, The Independent
.newspaper published a lengthy ac-
count of some of its allegations, in-
cluding a politically motivated plot
by up to 30 senior MI5 officers in
1974 and 1975 to remove Labor
Party prime minister Harold Wilson
from office by smearing him as a
Soviet spy.
According to Wright, the plan
centered on selective leaking of in-
formation gathered during Wilson's
,earlier term in office between 1964
And 1970, when MI5 conducted a
secret investigation of him, and in
-additional bugging of his home and
'office following his reelection at the
head of a minority government in
:1974.
--- The government has brought
? contempt of court charges against
!,The Independent on grounds that it
violated previous injunctions
against newspaper publication of
,Wright's manuscript in this coun-
try.
Butt the Wilson revelations al-
ready have led to charges in Par-
liament of an MI5 cover-up of po-
tentially treasonable behavior and
demands for an independent inqui-
ry. Opposition party leaders have
renewed longstanding calls for
oversight of the intelligence ser-
vices, currently accountable only to
the prime minister and selected
Cabinet members.
On Thursday, Thatcher firmly
'ruled out any inquiry into the
Wright allegations about the Wilson
plot, saying the matter had been
investigated by the Labor govern-
ment of Ja
became prime minister in 1976,
When Wilson resigned for still un-
disclosed reasons.
' But officials from the Callaghan
government have said the 1977 in-
vestigation concerned only the bug-
ging reports, which they said were
disproven, and not the more com-
prehensive plot that Wright has al-
leged.
While major Labor and other po-
litical opposition ,figures have de-
manded an independent inquiry,
Wilson, 71, said last week that he
xespected Thatcher's decision.
"It sounds as though she does not
intend to have one," he told BBC
,television. "I accept that. She is a
little closer to it now than (am."
In a related controversy, Thatch-
?et' last month confirmed to Parlia-
bent that the late Maurice Oldfield,
wilo during the 1970s headed MI6,
Britain's overseas intelligence ser-
vice, was a homosexual as had long
,been rumored. The fact that Old-
field had repeatedly passed security
checks during his MI6 tenure, com-
bined with the Wright charges, has
led to a reported desire on the part
of many current senior intelligence
officers for some sort of indepen-
dent inquiry to clear the name of
the service.
The issue so far does not seem to
have captured public imagination,
which at the moment is more con-
cerned with whether Thatcher will
call national elections in mid-June.
Wright's book contains numerous
references to the often stormy
Anglo-American intelligence rela-
tionship. He describes both MIS
and MI6 as poor and understaffed,
and looking across the Atlantic for
the resources they needed.
Both agencies, according to
Wright, feared American wrath
over suspicions of Soviet infiltration
of British intelligence. The suspi-
cions began with the 1951 defec-
tions to Moscow of British foreign
service officers Guy Burgess and
Donald Maclean, and continued to
poison the trans-Atlantic relation-
ship through the 1970s.
Among Wright's disclosures:
se As chief scientist for MI5 during
the 1950s, Wright successfully re-
produced a new form of resonance
microphone developed by the So-
viets and discovered hidden in the
Continued
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STATINTL
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
office of the U.S. ambassador in
Moscow. The Americans subse-
quently ordered 12 of the devices,
and made another 20 themselves,
for their own use in Soviet Bloc em-
bassies.
During the late 1950s and 1960s,
until more sophisticated listening
methods were developed, Britain
used the device to bug the Soviet
Embassy and Consulate in London,
as well as the Hungarian, Polish,
Egyptian, Cypriot and Indonesian
missions here. Lancaster House,
where numerous conferences were
held leading to the independence of
British colonies in Africa and Asia,
was bugged, as were buildings
around London where various in-
ternational trade conferences were
held.
Efforts to install a listening de-
vice in the West German Embassy
failed, according to Wright. The
French Embassy was bugged to
listen to discussions about Britain's
application to enter the European
Economic Community, and to pass
information along to the Americans
about the French independent nu-
clear force. Wright says the Amer-
icans also installed their own bug in
the French Embassy in Washington.
? British assassination plots were
launched in the late 1950s against
Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nas-
ser and Cypriot guerrilla leader Col.
George Grivas. Both plots failed,
but the techniques developed, in-
cluding the planned use of poison
nerve gas against Nasser, interest-
ed the CIA.
According to Wright, the CIA
asked in 1961 for British technical
assistance in its plans to assassinate
Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
"We're developing a new capa-
bility in the company to handle
these kinds of problems, and we're
in the market for the requisite ex-
pertise," Wright quotes senior CIA
officer Bill Harve telling him in
Washing on.
? In 1965, president Lyndon John-
son became so concerned about
possible Soviet infiltration in Britain
that he ordered the Foreign Intel-
ligence Advisory Board to conduct a
secret review of MIS and MI6 in
London. The result of the study,
which Wright describes as espio-
nage against a friendly government,
was a "devastating critique" that led
CIA counterintelligence chief James
J. AngIttaiLto propose a plan To=
trim CIA agents inside MI5.
Playing on Britain's need for U.S.
intelligence resources, Wright says,
"they wanted MI5 as a supplicant
client, rather than as a well-dis-
posed but independent ally." Learn-
ing of the investigation, MIS pro-
tested that it was a "blatant abuse"
of the alliance, and the incident
nearly led to the expulsion of a lead-
ing CIA official here.
? The first allegations against Wil-
son were made by Angleton, who in
1965 made a special trip here to tell
MI5 that U.S. intelligence had in-
formation that the British prime
minister "was a Soviet agent." An-
gleton, according to Wright, re-
fused to divulge details unless MI5
could assure him the information
would not fall into "political hands,"
presumably those of the Wilson
government. The British could not
make that guarantee, and the infor-
mation was filed away here under
the code name "Oatsheaf."
In 1967, Wright flew to Washing-
ton to query Angleton again. Angle-
ton said that "an agent of his . . .
had heard that Wilson had clandes-
tine meetings very occasionally
with the Russians," but that the
source was "no longer available."
A CIA connection to the Wilson
story also has been recounted in the
recently published book "The Sec-
ond Oldest Profession," a history of
modern spying by British author
Phillip Knightley. Knightley writes
that shortly before Wilson's resig-
nation in 1976, when he believed
both MI5 and MI6 were plotting
against him, the prime minister se-
cretly sent an emissary to Washing-
ton to ask the CIA what it knew.
In response, then-CIA director
George Bush flew to London to as-
sure Wilson there had been no U.S.
involvement. The day before his
meeting with Bush, however, Wil-
son resigned.
In his book, Wright does not ex-
plain his decision to break the con-
tract of silence that virtually every
British intelligence officer has ad-
hered to, and that the Thatcher
government has accused him of
breaching in the Australia case. But
the manuscript, and what is known
of MIS during the period he served
there, provide some answers.
Wright makes repeated refer-
ence to MI5's failure to provide for
its former employes, allegedly
cheating them, including himself,
out of deserved pensions and re-
wards. Another recurring theme is
the inability of top intelligence
chiefs, described by Wright as a
clubbish upper-class crowd more
interested in the Times crossword
puzzle than in systematic intelli-
gence work, to listen to the advice
of scientists and activists like him.
Knightley, who said he read
Wright's manuscript during a visit
to Australia, described Wright in an
interview as the classic "boffin."
In British slang, "boffins" are "the
backroom boys, the unrecognized
scientists" who resent "the flashy
ones at the top," Knightley said.
They see themselves as the true
workers and achievers, deprived of
credit, and tend to hold grudges
when they are not listened to.
In Wright's case, he has long re-
sented the failure of British govern-
ments to believe his charges, and
those of some of his MIS col-
leagues, against Hollis, who headed
the agency until 1966.
But aside from Wright's circum-
stantial and hypothetical case
against Hollis, Knightley and other
seasoned observers of British intel-
ligence point out that much of his
book is based on detailed accounts
of events in' which Wright himself
participated, first as MI5's chief
scientist and later as its head of re-
search and informal liaison officer
to U.S. intelligence.
Wright describes his early years
with MIS as a "fun" period during
which he and his colleagues
"bugged and burgled our way across
London at State's behest, whilst
pompous bowler-hatted civil ser-
vants in Whitehall pretended to look
the other way."
These endeavors were aided, he
says, by the British post office,
which shared part of its headquar-
ters with a permanent MIS mail
interception team. The post office
also ran the telephone exchange
system, and shared information and
assisted in bugging. According to
Wright, additional help frequently
was obtained from newspapers and
broadcasters who were in MI5's
pocket.
Wright is critical of the lack of a
comprehensive clearance process
for MIS agents. His own introduc-
tion into the service, he says, con-
sisted of a light-hearted interview
in which he was asked if he'd ever
been a communist or a "queer."
During training, he says, he was
told of the service's "Eleventh Com-
mandment . . . Thou shalt not get
caught."
Continued
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Approved For Release 2006/01/03: CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
It was this lack of a clearance
procedure, Wright says, that al-
lowed so many British communists
and fellow travelers from the 19308
to enter British intelligence.
Wright spent much of the 1960s
in a massive MI5 effort, instigated
partly in response to American sus-
picions, to reinvestigate the "Ox-
bridge" crowd from where proven
spies like Burgess, Maclean and
MI6 double agent Kim Philby had
emerged.
As a result of his "vetting of an
entire generation," Wright says, he
discovered as many as 40 "proba-
ble" Soviet spies, many of whom he
names in the book. Few prosecu-
tions or even interrogations re-
sulted, however, because of what
Wright maintains was the reluc-
tance of senior officials to cause a
politicai stir or increase American
worries still further.
It was also during this period that
MI5, spurred in part by the Angle-
ton report, began to investigate
Wilson. Wright says his own suspi-
cions had begun with the mysteri-
ous death in 1963 of Labor Party
leader Hugh Gaitskill: Gaitskill, on
the party's right, was replaced as
leader by the left-wing Wilson, who
18 months later was elected prime
minster.
According to Wright, MI5, with
assistance from Angleton, investi-
gated the possibility that Gaitskill
had been poisoned by the Soviets,
who were believed to prefer Wilson.
Wilson had at one time worked as
the representative of an East-West
trading company, and MI5 began
secretly to track his association
with Eastern European acquain-
tances of that period. But the inqui-
ries eventually petered out, and in
1970, Labor lost the election to the
Conservative Party led by Edward
Heath.
In 1974, when Heath and the
Conservatives appeared likely to be
replaced again by the Labor Party
with Wilson still at its head, the Wil-
son investigations were revived.
According to Wright, a group of
senior MI5 officers met with him to
propose a plan to discredit Wilson.
"The plan was simple," Wright
says. "In the run-up to the election
. . . MI5 would arrange for details
of the intelligence about leading
Labor Party figures, but especially
Wilson, to be leaked to sympathetic
press men . . . . word of the mate-
rial contained in MI5 files, and the
fact that Wilson was considered a
security risk, would be passed
around."
Wright says he balked at partic-
ipation in the plot, and refused to
allow the conspirators, who he said
eventually numbered about 30, or
"half the senior staff," to gain access
to the Gaitskill file.
Despite the smear campaign,
Wilson was able to form a minority
government after the 1974 elec-
tion. But the MI5 campaign against
him continued, according to Wright,
who says that in the summer of
1975 he reported it to then MI6
head Oldfield.
Wright says that Oldfield warned
that news of the plot could "blow
up" on the intelligence services.
At Oldfield's urging, Wright says
he reported the conspiracy to then
MI5 director general Michael Han-
ley, who asked him for the names of
those involved.
"I need to protect them," Wright
says Hanley told him.
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
STAT
STAT
"Max said Bush was his man in
ARTICLE APPEARED
Rewiled lain Craw-
PAG LOS
ON bi
WrOkati'on
For Releasf.7
ZP9Pbrg4i )8.3-74DP91-00901R0Al several of the
secret flights. "He said he had
known Bush from when he [Bush]
was director of the CIA."
Bush Role in Recruiting
Contra Aid Figure Doubted
By DOYLE McMANUS, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON?A key figure
in the secret airlift that aided
Nicaraguan rebels during 1985 and
1986 was apparently recruited by
then-White House aide Lt. Col.
Oliver L. North, not by .Vice Presi-
dent Geor e Bush, sources familiar
wit ?r conrra scandal investiga-
tions said Sunday.
Felix Rodriivez. a former CIA
opZratiCrr who lhelped direct the
contra airlift's operations at El
Salvador's Ilopango air base, ini-
tially went to Central America with
"Felix and I were trained as
intelligence officers," he said. "We
believe in the need-to-know prin-
ciple, and I didn't need to know....
When Felix finally came to me, he
said: 'Don, I really hate to tell you
this, because 011ie [North] asked
me not to talk about it."
Bay of Pigs Veteran
Rodriguez, a veteran of the CIA's
abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of
Cuba in 1961, went to El Salvador
in early 1985 to advise the Salva-
the help of a Bush aide,doran air force on operations
Gr.s.gg. the sources said. iitiot1172-1- against leftist guerrillas, according
ruez has told congressional inves- to Gregg and other associates of
tigators that it was North, not Rodriguez.
Gregg, who asked him to help the Later that year, North and re-
tired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard
V. Secord began organizing a new
airlift operation for the contras.
The Nicaraguan rebels' main air
',base was in Honduras, but North
and Secord wanted to use El Salva-
dor's main air base as well, partly
because Honduran authorities were
' restricting contra operations there,
U.S. officials said.
" The letter obtained by investiga-
tors, dated Sept. 20, 1985, asks
Rodriguez to seek the approval of
'El Salvador's air force chief, Gen.
? Juan Rafael Bustillo, for the airlift's
use of Ilopango, according to one ?
contras, they said.
Investigators have also obtained
a letter, apparently written by
North in 1985, asking Rodriguez to
help with the contra airlift and
warning him not to tell anyone of
the plan.
Gregg said Sunday that the new
evidence confirms the contention
of Bush and his aides that they
were not directly involved in the
contra airlift, which North directed
despite a congressional ban on U.S.
aid to the rebels during 1985 and
1986.
The charges of involvement in
the Iran-contra scandal have
dogged Bush as he has prepared to
run for President in the 1988
election.
The charges first arose last fall
when associates of Rodriguez told
reporters that Rodriguez said he
had met with Bush and had been
conducting operations against the
Nicaraguan government from El
Salvador with the vice president's
knowledge and approval.
"The accusations have been that
the vice president or I have been
running contra operations," Gregg.
:laid in a telephone interview. "This
;Shows that those accusations are
. . . The fact is, the only time
talked to Felix about this thing
lvas when he cEune to me to blow
the whistle on some people in-
rived in the supply operation."
Gregg said Rodriguez did not tell
about the airlift until August,
4986, even though the two men
ere longtime friends
source who has seen a copy.
"Dear Felix," the letter says,
"After reading this letter please
destroy it. . . . Within the next 15
days, the [contras') air arm will
commence operations with two
new types of aircraft . . . for
airdrop/aerial resupply to units
Inside Nicaragua.
"Since this is a completely com-
partmentalized operation being
handled by the resistance, you are
the only person in the area who can
set up the servicing of these air-
craft," the letter says.
Rodriguez and Bustillo both
agreed, and the contra airlift began
using Ilopango as one of its main
staging points.
Rodriguez, using the name "Max
Gomez," ran the Ilopango operation
from a safe house in San Salvador,
where his office displayed a promi-
nent photograph of Vice President
Bush, associates said
Rodriguez Gave Warning
Last Aug. 8, Gregg said, Rodri-
guez came to Washington to warn
him that all was not well with the
airlift operation.
"Some of it, he thought, smelled
to high heaven," Gregg recalled.
He was afraid these guys [running
the operation] would either take
the money and run, or?worse--
somehow make themselves attrac-
tive enough to get hired by the CIA
when Congress restored funding
for the Nicaraguan resistance.
"He wanted to warn the CIA not
to touch them with a 10-foot pole,"
Gregg said.
A few days later, Gregg set up a
meeting between Rodriguez and
officials from the CIA, the State
Department and the NSC to relay
the message, he said.
Last Oct. 5, one of the airlift's
planes was shot down by Nicara-
guan forces. To inform the White
House, Rodriguez telephoned
Gregg's deputy, Army Col. Sam
Watson.
After the crash, The Times and
other newspapers discovered Ro-
driguez's link to Gregg. At thelime,
Gregg said he had never discussed
the contra airlift with Rodriguez,
but on Sunday he said: "That was a
bad answer, because on one occa-
sion Felix came to me and talked
about it"?a reference to the Au-
gust meetings.
Rodriguez also met with Bush
three times during the period when
the contra airlift was operating, but
both Bush and Gregg said the
contra issue did not come up.
North's direct involvement in
the contra airlift during the period
when Congress banned U.S. aid to
the rebels has been well document-
ed. His reported letter recruiting
Rodriguez was dated only eight
days after his superior, then-Na-
tional Security Adviser Robert C.
McFarlane, wrote to a member of
Congress that no NSC funds were
being spent for "supporting direct-
ly or indirectly paramilitary opera-
tions in Nicaragua."
Gregg said Sunday that he had
gone to Bush twice to 'offer his
resignations first in December, af-
ter his link to Rodriguez was
revealed, and again last month
when the issue was raised again.
"I felt the vice president was
being unfairly attacked," he said.
"But he was superb. His response
wast 'Hang in there.' He was
?
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-0090111rer 680111991511-Stat the true
s weuict come out."
3
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010
RADIO IV REPORTS, INC
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 [phone]
STATINTL
001-8
FOR
PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF
PROGRAM NBC Nightly News gA11ON WRC-TV
NBC Network
DAM
April 26, 1987 6:30 P.M. aN Washington, D.C.
SUBJECT Oliver North Recruited Former CIA Operative
CHRIS WALLACE: The Washington Post reports today that
Oliver North recruited a former CIA operative to help supply the
Nicaraguan Contras at a time when Congress banned direct U.S.
military aid. The agent North recruited was Felix Rodriguez, who
has also been linked to Vice President Bush.
NBC's Tom Pettit has more.
TOM PETTIT: Oliver North was not talking today about
any possible connection to the Vice President's office on Contra
aid. Nor was the Vice President. But through his spokesman, he
did reaffirm his confidence in this man, Donald Grego, the V.P.'s
national security adviser, ex-CIA.
Gregg is a close friend of the Contra mystery man, Felix
Rodriguez, formerly of the CIA. The Washington Post disclosed
today that Oliver North recruited Rodriguez in 1985. In a letter
dated September 20, 1985, North told Felix Rodriguez details of
the resupply operations he would coordinate.
Gregg said he did not even know North had recruited
Rodriguez until last December.
DONALD GREGG: A story with no new facts has just seemed
to have achieved a life of its own and goes on and on.
PETTIT: Mr. Bush has said he met Rodriguez three times,
but did not discuss Contras.
Mr. Gregg said he discussed Contras with Rodriguez, but
did not tell Bush.
STAT
OFFICES IN: WASHIAPKRY.ed. C?1-NWMe 2 ? A l Q"iC13 CIA P110- -RD9 0901R000100010001-8
.Nt..7tLS ? uHIL;AL4C) ? DETROIT ? AND OTHER PRINCIPAL CITIES
Material supplied by Radio IV Reports. Inc. may be used for file and reference purposes only. It may not be reproduced, sold or publicly demonstrated or exhibited.
times?
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
2
-REPORTER: And you have offered to resign a couple of
GREGG: Yes, I have.
PETTIT: Mr. Bush says he has complete confidence in
Gregg. Mr. Bush also says he has completely lost interest in the
Iran-Contra affair.
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STAT
ARTICLE AMMO
ON PAGE --44Mved For Release 2oiegium_pqR-Fip
23 April 1987
/1112%901R0
00100010001-8
Iran aide said to give spy dataTAT,,,T,
to U.S.
3y Bernie Shellum
nquirer Washington Bureau
PORTLAND, Ore. ? An Iranian of-
icial secretly passed sensitive intel-
igence information, including maps
)f Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi's
leadquarters, to the United States
wo months before American planes
)ombed Libya last year, according to
n Oregon businessman who says he
erved as an intermediary.
Richard Brenneke. a former CIA
Hot, said in an interview that he
ecame a courier for a wide array of
intelligence information from Iran
while trying to win U.S. approval of
an arms-for-Iran deal in late 1984. .
Ile said he and his associates re-
ceived maps of the Gadhafi head-
quarters and a number of terrorist
training sites in February 1986 from
an Iranian air force officer, the
source of all the intelligence, and
promptly delivered them to U.S.
Army and Marine officers through
diplomatic channels.
Brenneke said contacts in the De-
fense Department and the CIA told
him that most of the intelligence
information he relayed to those offi-
cers was accurate and "very, very
useful."
On April 14, 1986, two months after
Brenneke says he delivered the
maps, American pilots launched an
air strike against Gadhafi's head-
quarters inside a military barracks
in Tripoli. Gadhafi was not injured,
but one of his children was killed
and others were hurt. His home and
headquarters tent were damaged.
Bombs took more than 100 other
lives.
Brenneke said the Iranian infor-
mation identified terrorist training
sites in North Africa and the Middle
East, and included information on
Hezbollah, a Muslim extremist or-
ganization in Lebanon that is widely
reported to be under the influence of
Iran's revolutionary government.
He and two associates in France
provided some of the information to
French and Israeli intelligence serv-
ices as well as the United States
Brenneke .said. ?
U.S. military officers whom Bren-
neke identified as recipients of the
intelligence information either de-
clined to discuss the matter or could
not be reached.
But court records in New York
show that Brenneke and his asso-
ciates, Bernard Veillot and John De-
Larocque, were negotiating a pro-
posed arms deal with Iranian and
U.S. officials. Transcripts of tele-
phone conversations, tapped by the
U.S. Customs Service, also indicate
that the three men were aware of
covert U.S. arms sales to Iran,
through Israel, in 1985, and appear to
have learned about White House dis-
cussions about authorizing such
sales.
According to the court record,
Brenneke wrote to the Department
of Defense on Jan. 1, 1986, saying, "If
you wish me to discontinue collect-
ing and-or reporting intelligence in-
formation to you I will do so. Please
let me know."
Brenneke said his letters were de-
livered to specified military officers
by his Portland attorney, Richard
Muller, a retired Marine officer.
Brenneke's account marks the first
reported instance of intelligence in-
formation passing from Iran to the
United States at a time when the two
cquntries were publicly at odds.
Iran's ruler, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, was then denouncing the
United States as "the great Satan."
rfie Tower report
The Tower commission reported
Feb. 26 that U.S. officials had sup-
plied intelligence information about
Iraq to Iran, and about Iran to Iraq,
during the time the National Secu-
rity Council was arranging covert
arms sales to Iran from mid-1985
through 1986.
Asked how he knew that Iran's
government supported the Iranian
air force officer's intelligence offer-
ings, Brenneke said he sometimes
dealt directly, by telephone, with Ho-
jatoleslam Hashemi Rafsanjani, the
speaker of Iran's parliament, and
with other Iranian officials he said
were involved in the negotiations.
The Iranians were in desperate
need of U.S. warplanes and spare
parts, Brenneke said, because their
U.S.-equipped air force was in calami-
tous condition.
Brenneke said the source of the
intelligence information, air force
Col. Kiamars Salahshoor, acknowl-
edged that only five of Iran's F-15s
and 10 of its F-4s were operatiooal,
and that their pilot-ejection seats
had been bolted in place because the
mechanisms no longer worked. He
described the planes as "suicide
machines."
In addition, Brenneke said, some of
the Iranians he talked with "did not
like the Hezbollah movement" and
used Ilezbollah to deflect blame for
terrorism from Iran.
'Self-serving'
The Iranian officials, he said, had
(.!a very strong desire to indicate that
they were not the source of much of
the terrorism activity that had gone
On. It was a little bit self-serving in
.1ziat they wanted to keep telling ev-
erybody, 'Look, it wasn't us. We
didn't do it.' The fact that they may
have had some control over the peo-
ple who did do it, they didn't want to
Admit."
- Whether the intelligence informa-
tion from Iran played any role in the
strike against Gadhafi, or in an Oct.
1, 1985, Israeli air attack against the
Palestine Liberation Organization's
headquarters in Tunisia, could not
be determined.
`. But Brenneke said the information
be and his associates relayed to U.S.
intelligence officials included coor-
dinates and descriptions of Gadhafi's
headquarters and the PLO headquar-
ters near Tunis, as well as terrorist
sites in Libya, Chad, Algeria and Leb-
anon. He said that Gadhafi's head-
quarters was specified and that
",everything that related to what
Gadhafi was doing in Libya was
described."
The New York Times reported Feb.
22 that NSC planners had developed a
secret objective for the Libya mis-
sion ? to kill Gadhafi ? and that
Israeli agents had kept the United
States posted on Gadhafi's where-
abouts until two hours and 45 min-
utes before the attack. U.S. officials
have denied that the mission was
intended to kill Gadhafi.
uoistIntO
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2.
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Reliable data
Asked if he had received any eval-
uation of Iran's information from
U.S. officials, Brenneke said he had
questioned friends in the CIA and
the Department of Defense on that
point.
"I was told that I was batting well
over 90 percent and the majority of it
was very, very useful," Brenneke
said.
Moreover, U.S. officials urged him
to continue transmitting informa-
tion from Iran even though they
were doing nothing to advance the
proposed arms transaction in which
he and Veillot and DeLarocque were
to serve as middlemen, Brenneke
said.
lie said that French and Israeli
intelligence officers also vouched
for some of The information.
Brenneke said the Iranians pro-,
vided the information as an induce-
ment to the U.S. government to
.permit the weapons sales by his
group.
In the initial negotiations, Bren-
neke said, the Iranians sought a re-
sumption of low-level diplomatic
talks with the United States, the re-
lease of military equipment pur-
chased by the shah, and new
warplanes and tanks for use in Iran's
war against Iraq.
. In pursuit of those goals, Brenneke
said, Iran offered the United States a
captured Soviet T-80 tank and help in
obtaining the release of American
hostages held by terrorists in Leba-
non as well as the intelligence infor-
mation on terrorists and their
training sites.
The Brenneke group's proposed
weapons transaction fell through,
however. Veillot and DeLarocque
,were indicted in New York a year
ago after U.S. Customs agents carried
out a sting operation against another
group that was trying to arrange an
allegedly illegal arms-for-Iran deal.
At the same time, U.S. officials were
carrying out a covert arms-for-hos-
tages swap through another set of
intermediaries directed by Lt. Col.
Oliver North and other NSC officials.
Brenneke said he passed the intel-
ligence information on to Lt. Col.
Larry Caylor, of the Army Intelli-
gence and Security Command, and
Lt. Col. George Alvarez, a Marine
counterintelligence officer. An advi-
sor to Brenneke acknowledged that,
at his urging, Brenneke sent his Feb-
ruary, 1986 intelligence package,
which Brenneke says included the
maps and related terrorist informa-
tion, to the United States through
diplomatic channels from the U.S.
Embassy in Paris.
Caylor and Alvarez, in turn, passed
some information on to Air Force Lt.
Col. E. Douglas Menarchik, a security
affairs adviser to Vice President
Bush, Brenneke said.
Caylor said he was forbidden to
comment on the matter, and Alvarez
and Menarchik could not be reached.
Brenneke said that the Iranians
would not let him keep copies of any
material, and that while it was in his
possession he was constantly accom-
? panied by Veillot, a former French
navy pilot who, Brenneke says, has
flown missions for the CIA in Africa
and for French intelligence.
? "They baby-sat me very carefully,"
Brenneke said. "Bernard stayed with
me during the time I had the infor-
mation. I read it. I talked to Bernard
about it. The sites were marked on a
map. And there was some tight text
describing in general terms where
terrorist training was taking place."
He said Veillot was trusted by the
Iranians because he had been flying
insecticides and other farming
equipment to Iran since 1980, and
had known Salahshoor since before
the Khomeini revolution overthrew
the shah.
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SAN DIEGO UNION
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)10001-8
STATINTL
But is spying on CIA recruiters really spying?
By Christopher Reynolds, Staff Writer
The San Diego Hilton, 0900 hours. Observed
approximately 120 young men and women,
very serious, taking papers at the door of the
Monte Carlo Room, sitting at rows of tables
STAT inside.
Three letters on the sign by the door: "CIA."
Woman at door identified as Kathleen A
Ball, Central Intelligence Agency recruiter, clay for Operations personnel, can
se in Los Angeles. In town yesterday to
follow up on advertisements in local newspa-
pers.
It is a career with new horizons. You will
frequently live and work in foreign lands and
interact with persons on'all levels, said the ad.
You will find yourself in situations that will
test your self-reliance to the utmat situations
that demand quick thinking to solve problems
"Some of the people who work for
the CIA can't admit that they work
for it ... They've got to be paid clan-
destinely, covertly ... It's payroll,
OK, but it's payroll with a twist."
In all departments, new employees
make $22,000 to $35,000, depending on
qualifications. Training period, espe-
take years. Career dedication is ex-
pected.
Outside intelligence: In 1986, infor-
mal survey by The Washingtonian
magazine found that CIA "emerged
decisively as the best place to work
in government."
Various observations from George
on CIA life:
on the spot. ? Undercover work is "a people
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," said business, ladies and gentlemen. It's
Ball. "Welcome to your introduction to the wall-to-wall, belly-to-belly people."
CIA." ? "People commit espionage, be-
Ball yielded floor to George (last name tray their governments ? whatever
unascertainable), former "operations officer" you want to call it ? for the same
now in recruiting, who gave briefing. ,reasons you do everything else in
"I'm here to talk about career opportunities !life."
in the Central Intelligence Agency, not about ? "There is a Myth abroad that
United States foreign policy," said George. not a sparrow falls but the CIA shot
George perhaps expected criticism, given a it down. It's not true, but it is be-
Wednesday court case in which Amy Carter lieved."
and Abbie Hoffman (extensive personal files ? "Most people feel that if they're
available on on request) were found not guilty in , doing something they're not
posed to be doing, it should be dark
outside."
Brief story on CIA work and its
strains on family life. On one assign-
ment, George was Cub Scout den
leader. On night of father-son dinner,
"I had to go and have a meeting
My son said, 'Why did you do that to
me, Daddy?' Well, I couldn't say, 'I'm
Northampton, Mass., in an anti-CIA protest
After the jury decision, unsuccessful - pro-
secutor said message meant "middle America
doesn't want the CIA doing what they are
doing."
But no complaints here. Only respectful si-
lence. Group estimated 65 percent male, 20
percent in dark suits. Mostly white. Several
men in short, military-style haircuts, two
women carrying babies. On tables before them,
pitchers and glasses holding ice cubes, clear
liquid. Probably water.
Data from briefing:
CIA is hiring in several departments, em-
phasizing its Operations Directorate ? which
usually means service abroad with clandestine
contacts and all the rest. Requires bachelor's
degree, foreign language aptitude, is open only
to those under 35 years of age.
Other departments include Intelligence,
where incoming data is analyzed; Science and
Technology, where ideas for spy satellites, tiny
cameras and Glomar Explorer submarines
originate; and Administration, which is like
any company's administration, George said;
"but with a twist."
Payroll, for instance.
a spy and I work for the United State
government.' That doesn't sit very
well with a 7-year-old."
Two warnings concerning lifestyle:
One ? "The CIA is a drug-free en-
vironment ... We will investigate
your drug history."
Two ? "What we are looking for is
areas of vulnerability ... Extreme
hetero- or homosexual behavior is
something we look at very carefully,
and worry about."
Same room, 1040 hours. Kathleen
A. Ball took questions on application
procedures, explained that brief per-
sonal interviews would begin in a
moment. George offered advice on
what to tell friends about meeting:
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"If you are a serious candidate,
start laying the groundwork ... Start
talking about overseas work, start
talking about the government, start
talking about the Washington area,
but don't talk about the CIA."
Applicants rose, formed lines with
minimum chit-chat. Reactions:
"I've done video production, and
photography, and I've lived in for-
eign cities before," said a woman,
thirtyish, in a gray suit. "And I've
always been curious about the activi-
ties of the CIA. I'm interested."
Further down hall, young man in
military haircut leaned over applica-
tion form. Spoke politely but firmly:
"I don't want to talk to any reporters
about anything. Sorry."
Other reactions:
"I saw the advertisement in The
Wall Street Journal," said man, 31.
Said he previously held aerospace in-
dustry job ? "military hardware, so
I thought this was right in line."
Another man, 27, said he was born
in Iran, became U.S. citizen two
years ago. Would like assignment
"either in the Middle East or Europe
... It's a matter of gathering the in-
formation ? somebody has to do it."
A woman, 21 years old, in crisp,
blue blazer. Said she was a college
senior, political science major, home
for spring break, taking opportunity
to apply for CIA.
"I liked it," she said of presenta-
tion. "I'm interested."
Privately, in hallway, George esti-
mated that "probably one or two" of
those present would attain CIA em-
ployment. Noting good turnout, he
said interest has remained stable in
the two-plus years he has been re-
cruiting.
Front table, 1105 hours. Between
interviews, Kathleen A. Ball looked
up to find reporter seeking business
card. Warned strongly against using
names of applicants, loudly warned
applicants that mention by name in
paper means end of career in
espionage. Urged reporter to write
"good story."
If not, she said, voice turning
mock-sinister, "We have ways ... "
She appeared to be kidding.
STA
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CITY PAPER
10 April 1987
THE
COMPANY'S
CAMPUSES
WHEN ANN LOWELL
showed up for her interview
with a campus recruiter from
the Central Intelligence
Agency last spring, she ex-
pected to meet a lean, gruff
interrogator, hardened by
years of spying on the Krem-
lin. Instead she was greeted
by an overweight, balding
man who said he sat behind a
desk most of the day.
During the next half-hour
Lowell learned that the CIA
is not just in the market for
James Bond-types. Rather,
CIA job openings include
slots for secretaries and
mathematicians, journalists
and zoologists, machinists and
psychiatrists.
Lowell, who was graduat-
ing from GU's School of
Foreign Service (SFS),
wanted a job with an interna-
tional focus and had set her
sights on investment banking
or retailing. Then she noticed
a CIA recruitment notice
posted at GU's Career Plan-
ning and Placement office
encouraging students to sub-
mit resumes for review.
Lowell was curious. She
handed in her resume, and
several weeks later she was
granted an interview.
Although Lowell decided
after the interview not to
pursue a CIA career,
dozens of students from Georgetown and
other local universities have completed the pro-
cess and been recruited by the Agency, which
generally visits each campus twice a year. D.C.
colleges, in fact, are leading suppliers of new
CIA blood?last year, GU provided the CIA
with more recruits than any other school in the
country, followed by George Washington Uni-
versity, the University of Maryland, and Ameri-
can University.
Harold Siumaughief of the CIA's Washing-
ton-area recruitment center, won't disclose the
number of students recruited from D.C. schools.
He says that information would facilitate "the
opposition's" ability to determine the size of the
CIA's training corps. Simmons does divulge,
however, that GU is absolutely "a gold mine" of
applicants for entry-level positions. "It's easy to
see why so many students [at GUI are interested
in us. What better place is there for a career
overseas?in international. relations, area stu-
dies, area disciplines? Georgetown is recognized
for those things, so it's only natural."
Bruce Norton, director of American Universi-
ty's political science program, contends that the
CIA's popularity at AU says more about the
students than the university. "Students of the
'80s are far different than students of the '60s,"
says Norton. "They're not quite as ideologically
committed to the left as they were at one time."
Becky Weir, coordinator of on-campus re-
cruiting programs at the University of Mary-
land, credits the CIA's popularity at her school
to the fact that its students, over 70 percent of
whom are from the D.C. metropolitan area, have
a natural orientation toward government careers.
"A good number of their parents or relatives
work for the government already," says Weir,
"so that's what they're used to. And they
wouldn't ever think to protest."
Hugh LeBlanc, chairman of George Washing-
ton University's political science detiartment,
sees the CIA's appeal differently. "People are
looking for jobs," he says, "and [the CIA isl
hiring. They offer a lot of opportunity. It's as
simple as that."
Ann Lowell abandoned the CIA because she
found the opportunities at the Agency limited.
"After hearing the man speak, I felt like I was at
their mercy," recalls Lowell. "I didn't geI the
impression that I would have any control over
my career. I also figured it would be hard to
switch careers, given the degree of secrecy that
would forever surround my background."
CIA recruiter Simmons says it's a misconccp-
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0010001-8
STATINTL
tion that a CIA career is limiting. "You can really
move around in a unit. And the CIA has four
directorates: Administration, Intelligence, Opera-
tions, and Science and Technology. So there's
always a place or a position for you once you're
in." Simmons points out that CIA employees are
so satisfied with their work that the Agency's
attrition rate is only 3 percent.
"I don't want to gush sugar out of my lower
lip, but the CIA is a very exciting place to work,"
says Simmons. "The Agency provides its profes-
sionals with whatever technology they need to
et the job done, and after three decades I can't
agine working anywhere else."
Harold Bean, a retired CIA official who serves
STAT
as U's agency officer in residence, is equally
enthusiastic. "After 35 years in the outfit, I can
safely say that the CIA is a good employer," he
says. "And it doesn't exactly look too bad on a
resume either."
GU's Career Planning and Placement Direc-
tor Eric Schlesinger is less exuberant about the
CIA path. Although he applauds the efficiency
and organization displayed by the CIA's campus
recruiters ("I wish that every recruiting organi-
zation were as responsive to us as they are"), he
acknowledges that a career with the CIA "raises
questions" about the kinds of lives students want
to lead.
Schlesinger recounts the story of a George-
town graduate he met at a CIA-sponsored brief-
ing several years ago. "The woman," he recalls,
"worked in the directorate of Intelligence, and
she said that her work is the closest thing to the
academic world outside of the university setting,
where all she does is read, write, and research.
But unlike an academe who can be published and
present papers at conferences, she will never
have that opportunity."
CIA recruitment has raised discontent on
scores of campuses around the country?but not
because it's a limited career. Protesters charge
that the CIA's support of the contras violates
several national and international laws.
On March 19, the last time CIA recruiters set
up shop at GU, two dozen picket-toting students
gathered, chanting "break the tics to murder and
lies?CIA off campus." The students, calling
themselves Students Against the CIA on Cam-
pus, hung effigies representing "victims of direct
and indirect CIA operations," passed out litera-
ture detailing what they consider the wrongdo-
ings of the CIA, and demanded that the univer-
sity end all affiliations with the Agency. So far,
Georgetown and GW have been the only sites of
organized student protest.
Elsewhere, the scene is more lively. In a series
of anti-CIA protests at the University of Massa-
chusetts in Amherst, 71 people, including former
President Jimmy Carter's daughter Amy and
former Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman, were
arrested last November. The CIA subsequently
canceled and relocated its interview sessions.
CIA recruiters moved off campus following
protesting at the University of Vermont as well.
(In addition to anti-CIA rallies, the UV protes-
ters "mined" the entrance to the off-campus
interview site with eggs buried in beds of wood
01A
1
17stiprattfro protesters at the University
' 1este3IA's mining of Nicara-
a I
of Connecticut claim their actions this fall force.ihrtti ,
the CIA to cancel UCo0IPPR448k4 itafeRfileas
for the first time in 16 years.
CIA spokesperson Sharon Foster says anti-
CIA student protests are not new, "I think that
we have always had some demonstrations against
us at some schools," she says. However, Foster
says, "there has been an increase in the last year
or two."
Foster notes that the Agency "comes on cam-
pus the same way that any recruiter does, and
that's by being asked by a placement director
because [students] are interested in being hired
by us." As for the recent rash of protests, Foster
hastens to explain that the CIA is "not a policy-
making agency; that's made by the White House.
We are the implementors of policy."
Former CIA official Harold Bean understands
why students attack the agency. "If you're
against the United States' foreign policy in Cen-
tral America, it's hard to protest in general," he
says. "It's much more convenient to protest the
CIA."
The CIA recruits on about 200 college cam-
puses annually and Foster says that applications
have risen dramatically, doubling from 1985 to
1986. She attributes this to stepped-up advertis-
ing and recruiting efforts by the Agency, which
has seen a budget increase during the Reagan
years.
Foster says that although some highly expe-
rienced and skilled recruits garner as much as
$32,000 their first year on the job, most recruits
with B.A.s and no experience start at between
$18,400 and 322,500.
Describing the logistics of the CIA's campus
recruiting effims, Georgetown's Schlesinger says
that the Agency usually visits GU twice a year, in
the fall and in the spring. Exactly how they
screen applicants varies, he adds, but in the fall
the only criterion was that applicants be U.S.
citizens. Other than that, anyone on the bacca-
laureate or graduate level was eligible to submit a
resume for. review. Of those who applied, 28
were selected by the CIA to be interviewed.
The CIA's extended interview process can
take up to six months to complete. That deterred
Lowell who was eager to land a job and discour-
aged by "all the red tape." The CIA's Simmons
says the recruitment process is necessary because
"we have to see how the applicant measures up to
the average professional employee on board with
us."
Applicants must complete an 18-page per-
sonal history statement and a battery of tests,
including the California Psychological Inven-
e 2119610.1J03 teGitilieRIBRO lis008011fte0,0100010001-8
most of whom are interviewed. (The CIA's Fos-
ter won't reveal the cost of these security checks.)
A polygraph test is another requirement, and if I
the Agency is pleased with the results, the appli-
cant is then called in again, this time for "a more
vertical interview," says Simmons.
Simmons is quick to note that homosexuals
need not apply for CIA jobs. "They're deriva-
tions from the norm," he says. The same goes for
felons, as well as habitual drug users and pushers,
although casual drug use in the past doesn't dis-
qualify a candidate automatically.
Simmons says that the Agency is more intent
on finding a person of a particular "type," rather
than one with a designated background. Quoting
a CIA pamphlet, Simmons says that applicants
should have "first and foremost, the drive to
achieve."
What does the GU/CIA connection say about
the university? "I think if you read the mission
and goals statement of the university it talks
about international focus, leadership in interna-
tional arenas, service to the country. So it's a
rather obvious fit," Georgetown's Schlesinger
says. "Some people might think it's a more
obvious fit than an investment bank might be....
"This university and this office host equally
and in the same way a representative from the
CIA, the Catholic Relief Service, the military
armed forces establishment, or the Peace Corps."
Claire Carey, assistant dean of GU's College
of Arts and Sciences, also sees no reason to "read
any philosophical implication" into the GU-
CIA link. But Carey has troubk fathoming the
notion in the first place. "If students really knew
the extent of what the CIA does, I can't see how
they'd be attracted to it," she says.
Bean regards such comments as a reflection of
limited knowledge about the Agency. "(Most
peoplel imagine the CIA as very conservative,
and they picture a lot of Rambo-types running
around. But it's neither as dramatic or dangerous
as it's portrayed in fiction, and I've never been
able to identify a particular political type." CP
xttio%
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Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
Pet rod CM official Harold Bear . now GU's .AgencV #14' lgort
Go Nome 4 GC. Protest
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STAT
STAT
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Approved For Release 2006/01/0?Prt1A1.F05P91-00901R000100010001M
MAGAZINE SAYS BUSH HIRED COMBAT ADVISER FOR CONTRAS fh,
WASHINGTON
The office of Vice President George Bush sent a former CIA agent to
Honduras in 1983 to work as a combat anti-ser for U.S.-backed Nicaraguan rebels,
a magazine reported Thursday.
The Progressive quoted U.S. intelligence sources and rebel leaders as saying
the ex- CIA agent, Gustavo Villoldo, went to Honduras with a letter of
recommendation from Bush's national security adviser, Donald Gregg, named in
earlier Contra-aid efforts.
Larry Thomas, Bush's press secretary, denied the report.
"The name Gustavo Villoldo means absolutely nothing to the vice president,"
Thomas said. "Donald Gregg insists that he does not know a Gustavo Villoldo."
Matt Rothchild, managing editor of The Progressive, a monthly publication n
Madison, Wis., said: "We stick by our story," by freelance reporter Allan
Nairn.
"Gregg knew the guy," Rothchild said in a telephone interview. "He wrote a
letter of recommendation for him. Whether the vice president knew him or not,
we're not sure."
Villoldo, identified in the article as a Cuban-American who participated in
the Bay of Pigs invasion, could not be reached for comment.
Gregg's name has surfaced before concerning Contra aid shipments.
Last August, he set up a meeting between former CIA officals and members of
the CIA and Defense and State departments to discuss concerns by a former
CIA official,.J.111122gElaaez, about aid to the Contras.
Gregg said in December that he did not learn until afterwards that Rodriquez,
a former protege, was deeply involved in private arms shipments to the rebels.
Gregg, in an interview with The New York Times, also insisted that neither he
nor Bush had any links with the network, beyond knowing Rodriquez.
On Dec. 14, however, United Press International quoted a White House official
as saying Lt. Col. Oliver North had complained last spring that Gregg was
"pushing" for hiring Rodriquez to help manage the arms network.
North was fired from his National Security Council post Nov. 25 for his role
In the diversion of up to $30 million in profits from clandestine arms sales to
Iran to the Contras.
The arms sale and the diversion of funds to the Contras is now the focus of
congressional and independent investigations.
The Progressive quoted former intelligence agents as saying Villoldo was one
of several individuals recruited by Gregg to work outside normal CIA channels
and to provide military aid for the Contras.
The magazine quoted U.S. officials who it said served in Honduras, as saying
Villoldo was permitted to run his own semi-autonomous Contra support operation.
"We restate that neither the vice president or anyone on his staff has
directed or coordinated any operation in Central America," Thomas said.
"We've stated the facts as we know them and we are cooperating fully with
all the formal inquiries underway into the subject," Thomas said.
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?
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R000100010001-8
RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 [phone]
STATINTL
FOR
PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF
MOGRAM CBS News Nightwatch STATION WUSA-TV
CBS Network
DATE
April 9, 1987 3:00 A.M.
Washington, D.C.
SUBJECT Melvin Beck Discusses U.S. and Soviet Intelligence
CHARLIE ROSE: Sex spy scandals and Soviet bugging of
U.S. Embassies in Moscow have caused deep concern for our
national security. Now critics are questioning the U.S.
Goverment's role in failing to protect secrets and foresee Soviet
attempts to spy.
With us to talk about Soviet, as well as U.S., spying is
Melvin Beck, a former CIA counterintelligence officer.
Welcome back, Melvin.
MELVIN BECK: Thank you.
ROSE: You once wrote a book called "Secret Contenders:
The Myth of Cold War Counterintelligence." Is one of the myths
of Cold War counterintelligence the idea that the United States
doesn't do it as much as the Soviets do?
BECK: No, that's not a myth. The United States does
it, just as the Soviets do.
ROSE.: Okay. The same thing. I said the myth is .that
we don't do it. So the reality is that we do it every bit as
much as they do, in terms of trying to spy.
BECK: Right.
ROSE: In what way do we go about our own efforts to spy
on the Soviets, both in the United States, in terms of their
embassy, and at Soviet Embassies around the world? You know, how
do we go about it?
OFFICES IN: WASHINCek/i463lAd FoHRWrefite 2006101103-sCIA-REOP94?0090fROCTil 000*0003P8R PRINCIPAL CITIES
Material supplied by Radio N Reports, Inc. may be used for file and reference purposes only. It may not be reproduced, sold or publicly demonstrated or exhibited.
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
2
BECK: Well, my experience, of course, has been in
Soviet Embassies around the world, and specifically in Cuba --
that was during Fidel Castro's time -- and in Mexico, Mexico
City. In Mexico City, I was under deep cover, so my activities
were a little bit apart from the norm of a station officer.
At any rate, it's very difficult. I'll take the Mexico
City operation first. It's very difficult to bug the Soviet
Embassy. Because if there's anybody that approaches close to
absolute security, it's the Soviets. They've been in the
business ever since 1917, from the time of the Revolution. And
they are just that secure.
So, the only way, really, that you can get an inside
look at a Soviet Embassy is -- in my case, it had to do with
double-agent operations against the KGB.
ROSE: Find a KGB agent and turn him.
BECK: Well, not an agent, neces -- yeah, that's right.
Find a KGB agent and turn him.
ROSE: My point, I guess, is asking: Is there anything
that the Soviets do that we don't do, in terms of spying? Are we
more gentlemanly about this? Are we more -- do we have different
ethical boundaries?
BECK: Oh, no. No, we don't.
ROSE: If we had an opportunity, we would put bugging
devices in their buildings, if we could.
BECK: Oh, if we could, of course.
ROSE: Su, they may be better -- because of the differ-
ent system and more control, they may be better at preventing us
from...
BECK: Yes. That's my point.
ROSE: That's your point.
BECK: Yes.
ROSE: Are you surprised that they are able to
compromise these Marines in Moscow?
BECK: Well, after the fact, no. No. Because it's
nothing new for the Soviets to attempt to find the weaknesses of
anybody.
ROSE: Everybody tries to du that.
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3
BECK: Yeah. We do, too. Exactly. That's the point.
You try to find the vulnerability.
Well, the Soviets, who certainly knew of the
vulnerability of the Marines in Moscow and what their needs were,
in terms of amorous adventures and such, simply took advantage of
it. That was a simple operation.
ROSE: How many KGB agents did you turn while you were
in counterintelligence?
RECK: Turn?
ROSE: Yeah. Get them to become a double agent.
BECK: Oh. I ran about -- while I was in Mex -- this
never happened in Cuba. But in Mexico City, I would say I was
running or participating in at least a dozen.
ROSE: A dozen KGB agents?
BECK: Oh, yes. A dozen operations, double-agent
operations. And easily, there was a different KGB agent-- I
mean a KGB officer, not an agent, for the operations. And
there's no problem in knowing who the KGB intelligence officers
were in Mexico City.
ROSE: Do you think we penetrate the Soviets as well as
they penetrate us?
BECK: I can't believe it. We don't.
ROSE: They do a better job at spying than we do.
BECK: I wouldn't put it in those terms. They do a
better job penetrating.
ROSE: What's the difference?
BECK: The difference is that there can be all kinds of
penetrations: buggings, compromises, and so forth. But the
results of them, both for the Soviets and for the CIA, are rather
disappointing.
In other words, my belief is, and through my experience,
and particularly from double-agent operations, that this is a
sort of a game that goes on. They try their wiles. We try our
wiles. Neither one of us gets a hell of a lot of intelligence
out of it. But it's the game. It's the nature of the game. It
goes on.
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4
ROSE: But soon as you say that -- and I've got to close
on this point -- we're talking about KGB agents in Moscow going
in the American Embassy and having access to we don't know what,
as well as bugging our typewriters and knowing the codes. That's
a lot.
BECK: They found the agent who would allow them that
access. That is something really extreme.
ROSE: That was a real coup for them.
BECK: That was a coup. No question about it.
ROSE: Melvin Beck, it's always a pleasure to have you.
Thank you.
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ARTICLE APPEARttiP 20 March 1987
ON
Bush Aide Denies Report
Of Saudi's Gift for Contras
By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter
WASHINGTON ? Vice President
Bush's chief spokesman strongly denied
a published report quoting a central fig-
ure in the Iran-Contra scandal as saying
that he sent Mr. Bush a $1,000 check
for the Nicaraguan resistance move-
ment.
The allegation by Saudi businessman
Adnan Khashoggi was published in yes-
terday's Washington Times. The news-
paper said that Mr. Khashoggi, who
helped finance the sale of U.S. arms to
Iran, asserted in an interview that he
was invited to a lunch, hosted by Mr.
Bush in 1985, aimed at raising funds for
Contras. During most of 1985, Congress
barred U.S. aid to the rebels.
Mr. Bush's press secretary, Larry
Thomas, described the story as "false
and misleading." Mr. Thomas said the
vice president had never solicited funds
from Mr. Khashoggi for the Contras.
hadn't hosted a lunch involving Mr.
Khashoggi and had never accepted any
money from him.
Mr. Thomas said Mr. Bush made
brief remarks to a conservative organi-
zation at a White House briefing in
March 1986 on lobbying efforts to sup-
port the administration's Contra-aid
package then pending before Congress.
The vice president's office released
an exchange of letters between Mr.
Bush and Mr. Khashoggi. A March 1986
letter from Mr. Khashoggi showed the
Saudi expressed support for the aid pro-
gram, and said he had two representa-
tives at the briefing. But the letter
doesn't mention a contribution. In April,
Mr. Bush sent Mr. Khashoggi a letter
thanking him for his support.
1-8
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WASHINGTON TIMES
19 March 1987
10001-8
STATINTL
ush channeled Contra
cash Khasho
By Michael Hedges
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A central figure in the Iran-
Contra affair said he gave Vice Pres-
ident George Bush a $1,000 check
for the Nicaraguan resistance in
1985, months after passage of a law
forbidding U.S. aid to the Contras.
"Vice President Bush was trying
to raise m7iTeTright and left for the
Nicaraguan resistance in 1985," Ad-
nan Khash_gggi, 'an international
.wc-krabian financier linked to the
Iranian arms deals, said in a week-
end interview with Arnaud de
Borchgrave, 'editor-in-chief of The
Washington Times.
Mr. Khashoggi also said Iranian
arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar
received a request from Lt. Col. Oli-
ver North asking the government of
Saudi Arabia to raise $100 million for
the Nicaraguan resistance.
He said Mr. Ghorbanifar ap-
proached him in London with the
idea. "North asked me to ask you
whether you could raise $100 million
for Nicaragua because you will be
able to get a lot of favors from the
administration," Mr. Khashoggi re-
called Mr. Ghorbanifar as saying.
Mr. Khashoggi said he refused to
take the offer to the Saudi king.
"Look, Iformer President Rich-
ard' Nixon was my best friend in his
administration and he couldn't help
me or my business one iota," Mr.
Khashoggi said. "All these guys can
do is offer you an embassy abrOad,
and since I'm not going to be a U.S.
ambassador, forget about it."
Larry Thomas, the vice pres-
ident's press secretary, denied the
Khashoggi allegations.
"The vice president has never so-
licited funds for any N icar a guan re-
sistance effort," Mr. Thomas said.
"He doesn't know them 1Mr. Kha-
shoggi or his aide.' There exists no
record of correspondence between
the vice president and either of the
- gentlemen you mention."
In October 1984, Congress passed
the Boland Amendment that prohib-
ited the U.S. government from giv-
Approved For
ing support, directly or indirectly, to
groups fighting the Marxist Sandin-
ista government in Nicaragua.
The State Department was autho-
rized in 1985 to solicit humanitarian
aid from third countries for the Con-
tras.
Mr. Khashoggi said he was invited
to a lunch, aimed at raising money
for the Contras, hosted in 1985 by Mr.
Bush.
Mr. Khashoggi said he sent the
vice president a check for $1,000
through an aide and received a
"form" thank-you letter in return.
Mr. Khashoggi showed Mr. de
Borchgrave a copy of the letter dur-
ing the interview.
"They have been very careless,"
he said. "You don't know whether to
laugh or cry when you see these
things. It's amateur night at the op-
era. This Bush thank-you letter is a
classic example of how not to do
things."
Mr. Khashoggi also told The
Washington Times that the CIA ei-
ther through ineptitude or deliber-
ate sabotage destroyed negotiations
between the National Security Coun-
cil and the Iranians, blowing what-
ever chance existed to get American
hostages out of Lebanon,
He said retired CIA agent George
Cave, a fluent Farsi speaker who
traveled to Tehran with former Na-
tional Security Adviser Robert
McFarlane last year, "cooked his
own deal to release some hostages
quickly by giving the Iranians
$500,000 worth of TOWs f missiles j
quite separate from the other deals
we know about."
Mr. Khashoggi said this offer cre-
ated conflicts among factions of the
Iranian government that led to the
negotiations falling apart. "It sab-
otaged the entire initiative," he said.
When asked to assess Mr. Cave's
motives, Mr. Khashoggi said, "Was
the CIA jealous of (Col] North's net-
work? Definitely deliberate sab-
otage."
According to the Tower commis-
sion report on the Iran-Contra affair,
Mr. Cave acted as an analyst and in-
terpreter for Col. North, then a
White House national security aide,
and Mr. McFarlane during their May
1986 triv lo Iran
Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-0090
Mr. Cave said in statements
quoted by the Tower commission
that he was highly suspicious of
Manucher Ghorbanifar, the Iranian
middleman involved in the deals,
and that he believed Mr. McFarlane's
involvement in the negotiation was a
mistake.
"It was quite clear that Ghor-
banifar was lying to both sides to
blow this deal up as big as he could,"
Mr. Cave wrote. "We should not have
subjected a senior U.S. official
[McFarlane] to the indignities he
was forced to endure."
Mr. Khashoggi was the leading fi-
nancier in the Iranian arms sales.
He has been reluctant in the past to
talk about his role, but in recent ex-
tensive public statements he has
given complex and sometimes dif-
fering accounts.
The U.S. government has success-
fully sought to freeze some of Mr.
Khashoggi's bank accounts in Swit-
zerland. Papers cited by the Tower
board suggest he was simulta-
neously charging Mr. Ghorbanifar
and Lake Resources, the company
used by Col. North in the deal.
In the interview, Mr. Khashoggi
vehemently denied that he had
known Mr. Ghorbanifar for years as
Mr Cave testified before the Tower
commission.
"A lie, totally and completely
false," he said.
In the interview, Mr. Khashoggi
criticized U.S. foreign policy, princi-
pals in the Iranian arms deals and
President Reagan.
Asked if Mr. Reagan had
knowledge of diversion of funds
from the deals to the Contras, he
said, "The president was informed in
a general way, while he was adjust-
ing his tie for a photo opportunity, or
getting ready to leave for Camp Da-
vid, that everything was on track,
that the Contras were being taken
care of."
He claimed that Israeli arms mer-
chants Yaacov Nimrodi and Al
Schwinuar.r skimmed $5 million in
profits from early weapons deals
they brokered, which angered Iran-
ians who were expecting kickbacks
1ROVV1201Y011/0001-8
he Israelis had pocketed $5 mil-
C.,rtmtiee
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
lion. Nothing for our friends in Iran
who had been led to believe they
would be getting a chunk of it as seed
money for the pro-Western faction,"
he said.
Mr. Khashoggi's comments in-
cluded a claim that he warned Is-
raeli official Amiram Nir and Mr.
Ghorbanifar that they were
tempting the Iranian government to
take more hostages by backing the
arms-for-hostages deals.
"I said, 'Gentlemen you are play-
ing with fire. The moment these
mullahs understand how easy this
has become, they will understand
what they have to do to get from the
Americans whatever they want. 'lb-
morrow they can kidnap an Amer-
ican from the Athens Hilton bar,
from here, there and everywhere..
You are simply whetting their appe-
tite: "
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WASHINGTON POST
A Al 18 March 1987
owland Evans and Robert Novak
e Republicans Aren't Ready Yet
NASHUA, N.H.?When G_e_A.sge
Bush used his preferential sMi. Iry
r-fhilrear's first full-fledged Republi-
can presidential cattle show to deliver
a yawner in praise of the CIA, it was
the finishing touch on a weekend
demonstration of how unready the
party is for 1988.
Since the vice president used his
political power to demand and secure
privileges denied six other hopefuls at
the northeastern regional party con-
ference, the prospect of his Saturday
luncheon speech excited speculation.
It did prove a surprise. Sometimes
labeled the resume candidate, Bush
devoted his full 20 minutes to one
item on that resume: his year as
Gerald Ford's CIA director.
That demonstrated fraditv and brit-
tleness in the front-runner's campaign,
but his pursuers were not measurably
more impressive. Sen. Robert J. Dole
reflected organizational start-up prob-
lems with an erratic, unimpressive
showing. Rep. Jack Kemp was better
than that but not good enough to seize
imaginations. The also-rans showed why
they are also-rans.
Thus, what could have been a disas-
ter for the vice president instead
proved his challengers are not ready
for prime time. In the very city where
Bush's insensitivity during the famous
1980 debate clinched Ronald
Reagan's nomination, his competitors
failed to exploit Bush's ham-handed
power politics.
Gov. John Sununu, Bush's chairman
in this first primary state, muscled
State Chairman Elsie Vartanian into
giving the vice president the choice
luncheon spot while the others were
herded into a Friday-night ghetto lim-
ited to five minutes each. The Bush
campaign peremptorily assumed the
party's function, changing the menu
and physical arrangements. Sununu
was a palpably pro-Bush moderator as
he introduced the Little Six for their
speeches.
But nobody took advantage, espe-
cially Dole. While moving up quickly,
the Senate minority leader still has
not sorted out personal disputes be-
tween his backers. That suggests a
possibly endemic weakness, in his po-
litical style, as did other aspects of his
Nashua appearance.
Ile came here after first threaten-
ing to boycott the Bush coup, but
unlike other members of the Little
Six, he skipped the Saturday panel
discussions. He discarded prepared
remarks Friday night, reverted to
form by zinging Bush and filled most
of his five minutes with a tired anec-
dote of Kansas politics drawn from his
basic speech. He then left the room,
skipping the keynote address by a
non-candidate: Secretary of Educa-
tion William J. Bennett. "Bob better
decide whether he wants to tell jokes
or be a candidate," a potential New
Hampshire supporter told us.
That opened the door for a virtuoso
performance badly needed by Kemp.
But while sounding more like a presi-
dential candidate than his rivals, he
emulated Dote in throwing away pre-
pared remarks (which stressed social'
issues, partly to woo New Hami24'
shire's uncommitted Sen. Gordon"
Humphrey). Kemp, though forceful-,
affirmed accusations that he remains
Jackie-one-note by calling for a flat
tax and a sound dollar,
Other cattle show entrants ranged
from poor to adequate, generating a
momentary presidential boomlet for
Bennett, who had time enough for a
real speech and revived the dozing
audience. This raised expectations
that Bush might make his solo appear-
ance Saturday a tour de force, per-
haps asking members of the Little Six
still in Nashua to join him on the dais.
Although nothing so astute was.
contemplated, 'what he did do was
hardly less unusual. His strategists
were trying to establish Bush creden-
tials, independent of the Reagan pres-
idency and without any hint of disloy-
alty, by delivering an encomium on
the CIA. The. resulting speech was
most odd for a political event, only
twice evoking applause from an audi-
ence packed with Bush backers.
His performance shows not much
has changed in Bush's front-runnei
strategy. His handlers welcome the:
addition of moderate supporters OL
Howard Baker, now departed from,
presidential candidate ranks, to his:
hard-core party faithful and figure
that is enough for the nomination,
That explains the question asked us,
by Bush's principal political aide, Lee.
Atwater, about his chief's absence Fri-,
day night: "What good would he have.
done himself up there with everybody:
else?" Atwater last month asked nearly:
the same rhetorical question about
Bush's absence from the Conservative.
Political Action Conference.
That mind-set might move Bush.
toward the nomination by using, politi-
cal muscle and a polished resume,.
while he ignores fair treatment for his
opponents and a political vision for.
himself. But it may be. a formula for
disaster if one of the Little Six breaks
out of the pack.
?1987, North America Syndicate, Inc.
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WASHINGTON POST
17 March 1987
01-8
Bush Defends Routing Contra Backer to North
United Press International
ORLANDO, Fla., March 16?
Vice President Bush defended his
reTrol a contra supporter to
then-National Security Council aide
Oliver L. North, but acknowledged
today that such inquiries should be
sent to the agency chief.
. Bush said the letter he sent
March 3, 1985, to contra supporter
Dr. Mario Castejon of Guatemala,
advising him to contact the Marine
lieutenant colonel, was a routine
correspondence.
"I answer my mail and I referred
him to the NSC, which I should do,"
Bush said during a fund-raising
swing in Florida. "Frankly, I didn't
even read the letter. It was all in
Spanish and I don't read Spanish."
But Bush said future inquiries
should be referred to the head of
the National Security Council, rath-
er than to an aide such as North,
who was later fired in November
for his role in the Iran arms-contra
aid scandal.
Bush's letter to Castejon sur-
faced Sunday in a Miami Herald
report suggesting that the corre-
spondence showed Bush knew more
about NSC efforts on behalf of the
contras than was previously dis-
closed. Bush told Castejon that
North "would be most happy to see
you" and discuss aid for the Ni-
caraguan rebels.
The furor was a "non-story,"
Bush said, unless the public is in-
terested in day-to-day administra-
tive matters. "It's just smoke."
During his appearance in Florida,
Bush announced plans to visit Ec-
uador Sunday to survey an esti-
mated $1 billion damage from an
earthquake and to discuss possible
U.S. relief.
Bush, who planned to attend a
series of Florida fund-raisers for his
presidential bid, said: "I've never
felt stronger politically in my life.
It's hard to tell, but I just can't ac-
cept the tarnished-image thing."
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ARTICLE Tar._
ON PAGE WASHINGTON TIMES
16 March 1987
Thornburgh, Bennett
steal ovations at GOP's
rally weekend in N.H.
RE OM
By Ralph Z. Hallow
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
NASHUA, N.H. ? "Rvo leading Republi-
cans who are not presidential candidates
drew the most applause here at a GOP gath-
ering billed as a "weekend with the next pres-
ident."
The biggest suprise, according to a number
of observers, was the performance by former
Pennsylvania Gov. Richard Thornburgh, who
substituted for Senate Minority Leader Rob-
ert Dole on a Saturday panel originally re-
served for GOP presidential hopefuls.
"The Republican Party should quit
apologizing for being the party of business,"
Mr. Thornburgh told a cheering audience of
several hundred GOP officials from 14
Northeastern states.
"In a time of economic difficulty when
we're losing world markets, somebody has to
be the party of business and galvanize the
free enterprise system," he said.
In another line that drew sustained ap-
plause, he said, "In Pennsylvania, we reduced
our state payroll by eliminating 15,000 unnec-
essary positions from a swollen bureaucracy
while the federal government during the last
eight years was adding 8,000 new jobs."
Though already committed to Vice Pres-
ident George Bush, New York State
Assemblyman Glen Harris said, "Thorn
burgh was the best of the panel speakers."
Observers praised the self-confidence and
clarity with which Mr. Thornburgh spoke.
Mr. Thornburgh, a two-term governor who
was required by the Pennsylvania constitu-
tion to step down this year, said he "did not
come here as a presidential candidate."
But he did not rule out a presidential bid.
"In the unlikely event none of these [GOP]
candidates catches fire, non-candidates will
be taking a look and that might include me,"
he said later in an interview.
At Friday night's opening banquet here,
Education Secretary William Bennett, the
keynote speaker, drew the only standing ova-
tion after what many dinner guests described
as lack-luster performances by six pres-
idential hopefuls who had been asked to con-
fine their remarks to five minutes each.
Mr. Bennett stressed the importance of
family values instead of government action.
"The family is the original Department of
Health, Education and Welfare," said Mr. Ben-
nett, who frequently brings conservative au-
diences to their feet.
After his speech, someone in the audience
handed Mr. Bennett a note suggesting he run
for the GOP nomination. He looked around,
smiled, then shook his head "no."
Mr. Bush, accompanied by his retinue of
Secret Service agents and provided with a
Teleprompter-like device for his Saturday
luncheon address, also generated some ex-
citement, particularly when he accused some
unnamed Republicans of being "conspic-
uously silent" in their support for the CIA.
The "lesser candidates," as t1"-e?y?ti to call-
ing themselves, shared the limelight during
panel appearances Saturday. And, most ob-
servers agreed, their performances were bet-
ter than Friday night's.
In presenting a five-point program for re-
storing "the credibility of U.S. foreign policy
around the world," Pat Robertson said, "Like
it or not, we're the successor in the Free World
to the strong, peace-keepingempire that Brit-
ain once was."
Rep. Jack Kemp of New York, also ad-
dressing foreign-policy issues, said the Soviet
Union's "approach to arms control is the same
as Andy Warhol's definition of art ? it's any-
thing you can get away with."
Mr. Kemp took on his party's establish-
ment, which is divided over whether Pres-
ident Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative
should be deployed quickly or used as a bar-
gaining chip with the Soviets.
"Tho often the Republican Party has be-
lieved that if something is popular with the
people, as SDI is, there must be something
-8
STATINTL
wrong with it," he said.
Donald H. Rumsfeld, who has served in a
variety of top positions in past Republican
administrations, agreed with Mr. Kemp that
quick deployment of available SDI technol-
ogy would not be provocative toward the So-
viets.
"Our task is not to win nuclear war, but to
deter it," Mr. Rumsfeld said, adding that the
"two greatest threats to our world are nuclear
war and appeasement."
?
Choosing to address domestic policy is-
sues, former Secretary of State Alexander
Haig said the "two flaws in launching the Rea-
gan administration were the failure to recog-
nize the interdependence that binds all na-
tions in trade and economic affairs and a
propensity to economic theories that will
achieve the millenium."
Pierre du Pont used his appearance on the
afternoon domestic-policy panel to unveil a
plan to end welfare and to repeat his proposal
to end all farm subsidies. Friday night, Mr. du
Pont, a dark horse largely unknown outside
the Northeast, won points from some observ-
ers by challenging Mr. Dole, a Kansan pop-
ular with farmers, to a debate in Iowa on ag-
ricultural policy.
"Du Pont was exceptional," said Bush aide
Rich Bond. "Challenging Dole was his way of
getting into the [presidential] race."
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STAT
STAT
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15 March 1987
0001-8
STAT IN IL
to?''
Sack Leakers, Bush Says; Robertson Would Seal Border
By Paul Taylor
fashingtoo Post Staff Writer
NASHUA, N.H, March 14?Vice
nPresident Bush proposed today
that, to plug intelligence leaks, Con-
gress restrict itself to a single joint
intelligence committee and that the
Reagan -administration "make some
examliTeri ofle?a-k-ers in our own
ran1-5y otiNicht firin.g_them."
"I don't believe in the wholesale
use of the polygraph, but when le-
gitimate national security matters
are at stake, I say use it," Bush told
several hundred northeastern Re-
publican activists at a conference
billed as "a weekend with the next
president."
Needled in the local press for not
joining six prospective 1988 oppo-
nents at a Friday night kickoff din-
ner ("Bushgate," said a Boston Her-
ald headline; "GOP Hopefuls Meet
Sans Bush" said the Manchester
Union Leader), Bush ignored the
mini-flap. The tactic drew plaudits
from supporters.
"To me, he was very vice-
presidential," said Victoria Zachos,
a former national committeewoman
from Concord. "People have been
saying he's too wimpy. How can you
be a wimp and be the former head
of the CIA? I mean, really! It's im-
possible."
Bush said his 1976-77 duty as
Central Intelligence _AAency direc-
tor came at the "tail end of a witch
hunt that laid. bare the. agency's_in-
nermost secrete and wound up
costing the lives of some.agenis?
He chided "certain Democrats
who act as.if?the CIA is an embar-
rassment or a threat or just another
bureaucracy' and "some Republi-
cans who are conspicuously silent in
their support.' He did-rioFifa-me
names, and his political aides either
could not or would-not.
If the speech was meant to pro-
ject a tough image on matters of
national security, Bush had plenty
of company.
Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) this
morning called on all Republican
candidates?especially Bush?to
"join me in pledging to deploy SDI
[the Strategic Defense Initiative] as
soon as possible so that America is
no longer defenseless against in-
coming Soviet missiles."
Kemp said there is "a fierce de-
bate going on in this administration
between the president, who be-
lieves in deployment, and the State
Department, which wants to use it
as a bargaining chip." He said early
deployment would be his "highest
priority' as president and that the
first phase could be operational by
1992.
"To those who say [SDI] is pro-
vocative," Kemp said, "that is the
moral equivalent of saying that a
policeman with a bulletproof vest
somehow provokes criminals."
His exposition drew a rave re-
view from Marion G. (Pat) Robert-
son, a fellow foreign-policy panelist,
who told Kemp he was "superb."
The television evangelist echoed
Kemp's enthusiasm for early SDI
deployment, but he also made a
pitch for expanding conventional
forces to guard against a scenario in
which the Soviets move tanks into
post-Khomeini Iran and try to
acheive a "takeover of the strategic
oil reserves of the world."
"We are going to have to think
about projecting conventional
forces"?Robertson mentioned
"several divisions and the Seventh
Fleet"?"into the Middle East to
prevent such a scenario."
On another matter, Robertson
proposed that the Mexican border
"be closed" so that Hispanics al-
ready here?as well as blacks and
whites?are better able to find jobs.
He advocated beefing up the Border
Patrol.
Former defense secretary Don-
ald Rumsfeld, making his first ap-
pearance at a presidential "cattle
show," also endorsed Kemp's call
for early SDI deployment and said
the two greatest threats to mankind
are "nuclear war and appeasement."
He called for a no-ransom antiter-
rorist policy. He also endorsed
"constructive engagement" in South
Africa, saying that sanctions "are
not in the interests of the blacks or
of the United States."
Today's panel discussions were
held without Senate Minority Lead-
er Robert J. Dole (Kan.), who chose
to leave before Bush arrived for
star billing as the luncheon speaker.
"Hey, if a guy gets a good deal, I say
take it," said Dole. "I'd just like to
know who his booking agent is."
Predictably, operatives for rival
camps milled around the hotel lobby
grumbling about Bush's Friday
night absence. "He hurt himself;
he's come off as aloof," said John
Maxwell, a Kemp campaigner.
But the flap seems likely to be
forgotten as quickly as it arose.
Bush spent this afternoon meeting
privately with party leaders, then
taking questions in a supporter's
living room?presumably to show
he could be the "see me, touch me,
feel me" candidate that New Hamp-
shire Gov. John H. Sununu (R) said
his constituents demand.
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PRESS RELEASE
4
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THE VICE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF THE PRESS SECRETARY
STATINTL
FOR RELEASE: CONTACT: [phone]
Saturday, March 14, 1987
EXCERPTS FROM REMARKS BY
VICE PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH
NORTHEAST REGIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE
SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1987
I'm delighted to be here among the Republican leaders of the
Northeast.
Spying -- or more precisely, intelligence --is what I want
to discuss this afternoon. Two weeks ago in Bedford, Massachusetts
and then again in Bedford, New Hampshire, I talked about the need
for SDI, the system that puts weapons at risk, not people. I talked
about the need to support those fighting for freedom in Central
America and about the opportunity we have to obtain a verifiable
reduction in intermediate range nuclear missiles. Our intelligence
system is central to all these issues.
I came here today to say that as leaders we must be more
vocal and public in supporting the intelligence community in our
society. We must make clear that the C.I.A. has an honorable
mission. We must recognize that even in a free and open society,
some things must remain secret. And I believe we must strongly
support legitimate covert actions that are in our national
security interests.
Certain Democrats act as if the C.I.A. is an embarrassment
or a threat or just another government bureaucracy, not this
country's first line of defense.
Some Republicans are conspicuously silent in their support,
believing it's politically unhelpful to be associated with the
Agency. Ladies and gentlemen, I am genuinely concerned about how
our intelligence system will maintain public approval, unless
those of us in the political arena begin to speak out on its
be
It is essential that we have an intelliaence community
second to none. Fortunately, the Agency has returned from the
devastation it faced in the 1970's. Its reputation and honor
were dismissed. Its budget was cut 33% in constant dollars, and
it lost 25% of its personnel.
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But rather than seeking to correct the Agency's flaws,
critics simply attacked. I went to the C.I.A. at the tale end
of a witch hunt that laid bare the agency's inner most
workings. I can remember young, untutored Congressional staffers
coming to headquarters and accusing experienced professionals of
not serving the interests of the country. These were people who
had risked their lives for their country.
It was a terrible time. The names of agents were exposed.
One result etched in my mind is the brutal murder of our station
chief in Athens, Richard Welch. Two weeks after his name was
listed as C.I.A. in an ugly left wing publication, two gunmen,
armed with automatic pistols, cut him down at his home in Athens.
Other sources, fearing for their lives, disappeared. some were
killed. It was a time when many lost sight of how important the
Agency was to our national security.
I learned a great deal when I had the honor of running the
C.I.A., especially about leading people of purpose and integrity.
And from the day I set foot inside its headquarters, I found it
to be an organization whose motives were clear, and honorable,
and in the national interest.
It's first priority is to prevent a surprise attack on the
United States. If the C.I.A. had existed in 1941, the surprise
at Pearl Harbor would've been on the Japanese, and I'll tell you
how I can say that. Because taken as a whole, the Army, the
Navy, and the State Department had enough information to
understand what the Japanese were doing. But there was no
central place for this information to come together. That place
today is the C.I.A.
Our main adversaries in 1987 are the Soviets. We have an
excellent understanding of their military capabilities. We know
where their strategic bombers are located. We know how many
strategic missiles the Soviets have. We keep track of their
submarines, with reasonable accuracy. The scope of information
we have today would have been astounding in 1941.
Our intelligence technology is breathtaking -- the satellite
photography, the electronic, the acoustical and the seismic
techniques. The American people have no idea how good it really
is.
And what's more, the C.I.A. has some of the nation's
?brightest people to analyze this information. I wish you could
meet them and get to know them like I have. The C.I.A. has more
Phd.'s than any other agency of government -- enough scholars and
scientists to staff a university. And let me assure you, the
professionalism is too high, the devotion to country too great,
to have intelligence estimates slanted and shaped by political
judgements.
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They are people of principle, many of whom put themselves on
the line to gain information about our enemies. I recall a loung
woman of about 35 who was brought into my office one day. She'd
been arrested at a dead letter drop by a hostile intelligence
service. She hadn't been tortured, but she'd been through a
tremendous psychological ordeal. If her cover hadn't been blown,
she would've gone right back. She was risking her life almost
every day. No head table, no applause--a dedicated patriot
serving her country to preserve the freedoms that we often take
for granted. This is true integrity of purpose, and the Agency
is full of such people.
A relatively new priority is collecting information
necessary to thwart terrorist attacks and to interdict drug
shipments
With our allies help, from January of 1985 to February of
this year, 55 probable and another 114 possible terrorist attacks
were averted by deterrent action. I am talking about lives that
were saved.
In Turkey, security officers last April arrested
Libyan-supported terrorists who were planning to attack the U.S.
Officers Club in Ankara during a wedding celebration.
In Paris, about the same time, officials thwarted a similar
attack planned against citizens in a visa line at the U.S.
consulate.
In North Africa last year, a Libyan-backed assassination
attempt on an American military attache was foiled.
If we and our allies hadn't succeeded in cases like these,
you can picture the grisly scenes that would've appeared on the
evening news.
People often want to know about C.I.A. infiltration of
terrorist groups. Quite honestly, we were once able to pene-
trate these groups much easier than we can today. They're
more sophisticated in identifying our agents, and they take
greater precautions than they once did. It's harder to get our
people placed, because the terrorists often come from family
groups. And once we do get in, it's harder to get information
out.
Take, for instance, five recruits in the Bekaa Valley who
have been selected by the Hizballah to blow up an American
installation. They are searched. They are isolated in a guarded
camp. And they aren't told until absolutely necessary what their
mission is. So even if we do have someone in there, it's very
hard to maintain contact.
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The C.I.A. is constantly studying developments affecting
broader U.S. security. In recent years, for example, there's
been more attention focused on the Soviets lag in high technology
and their efforts to steal ours. We know, for example, the
precise gyros and bearings in their heavy missiles were designed
in the U.S. We know the radar in their AWACS planes is ours. We
know that many Soviet integrated circuits are exact copies of
U.S. designs. They even copied the imperfections.
The Soviets use dummy firms--some legal, some illegal--to
purchase Western technology. The C.I.A. has identified some 300
firms in more than 30 countries engaged in technology transfer
schemes.
The Agency looks at everything from the effects of AIDS on
the stability of African countries to the consequences in Jamaica
of reduced demand for bauxite. It is constantly analyzing
developments that might affect our long-range security and that
of our friends.
Now you may wonder where covert action fits into all this?
Covert action gives us the ability to help our friends, or
confuse our adversaries, in those situations where open
assistance from the U.S. could be counterproductive.
It provides us with a useful foreign policy option that's
somewhere between diplomacy and sending in the Marines. The
world is not a sunlit meadow. The world is not the way we want
it to be, but the way it is. There are dangers out there that
must be addressed, and covert action is sometimes the means to do
it. We seem to think covert action is James Bond and ray guns.
Often, it is quiet support that saves the lives of friends.
Without doubt, there have been some serious failures in the
past, such as the Bay of Pigs effort. But today, there are very
strict controls.
Every covert action must be approved by the President and
made known to the Congressional Oversight Committees. And this
is fine, because covert actions make sense only in support of a
larger foreign policy. They make sense only when properly
supervised and properly planned -- that was the problem with the
NSC running the Iran initiative. The C.I.A. experts never had a
chance to bring their full range of experience to bear. And the
formal NSC policy apparatus was not properly used. The President
has made the changes necessary to keep the NSC out of operations,
but have all NSC participants totally immersed in policy.
The quickest way to kill a covert action or any kind of
secret activity is through a leak. And I am telling you point
blank -- agents have disappeared, and I'll leave it to your own
imagination what happened to them, soon after stories leaked to
the news media.
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Some have been jailed. Leaks have caused other individuals, who
were on the verge of becoming foreign agents for us, to back off
in fear for their lives.
We have lost sources and we have lost what we call
collection mechanisms. A few years ago one of the networks
reported that we were intercepting communications between two
unfriendly nations; communications about terrorist activities
directed against Americans. Within a matter of days after the
report, the channel was shut off. As a result of this reduced
intelligence, american lives were put at greater risk.
.Some of our allies have told us they're so concerned about
our ability to keep secrets, they'll no longer provide the same
information they once did, and the information they do provide
will not be as timely. One intelligence service stated that
terrorist information they were providing would appear in the
U.S. press before they could act upon it.
The leaks come from the Congressional committees and from
the Executive Branch itself. I believe a Joint Committee on
Intelligence should be established to reduce the number of people
who have access to very secret information. And I also believe
the Administration needs to make some examples of leakers in our
own ranks by publicly firing them. And I don't care how high up
they are.
I don't believe in wholesale use of the polygraph, but when
legitimate national security matters are at stake, I say, "use
Ladies and gentlemen, in the foyer of C.I.A. headquarters in
Langley, Virginia, there's a Book of Honor enclosed in a glass
case. It lists those C.I.A. employees who have died in service
of their country. Some are named, but most even after death
cannot be identified. So instead of a name, there is a simple
star.
And in that same foyer is an inscription that explains why
those individuals gave their lives. It's from the Bible and it
says, "And Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you
free."
I can think of no more honorable purpose for a government
agency than truth and freedom. And, as leaders, I think we
should be outspoken and out front in our support for the C.I.A.
Thank you for inviting, me and thank you for your
hospitality.
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0N {WA
WASHINGTON TIMES
6 March 1987
nARNOLD BUCHMAN
Political
savvy was
thissing
here is one thing that the fol-
lowing people have in com-
mon, in addition to gender:
Lt. Col. Oliver North, Rob-
: ert.,McFarlane, Rear Adm. John
Poindexter, Donald Regan, George
ShAltz, Caspar Weinberger, and
practically everybody else who
STAT , kna,w a lot or a little about the Strate-
gic Iranian Initiative or SII.
Not one of them was a politician.
Notone of them had ever run or ever
; beep elected to public office. Not one
of them had ever had to answer for
their actions to a popular con-
stituency. Not one had ever come
close to a voter except a relative.
The only politicians in this entire
me,ss were President Rkag,an and
Vice President Geokie Boats& But
they forgot the first principles of
politics, let alone of covert action. It
was; a politician who once said: "we
should not do secretly anything that
we would not be proud to defend pub-
licly,"
,The man who uttered that bit of
wisdom was Republican Sen. Mal-
colm Wallop of Wyoming.
There was nothing morally repre-
hensible in seeking an opening to
Iran; What was stupid was allowing
a bunch of people who understood
little about politics (let alone Iranian
or' Soviet politics) and knew even
? less about public opinion to play at
; secret diplomacy which, even if it all
went well, would have had (minus-
cule chance of success. In other
? words, the Poindexter-North combo
ran an operation which when ex-
posed to daylight made the actors
look like a bunch of burglars and the
president the burglar-in-chief.
SII was the trivialization of for-
eign policy. In fact, SII was foreign
ativenturism, not foreign policy.
Seeking freedom for hostages is
laudable benevolence, not realpoli-
tik.'As for Col. North, he was a sort
of conservative Che Guevara. Mr.
Guevara thrashed about in a Boliv-
ian jungle until his death. Col. North
played hide-and-seek in a Persian
marketplace and managed to come
out-of his adventure in one piece.
What would a politi914909Wdllcor Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
the above-mentioned didn't know?
And why am I including in the list of
non-politicians Messrs. Shultz and
Weinberger, secretary of state and
defense, respectively? Had the two
Cabinet officers understood the
American political process, they
would together or singly have gone
to Mr. Reagan and said that, unless
tbia SII were taken out of the hands
or the?din/Un-brigade or it was.
called off, they would resign.
In the. face of such a Cabinet re-
volt, I don'tknow?what the president
*old have done. But a seasoned
politician would have realized that
Washington is no place to keep a se-
cret and that it would leak some-
where, if not the nation's capital then
somewhere else. Messrs. Wein-
berger and Shultz did Mr. Reagan no
service by staying on and pretend-
ing that nothing was happening.
Ihe first exception to my thesis
about politicians is alsinpilati. Here's
a Man who has run successfully for
elective office, has been head of the
CIA, ambassador to China U.S. am-
ber's sador to the United Nations,
chairman . of the Re ublican Na.-3
F.
preSident and still a candidate. How
cOurd he have flopped so badly?,
The second exception to my thesis
is.William Casey, the former CIA di-,
recfarTfr'tVas a semipolitician, he
No.
had run for Congress a long time ,
ago, he had been Mr. Reagan's cam-
paign manager in 198(1. How he
screwed up is a mystery which prob-
ably will never be solved. Perhaps,
he was the loyal liege man willing to
serve his sovereign.
What does a politician know that
the amateur does not know? The
politician knows that it is not nec-
essarily true that the shortest dis-
tance is a straight line between two
points. In fact, in politics it is fre-
quently the longest way around.
The seasoned politician also
knows that anything that looks easy
is going to turn out to be difficult,
otherwise it would have been done
long ago. He also knows that if
there's a particularly sticky problem
like voting on a controversial bill,
find some way around the obstacle
by defusing the bill in such a way
that only the U.S. Supreme Cc:fort
could interpret the meaning if the
bill were enacted into law.
And above all the politician k?iows
that most socioeconomic problems
cannot be cured overnight because
legislative solutions usually create
far greater complications than the
original problem. When the temper-
STATI NTL
10001-8
ance advocates pushed through Pro- ,
hibition did they ever imagine that '
they would help unleash the greatest
wave of criminality and gangsterism
in our history? How many people
envisioned that World War II would
end up with Central Europe a victim
of Soviet thralldom?
A successful politician may be a
trimmer, a compromiser, the man
who ducks problems and always
thinks of protecting his vulnerable
bottom. Better he than the failed
politician-turned-statesman, the
elected official who begins to think
of himself as' a miracle-worker; e.g.,
Richard M. Nixon. It may have been
House Speaker Thomas B. Read who
succinctly defined a statesman as "a
dead politician."
Proof of my thesis? Who's being
called upon to rescue the ship of
state? Politician Howard Baker, poli-
tician John lbwer, politician Ed-
mund Muskie, politician Paul Laxalt,
and, for my money, politician Mal-
colm Wallop. No statesmen they.
Last, admittedly politicians are
not nature's noblemen. Yet with all
their foofkeeying around with salary
grabs and $10,000 breakfasts they're
a lot safer to have around than the
types who have helped get the coun-
try into the kind of mess which will
be a long time with us.
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wALL sTREE I. JOURNAL
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE 5,4 13 February 1987
Bush Says He 'Expressed Reservations'
To 'Key Players' on Iran-Arms Policy
By ELLEN HUMS and JANE MAYER
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOLRNAL
LANSING, Mich. ? Vice President
George Bush said for the first time that he
had "expressed reservations" about the
Reagan administration's Iran arms policy
to the "key players" as it unfolded.
Breaking with his longstanding practice
of never disagreeing with President Rea-
gan's decisions or describing his own ad-
vice in the White House, Mr. Bush said he
is "deeply troubled" by evidence that the
U.S. may have traded arms for hostages in
violation of its own policy. The vice presi-
dent stressed that he believes President
Reagan didn't mean "in his heart" to
trade arms for hostages.
Mr. Bush's comments, made yesterday
to reporters during a Midwest swing to
boost his 1988 presidential prospects, were
a departure from his earlier remarks. In a
Dec. 3 speech, for instance, he said he
backed the president. While admitting that
"mistakes were made," he said that "I
was aware of our Iran initiative and I sup-
port the president's decision."
Asked at a news conference here yester-
day if he had advised against the Iran
deals as they went forward, Mr. Bush first
brushed aside the question but added:
"Key players around there know that I
express certain reservations on certain as-
pects." Craig Fuller, his chief of staff,
later confirmed that he was referring to
the Iran policy, but neither he nor Mr.
Bush would elaborate.
'First to Say It's Wrong'
Mr. Bush said that if investigators con-
clude that the U.S. swapped arms for hos-
tages, would be the first to say that is
wrong." While minimizing his own deci-
sion-making role, he said the controversy
has eroded his support for the 1988 GOP
presidential nomination.
He said he couldn't "pinpoint the date"
when he first learned about the policy and
noted that a Senate Intelligence Committee
.,report concluded he didn't attend the first
meeting where it was discussed. "I don't
know that I had a specific role in making
any determinations" about the policy, he
said.
He defended the Reagan administra-
tion's claim that it was dealing with Iran-
ian moderates even though, according to a
memo written by his own chief of staff, he
was warned last July by an Israeli official
that the deals were being made with Iran-
ian radicals. He called it merely a differ-
ence of "semantics." But Mr. Bush said,
"In looking back at it, it does raise a flag
for me, but it didn't at, the time,
frankly."
In Washington, the Tower Commission,
appointed by President Reagan to look into
the Iran-Contra scandal, began to pore
through transcripts of computer tapes of
recorded conversations between members
of the National Security Council.
'The discovery of these tapes?many of
which remained in a central computer
memory bank inside the White House with-
out their authors' knowledge?are the rea-
son the commission needed a week's exten-
sion for its probe, Reagan administration
officials said. On Wednesday, the panel
was given until Feb. 26 to conclude its re-
view?a delay ascribed to the need to ex-
amine unspecified "new material."
Messages by North, Poindexter
Reagan administration officials said the
tapes included messages sent back and
forth in recent months between Lt. Col. Ol-
iver North, who was fired for his role in
the Iran-Contra affair, and former Na-
tional Security Adviser John Poindexter,
who resigned as a result of the controversy
surrounding the affair.
Many of the recorded messages were
believed by their authors to have been de-
leted, but instead were automatically
stored without their knowledge. Reagan
100010001-8
STATINTL
administration officials suggested that the
tapes further established links between the
NSC and the private groups that funneled
aid to the Nicaraguan rebels during the pe-
riod when Congress had banned U.S. assis-
tance.
In a related development, ABC News
reported last night that one such group, di-
rected by Carl Channell, designated a spe-
cial account identified as the "Toys Proj-
ect" that is believed to have funded arms
for the Contras. Mr. Channell, a conserva-
tive activist, enjoyed high-level White
House contacts, and on at least one occa-
sion, according to ABC, brought in a group
of big donors to meet with President Rea-
gan, his chief of staff, Donald Regan, and
Col. North.
On another occasion last August, Mr.
Channell was one of about 15 guests called
into the White House to give political ad-
vice to Mr. Regan in a strategy session on
the 1986 midterm elections. a participant in
the meeting recalled yesterday.
The ABC report cited no specific evi-
dence that the $2.2 million reportedly
raised during 1986 for the Toys Project ac-
tually bought weapons. But separately, in-
telligence sources said that among the
multitude of companies and bank accounts
linked to the Iran-Contra affair is one iden-
tified as Toyco S.A.
Those familiar with the records of
Southern Air Transport said Toyco's name
appears on payments made to the Miami-
based air carrier, which was used in the
Contra supply network. Previous checks in
Switzerland and Panama, which are the
bases of several companies used in the
supply network, found no record of such a
company being registered.
Last night, the White House had no
comment on the ABC report other than to
say 'the whole thing is under investiga-
tion." Earlier in the day, White House
spokesman Marlin Fitzwater refused to
comment on any aspect of the Iran-Contra
affair. "I'm not qualified or willing to dis-
cuss the Iran situation." Mr. Fitzwater
said.
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MITICLE APPMRED GEORGETOWN UNIVERSily HOYA
6 February 1987
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From SFS to
GU Grads Flock to the Agency
by Cary Brazeman
FlOYA Features Editor
Before last spring, Ann Lowell had
never considered the Central Intelli-
gence Agency (CIA) as a career alter-
native. She knew she desired a job
with an international focus, but bank-
ing seemed the most likely prospect.
Then Career Planning and Placement
(CP&P) posted an announcement in-
viting students to submit resumes to
CIA recruiters. Curious, Lowell handed
in her resume. Several weeks later she
was granted an interview.
Although Lowell, then a senior in
the School of Foreign Service, decided
after the initial interview that she was
not interested in pursuing a CIA ca-
reer, dozens of other Georgetown stu-
dents have completed the entire pro-
cess and been recruited by the Agency.
In fact, the New York Times reported
recently that GU provides the CIA with
more recruits than any university in
the country ("Campus Recruiting and
the CIA," June 8, 1986).
Harold Simmons, chief of the CIA's
as ir4.1?rig="----1 area recruitment center,
refuses to confirm or deny that statis-
tic, but he willingly admits that George-
town is "absolutely a gold mine" in
terms of its number of applicants for
entry-level positions.. Simmons won't
disclose the number of students re-
cruited from Georgetown, however, ex-
plaining that to do so would facilitate
an outsider's ability to determine the
size of the CIA's training corps.
Statistics aside, Simmons discusses
the CIA's popularity at Georgetown
without hesitancy. "It's easy to see why
so many Georgetown students are in-
terested in us," he says. "What better
place is there for a career overseas? in
international relations, area studies,
area disciplines. Georgetown is recog-
nized for those things, so it's only
natural:'
SFS Assistant Dean Andrew Steig-
man agrees with Simmons, suggesting
that student interest in the CIA stems
largely from the fact that SFS students
are trained to do precisely the kind of
intelligence work that the CIA de-
mands. "The CIA is the closest thing
to the previous experience of the stu-
dent, who is trained here in the area of
research and analysis," says Steigman.
He,-004,44a.44e4IA:lisi on of two
goverprnent agencies-7 the other is the.
National *KimAc?litinyki,Stmtipn? that
offers a wide 'fange of jobs in interna-
tional affairs and also conducts exten-
sive recruitment drives annually.
Steigman further maintains that most
students preferring to work in the pub-
lic sector are "looking for a chance
to serve?to work for a slightly larger
purpose. The CIA offers something
broader than just a job that's there; it
provides students with another option."
Adjunct Professor Ray Cline, a for-
mer deputy director of intelligence for
the CIA, agrees that the SFS curricu-
lum, with its academic approach to
foreign policy, easily inspires students
to consider CIA careers. "Georgetown
is a place where intelligence has been
an academic subject for some time,
where intelligence is a subject of natu-
ral interest to students," says Cline.
Claire Carey, assistant dean of the
College, believes that students view
the CIA less as an intellectually attrac-
tive job option than as a practical one.
"Seniors get panicky and just apply,"
she says, "because the CIA is always
hiring, whereas other departments of
government aren't. Also, many of our
students want to stay here in Washing-
ton after graduation, and government
is a big employer in this town; the CIA
offers a lot of opportunities."
To Lowell, however, the opportuni-
ties offered by the CIA seemed lim-
ited, and that's one of the reasons she
abandoned her pursuit of a job with
the Agency. "After hearing the man
speak. I felt like I was at their mercy,"
recalls Lowell. "I didn't get the impres-
sion that I would have any control over
my career. 1 also figured it would be
hard to switch careers, given the de-
gree of secrecy that would forever sur-
round my background:'
Lowell's reservations are common
among prospective recruits, says Sim-
mons, and while some of them hold
true, others are just misconceptions.
Citing the CIA's high degree of flexi-
bility and its attrition rate of only three
percent, Simmons says that "you can
really move around in a unit. And the
CIA has four directorates: Adminis-
tration, Intelligence, Operations and
Science and Technology. So there's al-
ways a place or a position for you once
you're in.
"I don't want to gush sugar out of
my lower lip, but the CIA is a very
exciting place to work. The Agency
provides its professionals with what-
ever technology they need to get the
job done, and after three decades I
can't imagine working anywhere else:'
CP&P Director Eric Schlesinger is
slightly less enthusiastic than Simmons.
Although he applauds the efficiency
00010001-8
and organization demonstrated by the
CIA's campus recruiters ("I wish that
every recruiting organization were as
responsive to us as they are), he rec-
ognizes the fact that a career with the
CIA "raises questions" about the kinds
of lives students want to have.
Schlesinger recounts the story of
a Georgetown graduate he met at a
CIA-sponsored briefing several years
ago. "The woman," recalls Schlesinger,
"worked in the directorate of intelli-
gence, and she said that her work is
the closest thing to the academic world
outside of the university setting, where
all she does is read, write and research.
But unlike an academe who can be
published and present papers at con-
ferences, she will never have that
opportunity."
Describing the logistics of the CIA's
campus recruiting efforts, Schlesinger
says that the Agency usually visits GU
twice a year, in the fall and in the
spring. (The next round of CIA inter-
views will be March 19, according to
Simmons.) Exactly how they screen ap-
plicants varies, he adds, but in the fall
the only criteria was that applicants be
U.S. citizens. Other than that, anyone
on the baccalaureate or graduate level
was eligible to submit a ,resume for
review. Twenty-eight people were then
selected by the CIA for interviews with
Agency recruiters.
In these respects, says Schlesinger,
the CIA's recruitment process is sim-
ilar to other organizations'. But there
are differences, too. "Some things do
change," he says. "Now with other or-
ganizations we tend to hear back the
number of people who are then called
in for second interviews and the num-
ber who are made offers to and the
_number who accept those offers. Last
year we heard that information from
50 percent of the organizations. We do
not here that from the CIA:'
It is this extended interview process.
which can take up to six months to
complete, that was another deterrent
to Lowell. Eager to land a job as soon
as possible, she was discouraged by
"all the red-tape:' Indeed, as Simmons
concedes, the recruitment process is
long and involved. But it's also very
necessary, he continues, because "we
have to see how the applicant mea-
sures up to the average professional
employee on board with us:'
Continued
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Specifically, applicants must com-
plete an 18-page personal history state-
ment and a rigorous battery of tests,
including the California Psychological
Inventory. About 10 references must
also be supplied, most of whom are ap-
proached personally to explain the ex-
tent of their relationship with the ap-
plicant. A polygraph test is another
requirement, and if the Agency is
pleased with the results, the applicant
is then called in again, this time for "a
more vertical interview,- says Simmons.
He is quick to point out that homo-
sexuals and lesbians need not apply
for CIA jobs. "They're derivations from
the norm," he says.
As for necessary qualifications, the
CIA officer explains that the Agency
is more intent on finding a person of a
particular "type," rather than one with
a designated background. Quoting a
CIA pamphlet, Simmons says that ap-
plicants should have "first and fore-
most, the drive to achieve. They are
oriented toward action and results;
force?of personality and a gift for deal-
ing effectivelypOrth Peopletua, consis-
tendy' filglillever of academic perfor-
mance; exceptitAtil skilliiiPkooth written
and oral communication; and impec-
cable standards of personal and pro-
fessional ethics:"
To assist in the process of advising
students who may fit the CIA profile
and are interested in a career with the
Agency, Harold Bean serves as George-
town's agency officer in residence. A
retired CIA official, Bean teaches a
graduate level course, "Institutions and
Management in Foreign Affairs," and
a sophomore seminar on terrorism.
"I'm not basically here as a recruiter,"
says Bean, "but I'm perfectly willing to
discuss the subject with interested stu-
dents .... I might have conversations
with several people a week who in-
quire about the CIA and other firms:"
Does the fact that so many George-
town students are apparently bound
for careers with the CIA have any phil-
osophical implications for the univer-
sity? Schlesinger doesn't think so. "I
think if you read the mission and goals
statement of the university it talks
about international focus, leadership
in international arenas, service to the
country. So it's a rather obvious fit,"
he says, "Some people might think it's
co?
a more obvious fit than an investment
bank might be.
"This university and this office host
equally and in the same way a repre-
sentative from the CIA, the Catholic
Relief Service, the military armed forces
establishment or the Peace Corps."
Cline echoes Schlesinger on the is-
sue. "[The fact that Georgetown pro-
vides the CIA with the most recruits)
is a fortunate coincidence," he says.
"It's no great philosophical thing at
all:'
Carey, too, sees no reason to "read
any philosophical implication into it."
But she has trouble fathoming the no-
tion in the first place. "If students re-
ally knew the extent of what the CIA
does, I can't see how they'd be at-
tracted to it," she says.
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STAT
STAT
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UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
21 January 1987
Administration acknowledges Buckley's death
By MATTHEW C. GUINN
F.: ONLY
WASHINGTON
The State Department said Wednesday it has "sadly ... come to the
conclusion" that William Buckley, an American Embassy official kidnapped in
Lebanon in 1984, is dead.
Vice President George Bush confirmed for the first time Tuesday night that
Buckley had died while being held captive by the Islamic Jihad, the terrorist
group that claimed responsibility for his kidnapping. He also said Buckey had
been tortured.
"The preponderance of evidence is that he died. We don't have any proof. We
don't have the body," said department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley.
Asked for elaboration on Bush's comments, Oakley read a statement to
reporters that said: "Although Mr. Buckley's body has not been recovered, the
preponderance of information available to us indicates that Mr. Buckley died in
captivity.
"Evaluating all of the information we have received, including conclusions
of hostages who were released and the long time which has passed with no
information to indicate Mr. Buckley is alive, we have sadly had to come to that
conclusion."
Oakley declined comment on the prospects for release of other American
hostages held in Lebanon. She noted Church of England envoy Terry Waite, who is
in Beirut trying to arrange freedom for Western hostages, is in West Beirut
while the U.S. Embassy is in East Beirut and communication is "increasingly
difficult."
Oakley said the department does not know where Buckley died or whether he had
been tortured or executed. "It's simply that we don't know and we simply must
be very careful," she said.
. She also declined comment on when the administration reached its conclusion
that Buckley was dead.
Buckley was listed as political counselor in the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, but
has been identified in published reports as the CIA station chief in Lebanon.
The Islamic Jihad announced Oct. 4, 1985, that he had been executed. It had
also been reported that he died in Iran after being tortured.
Robert McFarlane, former White House national security adviser, said in an
interview on ABC's "Nightline" program Tuesday night that when he went on his
secret trip to Tehran last May with a plane full of U.S. weapons, he expected to
win the release of all the American hostages plus the remains of Buckley,
indicating recognition that Buckley was dead.
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II)
Approved For Release 20060f0r3E:DCIftFRFs'911-FrM01100 010001-8
21 January 1987
WASHINGTON
FILE ONLY
STATINTL
Vice President George Bush has confirmed that William Buckley, the CIA's
station chief in Beirut, LUgribn, was tortured and murdered by his Islamic Jihad
Kidnappers.
The vice president, speaking to a conference on terrorism Tuesday night about
the Iran arms-Contra aid scandal, said Buckley, seized off the streets of
Lebanon's anarchic capital March 16, 1984, was murdered.
Bush, the first administration official to confirm Buckley's murder, did not
give any further details. Buckley's Islamic Jihad kidnappers announced in
October 1985 that Buckley had been killed because he was a CIA agent.
The CIA has never claimed Buckley as one of their own, but it reportedly
was his situation -- and that of four other Americans held hostage by pro-Iran
extremists -- that at first prompted the administration to pursue its
arms-for-hostages deal with Iran.
Bush touched on the frustration felt within the administration over the
prolonged detention of the American hostages in Lebanon and the determination to
"explore every channel, run down every lead."
He said President Reagan opposes trading arms for hostages but, "At the same
time you should know the concern that the president feels, that we all feel,
when an American in terrorist hands is tortured, and in the case of William
Buckley, killed."
Islamic Jihad claimed Oct. 14, 1985, that Buckley, 56, was "executed" and
produced a photograph of what it said was his corpse, but his body was never
recovered. He reportedly was tortured.
CIA Director William Casey and Reagan reportedly wanted to get Buckley
freed for humanitarian reasons and also because they were fearful that Buckley
would reveal critical intelligence information about the region to his
torturers.
Bush, on the basic issue of whether arms were indeed traded for hostages,
said: "When all the facts are out, the American people can make up their own
minds on that key question. But the American people should also know that the
president is certain to this very day that he did not authorize arms for
hostages."
Continued
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STAT
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Today, Sen. David, Boren 0?Okla., the new chairman of the Senate Intelligence
uu
[-----]
mmittee, told the terrorism conference, "I believe the president" when
Reagan 5aid arms were sent to Iran only to open the dialogue with "moderates"
in the radical Islamic government of Ayttollah Ruhollah khomeini.
But Reagan was obviously influenced in the overture to Iran by the plight of
the American hostages, Boren said.
We became obsessed with getting the hostages out, so the hostages and the
arms became intertwined, even if that were not the object," he said. The defect
in the U.S. approach was to treat every hostage incident as a national or
international crisis, as horrible as the incidents might be, he said.
Bush, the first member of the administration to admit that "mistakes were
made" in the Iran arms deal, acknowledged that "a widespread perception exists
that this administration traded arms for hostages, thereby violating our own
strong policy of making no concessions to terrorists."
In defense of the administration, Bush insisted the terrorism policy was
upheld by intercepting the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Laura in
October 1985 and retaliating against Libya last April.
"It is therefore with a prOfound sense of loss that I view this existing
perception that we have abandoned our policy of not negotiating with
terrorists," he said.
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BESt COP
Available
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a\pEtr;
ApprovadaddRelease 2006/01/03 : DATIIIMEI-00901R00010
21 January 1987
0 I /-i I IIN I L
1010001-8
Vush confirms death of Beirut
hostage Buckley
glipaul Weed
Altpington Bureau of The Sun
k4rASHINGTON ? In a speech re-
tiing the administration's deter-
on to combat terrorism, Vice
dent George __Diaab_acknowl-
last night that U.S. hostage
. - Buckley, reportedly the CIA
? .n chief in Beirut, had been tar-
and killed by Islamic terrorists
I ., on.
Bush's comment was the first
ca confirmation by the govern-
ment that Mr. Buckley. who was
kidnapped in 1984. had been killed.
L ih his address, the vice president
that controversy over the Iran
deal had given the administra-
chance to repair the damaged
Witty of its anti-terrorist policy.
acknowledged the "existing
on that we have abandoned
cy of not negotiating with ter-
'.Out, he insisted, the administra-
Xtbe, no concessions to terror-
policy "has been, and contin-
*Si
Addressing a conference on ter-
rorism sponsored by Time Inc.. Mr.
Bush said the Iran arms scandal
gives the administration "the oppor-
tunity to restore the credibility of our
policy. give it new meaning and
move forward with a renewed com-
mitment in our battle against the
terrorist threat."
Mr. Bush. who headed a White
House task force on terrorism last
year, did not specify how the admin-
istration might demonstrate a re-
newed commitment.
"Let there be no confusion, least
of all among would-be terrorists," he
told a dinner audience of several
thousand at a Washington hotel. if
a terrorist act is committed, we will
come after you. And if we find you,
we are going to bring you to justice."
The vice president was among a
handful of senior administration of-
ficials who attended a White House
meeting last January in which Mr.
Reagan authorized the secret sale of
arms to Iran.
A key objective of the arms deal.
according to White House docu-
ments, was to help gain the release
of Americans being held hostage.
Mr. Bush reiterated that Presi-
dent Reagan "is certain to this very
day that he did not authorize arms
for hostages" by selling weapons to
Iran.
And he said that "when all the
facts are out, the American people
can make up their own minds"
about whether there was an arms-
for-hostages deal.
Mr. Buckley's death had been
widely reported in news accounts.
which began with an Oct. 4. 1985,
announcement by the Islamic Jihad
terrorist organization that he had
been executed.
The vice president's press secre-
tary, Marlin Fitzwater, said Mr.
Buckley's death had not previously
been acknowledged because his
body has not been recovered.
He said Mr. Bush. who used Mr.
Buckley's death to illustrate the ad-
ministration's continuing concern
for the safety of U.S. hostages in the
Middle East. felt that it had become
"generally acknowledged" that Mr.
Buckley was dead.
The Reagan administration "will
exploFeevery channel, run down ev-
ery lead. We will go the extra mile to
free those American hostages." Mr.
Bush said.
He said "there is a very thin line
between talking with terrorists and
negotiating with terrorists."
But Mr. Bush emphasized that
the administration's anti-terrorist
policy remains unchanged.
"We do not make concessions to
terrorists," he said. "We do not pay
ransoms. We do not release prison-
ers. We do not encourage other
countries to give in to terrorists. And
we do not agree to other acts that
might encourage future terrorism."
Mr. Bush said the United States
had made "great progress" In thwart-
ing planned terrorist attacks.
He cited the arrest in Turkey last
April of Libyan-supported terrorists
allegedly planning to attack the U.S.
officers' club in Ankara and the pre-
vention of a planned attack last
spring against citizens In a viS4 line
at the U.S. Consulate in Paris.
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STAT
ICAtielt
ON P
Bush Says a Hostage Was Killed
NEW YORK TIMES
21 January 1987
100010001-8
Special to The New York Time,
Bush was apparently trying to explain.
sortie of the motivation behind the ship- A
ment of arms to Iran by the Reagan'
Administration.
He said the President did not intend :
to send the arms as a trade for Amer- ,
ican hostages held in Lebanon. But he
added, "At the same time you should
know the concern that the President
feels, that we all feel, when an Amer- ,
ican in terrorist hands is tortured, and
in the case of William Buckley, killed." .,
Mr. Buckley was kidnapped on a Bei-
rut street on March le, 11B4. At the!
time and for many months afterward,
he was described as a political officec!
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 ? Vice
President B said tonight that an
American-RI-di-lapped by terrorists in
Lebanon had been killed.
It has been widely assumed that the
American, William Buckley, who was
thought to be the Central Intelligence
Agency station chief in Lebanon, was
dead. But Mr. Bush's remarks were the
first explicit public acknowledgement
by a senior Administration official that
he had been killed by his captors. The
Vice President did not identify Mr.
Buckley as an agent of the C.I.A.
In remarks prepared for delivery to-
night at a 'conference on terrorism, Mr.
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STATINTL
3
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-fl1 WASHINGTON POST
21 January 1987
Reagan Sure He Didn't Allow
Swap for Captives. Bush Says
I- By David Huainan
.1 ,r ,It 14rircr
Vice President Bush said last
night that President I (FNan "is cer-
tain to this very day that he did not
authorize 'arms for hostages' " in
his decision to supply U.S. weapons
to Iran while seeking to win free-
:16m for Americans captive in Leb-
'4iion.
:7:13u1 Bush did not reiterate his
'am claim, made last month, that
'Ole president did not trade arms for
hostages.
- :In an address here to an interna-
tional conference on terrorism,
-Bash attempted .to restate the ad-
ministration's antiterrorism policy,
which has been badly damaged by
the decision to sell' weapons to Ira*,
a nation listed by the United States
as sponsoring terrorism.
The arms sales have also become
a political liability for the vice pres-
ident, who chaired a terrorism task
force last year and is launching his
1988 presidential campaign.
Bush, who participated in some
key meetings on the arms deals but
was left out of others, acknowl-
edged again last night that "a wide-
spread perception certainly exists
that this administration traded arms
for hostages, thereby violating our
own strong policy of making no con-
cession to terrorists.
"When all the facts are out, the
American people cat make up their
own mind on that key question,* he
said. Bush did not r his own
view on this q :. said, "we
. _
must reaffirm our peiksiiwith a bet-
ter understanding that there is a
very thin and delicate line between
talking with terrorists and negoti-
ating with terrorists."
Referring to the efforts of Angli-
can church envoy Terry Waite,
Bush said that "searching for ways
to communicate with hostage-tak-
ers can be a ghostly business."
The question of whether an
arms-for-hostages trade was. under-
taken has been central to the un-
folding disclosures about the Iran
arms deals. Reagan said in his early
speeches on the controversy that
the United States did not make
such a trade. Aides have said he
continues to hold this view because
the weapons did not go directly to
the hostages' captors
In a memorandum dated Jan. 17,
1986, Vice Adm. John M. Poindex-
ter, then the president's national
security adviser, concluded that the
approach to Iran "may well be our
only way to achieve the release of
the Americans held in Beirut." Rea-
gan was briefed orally on the con-
tents of this memorandum, with
Bush and White House chief of staff
Donald T. Regan present, accord-
ing to a notation Poindexter made
on the memo. The document also
described an Israeli proposal to at-
tempt to bring to power "a more
moderate government" in Iran.
In his remarks last night, Bush
recalled the interception of the -
Achille Lauro hijackers in October
1985 and the U.S. bombing raid on
Libya last April and said: "It is . . .
with a profound sense of loss that I
view this existing perception that
we have abandoned our policy of
not negotiating with terrorists." He
added that the administration "must
reaffirm our policy" and said, "Out
of adversity comes opportunity.
"And we now have the opportu-
nity to restore the credibility of our
policy, give it new meaning, and
move forward with a renewed com-
mitment in our battle against the
terrorist threat," Bush added.
"We do not make concessions to
terrorists. We do not pay ransoms.
We do not release prisoners. We do
not encourage other countries to
give in to terrorists. And we do not
agree to other acts that might en-
courage future terrorism," he said.
Bush, reviewing the recommen-
dations of the terrorism task force,
which issued a report last February,
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10100010001-8
said "we have made great progress
in thwarting potential terrorist at-
tacks."
He said "it is critical that would-
be terrorists know that their ac-
tions will result in retribution" but
added that "military solutions can
never be our first choice." Prior to
the April 15 Libya attack, the ad-
ministration had been embroiled in
a long-running internal debate over
the wisdom of using military force
against terrorists, a debate that
remains unsettled.
"We have to stand up to terror-
ism, and we have to keep standing
up until we stop it," Bush said.
"That's why our policy has been,
and continues to be, no concessions
to terrorists."
In a December interview, Bush
said he was "convinced" that the
United States was not trading arms
for hostages in the Iran dealings.
However, since then evidence has
emerged that such a trade was part
of the Iran policy. Bush did not re-
peat the contention last night.
An aide to the vice president said
Bush delivered the speech out of a
conviction that Americans want the
administration to "move forward"
against terrorism despite the Iran
scandal.
In other remarks, Bush said that
William Buckley, identified in pub-
lished reports as CIA station chief
in Beirut, was tortured and killed by
his captors. It was the first public
confirmation of Buckley's death,
although Bush did not say where he
got his information or give details.
Bush's spokesman, Marlin Fitz-
water, said the comment on Buck-
ley's death "reflects an acceptance
of the situation as we know it." He
noted that Buckley's body has never
been recovered. "The vice presi-
dent feels there is enough informa-
tion now to acknowledge" Buckley's
death, he said.
The Washington Post reported in
November that Buckley, a terror-
ism expert who was kidnaped
March 16, 1984, died in Beirut,
apparently in June 1985. His kid-
napers first declared him dead later
that year.
Bush is to travel today to Canada
for a meeting with Prime Minister
i31001044100401011111-8cid rain and
trade issues.
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WASHINGIUN TNES
21 January 1987
-Vice President confirms Buckley was
tortured and killed
3y Bill Gertz
HE WASHINGTON TIMES
Vice President George Bush last
night confirmed for the first time
that a U.S. Embassy official taken
hostage in Beirut in 1984 had been
tortured and killed.
He also reaffirmed the Reagan
administration's anti-terrorism
policy and said the United States was
prepared to "go the extra mile" to
free other Americans held hostage
in Lebanon.
In doing so, Mr. Bush told a meet-
ing of some 700 counter-terrorism
and security experts, "you should
know the concern the president
feels, that we all feel, when an Amer-
ican in terrorist hands is tortured
and, in the case of William Buckley,
killed."
Mr. Buckley, reportedly the CIA's
top Middle East counterterrorist ex-
pert, was kidnapped by pro-Iranian
Shi'ite terrorists. According to pub-
lished accounts, he was tortured by
his captors and may have revealed
the identities of some CIA personnel
involved in counterterrorist activi-
ties.
Intelligence sources said the
agency erred in sending Mr Buck-
ley to Lebanon since his cover had
been blown and his identity had been
revealed to pro-terrorist forces in
the Middle East.
Islamic Jihad, the group claiming
responsibility for kidnapping Mr.
Buckley announced on Oct. 4, 1985,
that he had been executed.
The organization released a photo
it said showed Me Buckley's body
but the corpse was not found and his
death was not confirmed by U.S. of-
ficials.
Mr. Bush also sought to clarify the
administration's initiative to what he
called certain factions in Iran, and to
respond to criticism that President
Reagan had compromised princi-
ples by secretly selling arms to Teh-
ran in a deal to secure freedom for
American hostages.
Three Americans were released
from Lebanon following U.S. air
shipments of TOW anti-tank mis-
siles and spare parts for Iran's U.S.-
made anti-aircraft batteries.
". . A widespread perception ex-
ists that this adminiatraticaraded
arms for hristages, thereby 4olathag
our own strong policy of nuking no
concessions to terrorists:' Mr Bush
told a conference on "Ibrrorism in a
Thchnological World."
"But the American people should
also know that the president is cer-
tain to this day that he did not autho-
rize 'arms for hostages:"
Mr. Bush, who headed a pres-
idential task foi ce on terrorism i
. n
1985-86, said U.S. policy remains
firm: "We do not make concessions
to terrorists. We do not pay ransoms.
"I believe we must reaffirm our
policy with a better understanding
that there is a very thin and delicate
line between talking with terrorists
and negotiating with terrorists," he
said.
"Out of adversity comes opportu-
nity and we now have the opportu-
nity to restore the credibility of our
policy, give it new meaning and move
forward with renewed commitment
in our battle against the terrorist
threat."
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IAIHNIL
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
20 January 1987
Bush Confirms Death Of Hostage William Buckley
By BRYAN BRUMLEY, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
901R000100010001-8
fiti ONLY
Vice President George Bush, confirming for the first time the death of
hostage William Buckley, said Tuesday night the U.S. embassy official kidnapped
in Beirut in 1984 had been tortured and killed.
And, the vice president said the administration will "go the extra mile" to
see that the remaining hostages are freed.
Buckley, identified in published reports as the head of the CIA station in
Beirut when he was kidnapped on March 16, 1984, has been believed dead since the
Islamic Jihad terrorist organization announced on Oct. 4, 1985, that it had
executed him.
Islamic Jihad released a photo it says showed Buckley's body, but the corpse
has never been found and U.S. officials had not confirmed his death. Buckley
apparently died in June 1985.
Bush, in a speech delivered at a terrorism conference in Washington Tuesday
night, did not specify which government agency Buckley worked for, did not say
how he was sure that Buckley was dead, and did not give any details of his
death. The vice president did not deviate from the prepared text released
earlier and did not speak with reporters following the address.
The vice president, referring to the sale of U.S. anti-tank and anti-aircraft
missile arms to Iran in 1985 and 1986, said that "the American people should
know that the president is certain to this very day that he did not authorize
'arms for hostages."'"At the same time you should know the concern that the
president feels when an American in terrorist hands is tortured, and in the case
of William Buckley, killed," Bush said.
Marlin Fitzwater, the vice president's press secretary, said the statement on
Buckley's death "reflects an acceptance of the situation as we know it. The
problem is Mr. Buckley's body has not been recovered. It has been difficult to
acknowledge his death in the past," he added.
"The vice president feels there is enough evidence now to acknowledge it,"
Fitzwater said. He would not discuss what _ if any _ new evidence had been
uncovered.
In its fight against terrorism, Bush said, the administration would press for
the extradition of Mohammed All Hamadi, a Lebanese arrested in West Germany last
week in connection with the killing of U.S. Navy diver Robert D. Stethem by
hijackers in June 1985.
"None of us are going to rest until Hamadi is brought to justice," Bush said.
Earlier, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the government had
officially requested Hamedi's extradition.
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Hamadi, 22, is wanted on U.S. charges of air piracy, murder and more than a
dozen other crimes in connection with the hijacking of a TWA jet, commandeered
between Athens and Rome and forced to land in Beirut.
In Beirut, new hopes were raised for the release of five Americans still held
hostage. Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite canceled his flight home to England
on Tuesday to stay in Beirut for face-to-face negotiations with representatives
of the Islamic Jihad. Waite played in intermediary role in the release of three
other American hostages.
To free the Americans, Bush said, the administration "will explore every
channel, run down every lead. We will go the extra mile to free those
hostages."Bush, who headed a presidential task force on terrorism in 1985-86,
drew the distinction between contacting terrorists and bargaining with them, a
point that has been made by other administration officials.
"I believe we must reaffirm our policy with a better understanding that there
is a very thin and delicate line between talking with terrorists and negotiating
with terrorists," Bush said.
"We do not make concessions to terrorists," Bush said, reaffirming a long
declared U.S. policy. "We do not pay ransoms. We do not release prisoners. We do
not encourage other countries to give in to terrorists. And we do not agree to
other acts that might encourage future terrorism."The other Americans still held
in Lebanon are:
Terry Anderson, 39, a native of Lorain, Ohio, chief Middle East
correspondent for The Associated Press, abducted March 16, 1985.
Thomas Sutherland, 55, of Fort Collins, Colo., acting dean of agriculture at
American University, kidnapped June 10, 1985.
Frank Herbert Reed, 53, of Malden, Mass., director of the Lebanese
International School in Beirut, kidnapped Sept. 9, 1986.
Joseph Cicippio, 56, of Valley Forge, Pa., acting comptroller of American
University, abducted Sept. 12, 1986.
Edward Austin Tracy, 56, of Rutland, Vt., a self-described writer of
children's books. The date of his kidnapping is unclear. It was announced Oct.
21, 1986 by a group calling itself Revolutionary Justice Organization.
Islamic Jihad claims to hold Anderson and Sutherland. Revolutionary Justice
Organization, another Shiite faction, claims to hold Cicipppio and Tracy. Reed
is believed held by a pro-Libya faction, the Arab Revolutionary Cells-Omar
Moukhtar Forces.
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A p p rovitiftg Relesese-2006/01/03 : C
WV5c4eflPen-i6
"-?"?10-? ? essalleseowserawoSoiti
fatilicao 1 -8
' Arms affair: puzzles
wrapped in enigmas
By Warren Richey and George D. Moffett III
Statrwriters of The Christian Science Monitor
Washington
It has been five weeks since a pro-Syrian Lebanese
weekly, Ash Shiraa, broke the news that the United
States was secretly shipping arms to Iran.
Since then, the controversy has broadened to include
reports that profits from the arms sales were funneled
to a secret Swiss bank account to aid rebel groups
fighting against Nicaragua's Sandinista government.
In the coming weeks the Justice Department, several
congressional committees, and the nation's news media
will be seeking answers to a growing list of unanswered
questions. Among them:
How much did President Reagan and his senior
advisers know about the Iran-contra operation?
Questions persist about when President Reagan
knew about and authorized the arms sales. (Related
story, Page 10.) Reagan has denied knowing about the
diversion of profits from the arms sale to aid the
Nicaraguan contras until being told by Attorney Gen-
eral Edwin Meese on Nov. 24. So far no one has directly
contradicted the President. But some in Congress say it
is unlikely that Mr. Reagan would have been unaware
of the funds transfers.
Attorney General Meese says information about the
operation was confined to three National Security
Council officials: former NSC chiefs
Robert C. McFarlane and Vice-Adm.
John M. Poindexter and a former
staff member, U. Col. Oliver L.
North.
But questions have been raised
about the possible knowledge of
other top White House officials.
Both White House chief of staff Don-
ald Regan and iii&Erii1gilla9Xte
NAL have denied knowledge of the
contra connection. But skeptics
question whether Mr Regan, who
holds tight control over the oper-
ation of the White House staff, could
have been ignorant of the activities
of subordinates like Admiral
Poindexter, Colonel North, and Mr.
McFarlane.
AMeanwhile, Mr Bush,.a former di-
th Crligm_qt_e eir Intelligence
Agency. has been linked i in news re-
port&to a secret contra resupply
operation through contacts with a
former CIA official who now serves
as Bush's principal national-security
Secretary of State George Shultz,
who opposed the Iran arms ship-
ments, says he was only "sporadi-
cally" informed of the shipments
and knew nothing of the Swiss bank
accounts until the story became pub-
lic two weeks ago.
How much did US intelligence
agenciea know about the Iran-
contra connection?
De CIA arranged air transporta-
tiOn for at least one Israeli_ arms
shipment to Iranin November 1a85
After the President signed a "find-
ing" in January 1986 authorizing di-
rect US arms shipments to Iran, the
agency acted as middleman, arrang-
ing the transfer of US arms from
American stockpiles to Israel for
transshipment to Iran.
The CIA has admitted handling
certain flnancjai arecta of the,
Iranian arms sales, mcludmg collect-
ing funds to reimburse the Pentagon
for the initial $12 million cost of
weapons sold to Iran. But questions
remain about whether the CIA
helped funnel some $10 million to
$30 million in profits from the sales
to a Swiss bank account maintained
to fund the Nicaraguan contras.
A reference by Attorney General
Meese in a Nov. 25 White House
press briefing to "a number of inter-
cepts" concerning the Iran arms deal
has stirred speculation that other US
intelligence agencies - particularly
the National Security Agency, which
intercepts and decodes electronic
transmissions and signals world- STAT
wide - may have known of the Iran-
contra arrangement before it be-
came public.
cuniregulom kausgayya
he learned of the contra connection
only after it became public, but he
has admitted to hearing "gossip"
about secret sources of funding for
the contras. News reports say Mr
Casey may have learned of the
contra connection from intelligence
sources a month before it was pub-
licly disclosed by Meese but appar-
ently failed to inform any senior ad-
ministration officials.
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? Casey is said to have learned of
the con connection asnnection result of,
on intercepted messages of unknown
o messages are said to
quote Iranians involved in the US
arms deals as saying they had been
significantly overcharged for the
weapons. It is unclear whether these
intercepts were the same ones re-
ferred to by Meese on Nov. 25.
What quantity of arms actually
reached Iran?
In a televised address to the na-
tion two weeks ago, Reagan said that
"everything that we sold [Iran] could
be put in one cargo plane and there
would be plenty of room left over"
At least four direct shipments
from the US and, according to iran
expert Gary Sick of the Ford Foun-
dation, as many as 12 indirect ship-
ments from Israel (sent on behalf of
the US as part of the arms-for-hos-
tages deal) have gone to Iran since
last fall. US shipments reportedly
included over 2,000 TOW antitank
missiles and 235 Hawk surface-to-
air missiles, plus radar equipment.
Attorney General Meese has esti-
mated the value of the direct ship-
ments at $12 million. But Mr. Sick
estimates that the total value of all
arms sent to Iran could range from
$500 million to $1 billion. Pentagon
officials have not specified the quan-
tity of US arms transferred directly
to Iran or indirectly through Israel.
Have US laws been violated in
the Iran-contra affair?
The Justice Department has ap-
plied to a federal court for the ap-
pointment of an independent coun-
sel, or special prosecutor, to direct
an investigation into whether fed-
eral laws have been broken.
Legal experts point to two laws
that may have been violated by
sending arms to Iran: the Export
Administration Act, which prohibits
the export or sale of goods to coun-
tries, including Iran, that participate
in state-sponsored terrorism; and
the Arms Export Control Act, which
regulates the commercial export of
arms. At issue here is whether the
President's January 1986 "finding"
took precedence over these laws.
Some members of Congress say
the President violated the National
Security Act of 1947 by not provid-
ing "timely" notification of the arms
sale to congressional leaders.
Meanwhile, legal experts say
using profits from the Iran arms
sales to fund the Nicaraguan contras
could violate the Boland amend-
ment, which barred US intelligence
agencies, including the NSC, from
helping the contras wage their war
against Nicaragua's Sandinista government. The Boland
amendment was in effect from May 1984 to September
1986, when Congress lifted the ban.
Who controlled the Swiss bank accounts?
One CIA bank account, which may have received
.contributions from Saudi Arabia, was apparently set up
to assist Afghan rebels fighting Soviet occupation rorces.
The CIA has said it was involved in the transfer offunds
from the Iran arms shipments but denies involvement in
funneling profits from the arms deals to the contras.
In addition, State Department officials have acknowl-
edged that they persuaded the Sultan of the Southeast
Asian nation of Brunei to contribute several million
dollars to a Swiss bank account to help the contras. It is
unclear whether other countries may have contributed
to the fund and who managed the account.
Questions have also been raised about an account
mentioned by Colonel North in instructions to financier
H. Ross Perot Mr. Perot agreed to provide $2 million in
secret payments in an attempt to help secure the release
of American hostages in Lebanon. The plan, allegedly
organized by North, never bore fruit
Reports have also discussed a series of financial
transactions and bank accounts controlled by businesses
and associates of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V.
Secord. General Secord has been identified as a close
associate of NSC staff member North and has been
linked to a secret effort to supply the contras through air
drops of weapons and ammunition.
The Justice Department has reportedly asked Swiss
authorities to assist in an investigation of two bank
accounts and three individuals: North, Secord, and
Secord's business partner, Albert Hakim.
Who set up and ran the secret contra resupply
operation?
3entinuad
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The downing of a transport plane over Nicaragua on
Oct. 5 has exposed an elaborate secret air resupply
operation staffed by former US intelligence officials and
operatives. Investigators are looking into the possibility
that the profits from the Iranian arms deals may have
been used to fund the supply network. They are also
trying to discover whether US officials were directly
involved in the supply operation during the time the
Boland amendment was in effect.
Both North and Secord have been directly linked to
the Iran arms deal and to continued efforts to assist the
Nicaraguan contras. Secord has been tied to the supply
effort by former crew members involved in secret
resupply flights and by records of frequent telephone
calls from a "safe house" in El Salvador to Secord's
business and home.
North has been identified by Meese as the prime
operative in the Iran-contra affair. He is said to have
planned and run the shipping of arms to Iran and the
funneling of profits from those sales to Central America.
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STAT
NEW YORK POST
ARTICLE APPEAREOved For Release 2006/01/W6MA-if IDIP99600901R000100010001-8
ON PACE
INSIDE WASHINGTON
For Vice President Bush,
VICE President Bush was
ousted National Security
briefed "several times" by the big question: how
By NILES LATHEM
aide Lt. Col. Oliver North
ings with Iran, The Post
has learned.
on the status of the ad-
-much did he know
minis tration's arms deal-
But it fa unclear whether
Bush knew that the profits
from the Iranian arms? have been pushing
sale were being averted to fisunboyant Navy Seer-
the anti-Communist Nice- tary John Lehman and
fiery former UN Ambea-
raguan rebels.
Bush's staff claims the sador Jeane Kirkpatrick.
vice president was But White House offi-
cials say the leading can-
"stunned" by last week's
disclosure of that fact. did& te now appears to be
Sources said Bush was outgoin g NATO ambas-
briefed on Iran arms deal- sador David Abshire, who
ings over the past year by is Shultz's candidate.
North, who was fired last 4.:----,',. White House chief-of-
Tuesday for his role in or- w staff Donald Regan's can-
chestrating the laundering didate, Foreign Police
of Iran arms profits to buy Review editor William
weapons for the contras. Hyland, is said to be still
According to National in the running, but a long-
Security Council insiders. shot.
Bush ? who was heavily
The fact that the embat-
involved in administration tied Regan, who enjoyed
anti-terrorism policy as unchallenged authority
well as with private efforts GEORGE SH GEORGE BUSH ULTZ over presidential appoint
to supply anti-Communist rho winnohl Quostion mark. ments, appears to have
rebels in Nicaragua ? was been unable to get his
"Intimately aware" of criticism from Reagan's Whose candidate Rea- own NSC candidae the job
many of North's activities long-time California ad- gan will appoint, prob- is seen as a clear sign
that are now under hives. visers for failing to stand ably this week, is seen as that Regan's power has
tigation by the Justice up for the President in his crucial to those particip been weakened by efforts
Dept. hour of crisis and is ex- ating in the backstage of Reagan's California
Bush's national security pected to speak out in sup- lobbying drama because cronies to oust him.
adviser. Donald Ciregg. a port of Reagan shortly. It will be a sure indicati FOOTNOTE: Another
former ru operative.
on of where the foreignsign, that Regan's star is
c dm ***
keilL_Iituab_anactdat n policy advisers them- waning was seen last
e?n
selves stand after Reagan week in a private Oval Of-
closely activities with North QyAr George Shultz appears to
thumitazir. have come out a winner the Iran fiasco. President gave Shultz
Shultz, despite the fact broad new powers as the
Bush spent Thanksgiv- ? in a behind-the-scenes
ing weekend at his home battle among Reagan's that he has run afoul of Adminis tration's foreign
in Kennebunkport. Maine, senior foreign policy ad. First Lady Nancy Rea- policy czar.
closeted away from the visers over the rep
lace gan and her California Shultz asked the Presi-
press ? and the scandal ? ment of NSC adviser Pals for distancing him- dent to call Regan into
on the advice of his 1988 John Poindexter. self from the President the room so the imperi-
presidential campaign ad- Only hours after Rea. over the Iran deal, al- Otla chief-of-staff would
visers. gan announced Poindex. ready has defeated a hear the President's in-
Up until now, the vice ter's resignation last series of conservative structions.
president has yet to come Tuesday over the Iran candidates, according to The President, who
out in public to support arms scandal, every insiders, rarely gets himself in-
His cabinet rivals ? volved in staff power
President Reagan, saying member of Reagan's for-
only that he had "no role eign policy team pushed CIA director William plays, agreed to Shultz's
in it." his own candidate for the Casey and Defense Secre- request ? sending a clear
But Bush has drawn NSC post. tarv Caspar Weinber zer message to Regan.
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kftp.j.tivokFekseelease 2006/01/03 : CIA-
ON PAGE -4=4--- BALTIMORE SUN
25 November 1986
LDP91-00901R000100010001-8
British paper says Bush was asked
about alleged plots by spy services
By Gilbert A. Lewthwaite
London Bureau of The Sun
LONDON ? Vice President
George Bush, who was director of
fife CentiaIntelligence A enc at
the tirrie,_.apere_ y J2..? n
years o to assure Britain's Labor
Pifiui?minister,llarold_WllSan?that
the CIA had no knowledge of _au",
intelligence prat _
newspaper reported this weels,
Mr. Wilson had become con-
cerned that Britain's MI-5 secret ser-
vice, dominated by Conservatives,
might be trying to undermine him
politically, according to The Sunday
Times.
Mr. Wilson summoned the heads
of M1-5, the domestic intelligence
service, and MI-6, the overseas espi-
onage service, to challenge them
with his suspicions. They acknowl-
edged that there were anti-Labor
factions inside their services but as-
sured him that there was no plot.
Unsatisfied, Mr. Wilson then
asked Sen. Hubert lidlumplirey?a_
liberal Democrat
cDe
ec on whether the CIA had
il?e of an intelligence plot
now
against
As a result, Mr. Bush flew to Lon-
'don to say there was no U.S. knowl-
edge of such a plot. Mr. Wilson, still
suspicious, unsuccessfully tried to
establish a royal commission to
check into possible intelligence ser-
vice actions again him.
Now, according to the Sunday
Times, a former MI-5 agent has de-
tailed a series of intelligence opera-
tions, including burglaries, mounted
by the service in an effort to deter-
mine whether Mr. Wilson and his
top aides had arty Communist con-
nections.
A court has banned publication
of the former agent's book in Britain
on the grounds that its author, Peter
Wright, was under an oath of confi-
dentiality as a former agent, and
that his revelations could damage
British national security interests.
The British government is trying
to have the book banned in Austral-
ia, where Mr. Wright is now propos-
ing to publish it.
The Sunday Times, quoting
sources in the British government
and in in Australia, says the damage
done to the secret service by the rev-
elation of its domestic political activi-
ties is the real reason the govern-
ment does not want the book pub-
lished.
It has been argued in the Austral-
ian court case, which continues this
week, that allowing a former agent
to publish his memoirs would set a
significant precedent. A central alle-
gation in the book is that the late Sir
Roger Hollis, a former director-gen-
eral of MI-5, was a Soviet agent.
But the revelation this week, if
true, will bring a new political di-
mension to a case that has already
become a major embarrassment to
the British governm8nt.
It has triggered a debate in Brit-
ain on the public's right to know
against the government's right to se-
crecy.
It has provoked a demand that
the now unfettered secret services
be placed under parliamentary over
sight.
It has spurred the British attor-
ney general to suddenly order a po-
lice investigation into earlier alleged
leaks by MI-5 officers to an author
who also happens to be a Conserva-
tive parliamentary candidate.
It has produced the spectacle of
the country's top civil servant admit-
ting, under hostile questioning in a
Sydney court, that he had been "eco-
nomical with the truth."
And it has put Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher in the unusual
position of being overruled by the
speaker of the House of Commons
for declining to answer questions
about the issue on the grounds that
It was before a court.
At the heart of the matter is an
autobiography titled "Spy Catcher,"
by Mr. Wright,-71, a former agent in
MI-5 who now lives in Tasmania.
The allegation about Sir Roger
Hollis has beth made in two books
by journalists, but Mr. Wright brings
the authority of the insider to his
account.
The government already has se-
cured a court order banning the
book in Britain on the grounds that
its revelations would damage nation-
al security and undermine confi-
dence of overseas intelligence agen-
cies in the British operation. The
government also successfully con-
tended that the author, as an MI-5
agent, was under a lifelong vow of
confidentiality.
In the Australian court, the gov-
ernment has suddenly dropped the
argument that national security
i0 I I-% I IIM
its contention that all employees of
the secret services are bound to si-
lence. It fears that allowing Mr.
Wright to publish his memoirs ?
the first by a former British agent ?
would open the floodgates for others.
The government has had some-
thing of a rough ride in the Austral-
ian court. Justice Philip Ernest Pow-
ell has complained of the govern-
ment's "serpentine weavings" in
shifting the grounds of its argument,
and of its legal "mumbo jumbo."
Reports of the case published in
Britain suggest that the justice has
been less than impressed by Sir
Robert Armstrong, Mrs. Thatcher's
Cabinet secretary and Britain's most
powerful civil servant, who was dis-
patched to Sydney last week to per-
suade the justice to ban the bock.
Sir Robert, who has been called
"the most Olympian of mandarins"
by one commentator, no sooner was
in court than Justice Powell said he
had been "put up" by the govern-
ment to face questions although "it
appears there are matters upon
which he is quite incapable of assist-
ing the court."
Sir Robert has been grilled vigor-
ously and vehemently by Malcolm
Turnbull, lawyer for the author, Mr.
Wright, and his publisher, Heine-
mann.
"Have you been sent here be
cause of what you don't know?"
asked Mr. Turnbull.
He also zeroed in on a letter Sir
Robert wrote requesting a pre-publi-
cation copy of a 1981 book on MI-5
even though he already had one ? a
fact he deliberately concealed.
Challenged on whether he had
told an untruth in the letter, Sir Rob-
ert said he was "being economical
with the truth."
The Independent newspaper
said in an editorial: "This from the
man who is chosen by the prime
minister to represent her majesty's
government in a foreign court. Sir
Robert is already well beyond regu-
lar civil service retirement age. If Sir
Robert retained any self-respect, he
would resign from these disagreea-
ble duties."
Sir Robert admitted under ques-
tioning that the British government
had done nothing to prosecute MI-5
agents who leaked information to
authors of previous books on the
service.
would be breached and is relying on
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It was particularly embarrassing
for the government that one of those
authors, Rupert Allason, who writes
under the pen name Nigel West, will
be a Conservative candidate in the
next general election.
Just 24 hours after Sir Robert's
testimony, Sir Michael Havers, the
British attorney general, ordered an
immediate police investigation into
the alleged leaks, which took place
at leas'. four years ago. Mr. West's
book, 'A Matter of Trust," was pub-
lishe un 1982.
At another point, Sir Robert re-
fused even to acknowledge the exist-
ence of M1-6, the sister agency to
MI-5. M1-5 handles internal security
in Britain, and MI-6 deals with espio-
nage overseas.
The total lack of disclosure the
British government maintains has
spurred David Owen and David
Steel, Joint leaders of the Liberal-So-
cial Democratic alliance, to demand
creation of a parliamentary commit-
tee to supervise the security ser-
vices.
"There have been too many spy
scandals. Unanswered questions
proliferate around Britain's unac-
countable intelligence services. This
vital reform would let a little fresh
air blow into the suffocating closed
world of British intelligence," said
Mr. Steel, the Liberal leader.
Mrs. Thatcher has adopted the
traditional posture of saying as little
as possible on security matters.
Even when the speaker, Bernard
Weatherill, ruled that she could not
avoid questions, she gave incomplete
answers.
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ON PAGE NEWSWEEK
24 November 1936
Reagan's Iran Fiasco
Amateurish diplomacy
damages his credibility
at home and abroad
This was a Ronald Reagan never
before seen on national TV. His
jauntiness had turned to strained
sarcasm, his easy charm to defen-
siveness. Yes, he said, it was true:
for 18 months, while publicly insisting on
an arms embargo for Iran and no conces-
sions to terrorists, his administration had
been secretly shipping military hardware
to Teheran and pressing officials there to
get American hostages out of Lebanon. But
the press got it all wrong, he insisted; it was
"utterly false" to imply that these dealings
amounted to "ransom." Instead, he por-
trayed the courtship of Iranian moderates
as a secret diplomatic initiative meant to
bring Iran back into the Western fold, to
end its six-year war with Iraq and only
incidentally to win freedom for all hostages
in Lebanon, U.S. and foreign alike.
But this time the magic didn't work.
After a week of growing criticism over the
disclosure of the Iranian dealings, the Rea-
gan speech drew his first poll showing out-
right disbelief and a blitz of criticism from a
notably bipartisan bunch of politicians.
Reagan loyalists mostly went to ground,
and the allies he has been haranguing to
hang tough against terrorism and stop sell-
ing arms to Iran were caught somewhere
between dismay and schoolboy glee at his
embarrassment. If the arms shipments
weren't ransom, they amounted to another
kind of bribery; if Reagan wasn't deal-
ing with terrorists?and he insisted he
wasn't?he was wooing their sponsors in
the open hope of bringing hostages home.
In terms of the president's credibility, it
was by far the worst fiasco of the Reagan
years. As one of his own people mourned,
"Even with the whole story out, it doesn't
look good." The only clear winner in the
affair seemed to be Iran itself.
Dubious advice: In part, the unaccustomed
tide of disbelief reflected Reagan's many
fumbles in foreign policy in recent months.
As some officials despairingly see it, there
is no coherent foreign policy; instead, the
Reagan team has resorted increasingly to
one-shot, short-term expedients. "Every-
thing is handled day to day, and there is an
almost total unwillingness to take the long
view," said one experienced hand. In hind-
sight, Reagan's exchanging of an accused
Soviet spy for journalist Nicholas Daniloff
seemed a sign that he was all too eager for a
summit meeting. When a hasty agreement
with Mikhail Gorbachev to scrap all nude-
ar weapons foundered on Reagan's insist-
ence on pursuing his Star Wars defense, he
and his men sought to portray the breakup
as the promising beginning of a deal?but
they couldn't get straight what they had
agreed to and what it would mean. They A
were caught trying to spread disinforma-
tion about their plans for Libya, and caught
again with the downing of a plane carrying
supplies for the Nicaraguan contras, along
with mercenaries whose links to Washing-
ton were all too plain. The Iranian dealings
once again showed the president carrying
on his own seat-of-the-pants diplomacy,
this time with most of his experienced ad-
visers sidelined in dissent and only the
gung-ho staffers of the National Security
Council on board to give dubious advice.
Reagan's televised explanation proved
little help. The first opinion poll, by ABC
News, found that no matter what the presi-
dent said, 56 percent of the sampling be-
lieved it was an arms-for-hostages deal and
79 percent disapproved of it. Even if it had
been, as Reagan said, an effort to court
Iranian moderates, nearly three out of four
would turn thumbs down. And in Washing-
ton. politicians of all stripes were plainly
concluding that Ronald Reagan's Teflon
coating was finally wearing thin, though
they realized that the president had con-
founded such expectations in the past. Tell-
ingly, congressional hearings on the case
were to start this week?and congressional
tempers only worsened when it was dis-
closed that the CIA was involved in the
A dealings after all, and that CIA chief Wil-
M ham Casey had special dispensation from
Reagan to skip telling his oversight com-
mittees what was going on. With this em-
barrassment added to his failure to keep
the Senate Republican majority in this
month's elections, Reagan's cherished im-
age as an effective leader was suddenly
looking shaky.
'Major blunder': Predictably, Democratic
politicians were on the attack. The incom-
ing Senate majority leader, Robert Byrd,
called the Iran episode a "major foreign-
relations blunder"; denying that there had
been negotiations with terrorists, he said,
was "like saying it's all right to deal with
the Mafia boss but not the hit man." What
was surprising was the number of Republi-
cans who agreed?and the lack of Republi-
cans who would defend their president.
Somewhat lamely, outgoing Majority
Leader Robert Dole said the operation had
been "well motivated" but -a little inept."
As most U.S. diplomats saw it, the worst
damage was to America's credibility with
friends and foes alike. But this concern
COIni
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seemed sharper in Washington than in tor-
eign capitals, where doing one thing and
saying another seems more a matter of
diplomatic routine. In Paris. Le Monde
even congratulated Washington on its
"mastery." Arab governments were duly
outraged at the arms shipments to a com-
mon enemy, and Secretary of State George
Shultz. national-security adviser John
Poindexter and Vice President George
Bush were busy soothing their ambassa-
dors. European reaction was divided. Brit-
ain's opposition Labor Party spokesman
called Reagan's speech "stupefyingly in-
credible," but Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher. meeting Reagan last Saturday
at Camp David, downplayed any reserva-
tions over Iran to stress instead her grati-
tude for his backing of her play against
Syrian terrorism by announcing largely
symbolic new curbs on U.S. trade with Syr-
ia. The French, enmeshed in their own deli-
cate dealing that resulted in the freeing of
two hostages from Lebanon last week ( page
52), were generally smug that the U.S. em-
barrassment forestalled any harrumphing
from Washington about cash-and-carry di-
plomacy. And in capitals from Brasilia to
Seoul, arms traders were calculating that
the heat from Washington would now be
turned down and long-stalled deals with
Iran could be activated again.
Worst of all, the episode showed once
again that amateurs were in charge of U.S.
foreign policy, -They've been lucky for a
long time," said David Aaron, an NSC
member under Richard Nixon and Jimmy
Carter. "But now they've waded into the
big leagues and gotten taken twice?by the
Russians and by the Iranians. That's very-
upsetting for our allies, because they know
that in the end their security is totally
dependent on our competence."
Secret tasks: In part, insiders say, the Ira-
nian dealings can be traced to Reagan's
personal concern for the plight of the hos-
tages and their families?and for all his
efforts last week to portray that as second-
ary, his aides made it clear that it was a top
priority. But when he chose to move, Rea-
gan followed another instinct: he bypassed
the Defense and State bureaucracies to op-
erate largely on his own, through the NSC.
Every president since John Kennedy has
turned to the NSC for clandestine oper-
ations. and this has usually created fric-
tions with the State Department. In fact,
Reagan was initially so determined not to
follow the pattern of the Carter adminis-
tration that he banished his first national-
security adviser, Richard V. Allen, to the
White House basement. But the tempta-
tion to use the NSC on secret tasks, and
even for making policy, is almost irresisti-
ble. "It's the only piece of government a
president's got that's totally responsive to
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him," says a former NSC staffer. In addi-
tion, Reagan himself likes to go it alone: he
believes, says a friend, that "America will
save the world, just as John Wayne does.
Ronald Reagan's completely comfortable
with that." The result is not policymaking
but one-shot diplomatic coups, like the im-
petuous bargaining at Reykjavik or the
raid on Libya. And so it was, critics charge.,
with Iran: the president and chief of staff
Donald Regan, laments another White
House aide, "care about results more than
they care about policy."
Reagan's speech artfully avoided such
questions as what part Israel had played in
the maneuvering. It dismissed most of the
widely reported details as "rumors" and
sought to cast the whole affair as an exercise
in high statecraft. It was clear that Shultz
and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger
had objected to the negotiations as too risky,
a betrayal of principle and a threat to both
Reagan's authority and the nation's credi-
bility. Reagan chose to go along with Regan
and Poindexter in a scheme so secret that
Shultz himself, according to a State De-
partment spokesman, was only "sporadi-
cally informed on some details." Staffers at
the State Department are furious over
Shultz's treatment and the NSC's policy
ascendancy; former Under Secretary Law-
rence Eagleburger calls the two-faced poli-
cy "monumentally unprofessional" and
warns, "Neither our allies nor our enemies
will be able to rely on what we say."
Defensive weapons: Reagan didn't say
which faction in Iran he was dealing with.
By most accounts, he was trying to bolster
the prospects of the Parliament speaker,
Hojatolislam Akbar Rafsanjani, who is
said to favor improved relations with Iran's
neighbors even if it slows the exporting Of
the Islamic revolution. But when the story
of the negotiations was leaked to a pro-
Syrian magazine in Lebanon by supporters
of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's nomi-
nated successor. Ayatollah Hussein ' Ali
Montazeri, it was Rafsanjani himself?per-
haps as a defensive ploy?who denounced
Reagan and derided his special ambassa-
dor, Robert McFarlane. McFarlane last
week disputed the colorful details of Raf-
sanjani's account: he didn't carry an auto-
graphed Bible or a key-shaped cake to Te-
heran, he said, and he wasn't put under
arrest; the whole diplomatic visit was con-
ventional, prearranged and productive.
In Reagan's telling, the arms actually
sent to Iran were a mere handful of defen-
sive weapons?not more than a planeload
in all, certainly not enough to influence the
outcome of the war. But reports persisted
that there had been other shipments, rout-
ed through Israel with Washington's cov-
ert blessing, perhaps as early as 1982. After
two such shipments in September 1985,
hostage Benjamin Weir was released. Rea-
gan formally approved shipments from the
United States last spring. The Rev. Law-
rence Jenco, a Roman Catholic missionary,
and David Jacobsen, a hospital administra-
tor, were freed after several more arms
loads were received. But in each case, ad-
ministration sources said, the negotiators :
hoped for more hostages than they actually
got. The Iranians maintained they could
only influence the terrorists in Lebanon,
not give them orders, and couldn't prevent
the price from escalating.
Were the Iranians dealing in good faith?
McFarlane, a cool and seasoned diplomat
whose involvement in the dealings was
one of the few encouraging signs many of
his colleagues saw in the whole affair, :
maintained that "we are not dealing with
an extortion situation here." But the sec- ?
ondhand nature of the bargaining fore-
closed a clean deal (all the hostages in ex-
change for one shipment) and was an open
invitation to string out the releases. What's
more, there was no net gain for Wash-
ington: though three hostages had been
freed, three more were taken. Administra-
tion officials maintained that the primary
terrorist groups, Islamic Jihad and Hizbul-
lah, were influenced by the Iranian moder-
ates and were restraining themselves. But
in a briefing last week, a senior administra-
tion official acknowledged that the Revolu-
tionary Justice group, which is thought to
have kidnapped the last three American
hostages, is influenced by Mehdi Hashemi,
a relative of Montazeri, and that "our view
is that Hashemi was probably involved in
the taking of the last three hostages."
'Mere lies': In the end, by one means and
another, Iran seems to be winning most of
its major objectives. It has had arms ship-
ments from Washington, and further arms
deals with other suppliers will now be
much harder for Reagan to discourage. The
French have expelled Iranian dissidents
from Paris and agreed to pay $330 million
in Iranian claims, while the United States
is negotiating the return of $485 million in
frozen Iranian funds. And Iran continues
to make demands. President Hojatolislam
Ali Khamenei, who is said to be one of the
moderates, last week coolly dismissed Rea-
gan's account of the 18-month negotiations
as "mere lies," and said there would be no
compromise until Washington changed its
Mideast policy.
That could well happen, but not through
any consistent foreign policy. In truth,
there is none. The lesson of the secret talks
with Iran, says Simon Serfaty, a well-wired
academic at Johns Hopkins School of Ad-
vanced International Studies, "is not just
that we do not have coherent policies. The
problem is that right now we do not even
have a coherent process for ? formulating
those policies." And given the number of
potential disasters waiting to happen?
from the Philippines to Egypt, from South
Africa to Mexico?that is a fact to give any
friend of America cause for dismay.
LARRY MARTZ with MARGARET GARRARD
WARNER, JOHN BARRY. ROBERT B CULLEN
and DAVID NEWELL/it Washington
and bureau reports
Corrtinued
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"A":LIED
NEW YORK TIMES
20 November 1986
'British Name Iran-U.S. Go-Between
? By JOSEPH LELYVELD
Special to The New York Times
LONDON, Nov. 19 ? A British televi-
sion documentary, scheduled to be
broadcast here Thursday, will name an
Iranian businessman as a likely go-be-
tween in the secret diplomacy between
the Reagan Administration and the Te-
heran authorities lariy this year.
The businessman, Cyrus Hashemi,
died suddenly in a privateQondon hos-
pital in July of what was diagnosed as
rare form of cancer.
At the time of his death, his brother
here suggested that Mr. Hashemi
might have been killed because of his
role as a Justice Department inform-
ant in a case of Illegal arms smuggling
to Iran. The smuggling case resulted in
the indictment in New York of an Is-
raeli general and nine others accused
of being co-conspirators.
The Thames Television documen-
tary, which was shown in a preview
here today, bases its contention that
Mr. tilashemi was functioning as an Ad-
ministration intermediary on sources
it does not identify and on an interview
with Elliott L. Richardson. the former
Attorney General who is described as
having acted as Mr. Hashemi's lawyer.
C.I.A. Contact Reported ?
Speaking to viewers at the preview,
the reporter renponsible for the pro-
gram, Julian Manyon, quoted Mr. Rich-
ardson as having said that he had re-
ferred Mr. Hashemi to a contact in thel
Central Intelligence Agency early this
year. According to the reporter, it was
not Mr. Richardson but the unidentified
sources who confirmed that Mr.
Hashemi went to work for the agency.
Earlier this month, while attenchng
conference :n Peking, Mr. Richardson
said he 'rad arranged contact between
Mr. Hasnemi r&itimerican officals 'r
an effort to win f-eedom for the hos-
tages in Lanor. But he denied any
connection c the secret American
arms deliveries to Iran.
The thesis of the television doucmen-
tary is that Mr. Hashemi was involved
both in an arms deal the Administra-
tion did not authorize ? the one that
produced the indictments ? and in set-
ting up the negotiations that led to the
arms shipments that were secretly au-
lioriied for Iran. The program asserts
that he played a similar intermediary's
role in the secret negotiations that
preceded the release in 1981 of the hos-
tages,held at the American Embassy in
Teheran.
??????????1011??
Quoting a Justice Department tape
of a bugged conversation between Mr.
Hashemi and an American lawyer
named Samuel Evans, who was also in-
dicted on the illegal arms traffic
charges, the program reports chat the
arms dealers learned late last year
that the Administration was changing
its line on arms sales to Iran. In the
conversation as it is represented on the
program, the lawyer says he has heard
that Vice President Bush approved the
change but that Secretary of State
George P. Shultz opposed it. The con-
versation is said to have been recorded
last December.
The source Mr. Evans cites for this
information was a reputed arms dealer
in the south of France named Jean de
la Rocque, also known as Rousseau,
who was later named as a co-conspira-
tor with him. Mr. Manyon said he had
talked to Mr. de la Rocque, who had
confirmed the lawyer's account.
Mr. Evans, the Thames TV program
will point out, is a lawyer for Adnan
Khashoggi, a Saudi businessman and
arms dealer. Mr. Khashoggi was re-
ported by The Observer last Sunday in
a vaguely attributed article to have
met with high 'Israeli officials to ar-
range the arms shipments to Iran.
Meanwhile, Britain's Ministry of De-
fense confirmed reports that an official
Iranian delegation visited Landon for
talks with International Military Sales,
a state-owned company that handles
British arms exports. The Iranians
were said to oe seeking spare parts
under contracts that were signed in the
1970's before the fall of the Shah.
Since December 1984, Britain nas en-
forced what the Foreign Office de-
scribes as a restrictive policy on sales
of military equipment to Iran. it nas
never banned all such sales, but it nas
turned down applications for equip-
ment that could be described as -le-
thal" or that could be said to have a
bearing on the balance of power be-
tween Iran and Iraq, enemies in the
nearly six-year-old Persian Gulf war.
Timothy Renton, a junior minister in
the Foreign Office, answered opposi-
tion emerges that the Government of
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
was as compromised on arms deals
with Iran as the Administration was by
saying the licenses turned down would
have been worth hundreds of millions
of pounds to British companies.
Tank Spare Parts Shipped
Nevertheless, about five months
after the restrictive policy went into ef-
fect, several planeloads af spare parts
for Chieftain tanks and Scurown ar-
mored vehicles were flown trf:n
Heathrow Airport to Teheran. A Far-
e! gn Office official explained that these
parts were unrelated to the weapons
systems of the tanks or armored cars;
requ'ests for spare weapons parts were
turned down, the official said.
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WASHINGTON TIMES
17 November 1986
t4.7
Reagan to make second
'damage-control' TV appearance
STAT
By Jeremiah O'Leary
THE WASHING ON TIMES
President Reagan, his Teflon
shield nicked by revelations of se-
cret U.S. arms shipments to Iran,
will face a national television audi-
ence again this week in an effort to
bolster his credibility and that of his
senior advisers.
The Iran affair, which Mr. Reagan
first addressed publicly in a tele-
vised speech last Thursday, has pre-
occupied the ad-
ministration for
weeks.
ANALYSIS Administra-
tion officials say
it is too early to tell whether the
president's Iran strategy will pay off
or prove to be an embarrassing blun-.
der.
But there is certainty that Mr.
Reagan and his senior advisers will
be put under intense scrutiny, begin-
ning in a Wednesday evening press
conference, over the decision to sell
arms to Iran -- a nation the United
States still accuses of fostering ter-
rorism.
The solidly Democratic Congress
is unlikely to lend a sympathetic ear
when the White House sends a re-
presentative to the House and Sen-
ate intelligence committees to de-
fend the Iranian venture.
Mr. Reagan is expected to claim
executive privilege and protect Na-
tional Security Adviser John Poin-
dexter and other National Security
Council aides from testifying under
oath.
CakireclOr Wil1ignI_CsIEMA14_
must answer to Congress, is likely to
take the greatesffeat.
dinoldjagjurther down the road
there is speculation that the Iranian
negotiations could result in the re - '
ignation of some Reag_a_n adminisa
tration orricrars?Claio opposed the
president's _poligy decision and
played no part in carrying out what
became an NSC,-CIA operatiog,
On the political front, the Iranian
niffair has done damage to the pres-
dential aspirations of Vice Pres-
dent George Bush and other Repub-
can candidates in the 1988 election.
Mr. Bush in particular has the choice
of disassociating himself from Mr.
Reagan's policy decision or of ng
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NEWS
STAT
Unless unfolding events prove
that Mr. Reagan's overtures to
Iranian moderates were successful
in ending the 6-year-old Iran-Iraq
war and state-sponsored terrorism
in Tehran, the Democrats are likely
to try to keep the issue alive to blud-
geon the Republicans for the next
two years.
The international implications of
Mr. Reagan's gamble are enormous.
Secretary of State George P Shultz,
who stops just short of saying that
he opposed the policy decision and
acknowledges that he had only frag-
mentary knowledge of it, is in an
almost untenable position.
Although Mr. Reagan has ac-
knowledged the Iranian contacts,
Mr. Shultz must continue to declare
to other nations that the United
States does not negotiate with ter-
rorists and maintains an arms em-
bargo on both sides in the Iran-Iraq
war.
It is impossible to know the extent
of damage to American relations
with its Arab friends who fear the
Iranians more, if possible, than they
fear Israel.
On the domestic front, White
House Chief of Staff Donald Regan
told reporters last week that con-
gressional leaders were not in-
formed of the Iranian contacts be-
cause Attorney General Edwin
Meese III assured the White House
there was no need to notify them.
Mr. Poindexter said the adminis-
tration knew there was a risk that
the operation would be exposed. "If
you are unwilling to take risks, you
seldom make any progress on some
of these very difficult issues. We
knew there would be questions
raised as to whether this was a good
idea or not but on balance the pres-
ident decided to go ahead with it."
He said the four-day mission to
Iran by former National Security
Adviser Robert C. McFarlane was
racing the clock on the entire set of
issues including the fate of the hos-
tages, the Iran-iraq war and the pos-
sibility that the 86-year-old Ayatol-
lah Ruhollah Khomeini would pass
from the scene.
The president and his men have
said the United States did nothing to
benefit Hezbollah or Islamic Jihad,
the captors of the American hos-
tages. They say the shipment of the
equivalent of one planeload of mili-
tary spare parts and anti-aircraft
weaponry was a "judgment call," de-
signed to assure "our interlocutors"
in Iran they were really dealing with
the president himself.
The chief argument of those who
oppose Mr. Reagan's initiative is that
it created the impression that all ter-
rorists have to do to obtain arms
from the United States is seize more
American hostages.
Unanswered questions abound.
None of the pronouncements of Mr.
Reagan or his aides, now engaged in
a massive "damage control" opera-
tion with the media, have stated who
convinced the president to approve
the deal.
No official will discuss whether
the United States condoned Israeli
arms shipments to Iran. No official
has publicly named the Iranian mod-
erates with whom Mr. McFarlane
met. The only explanation of why the
Joint Chiefs of Staff were left out of
the decision is that it involved an
intelligence operation, not a military
one.
Mr. Reagan has been a popular
chief executive and few would deny
that he also has been a very lucky
one.
He may still pull the Iranian affair
out of the fire. But in 1980, it was
Iran that sank President Carter's po-
litical future. It is Iran that now has
Mr. Reagan in a near-desperate de-
fense of his gamble.
Africa
ON PAGE
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LOS ANGELES TIMES
15 November 1986
President Reportedly Had
CIA Avoid Usual Channels
By MICHAEL WINES and JAMES GERSTENZANG,
Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON?President
Reagan, relying on a controversial
provision in the intelligence laws,
signed a directive almost a year ago
ordering the Central Intelligence
Agency to join in the secret weap-
ons-for-hostages negotiations with
Iran and to conceal its activities
from Congress, a government offi-
cial familiar with the operation said
Friday.
The directive cloaked an exten-
sive CIA role in the operation,
including supplying the National
Security Council with intelligence
data and logistical support for the
venture, and probably planning
and cover for secret weapons ship-
ments as well, the official said. In
addition, White House spokesman
Larry Speakes said Friday that the
CIA was represented at each of the
secret negotiating sessions be-
tween U.S. envoys and Iranian
leaders held in Europe and Tehran. '
Reagan's unusual order, and the
CIA's subsequent activities, reflect
the fact that the Iran operation was
carefully constructed in two re-
spects. It was at the limits of legal
restrictions on such activities, in
the Administration's view, and it
by-passed completely the channels
normally used for planning and
carrying out even clandestine for-
eign policy and intelligence activi-
ties.
Yet this approach?reinforced
by the operating style of national
security adviser John M. Poindex-
ter and by the evolving role of the
National Security Council in such
activities?shaped the operation in
ways that have ultimately eroded
the _ credibility of Reagan's public
campaign against terrorists and
created severe problems for the
Administration with Congress, U.S.
allies and others.
The White House thinking, said
one congressional official, was that
"This is extraordinarily sensitive.
Nobody can know about it. We
can't trust the State Department."
But that official and others said the
Iran project's extreme secrecy
shielded it from the expert scrutiny
routinely given other major policy
initiatives?a process of analysis
that might have led to changes or
even scrubbing of the venture.
And when the secret was re-
vealed to the President's shocked
political backers this week, the
White House was bereft of the
support it normally can summon
from those taken into its confi-
dence.
''There is a tremendous amount
of unhappiness among the Presi-
dent's personal constituents," one
Administration official said. "And
his constituents on Capitol Hill are
almost unanimous in registering
their dismay."
So tightly wrapped was the affair
that no more than five or six White
House officials?the President,
Poindexter, his aide Marine Lt. Col.
Oliver L. North and three persons
in North's office?had direct
knowledge of its operational de-
tails, officials say.
In the case of the CIA, Reagan's
unusual order?and the CIA's later
activities?have yet to be fully ,
explained to congressional leaders,
who were told about the Iran
operation for the first time in a
White House briefing on Wednes-
day. In that briefing, Administra-
tion officials suggested CIA in-
volvement had been marginal at
most.
"If those things are true," said
Senate Intelligence Commitee
spokesman David Holliday in reac -
tion to Speakes' comment Yriciay
about CIA involvement, "that's
contrary to what we were told
(earlier)."
With even most of the National
Security Council staff excluded, the
only people reliable enough to plan
and support the project, White
House planners apparently con-
cluded, were at the CIA.
It was a decision which now
appears likely to produce the most
telling political damage in the wake
of this week's revelations, for the
CIA is subject to special scrutiny by
Congress. And the President?act-
ing on the advice of Atty. Gen.
Edwin Meese III, Meese himself
said Thursday?decided early in
the operation that Congress would
not be told of the venture for fear
that it would be leaked.
A welter of federal laws, many
stemming from the CIA abuses of
the Watergate era, require agency
officials to inform Congress in
advance of any intelligence-agen-
cy operations in a foreign nation
beyond normal information-gath-
ering duties.
The key legal issue is likely to be
a complex question of whether or
not the White House met the law's
demand for "timely" notification of
at least some congressional leaders.
The White House contended pri-
vately on Thursday that its actions
were perfectly legal. And Senate
?ave Durenberger, who has ex-
telligence Committee chairman STAT
I
ressed concern at not being told of
the operation, said Thursday that
he believes the White House's
secrecy bends the spirit of the law,
but probably not its letter.
The National Security Council
"structured their mission" in such a
way as to avoid having to notify
Congress, Durenberger said. He
added that he had warned the
Administration in a 1985 speech
that its penchant for secrecy would
"blow up in your face.
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'"l'imely fashion" has never been
defined. Prof. Johnson contends
that it traditionally has been judged
to be 24 hours; the White House
official contended it extends to the
summer of 1985, when the opera-
tion began.
"The President's judgment as to
what's timely," he said. "The rea-
sons (for not notifying Congress)
were because of the sensitivity of
the operation and the safety of the
hostages."
Said a Senate Intelligence Com-
mittee aide on Friday: "The mem-
bers of the committee probably do
not believe 18 months is timely
fashion."
Under Poindexter, and his imme-
diate predecessor, Robert C.
McFarlane, the National Security
Council director has become the
center of a small network of ac-
tion-oriented aides with direct ties
to like-minded officials in the De-
fense Department, State Depart-
ment and the intelligence commu-
nity, Administration sources say.
And that tendency has been
reinforced by the reporting restric-
tions Congress placed on the CIA
when it is involved in covert
operations.
"This is like a little cell within
the NSC, a little nucleus within the
NSC staff, very close to Poindexter,
with lines out to some people in this
building ( the Pentagon) and to the
State Department, who delight in
this sort of covert activity," said
one Pentagon official.
The official, speaking on the
condition of anonymity, was clear-
ly upset over this trend. He put Col.
North in this group, and added: "I'd
take 011ie North and dump him
right over the cliff."
"Starting with [Henry] Kissin-
ger, the national security advisers
have moved from being an anony-
mous, behind-the-scenes coordi-
nator to a small department which
frames policy, which directs how
operations should be run."
Kissinger, who served as nation-
al security adviser and then secre-
tary of state under President Rich-
ard M. Nixon, and President Jimmy
Carter's national security adviser,
Zbigniew Brzezinski "both fash-
ioned themselves as global geo-po-
litical thinkers," this official said. "I
don't think Poindexter views him-
self as a cosmic, global thinker.
He's more operations-minded."
"What disturbs me is that the
"But they live in fear of revela-
tions," he said.
On Friday, a specialist on the
CIA and former aide to both the
House and Senate intelligence
committees called Reagan's deci-
sion to withhold notification an
"unambiguous" violation of a 1980
law, commonly called the Intelli-
gence Oversight Act, strengthen-
ing Congress's power to review
CIA and other intelligence-agency
operations.
The law in question amends the
1947 National Security Act, the
granddaddy of intelligence laws
and the charter of the National
Security Council. Among other
points, it mandates that the intelli-
gence panels be "fully and current-
ly" told of CIA actions, including
"significant anticipated activities."
Such activities are specifically de-
fined in another law to include
covert foreign-nation actions cer-
tified by the President as in the
national interest.
A clause in the amendment al-
lows the White House to constrict
that notification?under "extraor-
dinary circumstances affecting the
vital interests of the United
States" ?from the intelligence
committees to a group dubbed the
"Gang of Eight." The members are
the four GOP and Democratic con-
gressional leaders and the chair-
men and vice-chairmen of the two
intelligence panels.
That reporting requirement is
ironclad, contended University of
Georgia professor Loch Johnson,
who worked until 1979 as aide to
the late Senate Intelligence panel
chairman Frank Church ( D-Idaho)
and then to former House commit-
tee member Les Aspin ( D-Wisc.).
"I defy anyone who knows basic
English to take the law out and
read it, and tell me otherwise," he
said. "It requires prior notification.
Even in so-called times of emer-
gency, the prior notification has to
come to the Gang of Eight."
But a senior White House official
speaking to reporters on back-
ground Thursday evening, cited
yet another clause in the law. That
clause, dubbed the "timely notice"
paragraph, requires that the intel-
ligence panels be told of covert
actions in "timely fashion" if not
notified in advance as the law
seems to require.
1R000100010001-8
President can be influenced by a
small group of people who don't see
themselves as responsible to the
Secretary of State and the Secre-
tary of Defense" and who don't
give much weight to their views,
he said.
Said one senior official of Poin-
dexter, "John is a person whose
career has been devoted to gettings
things done and solving problems.
He approaches the job that way,
not being ideologically wedded to a
policy. There are a lot of things that
are politically sensitive?like
Iran?that John would be fearless
on. And it will cost him. He's not
going to be as politically sensitive,
or sensitive to public opinion. This
means he'll get things done that
will go down poorly with the public
and Congress."
In the days after the broad
- outlines of the venture became
public, Poindexter led a fierce be-
hind-the-scenes battle to keep its
most intimate details from being
revealed?a fight in which he ini-
tially prevailed over angry protests
from White House spokesman
Speakes and chief of staff Regan,
sources say.
The unusual stealth was part Of
the very conception of the opera-
tion in midsummer of last year,
when McFarlane was national se-
curity adviser and Poindexter his
deputy.
In public explanations this week,
White House officials stressed that
the first deliberations over the Iran
venture included not just the Presi-
dent, McFarlane and Poindexter,
T-
ut Shultz, Weinberger, Vice Pres-
dent George Bush, Atty. Gen. 1
eese and other top-level presi-
dential aides.
But as one of those aides told a
clutch of reporters in a Thursday
autopsy of the operation, "within
their bureaucracies, it's (knowl-
edge of the operation) been ex-
tremely limited." Just how limited
has not become apparent until late
this week, when the White House
decision to go public about the
operation convinced more reluc-
tant officials to talk as well.
Within the State Department,
Undersecretary Michael L. Arma-
cost, the department's political af-
fairs czar, may have known. But
only the barest hints of the project
ever reached the department's as-
sistant secretary for near east af-
fairs, Richard W. Murphy, a Mur-
phy aide said, and Murphy
apparently brushed those hints
aside.
orrtinued
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STAT
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Murphy was actively traveling
the Mideast, pressing the Reagan
Administration's stated policies on
terrorism, the Iran-Iraq War and
other crucial issues, at the same
time the clandestine- policy was
being drafted and executed.
During the same period, top
officials in Murphy's division?un-
aware of the on-going NSC opera-
tion?drafted and sent to higher
levels their own proposal for quiet
diplomatic openings to Iran, only to
have the proposal thrown repeat-
edly back in their faces, without
explanation.
"We could never get it past
Shultz," one said, ruefully, last
week.
Nowhere was the befuddlement
greater than in the White House
itself, however, where execution of
the plan was carefully limited to
Reagan, Regan, Poindexter and the
National Security Council's office
of political-military affairs, one of
Li NSC subdivisions.
North is one of two deputy
directors of that office. But the
senior director, Howard J. Teisch-
er, also played an active role in
Iranian overtures and, according to
one outside observer, may even
have accompanied McFarlane and
North on the ill-fated trip to Teh-
ran last May.
'reischer, a Middle Eastern ex-
pert, gained repute among report-
ers this year as a prime source of a
spectacular ?and apparently delib-
erately inaccurate?story alleging
that the United States was moving
toward military action against Lib-
ya, a story that later became
identified with a Poindexter-ap-
proved "disinformation" campaign
against Libyan leader Moammar
Kadafi.
The four or five NSC offices that
normally would have been tapped
for advice and information on poll-
cy changes were omitted from
participation in the Iranian project.
That left the CIA?with all the
potential for legal and political
problems its use entailed.
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A
V ARTICLE AppEAREDApproved For Release 200 L.-"
\ ON 13 November 1986
Reagan Said to Have Signed Order
STAT
Seeking Rapprochement With Iran
Sources Say CIA and Others
. Are Carrying Out Policy
Issued Earlier This Year
By JOHN WALccrrr
if
ta Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
STAT
WASHINGTON?President Reagan ear-
ier this year signed a secret presidential
directive ordering the U.S. government to
seek a rapprochement with Iran, according
to current and former U.S. officials who
helped plan and execute the policy.
The covert U.S. efforts to carry out the
directive are being conducted by officials
from the Central Intelligence Agency and
other U.S. intelligence services, as well as
by a small group of White House aides,
these officials assert.
Under the policy the president also ap-
proved Israeli shipments of American-
made arms to Iran, in part to win the re-
lease of hostages held by Iranian sympa-
thizers in Lebanon, the officials said. The
covert efforts are continuing despite the
fact that some of them have been disclosed
in the Mideast and the U.S. press, severely
embarrassing the U.S. and taking its allies
by surprise.
As the secret diplomacy has been dis-
closed in bits and pieces, it has sometimes
appeared to be an ad hoc operation con-
ducted by only a few people. But officials
involved claim that the program emerged
from a formal, though secret, shift in U.S.
foreign policy emanating from the pre
dent's desk and carried out by the full i
telligence apparatus at his command.
Secret Policy Raises Questions
The secret policy already has damaged
the administration, and it raises questions
about whether the White House violated
U.S. laws by allowing arms to flow to Iran
and by failing to inform Congress at the
outset of its covert activities. The U.S. has
been caught negotiating with and helping
to arm a fervently anti-American regime
that has been condemned for supporting
terrorism and that Washington has been
pressing other countries to isolate.
Since the policy was adopted, three
American hostages have been released by
terrorists loyal to Iran in Lebanon. But
new hostages have been seized and
STAT Iranians have reneged on understandin
to free other hostages, while taking
American-made military gear. Last Ma
former national security adviser Robe
McFarlane and a current White Ho
aide, Lt. Col. Oliver North, personally a
tompanied a plane load of military equip-
ment to Tehran but got nothing in re-
turn.
Mr. Reagan's secret diplomacy is the
Most stunning shift in U.S. policy toward a
hostile nation since the Nixon administra-
tion secretly began pursuing a rapproche-
ment with China in 1969. According to the
Officials who planned and executed it, the
covert policy is intended to free Anierican
and other hostages in Lebanon, to begin a
"strategic dialogue" between the U.S. and
Iran, and to head off growing Soviet at-
tempts to gain influence in Iran.
"The U.S. purpose from the beginning
was to engender a process that might lead
to an improvement in relations with Iran
in ways that are compatible with our obli-
gations to others in the region," Mr.
McFarlane said yesterday. ''Such a pro-
cess could not proceed without the prior re-
lease of the U.S. hostages."
But the covert diplomacy violates both
the administration's passionately stated
policy of refusing to negotiate with terror-
ists and Washington's efforts to stanch
the flow of arms to Iran. It has damaged
U.S. relations with some moderate Arab
states and with America's European allies
and raised embarrassing questions about
the policies and practices of Ronald Rea-
gan's National Security Council.
Hearings Planned
One issue is whether the administration
violated a 1980 law designed to ensure con-
gressional oversight of covert intelligence
operations. Several congressional commit-
es plan hearings on the secret program.
ep. Dave McCurdy (D., Okla.), a mem-
er of the House Intelligence Committee,
aid yesterday that he didn't recall any ad-
ministration briefing for the intelligence
panel on U.S. activities concerning Iran.
"The first time I heard of any of the Iran
dealings was when I read it in the press,"
he said.
Yesterday, nearly a week after an Iran-
ian official disclosed Mr. McFarlane's se-
cret visit to Tehran in May, congressional
leaders were hastily called to the White
House for a two-hour briefing on what an
administration official called "recent de-
velopments in U.S.-Iran relations." Sen.
Robert Dole (R., Kan.), Sen. Robert Byrd
(D., W.Va.), Rep. Jim Wright (D., Texas)
and Rep. Richard Cheney (R., Wyo.) at-
nded the meeting, which included Mr.
eagan, Vice President George Bush, Sec-
etary of State George Shultz, Secretary of
fense Caspar Weinberger, Attorney Gen-
ral Edwin Meese, CIA director William
asey, National Security Advisor John
oindexter, and White House Chief of Staff
Donald Regan. But the congressional lead-
ers wouldn't discuss the meeting. "He's
(Mr. Dole) been real tight-lipped about it,"
said Dole spokeswoman Dale Tate.
After the session, Mr. Byrd, who has
been critical of the idea of trading arms
for hostages and of the administration for
circumventing Congress in the operation,
said: "My mind has not been changed."
One participant in the secret program
concedes that the administration made "an
error in judgment" by trying to negotiate
the opening of a U.S.-Iranian political dia-
logue "concurrently with the release of the
hostages."
Mr. McFarlane hoped to advance both
causes on his May trip to Tehran. But the
Iranians took the military hardware on
Mr. McFarlane's plane, refused to let him
see top Iranian leaders, and said they
couldn't arrange the release of American
hostages, according to sources who were
present during the incident. The Iranians
then tried to bid up the price of the hos-
tages by hinting that the Americans might
be set free if the U.S. persuaded Kuwait to
release 17 convicted terrorists and if Israel
withdrew completely from southern Leba-
non, the sources said.
The Iranian ambassador to the United
Nations, Saeed Rajai-Khorasani, said in
New York yesterday that Mr. McFarlane's
May visit was "an overture to reestablish
talks with Iran" and that it had "nothing
to do with the hostages." The envoy con-
firmed that Iran was receiving U.S.-made
weapons but said that "we didn't have any
arms deal or any other kind of deal with
regard to the release of the hostages with
the United States or anyone else."
The ambassador said American
weapons were reaching Iran either as part
of transactions made directly with arms
traders or possibly as fulfillment of pre-
viously signed contracts between the U.S.
and the late-Shah of Iran. But he refused to
clarify whether these deliveries reflect re-
cent agreements between the two coun-
tries. He suggested however, that if the
U.S. were to release vast quantities of
spare parts and arms paid for by the pre-
vious regime, a "favorable atmosphere"
may develop that may facilitate the hos-
tages' release.
The secret U.S. contacts with Iran that
led to Mr. McFarlane's May mission began
last year, when officials in the National Se-
curity Council staff became increasingly
frustrated by Syria's inability to win the
Continued
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release of the hostages in Lebanon and
alarmed by Iran's growing dependence on
Soviet-bloc arms, policy participants
said.
Although U.S. intelligence on Iran was
generally skimpy, White House officials
believed the Soviets were undertaking a
major military buildup on the Iranian bor-
der, partially camouflaged by movements
of Soviet troops in and out of neighboring
Afghanistan. And, U.S. officials claim, that
the KGB, the Soviet intelligence agency,
was intensifying its activities within Iran.
The plight of the hostages and growing
White House fears about Soviet moves in
the region provided the motives for se-
cretly reversing U.S. policy toward Iran.
Israel provided an opportunity.
David Kimche, then the Director-Gen-
eral of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, met
with Mr. McFarlane in Washington late in
the summer of 1985 and stressed the need
for improved U.S. relations with Iran.
Other participants in the discussions say
Mr. Kimche suggested that Mr. McFarlane
contact an Iranian named Manucher Ghor-
banifar, who he said had "channels" to the
Ayatollah Khorneini's designated succes-
sor, Ayatollah Hussein All Montazeri, and
to Iranian Prime Minister Mir Hussein Mu-
say.
But Mr. Kimche warned Mr. McFarlane
that the Iranians would need some evi-
dence of American good faith and sug-
gested that the U.S. might provide spare
? parts that Iran needs in its war against
Iraq.
When Mr. McFarlane said the U.S.
couldn't do that, Mr. Kimche, the sources
say, asked if the U.S. would continue to
sell arms to Israel if the Israelis shipped
some weapons to Iran. Mr. McFarlane, ac-
cording to this account, said the U.S.
wouldn't provide Israel with arms to re-
place shipments to Iran but added that the
U.S. would continue its military support to
Israel.
After a meeting with his top national se-
curity advisers, including Secretaries
Shultz and Weinberger, Mr. Reagan as-
signed Mr. McFarlane and Lt. Col. North
to secretly pursue the effort to open a polit-
ical dialogue with Iran. Messrs. Shultz and
Weinberger approved a political opening to
Iran but opposed any arms transfers, ac-
cording to one official at that White House
meeting.
What Was Discussed
The administration's contacts with the
Iranians eventually led to a one-hour meet-
ing in London last December between
Messrs. McFarlane, Kimche and Ghorban-
ifar. According to participants, Mr.
McFarlane began the meeting by saying
he was present on behalf of his govern-
ment to open a political dialogue with Iran-
ian leaders.
Mr. Ghorbanifar replied that Iranian of-
ficials needed signals of U.S. sincerity be-
fore they could accept the American initia-
tive, the participants said. But they added
that the Iranian never specified what those
signals might be, never solicited American
arms or spare parts, and never suggested
a deal for the hostages in Lebanon.
The participants said Mr. McFarlane
"firmly, unequivocally" rejected any deals
with the Iranians for the hostages and the
meeting broke up with the Iranian agree-
ing to convey the U.S. interest in opening a
"strategic dialogue" to top leaders in Teh-
ran.
Upon his return, Mr. McFarlane recom-
mended that the administration try to do
business only with Iranian officials, rather
than with intermediaries such as Mr.
Ghorbanifar. But Iran sent word that the
U.S. should press on through Mr. Ghorban-
ifar and meetings between U.S. and Iran-
ian officials continued.
Meeting in Tehran
One hostage had been released in Sep-
tember 1985, shortly after the U.S. began
trying to improve relations with Iran. Then
after a period of no progress, the ice ap-
peared to begin breaking last April. Mr.
Poindexter, who succeeded Mr. McFarlane
as the president's national security ad-
viser, told Mr. McFarlane that the admin-
istration had reached an agreement with
Iran to open a political dialogue that in
time could lead to freedom for all the re-
maining hostages in Lebanon. The national
security adviser asked his predecessor if
he would fly to Iran to initiate the dia-
logue.
The Iranians recommended that Mr.
McFarlane come aboard a plane scheduled
to deliver a load of spare parts for the
Iranian military from a third country. "It
was their suggestion that we pose as arms
dealers," one source insists.
Meeting in a Tehran hotel, Mr. McFar-
lane, according to sources who were pres-
ent, warned his hosts Iran was vulnerable
to Soviet pressure, and suggested that
Washington could serve as a mediator to
help end the Iran-Iraq war. He also, ac-
cording to the sources, stressed that the
Soviets were stepping up their attacks on
the Iranians' brother Moslems in Afghani-
stan.
The Iranians replied that the U.S. owed
a debt to Iran, according to sources who
were present. The Iranians cited U.S. arms
purchased by the late Shah but never de-
livered following his overthrow and $500
million in Iranian assets frozen in the U.S.,
the sources said. Mr. McFarlane said that
there could be no movement on such issues
unless Iran freed the hostages in Leba-
non.
The mission collapsed when the Iran-
ians kept the military equipment aboard
the Boeing 707 jet and declared that get-
ting their allies in Lebanon to free the hos-
tages was "very difficult."
Nevertheless, the administration has
pressed on. Even after Iran disclosed the
May trip last week, U.S. and Iranian offi-
cials were continuing negotiations in Eu-
rope about improved relations.
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Tit ft! APPUtall
Meant to Aid
Iran Factions,
Reagan Says
- By David Hoffman
and Walter Pincus
Washington Past Staff Writers
President Reagan told congres-
sional leaders yesterday that the se-
cret operation to ship military
equipment and spare parts to Iran
began as part of a larger effort to4
support some dissident factions70-'
ing for power in Tehran, admilfis-
tration officials said.
In a White House meeting, the
president and top administration of-
ficials detailed the origins and sub-
sequent operation of the controver-
sial covert program run by presi-
dential aides that led to the release
of some U.S. hostages in Lebanon
held by pro-Iranian terrorists.
The operation has provoked an-
gry exchanges within the White
House in recent days between chief
of staff Donald T. Regan and nation-
al security adviser John M. Poindex-
ter over how to explain the pres-
ident's previously secret actions to
Congress and the public, officials
said.
On Nov. 6, Regan and Poindexter
got into a "shouting match" in front
of the president in the Oval Office,
with Regan demanding that some
details be made public and Poindex-
ter insisting that all be kept secret,
officials said. The president initially
sided with Poindexter, they added.
Attempting to calm the rising
congressional demands for informa-
tion about the operation, Reagan
met for two hours yesterday with
Senate Majority Leader Robert J.
Dole (R-Kan.), Minority Leader
Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), House
Majority Leader James C. Wright
Jr. (D-Tex.) and Rep. Dick Cheney
(R-Wyo.), fourth-ranking member
of the House GOP leadership.
Officials said Poindexter told the
congressional leaders that arms
shipments to Iran, which contra-
dicted a longstanding U.S. policy to
isolate Iran and remain neutral in
the Iran-Iraq wa
WASHINGTON POST
13 November 1986
part to help dissident factions that
could assume power after the death
of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Officials said the congressional
leaders were told that the negoti-
ations for release of the hostages
came about as a "byproduct" of the
earlier efforts. However, the ad-
ministration officials reported that
the shipment of weapons to Iran be-
came linked to efforts to free the
U.S. hostages.
[Poindexter told reporters last
night that the United States will
pursue its controversial dealings
with Iran, United Press Internation-
al reported. "We are going to con-
tinue our policies. We have thought
all along that our policy was cor-
rect,' he said.'
Administration officials acknowl-
edged yesterday they are attempt-
ing to shift attention from the arms-
for-hostages 'aspect of the Iran ne-
gotiations to the purported larger
goal of establishing links to poten-
tial Iranian leaders. This was the
thrust of the briefing to congres-
sional leaders yesterday.
However, Byrd, who has criti-
cized the administration as under-
mining U.S. credibility with the Iran
operation, said after meeting Rea-
gan yesterday that "my mind has
not been changed." A congressional
source who received the Poindexter
briefing earlier said the administra-
tion is "rewriting history" about the
Iran operation.
While the Iran operation began as
part of a long-running U.S. concern
about the future of that strategic
nation, officials have said the flow of
American military equipment and
spare parts to Iran was initiated at
the suggestion of Israeli interme-
diaries in mid-1985 as a way to win
freedom for the U.S. hostages. The
first shipments were sent just be-
fore the release of the Rev. Benja-
min Weir in September 1985. Fur-
ther shipments were made in this
year, before two more hostages,
the Rev. Lawrence M. Jenco and
David P. Jacobsen, were released
by the Islamic Jihad.
In each instance, White House of-
ficials had expected more hostages
to be released, and on several oc-
casions they were disappointed
Administration officials said the
congressional leaders have been
given several justifications for the
president's deciding to contravene
secretly his publicly stated policy of
not- paying ransom for hostages.
The United States has labeled Iran
an "outlaw" nation that supports
terrorism and, led by Secretary of
State George P. Shultz, has sought
to halt worldwide' flows of arms to
Iran.
Yesterday, officials said Poindex-
ter and others made a distinction
between sending weapons to the
captors of the American hostages,
the Islamic Jihad group that owes
its allegience to Khomeini, and aid-
ing dissident factions within his gov-
ernment.
"We're not dealing with the cap-
tors," said one official familiar with
yesterday's meeting. "We have sin-
gled out individuals we think can
bring about change. They are not
the ones who took the hostages"?a
reference to the students who held
American diplomats in the U.S. Em-
bassy in Tehran in 1979-80.
Reagan was ioined yesterday by
ice President Bush, Secretary of
gfense Caspar W. Weinberger, At-
rney General Edwin Meese III,
irector jam . ase
? hultz, Regan and Poindexter.
Officials said the briefing yester-
day was a belated attempt to pro-
vide information to congressional
leaders after more than a week of
criticism that the White House at-
tempted to bypass them.
Other officials had said last week
that the Iran operation was con-
ducted by the National Security
Council and not the Central Intel-
ligence Agency in order to avoid
disclosure to congressiong-intelli-
gence committees required for CIA
operations.
Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.),
chairman of the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence,
.annDuncel.yeaterda_thatli1=ei
will hold its first hearing on the Iran
(lactation Nov. 21. Poindexter
promised last week to brief the Sen-
ate Select -COiimittee on Rini-
gence soon. That panel's vine chair-
ki31,17)-`11rni%iewhen_ no wa freed
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man, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, (D-Vt.),
yesterday demanded full diseldsure.
of the operation and accused the ad-
ministration of "scrambling to find a
reason for what they did." -
Administration officials said the
Iran operation has created a large
credibility problem for the White
House, in part because Reagan de-
cided, after it was publicly dis-
closed, not to give the nation any
explanation for the decision to con-
travene his antiterrorism policy.
Chief of staff Regan and national
security adviser Poindexter sharply
differed on whether the president.
should give some details of the Iran-
ian operation to Congress, officials
said. The president at first en-
dorsed Poindexter's approach, but
was then persuaded to hold yester-
day's briefing. Former national se-
curity adviser Robert C. McFarJ
lane, who started the program and,
after leaving the White House,
made a secret trip to Tehran in late
May, this week reportedly urged
the administration to make public
the details of the operation.
The credibility problem was el.-
acerbated by signals from Shultz
and Weinberger that they had
strongly opposed the arms ship-
ments to Iran, officials said. "We
have nobody we can send out to ex-
plain this," said one official.
Another problem is that the ad-
ministration is in the midst of con-
sidering sanctions against Syria for
its role in the attempted bombingof
an El Al airliner on a flight from
London this year. British Prime
Minister Margaret- Thatcher, who
broke relations with Syria as a re-
stilt, is scheduled to visit Reagan at
Camp David on Saturday.
The administration also is con-
cerned that it faces a severe cred-
ibility problem with other allies and
a host of moderate Arab nations,
which were pressed repeatedly to
isolate Iran while the United States
was secretly shipping arms to Teh-
ran through Israel, sources said.
White House spokesman Larry
Speakes said yesterday that the ad-
ministration is "hopeful" that the
hostages remaining in the hands of
the Islamic Jihad group will be re-
leased soon.
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ON PAGE 11 November 1986
REAGAN REAFFIRMS
SECRECY ON EFFORT
TO FREE HOSTAGES
By GERALD M. BOYD
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 ? President
Reagan today affirmed his policy of se-
crecy about the Administration's ef-
forts to free American hostages in
Lebanon, and he rejected Congres-
sional demands that he disclose details
of dealings with Iran.
Trying to counter suggestions of a,
sharp split in the Administration, the
White House said the actions toward
Iran had the support of Secretary of
State George P. Shultz and Defense
Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger.
The White House statement empha-
sized that "no U.S. law has been or will
be violated" and that "our policy of not
making concessions to terrorists re-
mains intact."
In another development, Mr. Reagan
notified Congress that he would extend
a 1979 executive order freezing Iranian
assets in the United States. The order,
which has been extended annually, ex-
pired Friday.
McFarlane Defends Shift
In what appeared to be a further at-
tempt to justify contacts with. Iran,
Robert C. McFarlane, Mr. Reagan's
former national security adviser, said
it was of "enormous importance" for
the United States "to engender a stab
relationship with the Iranian Gove
ment."
In a four-page statement that did n
touch on whether the United States w
facilitating arms shipments to Teh
ran, Mr. McFarlane said secret dipl
macy was crucial in preparing for
new relationship with Iran if the lea
ership there was ready for it. It was u
clear if the statement, which was i
serted into a speech by Mr. McFarla
today in Atlanta, had been coordinat
with the White House.
"The United States has vital securi
interests in the Middle East that a
entirely compatible with the securi
interests in Iran," Mr. McFarlane sa d
today, 10 days after a Beirut publica-
tion reported that he had made a secret
trip to Iran.
Executive Privilege May Be Cited
The developments came 'as White
House officials said Mr. Reagan might
invoke executive privilege if Congress
tried to examine secret contacts with
Iran to free the hostages in Lebanon.
The officials said the action was one
of several that might be taken in the
event of a Congressional investigation.
It has been reported in the last week
that the United States tried to facilitate
the shipment of military spare parts to
Iran in ,return for assistance in gaining
the release of the American captives.
White House officials also said today
that they were losing hope that an ar-
rangement that led to the recent free-
ing of one hostage, David P. Jacobsen,
might result in the release of others.
The White House spokesman, Larry
Speakes, said that "our exnectatinne
were not met ? our hopes were dashed
once again."
Without blaming the press directly,
Mr. Speakes said there was "no doubt"
that press coverage the last week had
been a factor in the inability to free
other Americans.
"It obviously has had its impact,
yes," he said, adding that it would be
impossible to determine the full effect
of the press reports until the hostages
were released.
Mr. Reagan met today with senior
foreign policy and national security ad-
visers in what appeared to be an at-
tempt to quell suggestions that Mr.
Shultz and Mr. Weinberger opposed a
policy of trading spare parts for the
hostages.
"What they decided is that they need
a little more time to try to gain the hos-
tages' release, and to wait that time
until they talk about it," said a senior
Administration official.
Besides Mr. Shultz and Mr. Weinber-
er, those present included Vice Presi-
ent Bush; Attorney General Edwin
eese 3d; William J. Casey. the Direc-
or of Central Intelligence; Donald T.
egan, the White House chief of staff;
ice Adm. John M. Poindexter, the
President's national security adviser,
nd Mr. Poindexter's deputy, Alton G.
Keel Jr.
Aides to Mr. Shultz suggested on Sat-
rday that there were deep strains be-
ween the Secretary of State and the
White House because Mr. Shultz had
pposed a covert American mission to
Iran and had not been included in dis-
cussions abbut it. The aides suggested
that he was considering resigning, but
department spokesmen called such re-
ports speculative.
A statement issued by Mr. Speakes
on behalf of Mr. Reagan said the meet-
ing had been prompted by the concern
over the remaining hostages and fear
that the "spate" of press reports since
Mr. Jacobsen's release had put them at
risk.
The statement said the officials had
also discussed "broad policy concerns
In the Middle East and Persian Gulf."
"While the specific decisions dis-
cussed at, the meeting can not be di-
vulged, the President did ask that it be
re-emphasized that no U.S. law has
been or will be violated and that our
policy of not making concessions to ter-
rorists remains intact," it said. .
"The President made it clear to all
that he appreciated their support and
efforts to gain the release of all the hos-
tages," it went on. "Stressing the fact
that the hostages' lives are at stake,
the President asked his advisers to in-
sure that their departments refrain
from making comments or speculating
on these matters."
The statement, suggesting that Mr.
Reagan's top aides were all in agree-
inent, said pointedly that "as has been
the case in similar meetings with the
President and his senior advisers on
this matter, there was unanimous sup-
port for the President."
Possibility of Investigation
Som le islators have indicated tha
restrictions on covert operations.
In sharply worded criticism today,
Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, the
Senate Democratic leader, insisted
that the White House consult Congress
on its dealings with Iran.
"It appears to be very amateurish on
the part of the Administration and was
a v.ery serious mistake," he said of the
reported contact with Iran. "The Ad-
ministration has seriously damaged its
credibility at home and overseas."
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1' Approved WASHINGTON POST
24 October 1986
Aide to Bush Opened Doors
For Guerrilla War Expert
STAT Vice President Got Data on Salvador Rebels
By David Hoffman
W.1,hington Pt St.,i1 Writer
It was a typical meeting of the
ype that Vice President Bush often
olds in private: a small group, in-
olving participants with firsthand
nowledge of intelligence and global
rouble spots. Bush, the former di-
ector of central intelligence, often
sks for "raw" intelligence material
n a subject, the kind of information
e could get from Felix Rodriguez.
The meeting was held Jan. 24,
1985, in Bush's office. it included
is national security affairs adviser,
onald P. Gregg.? Also attending
ere t. Col. liver North of the
ational Security Council and Rod-
riguez.
Rodriguez, also known as Max
Gomez, is a veteran of the Bay of
Pigs invasion and an expert in guer-
rilla warfare known for his long and
bitter opposition to Cuban leader
Fidel Castro. He was in Washington
meeting with American military and
intelligence officials. Officials famil-
iar with his visit said he was dis-
cussing ways to help El Salvador
repulse a leftist guerrilla insurgen-
cy.
The meeting grew out of a long
_friendship with Gregg that has re-
cently figured in a reneed contro-
versy over President Reagan's
drive to assist the rebels fighting
the Sandinista government of Nic-
aragua after Congress voted to cut
off aid to the rebels, known as con-
tras.
The crash of a C123K cargo
plane in Nicaragua Oct. 5 carrying
weapons for the contras has re-
opened questions about how deeply
and directly the administration was
involved in helping the rebels dur-
ing that period.
- The sole survivor of the crash,
Eugene Hasenfus, has said that
Rodriguez was directing the supply
mission for the Central Intelligence
Agency. The administration has
denied any involvement in the sup-
ply mission. Three others died in
the crash. The flight originated at
Ilopango air base in El Salvador.
Reagan and Bush encouraged
such private efforts to aid the con-
tras, but the full extent of the ad-
ministration's contacts with these
operations remains unclear.
Bush has said he did not direct or
coordinate the effort to aid the con-
tras in violation of the law. Other
officials have expressed doubt
whether Gregg, a low-key but lo-
quacious CIA veteran, could have
played a central role in helping the
rebels.
Gregg has been unavailable for
comment since the Oct. 5 crash. He
is traveling in India and Pakistan as
part of a University of California
program.
Gregg has told associates that he
had frequent contact with Rodri-
guez, including recent telephone
calls. But he has claimed his con-
tacts were on the subject of El Sal-
vador.
Gregg was instrumental in bring-
ing Rodriguez to the attention of
U.S. officials, the sources said. He
set up appointments. in Washington
for Rodriguez, including a session
with North, who has been the con-
tact at the National Security Coun-
cil on Central American issues and
the contras. Gregg also wrote a let-
ter or message of introduction on
behalf of Rodriguez to Salvadoran
military officials, who wanted the
endorsement before using Rodri-
guez in planning and carrying out
airborne attacks on guerrillas there.
Rodriguez "went down there with
the blessings of the people he had
met with here," said one high-rank-
ing administration official. Rodri-
guez specialized in "lightning" air-
borne assaults on guerrillas, a tech-
nique he had used in Vietnam, of-
ficials said.
The Salvadoran chief of staff,
however, has contradicted, state-
ments from Bush and his aides, say-
ing he knew nothing of Rodriguez's
role and had not approved any such
participation by an American.
The high-ranking administration
official speculated that Rodriguez
switched his activities from Sal-
vador to the contras at some point
in the last two yeam "It's the na-
ture of these people," the official
said. "It would be like sending a
campaign operative to Louisiana,
and he turns up in Texas."
Rodriguez had two other contacts
with Bush. He met with the vice
president again in Washington last
May 6, and on May 20 appeared at
a reception in Miami for Bush, who
had delivered a speech there og
Cuban independence day. Bush has
said they did not talk about the con-
tras.
Those later meetings were held
after Rodriguez reportedly began
working with the contra supply op-
eration, but Bush has told associ-
ates that he recalls no discussions
with Rodriguez about anything oth-
er than El Salvador.
Bush recently called Rodriguez a
"patriot," and officials said the vice
president is not concerned about
the questions raised by his contacts
with Rodriguez. The officials added
that Bush has known Gregg since
they served together at the CIA,
and the vice president believes it is
not necessary to offer any further
details about Gregg's activities be-
yond the statements he has already
made.
Bush, considered the front-run-
ner for the 1988 Republican pres-
idential nomination, has said pri-
vately that he expects to reap do-
mestic political benefits from the
controversy over Rodriguez. Bush
said it may help him win over skep-
tical conservatives who have long
regarded him as a symbol of the
establishment and who may play a
pivotal role in deciding the nomina-
tion.
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However, the contra issue also
has a political downside. Pollsters
have warned Bush that Americans
remain deeply skeptical of the need
for further involvement in the Ni-
caraguan conflict and that they are
motivated by fear of another Viet-
nam-like engagement. In the past,
Reagan strategists have found that
every speech by the president on
the issue tends to bring out more
vocal opposition than support.
Bush got a taste of this recently
when protesters showed up at some
of his campaign stops, one of them
carrying a placard, "Bush World
Airways?Gunrunners to the
World."
The vice president served as di-
rector of central intelligence in the
final year of the Ford administra-
tion, a period during which the
agency was going .through a series
of congressional investigations. It
was there that Bush got to know
Gregg, his future national security
affairs adviser.
Gregg, 58, was graduated from
Williams College in 1951, where he
was a philosophy major. He then
went into the CIA, where he spent
much of the next 25 years overseas
in Asia. Gregg served in Rangoon,
Tokyo and Vietnam in 1970-72,
which is where he may have first
met Rodriguez. He served as the
agency's station chief in South Ko-
rea from 1973 to 1976.
On his return to the United
States, Gregg served as liaison to
the House Select Intelligence Com-
mittee, chaired by Rep. Otis Pike
(D-N.Y.), which was conducting an
investigation of the agency. Gregg
has said the job was one of the most
difficult of his life. Like many CIA
officials, Gregg felt that morale at
the agency reached a nadir in 1975
with the House and Senate inves-
tigations and the assassination of
CIA station chief Richard Welch in
Athens.
When President Carter took of-
fice in 1977, Gregg became part of
a small "central staff" of the direc-
torate of operations, the covert side
of the agency, in charge of inform-
ing Director Stansfield Turner
about activities there. Gregg was
detailed to the National Security
Council staff in 1979, cordinating
intelligence and later as a specialist
on Asia.
David Aaron, who was deputy
national security affairs adviser in
the Carter administration, said
Gregg was "very insightful and
helpful" as liaison between the NSC
staff and the CIA. "He had a broad
view of policy questions," Aaron
recalled. "The problem at the White
House isn't that you don't get
enough intelligence, it's that you
don't get what you want. He was
very good" at getting what was
needed, Aaron said.
Gregg became Bush's national
security affairs adviser in 1982,
when another former; intelligence
official, Daniel Murphy, was the
vice president's chief of staff.
Gregg, who has a soft-spoken but
loquacious manner, is described by,
acquaintances as a career intelli-
gence official who believes in mod-
eration. A former colleague called
him "level-headed, nonideologic,al."
Gregg has referred to the "lunatic
right" in a workshop he teaches at
Georgetown University on "Force
and Diplomacy." He is known to
believe that covert intelligence op-
erations are necessary, but only if
they are truly covert, unlike the
highly publicized U.S. effort to aid
the contras.
Gregg has been criticized by
some colleagues on Bush's staff for
what they describe as an insensi-
tivity to domestic political consid-
erations. For example, they said,
Gregg originated the proposal for
Bush to visit Syria on a trip to the
Mideast last summer, a trip intend-
ed to showcase Bush's commitment
to Israel. Bush did not go to Syria.
Gregg has sometimes criticized
U.S. policy towara Israel as too
generous, others said, and has lug-
gested that moderate Arab nations
should receiVe more attention.
Several administration policy
makers expressed doubt that Gregg
would be involved in such a delicate
U.S. operation as helping the con-
tras. Bush has often taken a person-
al role in national security debates
in the administration, aides said.
This has put Gregg in a secondary
The vice president "is always in-
terested in direct intelligence infor-
mation from around the world," said
Craig L. Fuller, his current chief of
staff, who added that Bush prefers
small meetings and one-on-one ses-
sions with visiting diplomats and
others.
This is how the first session with
Rodriguez came about, other offi-
cials said. Gregg set up meetings at
the State Department, the Defense
Department and elsewhere for Rod-
riguez and made the vice presi-
dent's office the last stop.
Staff writer Charles R. Babcock
contributed to this report.
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STAT
STA
ARTICLE APEARED
Vi1 ase 2006/' /AI ? ?1-00901
cto er ?
ush Aides Assess the Contra Speculation
STATI NTL
R000100010001-8
By GERALD M. BOYD said all there is to say," Mr. Fitzwa-
"The implication that the Vice
ter said. Mr. Gregg did not return
President is directing and coordinat-
telephone calls on the subject. ing any kind operation is just not true
Mr. Fitzwater said Mr. Bush de- and it's clear to everyone who has
cided to meet the allegations head-on looked into it," he said.
when they arose after a rebel supply Mr. Fitzwater also said that the
plane was downed in Nicaragua two only time Mr. Bush had met with
weeks ago and an American survivor, leaders of the contras was when they
Eugene Hasenfus, was captured, visited the White House in March as
Mr. Hasenfus, who went on trial in part of the Administration's success-
Managua this week, asserted that he ful push to secure $100 million in mili-
was associated with a man he identi-
fied as Max Gomez, who he said was rebels.
tary and nonlethal assistance for the
an C.I.A. operative who ran supply What has been particularly disturb-
shipments to the contras from an air ing, aides to Mr. Bush say, are more
base in El Salvador.
Mr. Gomez, whose actual name has recent reports that sug-
been reported as Felix Rodri uez, is a gest that Jeb Bush
Cuban-Americali wno particlpaTe in might have been in-
the Bay. of Pigs invasion and worked volved in efforts to sup-
for the C.I.A. previously in Latin ply arms to the contras.
America and in Vietnam. Govern- That assertion came
ment officials have said that he is not last weekend in a CBS
currently employed by the agency. News report, which the
Bush Terms Him a 'Patriot' younger Bush disputed,
Jeb Bush, 33, ac-
knowledged In a tele-
phone interview that he
had participated in a
number of programs
conducted by Spanish-
language radio stations
in Miami to raise funds
for the rebels. But he
said the money gener-
ated was for nonlethal
assistance.
"What I have done is
a far cry from being
part of a arms supply
link to the contras," he
said.
Although Administra-
tion officials outside the
Vice President's office
have generally left it up
to Mr. Bush's staff to
fend off the charges,
I some have suggested
that they are being cir-
culated as part of an at-
tempt to undermine
President Reagan's Central Amer-
ican policy.
It has also been speculated in the
White House that Mr. Bush's own
staff leaked suggestions about the
Vice President's ties to the contras in
hopes of bolstering his standing with
the conservative right, which backs
the guerrillas. Mr. Fitzwater and
other staffers deny such duplicity.
A Button: 'Who Is Max Gomez?'
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 ? Marlin
Fitzwater, Vice Presidentshs'
press secretary, still chucklerabout
the reporter who recently telephoned
the Vice President's office, men-
tioned a man's name, then asked if
the man worked for George Bush in
Central America.
Mr. Bush, a former Director of Cen-
tral Intelligence, has denied any in-
volvement in directing a secret sup-
ply network for Nicaragua insur-
gents, known as contras. But specula-
tion persists and, in Mr. Fitzwater's
view, "It's reached a ridiculous
level."
"Every freelance soldier in the
Western Hemisphere says he works
for George Bush," he added.
In recent days, the speculation has
spread to include questions about
whether Donald P. Grm,..54r. Bush's
national security ad iser, serves as
an Administration link to a rebel sup-
ply network. There have also been
suggestions that Mr. Bush's son Jeb,
the chairman of the Republican
Party in Dade County, Florida, has
He denies running.
a supply operation
but: wants the
rebels supported
Mr. Bush entered the picture first
when The San Francisco Examiner
linked him to Mr. Gomez. The Vice
President subsequently acknowl-
edged at a news conference in
Charleston, S.C., that he knew Mr.
Gomez, having met with him several
times. He termed him a "patriot."
Beyond that, Mr. Fitzwater con-
firmed that Mr. Gomez had been
recommended for a job as a counter-
insurgency specialist in the Salvado-
ran. Air Force by Mr. Gregg, who
worked at the C.I.A. as an operations
officer from 1951 to 1979.
Mr. Bush denied "unequivocally"
at the Charleston news conference
that his office was running an opera-
tion to supply the contras and said
that the only discussions he had had
with Mr. Gomez were on other mat-
ters.
been active in supplying military
Giving Freedom a Chance
equipment to the rebels.
Aides say the Vice President has "The only discussions I have ever
not been damaged by the speculation had with Felix relate to El Salvador,"
since it underscores the perception Mr. Bush said. "Now, if you want to
that Mr. Bush, like others in the Rea- ask am I glad that people are sup-
gan Administration, is strongly coin- porting the contras, yes. That's our
mitted to the rebels seeking to topple policy, and we feel strongly that free-
the Marxist Government in Nicara- dom should have a chance and
gua. democracy should have a chance."
Mr. Bush added: "For somebody to
"It seems to me that a lot of people write as a nameless source that I was
on the right are applauding the fact running an Operation in Nicaragua is
that he is strongly for the contra just flat untrue. And I'd like to en-
movement," said a key Bush associ- courage people to get those nameless
ate who asked not to be identified. ? sources out so we could have a
But still, some aides seem con- "It's a paradox, we've got people
cerned about the impression that Mr. , chance to take a test as to who's tell- saying we put the story out and pee-
Bush might somehow be linked to a ing the truth on this matter." ple saying that we are trying to stop
secret operation that, if conducted, But Mr. Bush acknowledged that he the story," said another aide to Mr.
would be in violation of American ? was in a "Catch-22" situation, be- Bush.
law. cause "I want to see support for the Mr. Fitzwater, a former Treasury
Since denying that assertion at contras." and White House press spokeman
length at a news conference when it , In Mr. Fitzwater's opinion, the alle- who went to work for Mr. Bush last
first surfaced, Mr. Bush has declined gations are not damaging to the Vice April, believes that the allegation in-
to disucss his role further. "We have President, because he met them by volving the Vice President will in
responding "quickly, honestly and on time "play itself out."
the record" and because they are And he has opted to ride out any
groundless. public storm that arises. In his office
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"Who is Max
Gomez?"
;TAT
STAT
I I
ApftCrPrTISCIA'PrPtClucise 2006/4045AintE3S0901R00010010001-0
Salavdoran General Contradicts Bush, STATINTL
Denies U.S. Civilians Aid War on Rebels
By DAN WILLIAMS, Times Staff Writer
SAN SALVADOR ?Contradict-
ing a statement made by Vice
President_g_eors.11_,,E1 Salva-
dor's mflief of staff said
Monday that no American citizens
nor other foreigners except autho-
rized American military advisers
have been working with the Salva-
doran, armed forces in the fight
against leftist guerrillas.
"No one could hire a civilian as
an adviser," said Gen. Adolfo Blan-
don, the nation's top military staff
officer. "It would have to be autho-
rized not only by us (the armed
forces) but by the government" of
President Jose Napoleon Duarte.
Bush said Sunday that a Cuban-
American he identified as Felix
Gomez was helping "the govern-
ment of El Salvador put down. . .
a Marxist-led revolution." Gomez's
real name is reported to be
Rodriguez, and he has also?Wen
identified by the name Max Gomez.
Air Crew Survivor
Last week, Eugene Hasenfus,
sole survivor among the crew of a
C-123 transport plane shot down
by Sandinista troops in neighboring
Nicaragua, said that Max Gomez
was a CIA employee who directed
an undercover operation through
El Salvador's Ilopango Military Air
Base to supply arms to the contras,
the U.S. guerrillas fighting
the Sandinistas.
Bush's remarks and those of
officials here and of Hasenfus
raised questions about just what
Rodriguez/Gomez?who in the
past has worked for the CIA?was
doing in El Salvador and for whom.
A spokesman for Bush said that
Donald Gregg, one of the vice
president's aides, recommended
Rodriguez to the Salvadoran air
force to serve as a military adviser.
Publicly, Salvadoran officials de-
nied that Rodriguez held any kind
of position with the Salvadoran
armed forces, but they would say
little else. Privately, some Salva-
doran military officers said that
Rodriguez was part of program
that began last spring to help the
contras.
Contras Tie Told
"He (Rodriguez) didn't have
anything to do with us (El Salva-
dor's armed forces) ," one military
officer said. "He was mixed up with
the contras."
None of the Salvadorans inter-
viewed on the subject linked the
contras supply operation with the
U.S. government, but they pointed
out that U.S. military advisers and
American Embassy officials have
access to Ilopango air base and
could hardly have been unaware of
the activity.
One Salvadoran officer said that
Rodriguez was one of "several"
Cuban-Americans who worked at
Ilopango, arranging flights of arms
to the contras. They have operated
up to three flights a week from
Ilopango since last spring, he add-
ed.
Another military source said that
an unspecified number of Nicara-
guan exiles also were involved in
the contras supply operations at
Ilopango. These Nicaraguans, he
said, were once members of the
Nicaraguan air force under dictator-
Anastasio Somoza, who was over-
thrown by the Sandinistas in 1979.
The Nicaraguans were wel-
comed at Ilopango because they
had formed friendships with Salva-
doran air force officers before So-
moza's fall, the source said.
Previously, the source added, the
Salvadoran air force had let Nica-
raguan rebels commanded by for-
mer Sandinista guerrilla leader
Eden Pastore use Ilopango as a
supply base. That program ended,
he said, after CIA aid to Pastora's
rebels was cut off in 1984.
The Times has reported that
Gen. Juan Rafael Bustillo, head of
the Salvadoran air force, let the
contras supply operation use the
Ilopango base. One Salvadoran of-
ficer said that an assortment of
military irregulars operate routine-
ly out of Ilopango.
"The people are among a group
of free-lancers, some contras, some
soldiers of fortune, some arms
vendors, whom Bustillo lets work
out there," he said.
Col. Mauricio Hernandez,
spokesman for the Salvadoran
armed forces, said, 'I don't know
anything about this. But You know
how the air force is here. They
keep the doors closed tight.'
Bustillo could not be reached for
comment.
Political sensitivities apparently
keep the Salvadorans from openly
acknowledging their role in any
contras supply effort. Officially, the
government upholds a policy of not
interfering in the affairs of Nicara-
gua, separated from El Salvador by
the 25-mile-wide Gulf of Fonseca.
Unofficially, however, military
officials express hostility to the
Sandinistas because of their sup-
port, including reportedly supply-
ing arms, to the Marxist-led guer-
rillas fighting the Salvadoran
government.
"The solution to our problems,"
said one official, "Is to get rid of the
Sandinistas."
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Approved For Release 20061111103p:RCIA-Fifilffitalaknefi00100010
3 April 1986
INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING CASEY/BUSH
BY NORMAN D. SANDLER
WASHINGTON
STATINTL
Vice President George Bush met with CIA Director William Casey Thursday in
final preparation for a high-profile trip to the Persian Gulf given added
impetus by concern over terrorism and the politics of oil.
TfE_ILtfillgence briefing from Casey and a last-minute review of lo istics by
his staff preceded an evening departure for Shannon, Ireland, the first,
refuelin sto on a 10-da tri to Saudi Arabia Bahrain Oman and North Yemen.
Fron Shannon, Bush was headed for Rhein-Main Air Force Base near Frankfurt,
West Germany, for an overnight rest stop before his arrival Saturday in the
Saudi capital of Riyadh.
The 10-day trip was characterized by administration officials as a mission of
good will and reassurance to U.S. friends in the Arab world.
However, Bush created somewhat of stir in advance of his departure by
indicating Tuesday he would appeal to the Saudis to halt the slide in oil prices
that has inflicted economic pain on U.S. producers and his adopted home state of
Texas.
The White House, in what presidential aides described as a clarification of
those remarks, said Wednesday the administration would not interfere in the oil
market and contended "the net effect" of the price plunge on the American
economy "will be positive."
Beyond the controversy stirred by his comments on oil prices, Bush found a
more ominous element to his trip highlighted Wednesday by the bomb explosion
that killed four Americans aboard a TWA jetliner bound from Rome to Athens.
The fresh fears spawned by that bombing and precautions against threats
hurled by Libyan leader Moammar khadafy after the military confrontation in the
Gulf of Sidra guaranteed security would be tighter than ever as Bush visited a
region all-too-familiar with terrorism.
"Everyone is aware of the dangers of traveling in that part of the world,"
said Marlin Fitzwater, chief spokesman for the vice president. "We assume we
will see tighter security. Just what steps the host countries will take, we
don't know. The measures we do know of we won't divulge."
When asked Tuesday whether he had any heightened concern about his own safety
because of the Libyan threat to retaliate against Americans in the Middle East,
Bush replied, "None whatsoever."
During a trip to the southern flank of NATO last week, Secretary of State
George Shultz received fighter escorts on flights from Ankara to Athens and
Athens to Rome. It was not known whether similar precautions would be in effect
for Bush.
3ontiaimd
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Appr9ye4 Fo.r.palexbse 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001
ON PA3E, USA TODAY
6 March 1986
-8
STATINTL
Terror panel
stresses spies,
intelligence
By Johanna Neuman
USA TODAY
Spies ? not satellites ? can
help the USA thwart terrorism,
the president's anti-terrorism
commission reports today.
The commission, headed by
Vice President George Bush,
also wants the USA to consider
making it illegal for companies
operating in hostile countries
to give "protection money" to
groups friendly with terrorists.
The 36-page report, to be
presented at the White House,
also suggests:
'Reducing the number of
U.S. employees in "high-
threat" countries.
II Stopping abuse of the
Freedom of Information Act
? which allows terrorists ac-
cess to government records.
? Exchanging more intelli-
gence with allies.
"Using "human resources"
rather than high-tech methods
of Ratherinst intelligence.
The reKrt is sure to swirls,
controversy in the intelligenee
commm urgingW;
"'Agents from various agen-
cies gather under one roof.
IN The National Security
Council hire a full-time adviser
Terror targets
Where the 812 terrorist
attacks were in 1985:
Latin America
Asia 5.7%
Africa 5.1%
North America and
Eastern Europe 0.7%
Source: U.S. State Department
USA TODAY
and staff to monitor terrorism.
? The Senate Intelligence
Committee, which gets secret
brieffrigs, merge with Its House
counterpart, which does not.
The report finds that the ex-
isting "capacity for combating
terrorism is satisfactory," but
implementing the recommen-
dations "can make it better."
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STAT
STAT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Approved For Release 200g3140914M-140091-0
WASHINGTON TURNS UP HEAT ON MARCOS
By R. GREGORY NOKES
WASHINGTON
The drum-beat of revelations in the United States aimed at discreditin gSTATINTL
President Marcos in advance of the Feb. 7 election in the Philippines
underscores how anxious Washington is to see him replaced.
In the past two weeks, there have been major stories alleging Marcos is in
extremely poor health, that his claims to heroism during World War II are
largely fraudulent and that he and his wife have salted away many millions of
dollars in the United States.
901R000100010001-8
They have came against a background of repeated official warnings from the
administration that the election must be fair, which is another way of saying
the administration thinks Marcos will steal the election if he could.
"If the White House had asked Bill Casey a year ago to devise a plan to get
Marcos, he couldn't have done better than this," said a Pentagon analyst,
referring to the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Officially, the administration is neutral in the campaign between Marcos and
Corazon Aquino, the opposition candidate.
But interviews with officials who spoke on condition they not be identified
disclose a virtually unanimous view that the Marcos government is rife with
corruption and incapable of undertaking the political, military and economic
reforms necessary to defeat a growing communist-led insurgency.
At stake for the administration, in addition to keeping the Philippines in
the pro-West camp, are the largest U.S. military bases overseas _ Subic Bay and
Clark Field.
Some of the information aimed at discrediting Marcos comes from the many
enemies Marcos has made in his 20 years of rule, especially in the large exile
community in the United States, some of whom have fled for their lives.
But some of it also has originated from official sources. Rep. Stephen J.
Solarz, D-N.Y., has been holding hearings before his House subcommittee on Asian
and Pacific Affairs on alleged U.S. investments of the Marcos family.
Whatever the origins of the information, the administration has made no
effort to contradict or discourage the reports.
The State Department declined public comment on reports of Marcos' ill
health, while privately confirming them, and officials said they wouldn't
"second-guess" Army documents suggesting Marcos has falsified his war record.
With respect to evidence before the Solar z committee that Imelda Marcos, the
president's wife, might own Manhattan real estate worth an estimated $350
million., Paul Wolfowitz, the assistant secretary of state, said the government
doesn't keep track of such investments by foreigners because they would not be
illegal.
But the State Department later revealed it had routinely and not-so-routinely
investigated whether the Marcos government might have misappropriated U.S.
foreign aid funds.
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Cant
STAT
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Spokesman Bernard Kalb said that while no evidence of wrongdoing had turned
up.so far, the investigation was not yet complete.
Reporters were reminded, too, that the Justice Department has been probing
possible contract kickbacks involving the Philippine military for the past year.
[-----}Relations hadn't always been this bad between Marcos and the Reagan
dministration. Vice President George Bush praised Philippine democracy during a
isit to Manila several years ago, and Marcos was warmly received at the White
House.
Reagan had even planned to visit the Philippines in 1983, but the trip was
quickly cancelled after Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino was murdered
on his return from American exile in 1983.
Most officials see the murder of Aquino, husband of Corazon Aquino, as the
watershed event that has turned the administration against Marcos.
Marcos still could win, and the administration is prepared to deal with him
if he does. It is sending an official team of observers to view the election.
Washington knows, as Marcos does, that the United States could not afford to
abandon the Philippines to the communists just because Marcos were to win a
flawed election.
It is with the communist threat in mind, as well as the wish to support
democracy, that the administration is pressing for a fair election.
U.S. pressures have worked to some degree, according to a State Department
analyst who said Friday. "It is looking more and more like it will be a
moderately fair election."
He said "the kicker" is whether an independent vote-monitoring group known as
Namfrel will be able to conduct its own count of the vote on election day, to
provide a back-up to the government count.
Marcos still hasn't approved, but Secretary of State George P. Shultz is
understood to have pressed Assistant Foreign Minister Pacifico Castro in a
meeting here last week. The message, of course, is that the administration does
not trust the Marcos government to produce a fair count.
Another example of the U.S. pressure was the statement last week by Wolfowitz
to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that a flawed election would be worse
than no election, and would open the way to new communist inroads as people
turned to "radical solutions" to achieve the changes they could not achieve at
the polls.
Left unsaid by Wolfowitz and other officials is the widely held private view
of many of them that the fairer the election, the better the chance Mrs. Aquino
would win.
EDITOR'S NOTE: R. Gregory Nokes writes on diplomatic affairs for The
Associated Press and has been focusing lately on the Philippines election.
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STAT
STAT
ARTICLE Ai' " ED
ONANA. elease 20061ANIATgliKAM1-00901R000100010001-8
USA flexes muscle
at Libya
By Don Kirk
USA TODAY
USA warplanes have mount-
ed a new challenge to Libyan
leader Muammar, !Chad* ?
and the Soviet missiles now
poised on Libya's coast.
Navy planes took off at 7
, p.m. EST Thursday from two
carriers north of Libya to
launch the USA's week-long ?
? show of force in defiance of So-
viet and Libyan three&
The White House, Pentagon
and State Department called
the operation "just routine,"
but it marked another escala-
don in the USA's campaign to
curb Soviet-backed Libya and
stop terrorism.
"We're showing the ILS. re-
solve to continue to operate in
International water or air
space no matter who may be
iste,e:Tildinglavy spokesman Lt.
and shouting about
Crndr. Robert Pnicha
That remark was aimed at
Ithadafy's claim to control all
the Gulf of Sidra beyond the 12-
mile limit recognized by the
USA. Navy F-14 Tomcats shot
down two Libyan planes over
the gulf In 1981.
"Nothing provocative about
this," White House spokesman
Ed Dierejlan said. "NVe have no
Intention of thumbing our
noses at Kbadaty.?
IlEILly:trrisunat, wiLeY 7r7
aaainst Klutdatv. - -..rding to
publOod re..rts ?
"We got 1, number," Vice
President George Bush said
about Khadafy in a New York
speech Thursday. "We know
he's a liar ... with the blood of
an 11-year-old girl on his
hands, a pretty little American
girl" killed in a recent terror at-
tack at the Rome airport
The Pentagon has notified
Mediterranean countries that
Navy planes plan to criscroas
the area until Jan. 31.
FAA spokesman John Ley-
den said the operation did not
endanger civilian planea
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ARTICLE._AEP
IOWeu lease Artrt/iiiill:K3 T ttiASRDP91-00901R000100010001-8
13 December 1985
IN TIHE NATION Tom Wicker
An American Dilemma
George Shultz told a London
audience the other day that
Western nations should use
whatever means necessary, including
covert military aid, to support anti-
Communist forces in such places as
Angola, Afghanistan, Cambodia and
Nicaragua. But conspicuously miss-
ing from the Secretary of State's list
was the Philippines.
Owing to important military bases
there, vital U.S. interests are more
certainly at stake in the Philippines
than any of the other places Mr.
Shultz mentioned. It was only four
years ago, moreover, that Vice Presi-
dent George Bush journeyed to the
Philippines to offer in an effusive
inaugural toast the Reagan Adminis-
tration's commitment to President
Ferdinand Marcos.
"We love your adherence to demo-
cratic principles and to the demo-
cratic process," Mr. Bush gushed.
But no one doubts that Mr. Mar-
cos's "pro-American" Government is
now under severe challenge from ? a
Communist insurgency ? so much so
that President Reagan recently dis-
patched his close friend, Senator Paul
Laxalt, to Manila to warn Mr. Marcos
that he was losing the battle, mili-
tarily and politically.
So why wasn't the Philippines on
Mr. Shultz's list?
Because, it's reasonable to specu-
late, the Communist insurgency is not
the only or even necessarily the most
immediate of Mr. Marcos's prob-
lems; and because it can't be clear,
even to the Reagan Administration,
that backing him to the hilt is neces-
sarily the best bet to stop a Commu-
nist takeover.
Accumulating charges of repres-
sion and corruption, and the assassi-
nation of a major political rival,
Benign() Aquino, have shaken Mr.
Marcos's hold on power and his stand-
ing among non-Communist Filipinos;
now Gen. Fabian Ver and other mili-
tary men whose responsibility for the
killing had been strongly suggested
by an investigating commission have
been cleared by one of Mr. Marcos's
courts, prompting complaint even
from Washington.
Mr. Marcos has been forced to call
a special election for Feb. 7 ? al-
though it's by no means sure that he
aims to go through with it or to abide
by the results, if unfavorable to him.
He'll be opposed by Corazon Aquino,
Benigno's widow, a powerful emo-
tional symbol to anti-Marcos Fili-
pinos, and her running mate, Salva-
dor Laurel, the leader of a well-organ-
ized opposition party ? a strong
ticket in a clean election, democrati-
the U.S. bases in the Philippines highly
important; and although it's not clear
to what extent, if any, the self-labeled
Communist insurgents are linked to
Moscow, preservation of the bases un-
doubtedly requires preservation of a
pro-U.S. government.
If Mrs. Aquino could win, that
might bring new life to a democratic
tradition most Americans would like
to think their earlier stewardship ef-
fectively planted in the Philippines;
and even conservatives might agree
that that would offer more hope of ef-
fective resistance to the Comniunist
insurgency than a continuation of Mr.
Marcos's repressive, corrupt regime.
U.S. military and other aid almost
surely would be more generously
proffered by a Congress long suspi-
cious of the Marcos Government's
Why isn't the
Philippines
on Shultz's
list of forces
fighting Reds?
will and ability to clean itself up and
put down the rebellion.
On the other hand, the corrupt,
strong-arm Marcos regime, long the
recipient of undeviating U.S. support,
might survive the February election
by fair means or foul, only to crumble
under the Communists' growing
strength. Even if it didn't, Mr. Mar-
cos hardly offers Filipinos the kind of
democratic future Mr. Shultz extolled
for Angolans, Afghans, Nicaraguans,
etc.
On the other hand, any suggestion
of U.S. support for Mrs. Aquino cer-
tainly would be denounced by the
agile and vitriolic Mr. Marcos as
unacceptable Yankee intervention in
Philippine affairs; and might even
give him an excuse to call off the elec-
tion and return the nation to martial
law. W,hat effect any of that might
have on the military bases is hard to
estimate.
Mr. Shultz's case for intervention-
ism is by no means proved;, whether,
for instance, "covert" aid for the An-
golan rebels improves or worsens the
American position in southern Africa
remains to be seen. And the complex
case of the Philippines suggests again
cally oriented and pro-U.S. that mere anti-Communism is not al-
Here is a. gen Americargai ? y.s+lik-f
.a Lic:mut-bsedon
APPIle~ifiE *booirtutauia-Amv)tftiq 1 0 0 0 1-8
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91
WASHINGTON POST
1 December 1985
Joseph Kraft
Bush: Out Front and at Ease
-00901R000100010001-8
"I know what I have to do to get
from here to there," Vice President
George Bush told a visitor the other
day. That comment on his campaign to
win the Republican nomination in
1988 reflects a man easy in his skin.
So easy, indeed, as to raise doubt
about the gnawing passion usually re-
quired to win the presidency.
Inner calm radiates from Bush. He
has lost the anguished look. His voice
holds steady, without the flights into
the tenor range that once telegraphed
stress. He doesn't quickly take of-
fense. He volunteers that on a day God
made for playing tennis, he tries to
lighten the workload. He seems, if
you'll pardon the expression, happy.
Hewing loyally to the Reagan line
is, of course, the Main thing Bush has
to do these days. He does it with good
grace and no sense of being burdened
with a thankless task. He declines in-
vitations to take sides in the inner
wars of the administration on arms
control. Of the controversial Strate-
gic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars
program, he says only: "I'm confident
it won't disrupt Big Two relations."
On abortion, Bush says he changed
from free choice on learning there had
been 15 million abortions since the Su-
preme Court gave the operation legal
sanction. Asked whether he thought
15 million Americans committed
crimes, Bush said the number was less
when abortion was illegal.
On budget matters he admits a ma-
jority in Congress probably favors a
tax rise. But he prefers not to go that
way "until the last nickel can be
squeezed out on the spending side."
When asked about a revenue rise dedi-
cated to debt retirement and thus not
eligible for application to spending pro-
grams, he says: "It's something I want
to think about."
On one_y_t_. _ced_piece of business,
where experinRe
does go out front. He served as direc-
tor of ai?itra
worries akuljeaks. He thinks the
breach of secrec on the CIA idan for
harassing Muammar MUT
Libyan blowhard, had a "devastating'
impact. He says there has been too
rant? ? ,
much loose talk in Congress,at the
itself,CIA and in the White House.
As a partial remedy Bush favors
folding the separate Senate and House
oversight committees into a Joint
Committee on Intelligence. That way
the staff would be drastically reduced.
Instead of rotating on and off the com-
mittees as at present, members of the
joint committee would serve long
enough to acquire genuine expertise.
In another sensitive area, Bush may
break new ground. He chairs ..a task
force looking into international terror-
ism. Among other things Bush envis-
ages a session with newspaper and
television executives. He intends to
sound them out on the possibilities for
a self-imposed code of restraint on
coverage of terrorist acts. But his staff
makes certain there is no hint of advo-
cating censorship?a little touch of
front-runneritis.
Bush knows he leads the pack in the
Republican race. When asked whether
lie wasn't especially strong in the
West, he responded: "And in the East,
and the South, and the North." The
midterm elections, moreover, provide
an occasion to lengthen the lead. The
vice president plans an active cam-
paign for fellow Republicans in the
Senate, House and gubernatorial
races. He is not about to undo his ad-
vantage by taking controversial stands
or alienating other Republicans.
As rivals for the nomination he lists
Jack Kemp, the New York congress-
man; Bob Dole, the Senate majority
leader; Howard Baker, the former ma-
jority leader; and Pete DuPont, the
former governor of Delaware. He sees
as outsiders, trying to get started, for-
mer secretary of state Alexander
Haig, and former secretary of defense
Donald Rumsfeld.
Toward all, he follows what Presi-
dent Reagan has called the 11th Com-
mandment: Thou shalt not speak evil
of any other Republican. Those who
foresee an eventual Bush-Kemp ticket
can take comfort from the vice presi-
dent's stance. Of Kemp's campaign, he
says: "I can't think of anything he's
said that's personally derogatory."
Even right-wing support, which he
STATINTL
used to seek with a frenzy some found
demeaning, no longer troubles Bush. He
feels he stands well with many of what
are known in the Republican Party as
"the wingers." A striking case is the
support the vice president enjoys from
the evangelist Jerry Falwell. Of the
others the vice president says: "There
are some I can't do anything about."
That almost fatalistic attitude raises
the matter of the gnawing passions.
People don't become president by
chance. They. have to want the job in-
tensely. They think about nothing
else, night and day, in season and out,
for years. Bush is not that way, at
least not now.
"If I decide to go all out for the job
." he began, at one point. Eyebrows
were raised and a question put about
whether the conditional approach
didn't reflect a want of appetite. Bush
had an answer. Many people, he said,
felt that when it came to running for
1988, it was "still too early." But if
you really and truly want to be presi-
dent, isit ever too early?
.c,1985, Los Angeles Times Syndicate
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ARTA
ON"P
INTERNATIONAL
r Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-009
NEWSWEEK
4 November 1985
STATINTL
01 R000100010001 -8
The Philippines:
Another IranP
Fearing disaster, Washington attempts to move
An old and ailing dictator, a regime
stained and weakened by corrup-
tion, a nation boiling toward revolt
?the scenario conjures up Ameri-
can nightmares of Vietnam, Nicaragua and
Iran. But this time it's playing out in the
Philippines. As President Ferdinand Mar-
cos prepares to celebrate his 20th year in
power, the all-but-unanimous
view of old admirers and neigh-
bors is that he is now hellbent for
disaster. locked on a course that
will endanger the vital strategic
and political interests of his allies
throughout all of Asia. While the
b8-year-old autocrat retreats to
Malacariang Palace, the econo-
my falters, demonstrators crowd
the streets and communist insur-
gents of the once inconsequen-
tial New People's Army ply the
countryside: If Marcos fails to
provide reforms and a capable
successor, most strategists now
agree, the Philippines could tum-
ble into a military dictatorship or
a communist takeover within the
next five years. As fornier U.S.
Ambassador William Sullivan
puts it, the fate of America's old
ward, partner and Asian alter ego
has suddenly become "the most
dangerous, unsettling and desta-
bilizing problem anywhere on
the Pacific rim."
Immediately at stake is the fu-
ture of the two largest American
military installations outside the
continental United States. Sit-
ting at the southwest edge of the
Pacific Ocean, Clark Air Base
and the Subic Bay Naval Station
are ideally situated for projecting American.
strength into the South China Sea and the
vital sea lanes that channel oil from the
Persian Gulf to Japan. They also provide an
effective counterweight to the rapid Soviet
naval buildup at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam.
The loss of the bases could alter the balance
of power in the Pacific, jeopardize billions of
dollars of American trade, shake the conti-
even loosen their ties to the West. If the
United States were forced out of the Philip-
pines, says Rear Adm. Lewis Chatham,
commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet battle
force, it would be tantamount to "abdicating
the South China Sea to the Soviets."
As the urgency has mounted, a steady
stream of administration officials and con-
Marcos toward reform.
up to replacing him. Invariably, he has re-
jected the criticism, insisting that the prob-
lems have been exaggerated. It's not that
Marcos isn't listening, says a Western ana-
lyst in Manila. "It's just that the problems
don't appear serious enough for him to re-
juggle his priorities."
Those priorities seem to include protect-
ing an interlocking matrix of
family and cronies who have
prospered over the past 20 years.
at times achieving great wealth at
the nation's expense. Beyond
that matrix, life in the Philippines
is becoming ever more grim.
Manila's shantytown ghettos are
rife with strikes and demonstra-
tions. According to the latest
U.S. intelligence estimates, some
15,000 armed guerrillas are oper-
ating in up to 62 of the nation's 73
provinces?and their ranks are
growing at a rate of 20 percent a
year. Last week Lt. Gen. Fidel
Ramos, the acting armed forces
chief of staff. estimated that the
rebellion had cost 4.500 lives this
year. Meanwhile elements with-
in the military continue to abuse
the civ ilian population, and
death squads are increasingly
terrorizing the villages and
towns. Vast pockets of the
countryside have fallen into
grinding poverty. On the island
of Negros, where many unem-
ployed migrant workers subsist
1, on a diet that consists largely
2 or sugar cane, Roman Catholic
Bishop Antonio Fort ich sees "a
social volcano about to explode."
American strategists insist
that the Philippines is not yet lost?but
Marcos must act immediately to prevent his
country from falling apart. There seems lit-
tle likelihood that the NPA is poised to
march on Manila or even to take control of
the major outlying islands. The more proxi-
mate fear is that the N PA's political arm. the
1 million-strong National Democratic
Front, may foment so much civil unrest that
dence of China an124:r;aardTadF6olqUieawc1216641/Orriy03:petAl_mises9rstiblooti Rod tpi gotplootiiiagi will no longer be atlicL,
ARIPPE
The First Couple: .-In intricate web of loyalties and intrigues
gressmen have converged on Malacafiang
Palace, cajoling, wheedling and pressuring
for democratic change. The result, says one
veteran, has been "like spitting into the
wind." Marcos has listened as his American
visitors have warned of the gathering
strength of the NPA guerrillas, the growing
disaffection of the Army officer corps, the
crumbling of the islands* economy and the
Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
to maintain control. Some officials warn
'. that a "flash point" might come as early as
next year, Thus the challenge is to prod
Marcos into action: the immediate problem
is to persuade him to allow free and fair
balloting in the election of 15,000 municipal
and provincial officials scheduled for next
spring. In that way, U.S. strategists hope,
political passions can be channeled into tra-
ditional campaigning. If the moderate oppo-
sition has a genuine chance in the 1987
presidential election, the insurgency could
lose a good deal of steam.
But can Marcos really be prodded? He
has always been a brilliant political tacti-
cian; now he has become a master of eva-
sion; his main response to criticism has
been to threaten, filibuster and delay.
Washington recognizes that it has no one
else with whom to deal. "While President
Marcos at this stage is part of the problem,
he is also necessarily part of the solution,"
says a draft of a National Security Study
Document setting forth the basic U.S. poli-
cy on the Philippines. The directive sug-
gests that Washington adopt "a well-or-
chestrated policy of incentives and disin-
centives"?offering aid only if Marcos
meets certain well-calibrated measures of
reform. The difficulty with that approach,
says one political analyst, is that "Marcos
just keeps eating the carrots and no one
dares hit him with the stick." Ultimately,
officials fear, Marcos may conclude that
Washington needs him and his bases more
than Marcos needs the United States.
Previous U.S. policy may well have con-
tributed to that perception. Four successive
U.S. administrations sat quietly by after
1972, when Marcos declared martial law
and began restructuring the Philippine
Constitution to accommodate his personal
rule. His regime muzzled the press, packed
the courts with loyalists and, according to
human-rights activists, detained 60,000
moderate opponents. Simultaneously, his
cronies filled government posts and gained
monopolies in key commodities such as sug-
ar and coconuts. When Marcos lifted mar-
tial law in 1981, the government had been
transformed. The president retained wide-
ranging powers of decree that allowed him
o overrule?or even dissolve?the Parlia-
Fent. Yet, in visiting the Philippines that
ame year, U.S. Vice President George
Bush lavished praise on the autocrat who
ad undone decades of democratic tutelage
under the United States. "We stand with
you, Sir," the vice president said. "We love
your adherence to democratic principles
and to the democratic process."
If that view sorted badly with new reali-
ties, Bush wasn't alone in his mistake. By
the summer of 1983, only a few political
and intelligence officers in the U.S. Embas-
sy in Manila perceived the dangers that are
now swirling around Malacafiang. Ronald
Reagan, an emissary of Richard Nixon in
1969, deeply admired Marcos's anticom-
munism. U.S. Ambassador Michael Arma-
cost, a Reagan appointee, initially was so
friendly with the Marcoses that some Filipi-
nos called him "Armaclose." Then, on Aug.
21, 1983, opposition leader Benigno Aqui-
no, the only Filipino charismatic enough to
compete with Marcos mano a mono, was
gunned down at the Manila airport as he
returned from exile in the United States.
Aquino had been intent on talking Marcos,
who appears to be suffering from a degener-
ative disease, into a dying man's commit-
ment to restore democracy to the Philip-
pines. Although no one proved Marcos was
behind the assassination, just about every-
one suspected him or his followers. In early
1984, Adm. William Crowe, then com-
mander in chief of the U.S. forces in the
Pacific and now chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, returned from Manila with a
warning for the president and secretary of
state; Marcos's political position was crum-
bling, he reported, and the insurgency was
rapidly gaining ground.
Reagan's response has been to send Mar-
cos a string of messengers?including for-
mer U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick;
her successor Vernon Walters, a retired
general and intelligence operative; William
Casey, director of the CIA, and Sen. Paul
Laxalt, Reagan's close friend and campaign
chairman. White House aides report, how-
ever, that the president remained "soft" on
Marcos. It took a strong pitch from key
foreign-policy advisers, in particular Arma-
cost?now under secretary of state?to per-
suade Reagan to step up the pressure. The
pressure was strongly reinforced in early
October when Singapore Prime Minister
Lee Kuan Yew told Reagan that if the Unit-
ed States lost its former colony and old ally,
countries throughout Southeast Asia would
draw their own conclusions. Lee's views
were powerfully held: he later told a private
gathering that Marcos was "using on bor-
rowed kidneys" and stopped just short of
saying that the United States should take
covert action to remove him.
It was Lee's warning that finally prompt-
ed the president to send Laxalt. his strongest
emissary to date. When he arrived in Manila
two weeks ago. Laxalt bore a three-page,
handwritten letter from Reagan. According
to Laxalt, Marcos seemed "profoundly im-
pressed." Nonetheless, the only specific that
the two men could agree upon in four hours
of conversation was that Marcos should hire
a new public-relations firm to beef up his
image in the United States. Marcos gave
Laxalt the impression that he wassupremely
confident of military victory over the insur-
gents. While acknowledging that he had his
share of political problems. Marcos cited a
recent poll that showed he was still far more
popular than any potential candidate from
the Philippines' fractured opposition. And
when Laxalt raised the issue of human-
rights violations. Marcos responded that all
of his problems were caused by external
forces and communists.
There is little question that Marcos in-
tends to hang on. The president insists
that there are no worthy successors in
sight: he says the opposition is full of "weak-
lings" and "lightweights," while possible
contenders from his own party are not yet
ready for ;he job. "Are we just going to leave
our people to the mercies of the fellow travel-
ersand thecommunists?" Marcos asks. "Be-
cause if I resign, that's a rout."
The statement was worthy of Louis XIV,
but American officials concede that Marcos
has a point. The succession threatens to open
a Pandora's box of contending parties. fac-
tions and cabals, especially if Marcos dies or
becomes incapacitated before the end of his
present term. It took considerable American
pressure in [983 to compel Marcos to revise
the vice presidency in the post-martial-law
Constitution?under the current schedule,
a vice 'president will not be elected until the
mid-1987 elections. As things stand now.
Marcos would be succeeded by Nicatior
Yffiguez, the aging speaker of the National
Assembly, who would serve as a caretaker
until elections could be held within 70 days.
But if the National Assembly isn't in session
at the time. there isn't even a speaker to serve
as interim successor.
Washington's problem now is to sort out
the players in a succession battle that has
already begun. The democratic opposition is
scrambling to get its act together while the
Communist Party continues to organize the
countryside. U.S. officials maintain, howev-
er, that the immediate successor is more
likely to come from Marcos's inner circle?
and that no candidate will be able to come to
power without support from the Philippine
military,
American officials believe there could
hardly be a worse choice than the front
runner, First Lady Imelda Marcos. Marcos
has always been strongly dependent on his
former-beauty-queen wife. Just before de-
claring martial law he suggested that she
campaign to become his constitutionally
elected successor. In 1975 he named her
governor of Metro Manila, the capital re-
gion whose S million residents are crucial to
the political control of the country. Three
years later she led the government's Manila
ticket against Benigno Aquino, who ran his
campaign from jail. Although opposition
leaders contended that Aquino was ahead
when the polls closed, the government-con-
trolled counting produced a landslide vie to-
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ry for Imelda. liAppfraued)Fapp&Pict?
wife to become minister of human settle-
ments, with control over a hefty budget. She
has also served as a presidential envoy to
Libya. to China, repeatedly to Moscow and
last week to the United Nations.
U.S. officials complain that Mrs. Mar-
cos seems genuinely unaware of how deep-
ly disliked she is by millions of what she
has called her "little brown children."
Critics despise her political intrigues, her
economic giddiness and her opulent shop-
ping trips abroad. Still, Mrs. Marcos will
be able to count on the intricate web of
loyalties that she and her husband have
built up over the years. And she is cultivat-
ing military officers, such as Army com-
mander Maj. Gen. Josephus Ramas and
armed forces Chief of Staff Fabian Ver,
who is on leave of absence following his
- indictment in connection with the Aquino
assassination. American officials worry
that her association with Ver could lead to
further instability in the Philippines.
Washington is also wary of Eduardo Co-
juangco, chairman of San Miguel, the Phil-
ippines' largest corporation. While other
business allies of Marcos have suffered from
the country's two-year-old economic crisis,
Cojuangco's empire continues to grow. Just
a few weeks ago the United States talked
Marcos out of permitting Cojuangco a mo-
nopoly on the nation's wheat imports. Up to
now Cojuangco has preferred to shun pub-
licity. But, claims opposition leader Salva-
dor Laurel, "If he had to become president
to protect his interests, then he might try."
There is no question the United States
would prefer theemergenceofacentnst
figure. One is Defense Minister Juan
Ponce Enrile, who has already declared him-
self a presidential candidate if Marcos is not
around to run. While Enrile helped plan the
1972 martial-law takeover, he has distanced
himself from Mrs. Marcos and Ver. Instead
he has associated himself with a growing re-
formist faction that aims to move the mili-
tary from the right wing to the political cen-
ter. Enrile and Acting Chief of Staff Ramos
appear committed to defending the Consti-
tution if Marcos resigns ordies in office. That
might mean a showdown if factions of the
ruling clique attempt to forestall an election.
But if a constitutional crisisdoes emerge, En-
rile and other centrists could probably count
on the backing of the United States.
An electoral victory by the moderate Fili-
pino opposition might please Washington
even more. For now, the opposition seems
hopelessly divided. But American officials
are still hopeful that anti-Marcos sentiment
seam/gaga iiiplAnkipg.x,Rimg0000rasi Ogiatiaened it by appointing boy-
didate, and they have made discreet over-
tures to several potential leaders.
Chief among them is former Senator Lau-
rel, president of an eight-party coalition
called the United Democratic Organiza-
tion. Last June UNIDO issued a platform
calling fora referendum on the U.S. military
bases and demanding that no nuclear weap-
ons be stored there. But Laurel supports the
bases, and predicts that Filipinos would
agree to keep them if a vote were held today.
Meanwhile, an emotional favorite is Cora-
zon Aquino, the widow of the charismatic
opposition leader. But Mrs. Aquino has lit-
tle political experience and is reluctant to
become a contender. Last week she agreed
that she might run for president, but only if
Marcos called a snap election?and then
only if 1 million people signed a petition
drafting her to run.
The United Statescould try toencouragea
deal between Marcos and his opponents?
and protect U.S. strategic interests as well.
Under one scenario, envisioned by Richard
Holbrooke, former assistant secretary of
state for East Asian affairs under Jimmy
Carter, Marcos would be permitted to serve
out his term, preserve his wealth and be im-
mune from future prosecution, probably in
exile in the United States. In exchange, he
would have to agree to electoral reforms and
announce that neither he nor his wife would
run for the presidency. In return for Wash-
ington's role in easing Marcos out, the oppo-
sition would have to agree to retain the U.S.
bases. The deal would be immensely difficult
to engineer: Holbrooke gives the plan a 1-in-
4 chance ofsuccess, and that may beoptimis-
tic. But officials stress that the best chance
for American interests in thePhilippinesis to
have Marcos gracefully step down.
Without such an arrangement, Washing-
ton can only press more vigorously for re-
form. Among its chief concerns is the state
of the Philippine military. To signal its
displeasure, Congress recently cut its 1986
military aid to Manila from $100 million to
$70 million. Marcos may provoke an even
stronger reaction if he follows through on
his promise to reinstate General Ver when,
as expected, he is acquitted of complicity in
Aquino's murder. "It would be the end of
things," says retired Maj. Gen. Edward G.
Lansdale, once a key CIA operative in Ma-
nila, who believes that such a decision
would badly tarnish the honor of the Philip-
pine government. "The political demon-
strations they have been going through
would multiply a hundred times, and there
would be demands that Marcos should step
down immediately."
Equally pressing is the need for econom-
ic and political reforms. Rather than loos-
ening his hold on the electoral process.
alists to the notoriously partisan Commis-
sion on Elections, which disaccredited a
citizen's group whose watchdog activities
during the 1984 legislative elections dis-
couraged widespread cheating. Mean-
while, Washington is pressing for the
elimination of Marcos's peculiar brand of
"crony capitalism" that fosters monopo-
lies and breeds corruption in nearly every
phase of Philippine economic life.
To date, Marcos has paid the U.S. warn-
ings remarkably little heed. But the Philip-
pines is onecountry where the United States
still has enormous influence, and Ronald
Reagan has one very powerful card to play:
himself. To an extent, Marcos's legitimacy
has always rested on American support. It
would be hard for him to reject public pres-
sure from Reagan to step aside. So far the
president has only sent messengers. It might
make a difference if he decided to do the job
himself. But American officials must also
face the possibility that Marcos might de-
cide to call any bluff.
For now, the waning dictator seems curi-
ously passive about the future of the Philip-
pines. According to one intimate acquaint-
ance, "Marcos has suggested that the day of
the two-party system and personality poli-
tics may be past. When he goes, only the
military will be strong enough to handle the
left." And at times, Marcos is even gloomi-
er, speaking of a "Cambodia-style geno-
cide" should the NPA ever come to power.
But when that happens, Marcos expects to
be dead. Marcos is far tougher t han the shah
and Somoza before him; and like them, he
hopes to stick it out to the end. If he leaves it
for others to worry about the deluge that
promises to ensue, his dereliction will en-
danger not only the U.S. bases that secure
Western interests in the region, but the
American legacy of democracy to a long-
time ally and friend.
HARRY \ NDERSON with MELINDA LIU mid
RICHARD VOKEY in Manila. LOHA SMARD/..
KIM WITLENSON. JOHN WALCO
MORTON M KONDRACKE in Wa,liingion
and bureau rcp.na.
MARCOS'S 20 YEARS
Once Asia's democratic showcase,
could Manila become another Saigon?
1995 Ferdinand Marcos wins the
presidency. Lyndon Johnson soon
calls him "my strong right arm in Asia."
1912 Barred from a third term, Mar-
cos declares martial law.
1981 With new laws making him
paramount, Marcos ends emergency
rule and wins reelection.
198$ Opposition leader Benigno
Aquino is murdered. Suspicion fails on
Marcos's close friend Gen. Fabian Ver.
198445 Ronald Reagan repeat-
edly sends emissaries with an urgent
warning: reform. Time is running out.
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When Jonathan Bush was 7 years old in 1938, he thrilled
with pride to see his baseball player brother, George, 14
? known to all as "Poppy" ? marching around the dining
room table with his chums from Phillips Academy in
Andover, Mass., singing the school song.
In World War II in the Pacific theater, George Was an
18-year-old flying officer in the Navy, the youngest fighter
pilot in the fleet.
He was lanky, blue-
eyed and dashing.
He took chances,
bombed and
strafed Japanese
targets, got shot
down at sea and
luckily was saved
by a U.S. subma-
rine. He also reveled in something almost all Bush family
members prize: a good time.
At home in the rambling wooden house in Greenwich,
Conn., Jonathan, then 11, was overjoyed by George's occa-
sional letter from the war.
"I still see him ? if I can get real corny but truthful ?
as a hero," said Jonathan, now a 54-year-old investment
broker, of George Herbert Walker Bush, 61, now the vice
president of the United States.
When Lt. j.g. Bush returned from the Pacific at
Christmas 1944, he married an 18-year-old knockout from
Rye, N.Y., named Barbara Pierce. Her father was the
publisher of McCall's magazine. Jonathan Bush recalls
her as "peculiarly beautiful, with
great big eyes and gorgeous hair."
Moreover, Jonathan realized,
"She was wild about him. And for
George, if anyone wants to be wild
about him, it's fine with him."
Tbday, four decades later, George
Bush, the second son of Prescott
Bush of Greenwich, Conn., and
Dorothy Walker of St. Louis, intends
to find out how many Americans
may be even mildly wild about him.
If Mr. Bush becomes president of
the United States, either by succes-
sion or by popular election, the
American people will have a chief
STAT I NT L
ARTICLE/. Approved For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901
ON PAGE._ WASHINGTON TIZTS
28 October 1985
'Poppy,' hero
of the family,
takes aim at '88
First offour parts
By Barnard L. Collier
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
GEORGE
BUSH
AN INSIDE LOOK
R000100010001-8
executive officer who sought the job
with a barely concealed passion, and
who believes he can do it better than
anybody on the national scene.
Mr. Bush is aware that in a na-
tional election in 1988, provided he
wraps up the Republican nomina-
tion, he must beat big historical
odds: No vice president has become
president by election, unless he has
earlier succeeded to the Oval Office
because of the president's death, in
the last 37 presidential election cam-
paigns, the last one being Martin
Van Buren.
He must also limit the number of
his doubters and detractors, who in-
terpret Mr. Bush's ambition ? which
he tends to emphasize by his zeal in
underplaying it ? as unseemly and
perhaps dangerous in an American
political leader.
Some of the accusations against
Mr. Bush by sharpshooters on the
Republican right puzzle him and his
admirers. In addition to the venial
sins of ambition and naivet?he is
commonly charged with the mortal
sins of being a "wimp," an elitist, too
easily influenced by moderate opin-
ions, too trusting of the communists
and their ilk, a preppie, a "good No.
2 man," a blue blood and a man who
is "on the Right, but not of the Right."
From his political left, the barbs
are more snide. The snidest have
come from cartoonist Garry lbu-
deau in his "Doonesbury" strip. One
episode suggested that by faithfully
representing and promoting the
policies and philosophies of Pres-
ident lieagan he had, willingly, "put
his manhood in trust."
But George Bush, it is often said
by his loved ones, kinfolk and
friends, "knows who and what he is."
Moreover, he resists and refuses to
be repackaged in ways political mar-
keters predict will be more palatable
to a larger public.
One thing Mr. Bush surely is: He
is a man who carefully is planning to
be the next president.
Before a large luncheon audience
recently in Los Angeles, he re-
sponded to a point-blank question
from the floor about his presidential
future by saying: "I'll try to give you
a serious non-answer."
What he answered, with a confi-
dential grin, was:
"I know what is beating in my
breast. And if you ask Mrs. Bush, she
does, too."
The listeners laughed, and his po-
etic message sank in.
For now, Mr. Bush's personal re-
spect for Ronald Reagan will keep
him working as diligently and unob-
trusively as possible in the back-
ground. He will neither contradict
nor question the president nor his
policies in front of anyone but Mr.
Reagan himself ? they meet for half
an hour at 9 each morning. He rarely
will take credit for missions he has
accomplished or international deals
he has cut.
But then, after the 1986 congres-
sional elections, he intends to come
right out and shout what early-bird
campaign buttons are already say-
ing:
"Bush for President!"
The question of what makes
George Bush run is a significant
one.
President Lyndon Johnson useirto
say, "If you want to know what moves
a man, find out what his father failed
at."
In a recent interview, Mr. Bush
recalled his father.
"Yes, he did fail once. In 1950, he
failed to be elected to the United
States Senate from Connecticut. We
[his family] never looked at it that
way. But he set his sights to win. You
fail in a match if you lose it. If it's
important enough you do feel fail-
ure. If it's 'one more experience in
life,' you don't."
Mr. Bush is widely known in and
out of political circles as a tenacious
competitor. He recalls that in the
past he was "goal oriented," which
translated into unbridled energy and
raw ,determination to get where he
was going and to grasp what he
wanted.
After the Navy, he zipped through
Yale, making Phi Beta Kappa, in just
21/2 years. He tore into the world of
business with a similar ferocity.
"But now, as I get older," he said,
"I have become mellower. Just ask
any of my brothers. They'll agree to
that."
He has reluctantly begun to re-
veal more of himself and his per-
sonal life to some reporters. He
hopes this will serve to satisfy public
curiousity, although it violates a per-
sonal tenet, taught by his mother,
"not to speak too much of one's self."
There are signs, too, that he is
watching Ronald Reagan's consum-
mate communication methods with
studious attention, and learning
something about speech making
that will be politically profitable to
him.
'lb some lengths, however, he will
not go.
Take his watchband, for example.
He wears a Timex watch with a
blue and red striped cloth watch-
band on his right wrist.
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Would
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He has been urged by diverse po-
litical consultants, pals, well-
meaning journalists and unsolicited
letters to change his watchband ?
which seems to be a universally
accepted "preppie" fashion mark. A
different watch might project a dif-
ferent and better image, the thinking
goes.
"I won't do it," he says, with a cer-
tain stubbornness.
Alixe Reed Glen, the producer of
Cable News Network's "Crossfire"
and until last July a valued member
of the Bush press staff, said what Mr.
Bush will not say in such blunt
terms:
"What the hell does his watch-
band have to do with national secu-
rity?"
When the bits and pieces of his life
and work so far are accumulated,
Mr. Bush comes into focus as a he-
reditary American achiever.
He is descended from an ancestry
of hard-working, hard-playing, well-
off business and financial pioneers
of New England and the Middle
West.
The traditions of his family run
strong in him. There was much
stress laid on the values of loyalty to
family, friends, one's country and
oneself. And on honor: one's word is
one's bond. Good gamesmanship:
winning. Good sportmanship: how to
be a graceful second. Diligence.
self-reliance. Respect. Courage.
The precepts were passed along
in open-ended family dinner table
conversations and instilled in pri-
vate talks with parents,
grandparents and relatives. There
also were historic family examples,
such as:
? Samuel Prescott Bush, Mr.
Bush's father's father, who
graduated as an engineer from Ste-
vens Institute in New Jersey, worked
for the Pennsylvania Railroad, ven-
tured out to Columbus, Ohio, to be-
come chairman and chief executive
officer of the Buckeye Casting Co.,
introduced football to Ohio and was
the first football coach at Ohio State
University.
? George Herbert Walker, his
mother's father; founded G.H.
Walker & Co., by 1900 the largest
brokerage firm in St. Louis. Active
in building a railroad between the
United Sates and Mexico, a
"crackerjack" polo player, bridge
player, golfer, president of the U.S.
Golfers Association in 1921, respon-
sible for The Walker Cup matches,
which are still played. He was a top-
notch shotgunner, remembered by
his grandchildren as stern, and "a
wonderful story teller."
? Prescott Bush, his father, sang
at Yale with the Wiffenpoofs and the
Yale Glee Club, later formed the Sil-
ver Dollar Barbershop Quartet
which occasionally sang with Fred
Waring's orchestra. In 1921, he went
to work for the securities firm of
WH. Harriman, where he eventually
became a managing partner. He was
greatly interested in golf ? winning
several matches against the best of
the day ? and was president of the
USGA in 1935. He left the U.S. Sen-
ate in 1962, forced .to retire with in-
ner ear troubles.
? Dorothy Walker Bush, his
mother, who at 84 remains a force to
reckon with in the lives of her chil-
dren. A young national tennis fina-
list, always a fierce competitor, she
is now slowing physically. Not long
ago she observed that at her age,
"I'm beginning to learn what pa-
tience is all about."
She has remained alertly active
well into her children's most produc-
tive years. "Mum," as Mr. Bush calls
her, had her own instructional style.
"My mother's was a little like an
Army drill sergeant's," Mr. Bush
wrote for Mother's Day 1985. "Dad
was the commanding general, make
no mistake about that, but mother
was the one who was out there day
in and day out, shaping up the
troops."
He also recalled:
"Nine months into her first preg-
nancy she played baseball. The last
time up she hit a home run, and with-
out missing a base ? I'm told ? con-
tinued right off the field to the hos-
pital to deliver [her first child]
Pres...
"She loved games and thought
that competition taught courage,
fair play and ? I think most.impor-
tantly ? teamwork. She taught
games to us endlessly...
"She also tamed our arrogance.
I'll never forget, years ago, saying
rather innocently, I thought, 'I was
off my game: Mother jumped all
over me. 'You are just learning? you
don't have a game!' The result: arro-
gance f4ctor down; determination to
get 'a game; up..
Mr. Bush's father was a tall
(6-foot-4) man who is variously re-
called as "imposing:' "austere," "re-
served," "stern" and "no-nonsense."
Pres Bush, his son, recalls him as a
man with "a fabulous sense of hu-
mor. And he was a terrible tease.
George became one, too."
It is not easy to get a sample of
George Bush teasing for the record.
But Jonathan Bush recalled how
George, as a teen-ager, would walk
out of his bedroom in the morning
and tell his little brother, Bucky,
"You've done such-and-such, and I'm
not going to talk to you for 24 hours."
Only the power of maternal inter-
vention could get George to ex-
change even a civil "Good morning."
On the tennis court, Mr. Bush is
known, said his daughter, Dorothy,
26, as "very catty" and "sort of ob-
noxious." He is notorious as well for
the sharpest needle in the federal
government.
He plays only doubles now, and
although he claims considerable
prowess in all of the tennis skills ?
even the right-handed serve ? he is
even better known for finding pre-
cisely the right thing to say to un-
nerve his opponents.
"He wins a lot of games be should
never have won by doing what he
does;' said Jonathan, his brother.
Mr. Bush's children still play ten-
nis with him. They enjoy the sport of
it and are humorously loyal in not
divulging too much about his game.
All agree, however, that a book called
"How to Serve," which recently ap-
peared on his desk in the West Wing
of the White House, might be worth
his while.
The Bushes have five children.
They lost one, Robin, to leukemia,
when she was 3. The children all
know and admire their parents and
their heritage, and the comfort and
responsibilities it brings them.
The children are:
? George Walker Bush, 39, of Mid-
land, Texas. Yale class of '68; Air
Force-trained pilot in Texas Air Na-
tional Guard; master's degree in
business administration from Har-
vard; runs Spectrum 7 Energy Corp.
which explores for oil and gas in the
Permian Basin of West Texas. Ran
for Congress against Kent Hance in
1978 and lost. "A survivor," he says.
"The trick for raising money is to
learn confidence in yourself as a
person. You have to have that con-
fidence, one, to ask for the money.
And once you raise it, you must have
confidence you will treat the person
Cebutd
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honestly and wisely. It's a very big
responsibility?' He and his wife,
Laura, have twin girls, Barbara
Pierce and Jenna Welch, soon to be 4.
? John Ellis "Jeb" Bush, 32, born
in Midland, lives in Miami i Now in-
volved with real estate development.
Majored in Latin American studies
at the University of lbxas; went to
Leon, Mexico, on a transfer program
helping build a schoolhouse and met
his wife, Columba, who still retains
her Mexican citizenship. "I fell in
love right off the bat," he said. Mar-
ried at age 21, now have three chil-
dren: George, 9; Noelle, 8; Jeb, will
be 2 in December. Worked as assis-
tant to the chairman of Texas Com-
merce Bank, then went to Venezuela
when the oil economy was booming.
"The bank is probably trying to col-
lect on all the loans I made;' he said.
He left Venezuela in 1979 to help in
his dad's presidential campaign.
? Neil Mallon Bush, 30, partner
with an experienced geologist in-
volved in oil exploration and wildcat
drilling. Some wells are in Wy-
oming's Powder River Basin. 'Mane
graduate with master's degree in
business administration. Lives in
Denver. "Our business is full of risk.
For example, we caused 18 wells to
be drilled in the first two years of our
business, and two produced. But we
make ends meet." Married to
Sharon, daughter Lauren, 16
months.
? Marvin Pierce Bush, 28, a vice
president of Shearson Lehman Bros.
brokerage. Graduate of University
of Virginia, where he met his wife,
Margaret Moister. No children. "We
do work in a partnership within
Shearson with tax exempt funds and
corporate retirement plans." Lives in
Alexandria, Va.
? Dorothy Bush LeBlond, travel
agent and caterer. Recently moved
to Maine with her husband, Billy,
who is in the construction business.
One infant, Sam. Attended Mrs. Por-
ter's School, Boston College and Bos-
ton University
Mr. Bush often says that his most
prideful boast is that he has five chil-
dren who lived through the 1960s
and still love their mother and father.
Barbara Bush rarely reveals in
public how many of the child-
rearing chores were carried on her'
shoulders and what a grueling job it
sometimes was.
As Jonathan Bush, her brother-in-
law, saw it: "Barbara took almost all
the heat from the kids. They would
sort of worship him and do battle
with their mother. They never had to
mix it up with him ? they used to
take it out on Bar"
"Bar" as Mrs. Bush is called by
family and close friends, is at 59 still
a splendid figure, with a crown of
silver-gray hair, a rich Ethel Barry-
more voice, perspicacious blue-
green eyes, and enough strength and
determination to pull a loaded hay
wagon if it were required of her. She,
too, is a clever and practiced tease.
She carries her needlepoint al-
most everywhere she goes, because
she is accustomed to the politician's
life of what she describes in military
terms as "hurry up and wait."
She has spent so much time in
holding rooms and on airplanes that
she has needlepointed living room-
sized rugs, with animals and flowers,
while waiting to hurry up.
Mrs. Bush feels duty-bound to
keep her body in athletic shape and
she will spend long, tedious minutes
each day in the sweaty grip of ex-
ercise.
"At home;' she explained, "I play
tennis at 7 a.m. and get up every
morning and put on a video and do
stretching, toning and aerobics. If
I'm very good I do it for an hour and
a half, but if I'm not, for about 45
minutes."
All this exertion, which to her
seems eternally slow and boring, is
done to compensate for a combined
blessing and curse.
"The truth is:' she admitted, "I
like official meals. I eat better than
any human being I've ever known. I
was built for the job. I have no prob-
lem coping, but do I have a weight
problem? Yes. I was born over-
weight."
Mrs. Bush, her daughter "Doro"
pointed out, is a world-class organ-
izer and archivist.
"Mom is the most organized per-
son you'd ever meet:' she said. "You
wouldn't believe the amount of
projects she has going. She has huge
scrapbooks, four feet tall, at least.
About 30 of them. She's beenkeeping
them their whole lives. She'll get a
menu from a dinner at the White
House. It's glued in within minutes
after she gets back home.
"My mother is very practical. I
feel I can ask her about practical
things more. As for temper, my
mother has more. My father has al-
most none. When he gets mad, you
know it's serious. Mother is more
emotional."
Mr. Bush's brothers and sister are,
in Pres Bush's words, "proud that
George has the honor ? and the bur-
dens ? of being vice president."
"This is a close and diverse fam-
ily" he added. "George being pres-
ident won't affect our way of life. We
have been under scrutiny as a family
when father was in the Senate.
Everybody is used to it. And mostly
it's no problem at all. It's something
you take in stride:'
The Bush siblings include Pres-
cott Bush, 63, Yale graduate, now
runs Prescott Bush Co. Inc., in Man-
hattan. Another brother, Jonathan
Bush, 54, Yale graduate, inherited a
strong dose of the family's thespian
streak, gave countless perfor-
mances as the good cowboy in Rich-
ard Rogers and Oscar Hammer-
stein's musical "Oklahoma!" He
runs Jonathan Bush & Co., an invest-
ment management business. Then
there are William Henry Bush, 47,
president of Boatman's Bank of St.
Louis, Mo.; and Nancy Bush Ellis.
Last April, at Camp David, Mr.
Bush presided over a weekend meet-
ing of almost everyone in his family.
The object was to have a good time
and to meet the new Bush staff,
newly led by chief of staff Craig
Fuller, who had replaced Adm. Dan-
iel Murphy, now an executive with
the public relations firm of Gray &
Co.
"That get-together" said George
Bush, the son, "is a typical George
Bush move. Here we are, scattered
all over. And things are changing. So
in order to make sure the sons,
daughter, wives, brothers and sister
know what's going on with the for-
mation of his PAC, and that no one
feels shut out."
For his part, Mr. Fuller was
pleased and surprised at his intro-
duction to the Bush family. He said:
"When I came up here I had no
idea there was such a reservoir of
talent as this family has. I didn't
know you knew so much about the
[political] game."
Ibmorrow: Bush the businessman
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ON PAGE 7_2...tn WASHINGTON TIMES
28 October 1985
Bush committee set
for White House bid
By Bill. Kling
THE WASHINGTON TIIIAES
With a list resembling a Repub-
lican Who's Who, Vice President
George Bush tomorrow is
scheduled to announce his official
political action committee, Fund
for America's Future,Pwhich will
drive his presidential candidacy in
1988.
The committee, with 450 mem-
bers representing all 50 states,
lists four former Republican na-
tional Chairmen, many present and
former members of the Republi-
can National Committee, and a
number of GOP elected officials
past and current.
. Membership on the committee,
which will support and help fi-
nance Republican candidates and
party organizations in next year's
federal, state and local elections,
does not necessarily imply en-
dorsement of Mr. Bush for the 1988
GOP presidential nomination, Ron-
ald Kaufman, the PAC executive
director, said.
The committee's seven national
co-chairmen are Anne Armstrong
of Texas, the Ford administration's
U.S. ambassador to Great Britain;
Constance "Connie" Armitage An-
tonson of South Carolina, former
chairman of the National Feder-
ation of Republican Women; An-
gela "Bay" Buchanan Jackson of
California, former U.S. treasurer
and sister of Patrick Buchanan, a
top White House staffer in the
Nixon and Reagan administra-
tions; Barber Conable, retired
New York GOP congressman now
senior fellow at the American En-
terprise Institute; Ed Rollins,
President's Reagan's 1984 re-
election campaign director until
recently White House political di-
rector, and Republican Govs. Arch
Moore of West Virginia and James
Thompson of Illinois.
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'ON PA'GE 'NO
WASHINGTON TIMES
29 October 1985
The Texas Years
The economic foundations of a political life
3y Barnard L. Collier Second of four parts
IE WASHINGTON TIMES
What kind of businessman was George Bush in
.exas?
Unlike Harry S Truman, he did not go bankrupt.
Nonetheless, the spectre of going broke did at ,
imes creep into Mr. Bush's mind. Those were the
tld days, in the early 1960s, when seeking don-
ttitutional legal protection from creditors was, in
zertaiti clreles, considered dishonorable. And the
:hought of not Meeting his regular payroll of 500
ecame a recurring nightmare.
Mr. Bush eventually suffered severely bleeding
ulcers, the worried businessman's disease.
His business career began in (948 when he was
25 years old. After a quick baby, a quick trip
through Yale, a Phi Beta Kappa key and the cap-
tainship of the Yale baseball team, Mr. Bush was
ready to learn the rough and risky game of oil
wildcatting.
His move west was to the town of Odessa, Texas,
which Barbara Bush's mother thought was some-
where in old Russia. She sent her daughter CARE
packages of Ivory Soap.
Mr. Bush learned how to abstract land leases
tnd sell oil royalties. In training with Dresser
Industries, a diversified oil field conglomerate, he
earned how to find out what kind of legal title
here was to property a company might want to
3uy, and if the guy who was trying to sell it ac-
.ually owned it.
Then, he and his small family moved to Califor-
nia. They lived, Mrs. Bush recalled in a recent
interview, "in Whittier; Compton, where Robin
itheir first daughter] was born; Bakersfield; Ven-
tura; and someplace else."
She saich
"I do not iernember it as a happiest time."
After a year, the family went back to Texas and
settled in Midland; located east of Odessa, half
way between Forth Worth and El Paso.
Mrs. Bush loved lbxas, which she recalled as
"a place where nobody cared who either of our
fathers were:'
Jeb Bush, who was born in Midland, has vague
memories of the place as "weird, like horny toads
and tumble weeds."
"We lived," he added, "in a nice, comfortable
house, with a backyard, a big park. It would rain
once or twice. ...
. "There were real nice people, real friendly.
There were about 20,000 people. and the rugged
environment in which they lived."
Midland was a town George Bush, and people
who called the Bushes friends, all helped to build.
Mr. Bush taught &friday school and was an elder
in the First Presbyterian Church. He was on the
board of directors of the Midland Community
The,ater and a director of' the Coinmercial Bank
GE ORGE
BUSH
AN INSIDE LOOK
a backwater into a city, and they en?
-
joyed it thoroughly.
C. Fred Chambers, born in Dallas,'
graduate of Woodberry Forest!
School in Virginia and the Univer-
sity of Texas, Navy pilot, and now a
well-to-do oilman who retired in.
1979, got to Midland in a different
way than did Mr. Bush, with whom
he later became friendly.
After the war, Mr. Chambers bor-i
rowed $2,500 on his G.I. Bill loan,
rights and began the Home Bever-
age Delivery Co. in Dallas. He and a
partner worked 18 hours a day and
drove trucks themselves, yet barely
were able to pay the other drivers.
His wife's 44-year-old father, who,
had retired from the oil business'
after a heart attack, told him:
"If you work half as hard in the oil
business as you do in the delivery
business, you'll make 10 times the
money!'
Mr. Chambers forthwith moved to
Midland.
He found the place filled with
smart, qualified, well-educated, am-
bitious, hard-working folks ? like
the Liedtke brothers, Hugh and Bill;
John Ashman and Tbby Hilliard,
both Princeton graduates; Bill Ken-
nedy; George Bush; and an adven-
turous bunch of other hope-filled
risk takers.
Mrs. Bush has affectionate memo-
ries of Midland:
"We just loved it! When we left 11
years later ? that's' where our little.
girldied ? I would wake up in the
morning and sense something awful
?and it was not being in Midland.
"We all grew up together there.
The friends we made we made in
Midland, Texas ? the friends we
made were the closest we'll ever
have."
Mr. Chambers also remembers:
"At first, George was working for
Dresser buying oil leases. Then he
and Hugh Liedtke, whose father was
- general counsel in Thlsa for Gulf Oil,
' got together.
, "We were a young group. We all
played touch football together. We
did what you do when you weren't
out in the oil fields. Everybody got
pretty close. We were all trying to do
the same thing. We were not compet-
ing in a cut-throat sort of way. ,
"George and I had some deals to-
gether. George had real good con-
nections. We went to New York. We
wentto Washington. In this period of
time; oil was pro-rated for 10 days at
$2.75 a barrel and gas was 19 cents."
Baine Perkins Kerr, a former
president and now a director of
Pennzoil, also recalled Mn Bush. In
a recent interview he said:
"I met him ? I just happened to
look it up in my diary from back
when I was practicing law and had
to account for all my time ? on Jan.
4, 1955.
"I was doing law in Houston with
the firm Baker Botts." A case came
up involving a company called
Zapata Offshore, which was wholly
owned-by Zapata Petroleum, which
was George Bush; Hugh Liedtke;
and a man named John Overby, a
former employee of Standard of
Texas ? all from Midland.
"They were just getting started in
business;' Mr. Kerr said. "I went to
Midland to find out the background
of the Offshore part, looking from
the viewpoint of an underwriter. I
knew none of them before. But out
of that ultimately grew a relation-
ship.
"I was 36 years old, a new partner
in a law firm, a couple of years older
than Hugh, and three or four years
older than George.
"His appearance was tall, slender,
very youthful then. He's remained in
pretty good shape.
"He always had a quick mind, and
he's very thoughtfult
"George was not%the Harvard
Business School sort of business-
man. He was pretty informal, as he
is. He was a hands-on man. He nego-
tiated deals. He had a style a little
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? different from many I e seen. M
tb
AEP
people called him by _P ciNa . ?
He knew everybody like he knew his
family, up and down. '
"In the end he did fine, but he
could have sold out for a lot more a
year or two later. He didn't get all
that much, but people always made
money with him.
"They lived very modestly. Their
house was in what we called Easter
Egg Row. These were wooden houses
painted up in bright colors. They
were not afflicted with great wealth.
"They were part of a group, some
more financed than others, from
'bus, Oklahoma and the East, like
George. Mainly, we were all inter-
' eated in finding oil and gas:'
Zapata Petroleum was capitalized
with $1 million, half from the Liedt-
kes, whose roots were in Tulsa, Okla.,
and the rest from Bush connections
in the East. The company was suc-
cessful doing some creative financ-
ing for the time. It also found oil on ?
a rather superficially explored tract
called Jameson Field, in Coke
County near the settlement of Silver.
The discoverlt produced 130 to 140
wells that are still pumping today.
The 7 cent-a-share Zapata stock
increased more than 300 times. iri
value to $23 by the time the 125th
well came in:
Mr. Bush has described the Jame-
son Field this way: .
"It was a major thing for us, not
for big oil people, but for us it was a
major development. Coke County
was 'make or break' for us. It was
considered by some to be marginal
production in those days, but for us
it was very, very, very important be-
cause it was really the beginning of
the growth of Zapata.
"It enabled us to go into the off-
shore business. It enabled us to do
many other things, and subse-
quently rit enabled the Liedtkes to
have a vehicle that is now Pennzoil,
if you want to look at it that way."
And moreover, he said, "I suppose,
if you wanted to make it really ro-'
mantic, you could say that without
the Jameson Field, I wouldn't be
vice-president of the United States:'
But on a truly personal level, he
said:
"That was the genesis, really. That
was the first major success the oil
company had, and you might say it
enabled me to go on to do what I did
in business, and subsequently that
permitted me to educate my chil-
dren and feel that I could forego fur-
ther economic enhancement and go
into politics?'
In the early 1950s, a man named
Laterno invented the Laterno 3-
Legged Jackup, an offshore drilling
rig that Mr. Bush has described as
"big as the Empire State Building
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It was floated out to an offshore
site, sunk beneath the water and
then ratcheted up above the sea on
its three legs to become a drilling
platform. When its usefulness in that
spot was over, it could be ratcheted
back down, refloated and moved
somewhere else.
Mr, Bush saw big money in the
Late= idea and wanted to take
Zapata Petroleum into it.
His partner, Hugh Liedtke, who
had a law degree from University of
Texas and a master's degree from
Harvard Business School, had no de-
sire to get his feet wet offshore when
the land drilling business looked
pretty good to him. That is ' why
Zapata Offshore was formed in 1954,',
with Mr. Bush in command. In 1959,:
Zapata Offshore's offices, and the,
Bushes, moved to Houston.
Mr. Bush's uncle, Herbert Walker,
was very proud and hopeful for his
nephew. He helped raise public and
Private money for Mr. Bush's ven-
tures, and he helped with most of the
financing for Zapata Offshore.
"Uncle Herbert" recalled Jona-
than Bush, the vice-president's next
younger brother, "always expected
to make a pot of gold in George's
company. He did not make a fortune
in George's company."
The new Zapata rigs were oddly
named "Scorpion," an insect that
stings you, and "Vinegaroon," also an
stinging insect
A hurricane came to test Mr.
Bush's mettle. One of his rigs was
swallowed by the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr. Bush had prudently removed its
crew the night before the blow.
When he took a small plane to look
for the rig after the storm had
passed, he recalls nearly rupturing
his eyeballs in a vain effort to find
even a floating trace.
Business pressures made life so
worrisome to Mr. Bush that Fred
Chambers heard how one evening in
London, "George had an ulcer at-
tack" and coughed up blood.
Mr. Chambers said:
"George is a good businessman.
He likes to be successful. He was
doing a job he liked to do. But the
thrill of politics he likes better. He
likes it better, so he works harder
and better at it."
Mr. Chambers drew a personal
comparison.
"I am an oil man. I'm in a risky
business. I tell people who invest
with me that probably the first thing
will happen to you is you'll lose your
money. But eventually, you stick with
it, you get somewhere....
"George," he remarked gently"
took it all very much to heart...?'
Mr. Bush later told people:
"I cant worry about things I have
no control over. Once I accepted that,
my ulcers went awa"
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philosophy, it also required some
surgical intervention to cure the ul-
cers. And there was psychological
advice from his physician which
provoked a rage from Barbara Bush.
She recalled:
"He came home with this booklet
from the doctor, and it said:
"'If your wife's family bothers
you, tell them to knock it off:
"'If your wife nags you, tell her to
knock it off:
"I was furious! The whole blame
wailm me.
"George answered every call.
There was no call for help George
Bush did not answer. He went to AA
meetings with people. ... I felt ?
selfishly, probably ? that he spent
too much time on other people ...
that there I was, with five children.
"I had to learn to live with George
Bush. He has not changed, but there
was a certain period when he took on
everybody's worries. He care a so
much:'
In a recent interview, Mr. Bush
himself said:
"It was a tense time the company
was going through. It was a survival
industry I thought at the time it [the
Laterno 3-Legged Jackup] would
have enormous potential. It did.
"My only problem was I sold out
just before the boom really started.
I sold everything I had in it in 1966:'
He sold to a group of investors led
by Doyle Mize and including a
wealthy close personal friend
named Will Farish.
Six months and two days later, the
stock price of Zapata Offshore dou-
bled.
ibmorrow: Bush's political future
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FkLIc WASHINGTON TIMES
30 October 1985
Pushing
Bush for
president
Third ?flour parts
By Barnard L. Collier
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
APh.D. candidate in political
Science, Lee Atwater, 34,
is in charge of the politics:
of making George Bush;
the next president of the United,
States.
Mr. Atwater is a sinewy, 150-
pound South Carolinian, a "yuppie:
baby boomer" he calls himself. I
He has been in Republican poli-
tics since he was a teen-ager in Co-
lumbia, S.C., and he remembers.
when the Republican National Com-
mittee was prepared to disband the
similar committees on college
GE ORGE
BUSH
AN INSIDE LOOK
campuses, and Mr. Bush, as party
chairman, personally saved them
from assimilation and extinction.
Mr. Atwater is now a partner in
the political consulting firm of
Black, Manafort, Stone and Atwater,
of Alexandria, Va. The firm claims
as friends Mr. Bush, Sen. Robert
Dole, Kansas Republican, and Rep.
Jack Kemp, New York Republican,
among others:
Mr. Atwater denies vehemently
the firm is hedging its political bets.
He insists each partner maintains
strict confidentiality for his candi-
date. Mr. Atwater also believes Mr.
Bush, who is his personal client, will
become the next occupant of the
Oval Office.
In fact, Mr. Atwater is not alone
among Republicans in that convic-
tion. A recent poll by Paul Weyrich,
a man of awesome reputation for
realism on the New Rth: t, indicated
Mr. Bush in 1988 could expect the
vote of eight out of every 10 people
who voted in the 1984 election for
Ronald Reagan.
"That's a good poll," commented
Mr. Atwater, "because it cuts against
the grain:'
The grain in this case is the predi-
lection on the right wing of the Re-
publican Party to prefer somebody
other than Mr. Bush ? someone with
more respect for New Right posi-
tions, less doubt about its political
power.
There is no doubt where Mr. Bush
stands on the question of New Right
power. Last year at the Republican
National Convention in Dallas, he re-
ferred to the New Right with an old
Texas description: "All hat and no
cattle." This endeared him not to
New Righters.
Mr. Atwater, who also worked for
Sen. Strom Thurmond, South Caro-
lina Repulican, regards himself as
conservative as any baby boomer
can get. He sees nothing at all in Mr.
Bush's political career that is tainted
with a smear of liberality in the eco-
nomic realm.
Technically, Mr. Atwater is volun-
teering his professional services to
the Fund for America's Future, a po-
litical action committee which is the
vice president's political arm.
This PAC may, under certain inter-
pretations of the election laws, be
transformed quickly into a legal
Bush-for-President committee,
when the time comes. It has raised
more than $2 million in just five
months, and is touted by Mr. Atwater
as one of the "eight or nine fastest
growing and best endowed PACs in
the country"
This suggests Mr. Bush is at-
tracting early money. Nonetheless,
doubts linger about the certainty of?
Mr. Bush's nomination for the
presidency. Several quiet questions
float around his campaign:
? Will Mr. Reagan complete his
term or will he step down for reasons
of health, probably at Nancy Rea-
gan'Kurging, and turn the job over to
"the JV?" ? the junior varsity, as Mr.
Bush describes himself.
? When will he step down, if he
does? This question raises many
constitutional questions. Among
them: If Mr. Bush should get the job
before the November 1986 elections,
will he be eligible to serve only one
more term, or two?
? It Mr. Reagan finishes, will he
be turning over a robust economy or
a failing one? In the first case, Mr.
Bush will have an easier time of it.
In the latter, perhaps a successful
and audacious businessman, like
Chrysler Corp.'s Lee Iacocca, could
whip him ? if Mr. Iacocca chooses
to run as 'a Democrat.
? Will Barbara Bush be an asset
or a liability? She is so candid with
her likes and dislikes, so assertive in
saying so if she feels like it, that she
might too often be too clearly under-
stood. Her what-rhymes-with-
"rich?" incident involving Geraldine
Ferraro is not entirely forgotten.
Mr. Atwater and Mr. Bush met
twice shortly after the 1984 election
victory to discuss, at great length
and depth, Mr. Bush's political op-
tions.
As Mr. Atwater described these in
a recent interview, there were two
obvious ones, and an unmentioned
one:
? Not to run. Rejected.
? lb run, beginning immediately,
in what Mr. Atwater proudly calls,
"The Permanent Campaign," which
will also be the title of his Ph.D. dis-
sertation.
? lb agree to run for vice pres-
ident again. Not discussed.
Mr. Atwater plans to turn his dis-
sertation into alms* which will say,
in essence, Americitn politics has de-
veloped a presidential election cam-
paign that begins before the polls
close on Election Day and runs on
until the next Election Day.
For him, and for Mr. Bush, "Elec-
tion Year 1988" is nearly a year un-
der way, and work is going on at a
furious pace to be sure that Mr. Bush
exhibits well at variotts political
"cattle shows:' and that the vice
president dominates the Michigan
party caucuses coming up next Au-
gust.
"Here's what always used to hap-
pen. Campaigning ended in Novem-
ber. Everybody's sick of politics, and
it's over until after Christmas," Mr.
Atwater said. "You have the with-
drawal, and then everybody has a
kind of 'flashback' in January and
February. It goes hot and heavy for
a while, and then it tapers back off
for a year or so.
"When the January and February
period was on this year, we all said,
'This'll die back down again; and it
just never did.
"So we didn't realize until last
summer that it just didn't end.
"Michigan now starts selecting
delegates for the national convention
next August. That means you actu-
ally got the delegate selection begin-
ning in less than a year after the
election..."
After the Michigan cancuses, Mr.
Atwater predicted, will cdme politi-
cal activity that he calls, "The Invisi-
ble Primary."
He regards this several months of
straw polls and more cattle shows as
Wmtid
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very significant in the OffsOved For Release 2006/01/03 A,sc)g-Fiti':e91-009
"It starts;' he said, "June of next
year. It's been in the past a winnow-
Mg out period. John Glenn got wiped
out in that period and never even
made it. Once the primaries started
he never became a credible ctuidi:
date, because he'd already been
wiped out in" ? a pause ,for silent
fanfare ? " 'The Invisible Primary'
We now have a 'pre-invisible
primary ... We have the cattle
shows and jockeying around inside
the 'echo chambers.' You got two big
echo chambers in American politics.
One's the political community, and
one's the media community ... And
my prediction is that that's going to
wipe a few, people out."
This dissertation he will one day
defend before a panel of academics
at thd University of South Carolina.
But htwill try it out first, in reality
in the wit for President campaign. -
MMAtwater's firm is one of those,
moderti "legalitical" firms in which
aris
beesw
ence
gets Ii
phone,
atic trappings of brass and
ed dark mahogany confer-
les mix with high-tech gad-
a neon yellow plastic ear-
die _that blasts dirty blues
into te4 Atwatert brain. Mr. At-
water himself is a practiced guitar
player and played with Percy,
("Who* M Man Loves a Woman")
Sledge.
The firm's business is expanding'
so fast that it has outgrown a good-
sized briek building on tree-shaded
Fairfax Street in Alexandria, and
will move soon to larger and more
expensive quarters overlooking the
Potomac River waterfront. Being
away from downtown Washington is
considered a distinct plus.
Mr. Atwater quite clearly has Mr.
Bush's ear and trust in political mat-
ters. They meet frequently face-to-
face, and speak often by telephone.
While Mr. Bush does not openly
discuss within media earshot his po-
litical strategies, Mr. Atwater re-
vealed them as follows:
"A. He will lose the nomination to
the presidency and everything else
if it means doing something that he
doesn't think is honorable with re-
gards to President Reagan. He's not
going to separate or distance him-
self.
"B. He's not going to be anything
but vice president to the president.
"But aside from that, he has an
interest in having a political future
after ,Ronald Reagan
Thirrequires "a political base,"
Mr. Atwater said, and he described
Mr. Bush's base as "one of the larg-
est natural political organizations of
any candidate in American politics."
He described the Bush base thus:
"The unique thing about George
Bush is that he's got at least three
inside the Republican Party as a
party activist, grass roots county
party chairman, party state
chairman
"The other base is his own base.
He got some 40 percent of the vote
and was able to win some primaries
like Michigan, and he did very well
in Texas. He had a base in 1980
against Ronald Reagan. Certainly
not a majority, but he had his own
base from going around the track,
and he's built oft this base as vice
president.
"Third, he's got the Reagan base.
In the last two polls I've seen, 80
percent of the people who supported
Ronald Reagan, rank-and-file vot-
ers, are going to support George
Bush. And I'd say that's 80 percent
of the activists?'
The Fund for America's future is
already handing out funds to se-
lected state Senate and House Re-
publican candidates, and it will gear
up to Help virtually every incumbent
Republican U.S. senator in an effort
to keep GOP control of the upper ,
chamber.
This will give Mr. Bush a consid-
erable pile of "chips," "IOUs," "fa-
vors," or what-you-will to cash in the
1988 campaign. The debts will prob-
ably be paid off gratefully
For the obligatory campaign slo-
gans, speeches and posters, the can-
didate's assets, which will be
advertised or suggested, will in-
clude, according to Mr. Atwater:
? "Experience. Experience at a
time when experience is at a greater
premium than ever before. This
country is going through two mas-
sive changes. A technology, rev-
olution and a values revolution,
brought forth basically by the infu-
sion of baby boomers. So there's a lot
of insecurity and instability out
there in the political system. In ev-
ery poll I've seen this year, exper-
ience is more important than ever
before as a quality in 'candidates?'
?,"He's got the organizational ad-
vantage?'
? ??"He's a good candidate. He's a
good politician. He knows how to re- -
late to people. He does well
speaking."
? "He's got endurance. Strom
Thurmond and he are alike in that:'
As Mr. Bush's "strategist:' Mr. At-
water refused to discuss Mr. Bush's
liabilities, while admitting,
"Everybody's got some?'
But he quoted Mr. Bush as saying
that if the economy goes totally sour,
and the Reagan administration gets
a black eye, then he will suffer.
"He is indelibly linked," Mr. At-
water said, "to the presidency of
Ronald Reagan. He's very proud of
that and will do nothing to run away
2,
01R000100010001-8
"But if everything sours ana goes
to hell in a handbasket, then he's go-
ing to have some problems.
"However, if that happens, what I
maintain is that any Republican is
going to have problems, because a
great man says, 'You can run, but you
can't hide:
"If we get in a situation where the
econainy is in shambles:. and so
forth, people will want to distance
from something like that and will hot
accept anyone else from the same
party A Wave will sweep across and
a Democrat can win:'
Mr. Bush's enemies, of the politi-
cal kind, will not be so reticent about
exposing his weaknesses, including
some rather slangy ones, like
"wimp," which are neverdelivered to
his face. Mr. Atwater confronted
these charges:
? Wishy-washy ideologically. ? "I
am a conservative, an unabashed
conservative. I got my start fromr
Strom Thurmond. Worked for him
for 10 years. The two politicians I've
been associated with are Ronald
Reagan and Strom Thurmond. . . . So
I wouldn't support somebody who
wasn't a conservative.
? Elitist. "The elitist thing, the
only way to solve it is when the cam-
paign starts. Get out and connect
with the people. He can't help the
fact that he was born somewhere,
and he went to a certain college. We
are not an anti-intellectual country I
think the elitist charge is a problem,
but it is not a crucial ... or lethal
problem. I think George Bush will'
go out there and connect very well
with the populist and the conserva-
tive voters, and it remains to be seen
if anyone else is going to go out and
get the populists:'
? Wimp. ? "The wimp image is
another he is going to have to solve.
There's no question he got hit with
that charge. Now it never was out
there in the '80 campaign. It got out
in the '84 campaign as a result of him
really getting out there and being
loyal to Ronald Reagan. He got him-
self into a damned-if-you-do,
damned-if-you-don't situation. By
and large he did the exact right
thing. Because if he did anything
that would have created separation
between him and the president, or
indicated any kind of disloyalty in a
dispute over policy, not only would
he have got murdered by the press,
it would have created the kind of
chaos on the ticket and chaos in our
campaign, and Katie-bar-the-door,
you don't know what would have hap-
pened."
vie
Against who does current At-
waterian thinking conclude a Re-
publican will have to run in 1988?
"In the modern presidency you've
got two nominations going on in each
from that.party
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!,1401
"In 1980, the _Aooroved_For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
xeptimican Party
had a conservative nomination going
on, and a moderate conservative
nomination. So you had Baker vs.
Bush, and then you had the whole
field against Reagan.
"The Democratic Party has two
nominations going on. The new gen-
eration nomination and the old
guard nomination. On the old guard
track, in my opinion, is [New York
Gov. Mario] Cuomo and [Massachu-
setts Sen. Edward] Kennedy. Both
traditional prevailing wing of the
Democratic Party
"Then you've got the new genera-
tion nomination. I think Gary Hart
holds a position as commanding on
that track as Reagan did in the con-
servative track for us in 1980. Be-
cause he's been around that track,
and so on...
"So I think you'll have Cuomo or
Kennedy, maybe with Hart:'
Are there any political novices or
black sheep in the wings?
"I think ,Lee Iacocca will wipe
himself out in the invisible primary,
if he gets in. Which would he be, a
Republican or a Democrat?
"On the Republican side, maybe
[former governor] Pete du Pont of
Delaware. And there's talk about Pat
Robertson of the 700 Club."
With those forecasts, Mr. Atwater
hurried away to the vice president's
house on Naval Observatory Hill in
Washington to discuss matters of ut-
termost privacy having to do with
the ongoing permanent floating
presidential campaign.
lbmorrow: An interview with Bush.
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t..31L4 :. ?
ver,
For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
WASHINGTON TIMES
31 October 1985
A conversation with
George Bush
Last of a series -
Friendship and foreign policy were
the focus of an interview with Vice
President George Bush in his West
Wing office.
The events of the day included a
visit to the WhiteiHouse by the re-,
cently released. hostage, Benjamin
Weir. Mr. Bush was dressed in a dark
blue suit, white shirt, a dark blue
necktie with tiny dots, highly pol-
ished black shoes, and dark execu-
tive length stockings that accor-
dioned down his long shins like a
dancer's leg warmers. He wore rim-
less aviator glasses and his mood
was cordial and almost jovial. He
replied to questions from Washing-
ton Times writer Barnard L. Collier
and White House correspondent
Mary Belcher Marlin Fitzwater his
chief press aide, sat in on the ses-
sion.
The vice president's voice was fa-
miliar, with its higher-than-expected
pitch and an acquired Texas twang.
He left off the last sound or so of
different words when he was
speaking in a relaxed way. He also
spoke with a few ruralisms like
"gonna" for going to, and "ya" for
you, and" 'em" for them ? but only
when he was semi-exuberant and
not paying strict attention to his
enunciation.
For most of this interview he sat in
his desk chair, sometimes leaning
back comfortably, and he appeared
at ease.
GE ORGE
BUSH
itIN INSIDE LOOK
Q: This is a question I was asked
to ask. Your pscception and your phi-
losophy about whet is, quote, called
detente?
A: My own feeling is that I think,,
we are on the right track trying to
reduce tensions in an intelligent way.
You have to define what one means
by ? detente. It has taken an, it has
Approved
a connotation of acquiescence, ap-
peasement and all of that. That isn't
what this policy is about, nor my own
views about what we ought to be do-
ing about it.
In other words, I think that we're
trying to get an agreement with the
Soviets that is verifiable, sound.
That's good policy. That's what we're
gonna do ? if we can get their
agreement on that. But to just enter
into an agreement for the sake of an
agreement. I'm not for that. Cer-
tainly the president's not for that.
Q: Let me ask you in terms of
background: Eventually with all the
people who get to be president, other
people say, "Who are their friends?"
... Who do you listen to?
A: I couldn't give you ... I couldn't
help you with that. I mean it's too
political. "Who's gonna be shaping a
Bush administration?" I just can't go
into that. I can tell you who some
friends are.
Q: That's fine.
A: But it depends on how you de-
fine "friends." You know ? how's this
going to be analyzed? Is somebody
gonna say, "What's this person's
views?" Or are you talking about
friendship. Where you have friends
that, I mean, ah ... Just explain how
you want to use it. I'm getting kinda
gun-shy politically.
Q: I really do understand it's a
difficult question. If you want to just
leave it be there, I can understand.
A: Yeah. But I got a lot! One of the
things we've been blessed with is
many, many friendships. But I mean
if you're doing a political piece and
then some "analyst" there at the pa-
per is gonna say, "Well, ya didn't even
mention anybody in politics." I don't
know. It's a perfectly good question,
but I really need to know what con-
text. Should I give you a political an-
swer?
Q: Give me a political answer.
A: In other words, be sure we got
it all balanced out by states, and stuff
like that. Or do you want to know who.
our really close friends are? Like C.
Fred Chambers, for whom we named
our dog. I mean, ah, he's a very, very
close friend. And, you know, Nick
Brady and this could go on and
on.
For Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R
Bobby Holt [oil and banking] out
there in Midland. I mean in Midland,
Texas. I . . I fear that omission.
Sonny Montgomery [Rep. G.V Mont-
gomery, a Mississippi Democrat] in
the Congress is a close friend. So's
[Rep.] John Paul Hammerschmidt
fan Arkansas Republican] Both
members of Congress. Gosh! The
Liedtkes with whom I used to do
business. That's Bill and Hugh Liedt-
ke. And Baine Kerr. These are
friendships that go way back. I men-
tioned Fred Chambers. Will Farish
is one of my close, closest friends.
Q: Let me ask you a philosophical
question... How would you describe
yourself? As a human being and an
Individual.
A: Well, hopefully'... Well, it's a
little arrogant again, talking about
one's self. So I'd almost rather get
out of it. But I'd hope with some in-
tegrity. And I hope with concern,
compassion. Is that the kind of thing
you're talking about?
Q: When you look in the mirror,
what do you see?
A: A guy that's had a long
schedule the day before, and who
wants a little time off.
Q: There is a public perception of
you and Mrs. Bush.
A: It's better to get others to help
with that. I spent my whole life
learning not to talk about myself
from my mother. When we started
doing that, why she'd get upset with
us. Now, I'm suddenly asked to
stretch out on a couch. I can't do that.
But you can get that from a lot of
people. I'm not that subjective.
When I look in the mirror, I don't say,
"Now. Ah ... [Stretching his neck
high, as if shaving it with a straight
razor] What is this fellow really
like?" And I'd say, "Who's the real
me?" I'm comfortable with what I
am.
Q: You seem like a really private
person.
A: In some cases, yeah. And that's
why I really feel on some of these
questions ? I mean I have no prob-
lem with people, giving you names
of people to ask, and you're going to
go get them from people you want
anyway. That's fine. But I'm just not
good at all this who my close friends
are. What I think about my religion.
What! want to do about this and that.
Q: Why does a man like yQu ?
who, your son Jeb says, could'enjoy
being rich, who likes his privacy ?
put yourself in the painful situation
of being a public servant, and sub-
jecting yourself to idiotic questions?
A: We talked a little bit about that
earlier. Early on, an inculcation of a
sense of service. Putting something
back. Giving something to a country
000100010001-8 _
0?folltd
you believe in. Workaglpreteickfupr
believe. All that.
I mean that's what motivates, cer-
tainly now. I'm not as much, perhaps,
as goal-oriented as I used to be. Get-
ting a little more relaxed about that.
kinda stuff. But, hopefully, a desire
to, you know, at this juncture do my
part in taking the country in a cer-
tain direction, and serving in the
process. Because there's a whole
other world out there. It's much
more private, much more relaxed,
which certainly has appeal. I don't
get into that mode that much, but
once in a while, up in vacation. I told
you about my boat, I think.
That's the private side of ' it.
Maybe we compartment off our pri-
vate and public lives too much. Be,
cause I do treasure that. We had all
our grand kids, including Jebby's
kids, up there this summer. It's very,
very special. Very special.
Q: You've been doing a little ter-
rorism business. You've been doing
drug things. You've been doing a lot
of fairly complex and difficult
things nobody in the public knows
about. Is this secret area a reward-
ing area?
A: Oh, yeah. It doesn't need to be
refurbished with public stuff. Mar-
lin knows this. When you go back
over the four and a half years we've
been here, everybody that's met with
the president, I've met with. And you
talk about friendships, you develop a
lot of 'em. You don't discuss them in
terms of warmth of personal
friendships because I think that
confuses your public life. But we
never put out press releases. We've
never tried to, ever, well, once in a
great while, maybe one ... But it
goes on all the time. And it's a fasci-
nating part of what I do... But the
way I see it is make the contribution
to the administration. And not have
to be out there feathering your own
nest with every time you shake
hands with the guy who just won the
Heisman rfrophy. I'm not above do-
ing that, and maybe we'll have to do
more of it. We do some of it. But I've
tried to be in there supporting the.
president.
One way you manage things bet-
ter is if you're part of what he's do-
ing. Part of his administration. So all
this other stuff that I do, some of it's
very substantive. I always mention
one of the things was coordinating
some additional funds for Atlanta at
the time Atlanta was traumatized by
the death of those black kids. Well
the president asked me to do that. We
did it. We got some public attention
to it then, but not a tremendous
amount. But I took great satisfaction
from that.
. And there's regulatory relief. Fi-
nancial deregulation. Anti-narcotic
Re I e a Set4106081 AP3thUilnxigi3P991(100
ments are good. rhaven't sougnt out
a lot of them. And they're an impor-
tant part of the job.
But they're not as important a
part of the job as the interaction with
the president, and being clued in on
what he's clued in on. And advising
and listening and getting advice.
That part is the thing that sets this
vice presidency apart ... So I would
say that these special assignments
are very important. I love the ones
dealing with foreign affairs ? we
haven't touched on that. But going
down, you know, dealing with the
commandantes and government
leaders in El Salvador, and telling
'em, "Look, this' thing has to be
shaped up now. You must have re-
spect for people's lives and the law if
we're- gonna continue supporting
you:'
I think [former ambassador to El
Salvador, now to Israel] Tbm Picker-
ing would tell you that was a major
turning point. But it's not something
I came back and cranked out tons of
press releases about. And yet you.
have the satisfaction inside of say-
ing, "Well, it certainly is useful:'
Same as this trip to Europe, going
around talking about INF [Interme-
diate Nuclear Forces] and tryin' to
stave off the Monsignor Kents of this
world, who are leading a big public
relations charge against our deploy-
ment.
So you can do some specific
things, and I enjoy doin' it.
Q: What about your trip where the
Israelis got refugees from the Sudan
flown to Israel in a top secret airlift?
A: There was speculation about
that which I am not in a position to
confirm or deny, or discuss. But
yeah. There are specific things
where you can make good.
Q: This goes back in history again.
What happened in Nashua, New
Hampshire? I asked almost
everybody and they could not put
their finger on it. They say ask you.
A: You mean the ...?
Q: What happened that you went
In one night and looked like a winner
and you came out the next morning
and looked bad?
A: Well ... Ronald Reagan stole
the show! He did a very, very dra-
matic thing there. And, ah, did it
very well indeed. And you look at
what happened in Nashua a few days
later in the campaign. He got the
same vote he got four years before.
He kept his vote against the incum-
bent president against a rather large
field. And the other 50 percent was
divided between several of the rest
of us, with me second.
At the debate thing, he just did a
superb job of, you know, "I paid for
the mike" thing. It wasn't personal
against me, I think. He has the satis-
faction of knowing he won big and
did it well. I have the satisfaction of
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01 R00i600411Vil4-iiy word, which is
also a good thing to do. And they
wouldn't be contradictory between
him and me. I believe in my word. I
believe it means something in the
final analysis. But it wasn't too help-
ful in terms of versatility.
Now if you asked me, "On hind-
sight, would I have done that differ-
ent?" Absolutely!
Q: What would you have done
differently?
A: I'd say, "Sure! Whatever it was
the question was." Letting these
guys debate, or whatever.
Q: So you learned something out
of it.
A: Yeah! I learned a lot out of it.
Absolutely. I learned a lot from a lot
of things that goon. You know, I think
if you're too old to learn, and too old
to make decisions based on what
you've learned, then what's the point
of being out there? You've got to
learn from your experiences.
Q: It's obvious from the kinds of
missions the president sent you on,
and the kinds of things he has you
doing, he considers the two of you
Interchangeable. The question that
has arisen today is, "Why are you
meeting with the hostage families
Instead of Mt Reagan meeting with
them tomorrow?" And if you would
like to anewer that or venture an
opinion.
A: It's natural. Last people that
met with them was Bud McFarlane.
Now me. I don't know what his [the
president's] schedule is. But I think
they [the families] asked to. I think
the request came from them. Either
the president or vice president. If
they phrase it that way, they are go-
ing to get me, the JV. That's the way
it works...
Q: How's that book?
A: This one? ("How to Serve") I
was a little insulted the guy thought
I needed it.
Q: Who sent it to you?
A: The guy that wrote it. This
guy's from down in Albuquerque. I
just got it ...
You know, I don't want to short
shrift you on your request on the
friendship thing. I have hesitancy in
discussing this person or that. But
it's very difficult for me to click it off.
It's also very difficult for The Wash-
ington Times or The New York
Times. Because I know how the ana-
lysts work. And I know how people
say, "I read in one piece recently that
so-and-so's a friend, and that friend
worked for so-and-so."
I have never believed in that in
politics. A kind of guilt by associ-
ation. Or that somAkkgrcieffig Fdir Release 2006/01/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901R000100010001-8
Adlai Sternson and not Ike, so that
would preclude my having a
friendship with him.
There's also the privacy side. But,
you know if I go on bragging about
how lucky I am to have friends,
maybe I should be more cooperative
in that department. But I got tons of
friends. Just rich in friendships.
Particularly friends we made in Con-
gress. Friends that I've had in the
political world. Close friends from
, "social."
Q: Any friends left from Yale?
A: Yeah, See, Yale was different..
Very close friends from Yale. Lud
Ashley [T.WL. Ashley, a retired Ohio
Democrat], a very strong
friendship. He and I could have
stayed home when we were in Con-
gress. We just cancelled each other
out on every vote. That's why I ask
about how you define it. Because if
you say, "friends and political allies,"
he's plugged in on the bottom of the
list. But if you say, "close personal
friends, who can lift you up when
you're hurting," or something like
that ? he's there. Right up in the
front of the line.
And to kind of go through it,
friends from the service. Milt
Moore, who I flew with. Hell, we
thought he was dead. The minute I
saw him down there [in Norfolk, Va.,
at the 40th anniversary of his being
shot down and rescued in the Pa-
cific] you know ? friendship. It's
there. So all, each stage of our life, I
have very close friends. And they
are from all different ends of the
political spectrum.
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3.
Approved For ReleasiNICTROW alkieWNWO1R00010 010001-8
9 September 1985
LXCCELP2
BUSH: SUMMIT COULD PRODUCE AGENDA OF DIFFERENCES
BY JOHN C. BRADEN
MANHATTAN, KS
Vice President George Bush Monday said he hopes an upcoming summit between
President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev will "squarely and
honestly" set out differences between the two superpowers.
On the 98th birthday of GOP patriarch Alfred M. Landon, Bush said the world's
leaders would do well to look to the unsuccessful 1936 GOP presidential
candidate as an example of grace and wisdom in the face of adversity.
Bush delivered a Landon Lecture to about 7,000 students, faculty and members
of the public at Kansas State University's Ahearn Fieldhouse. Later, he flew in
Air Force Two to nearby Topeka to celebrate Landon's birthday with the former
Kansas governor who was defeated in Franklin Roosevelt's 1936 re-election bid.
Landon's career is a living example of the state's motto, which translated,
means "To the stars through difficulties," Bush said.
"We must remember the lesson that Alf Landon has taught America - and
through us perhaps we'll teach the world -- that you can get to the stars, if
with wit, wisdom and perseverance you meet your difficulties squarely and
honestly," Bush said.
He said the summit between Reagan and Gorbachev should set an agenda of
problems for eventual discussion. He said that agenda could lead to greater
stability and harmony between the nations.
"If we are to reach the star of stable and peaceful Soviet-American
relations we must face these difficulties squarely, honestly," he said.
"Acknowledging differences is not a way of inflaming Soviet-American relations.
It is a necessary step toward improving them."
Items on that agenda should include Soviet use of chemical weapons,
intermediate nuclear missiles and anti-satellite weapons.
"When, as director of the CIA, I headed the intelligence community IQ
years awl I learned way back then that the Soviets were engaged in extensive
research and had successfull tested an anti-satellite weapon " Bush said.
"They launched a satel i e and then they effectively intercepted it in orbit.
Now they have_g_e_s_iglyj_g_s_tldland deployed netthey oblect to our
doing any testing at all."
The vice president said this is a key time for the summit because the newly
named Gorbachev is one of the most articulate Soviet leaders in recent times. He
added that the Soviets are completing their latest five-year plan, and are in a
period of extensive policy re-evaluation.
He said the recent U.S. media blitz by Soviet leaders, leading up to the
summit, is merely a continuation of long-time policy in which the Soviets try to
manipulate the populace of free nations through their media.
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ON PAGE
WASHINGTON POST
4 July 1985
100010001-8
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Bush Seeks to Reassure Allies on
Space Weapons
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Poet Foreign Service
LONDON, July 3?Vice President Bush
sought to reassure NATO allies today that the
administration's Strategic Defense Initiative is
aimed at strengthening rather than doing away
with the concept of nuclear deterrence that has
been the cornerstone of postwar alliance defense
strategy.
"Our objective is. to strengthen deterrence,
enhance the stability of both the Western Alli-
ance and East-West relations and help ensure
the peace of the world," Bush saki.
Bush also repeated the administration's belief
that a new round of talks on international trade
should be held?a proposal that was rejected by
France during the economic summit in Bonn in
May.
Bush's remarks in a speech to the Internation-
al Institute of Strategic Studies here, came on
the last day of an 11-day European tour that took
him to seven NATO capitals.
The trip originally was billed in Washington
and Western Europe as a sales tour to promote
SDI. But events, including the hijacking of a U.S.
airliner and the holding of 39 American hostages
for 17 days in Beirut and the recent series of
terrorist bombings, turned its focus to gaining
support for U.S. counterterrorism measures and
trying to coordinate a western response.
During a day a nd a half of discussions with
Minister Margaret and her gov-
ernment, as well as with other governments an
opposition leaders, Bush said, he had found
"unanimous . . . enthusiasm" for cooperation in a
"wide range of areas," including preemptive mea-
sures and intelligencesharing.
"The governments Orthe United Kingdom and
the United States of America declare their de-
termination to work together with all like-mind-
ed states in combating this evil," Thatcher,
standing with Bush, told reporters outside her
residence.
? Britain, however, declined to join the United
States in ordering legal and diplomatic measures
to isolate Beirut International Airport and crack
down on Lebanon immediately. Thatcher, ac-
cording to a top aide, told Bush she wanted to
consult with other Western European govern-
ments before taking steps such as the withdraw-
al of landing rights for the four weekly Middle
East Airlines flights from Beirut.
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Ci'?''
NEW YORK POST
25 June 1985
BUSH: WE'LL
NEVER YIELD
TO THREATS
ROME (Reuters) ?
Vice President George
Bush yesterday de-
nounced the Air-India
sky bombing and vowed
the U.S. won't knuckle
under to terrorist de-
mands.
Bush, in Rome for
meetings with Italian-
leaders and the Pope,
said at a news confer-
ence that he did not
know what caused Sun-
day's crash that killed
329 people aboard the In-
dian airliner. -
"I do know that there
have been threats and
suggestions by elements
hostile to [India's Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi]
that some action would
be taken," he said.
"Whether that had
anything to do with this
Indian flight we really
don't know. I must say it
went through my mind
as it went through
everybody else's mind.
"I would hate to think
that anyone was so de-
prayed that they would
take 300 and some inno-
cent lives to attempt to
settle some grievance . .
But that incident has
shaken the conscience of
the world . . It has made
a tremendous personal
impact on me."
Two extremist Sikh
groups have claimed re-
sponsibility for planting a
bomb on the plane.
Bush, whose talks with
Prime Minister I3ettino
Craxi and Foreign Minis-
ter Giulio Andreotti in-
cluded terrorism, said the
Italians had assured him
of "utmost cooperation"
In a new anti-terrorism
assignment.
President Reagan an-
nounced last week that
Bush would lead a gov-
ernment task force to
study U.S. action
against terrorism and to
coordinate cooperation
with U.S. allies.
"What's called for is a
redoubling of interna-
tional effort to safe-
guard innocent people
against this kind of ter-
ror.' Busn said In call-
ing for increased shar-
ing of intelligence and
improved airport se-
malty measures.
The vice president
also said Israel l3 release
of 31 Lebanese pris-
oners, mostly Shiite
Moslems, had nothingto
do with demands by
Shiite mosiem guerril-
las holding American
hostages in Lebanon.
"We are not in the pos-
ture now, have been nor
will be in the posture of
knuckling under to de-
mands. . . That has not
changed." he said.
"This linkage says to a
hijacker: `All you have
to do is grab an Ameri-
can citizen somewhere
and you'll fulfill an un-
reasonable demand.'
"That linkage will
never be sanctified by
the U.S. government,"
he said.
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ON PAGE A1125 June 1985
0001-8
Hostages in Lebanon: Bush's Thought
Bush Says Air-India Crash
Shakes World's Conscience
ROME, June 24 ZReuters) ? Vice
President Bush said today that the
crash of an Air-India jetliner had
"shaken the conscience of the world."
Speaking at a news conference
after meeting with Italian leaders
and the Pope, he strongly reaffirmed
the refusal of the United States to ask
Israel to release prisoners in ex-
change for the freedom of 40 Amer-
ican hijacking hostages being held in
Lebanon.
Mr. Bush said he did not know the
cause of the crash that killed 329 peo-
ple aboard the Indian airliner off Ire-
land on Sunday, but he noted that
there had been threats against Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India re-
cently.
"I do know that there have been
threats and suggestions by elements
hostile to the Prime Minister that
some action would be taken," Mr.
Bush said. "Whether that had any-
thing to do With this Indian flight we
really don't know. I must say it went
through my mind, as it went through
everybody else's mind.
"I would hate to think that anyone
was so depraved that they would take
300 and some innocent lives to at-
tempt to settle some grievance. But
that incident has shaken the con-
science of the world. It has made a
tremendous personal impact on me."
Two extremist Sikh groups have
said they were responsible for plant-
ing a bomb on the plane.
Italy Promises Cooperation
Mr. Bush, who discussed fighting
terrorism with Prime Minister
Bettino Craxi and Foreign Minister
Giulio Andreotti, said the Italians had
assured him of ?utmost cooperation"
In the effort.
President Reagan announced last
week that Mr. Bush would lead a Gov-
ernment task force to study what
steps the United States could take
against terrorism and to coordinate
cooperation with American allies.
Mr. Bush said the group would
draw on outside experts and added
that the United States had great re-
spect for the way Italy had handled
its terrorism problem.
"What's called for is a redoubling
of international efforts to safeguard
innocent people against this 'kind of
terror," Mr. Bush said. He called for
111.,IPEDIM aSejJ1-1/21211199
apd improved airport security proce-
dures.
?ffellso said that Israel's release of
31 Lebanese prisoners, mostly Shiite
Moslems, had nothing to do with de-
mands by the hijackers of the T.W.A.
plane and that the United States
would not ask Israel to free other pris-
oners.
"We are not in the posture now,
have been nor will be in the posture of
knuckling under to demands," he
said. "That has not changed."
"This linkage says to a hijacker:
'All you have to do is grab an Amer-
ican citizen somewhere and you'll nil-
fill an unreasonable demand,'" he ?
said. "That linkage will never be
sanctified by the United States Gov-
ernment."
1
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29 May 1985
Lofton with love
I like George Bush. I really do.
Ask him. I think he would say,
"Yes, I think John likes me." And I
would even go so far as to guess that
he would add, "And I like John."
But the vice president's views on
the Soviets really worry me because
they are dangerously naive. And the
one qualification any president-to-
be must have is a realistic view
about the Soviets.
In an interview the other night on
the CBS "Nightwatch" program, Mr.
1
Bush said this of the Kremlin's new-
: est top thug, Mikhail Gorbachev:
"We know we got a good commu-
nicator on their side, but what we
_ .
1 don't know is what he's going to com-
municate." The Veep said: "The jury
is still out on the Soviet Union."
Commenting on the Soviet's bru-
tal murder of Maj. Arthur D. Nich-
olson Jr.? or as Mr. Bush put it "the
1 ,Maj. Nicholson thing" ? he said
that, at first, it looked like the Soviets
would be conciliatory about it, that it
would be "manageable." But, he said,
' we then saw a "hardening of the line"
i just before the Central Committee
and the Politburo met.
"What Mr. Bush was alluding to
? - about the Nicholson murder was the
? embarrassing fiasco where one day'
a State Department spokesman said
the Soviets? had agreed not to permit
? "use of force or weapons" against
American military liaison personnel
? in East Germany But, a few days
later, the Soviet Embassy here
issued a statement saying they had
made no such agreement. And the
commander of Soviet forces in East
Germany told our reporter, Peter
Almond, that the guard who mur-
dered Maj. Nicholson was merely
"fulfilling his duty." A hardening of
?: the line, indeed.
Well, now What is one to make of
Mr. Bush's incredible assertion that
we don't know what Mr. G is going to
communicate, and that the jury is
still out on the Russians? Is he seri-
ous? Alas, I fear he is.
But why? Why does Mr. Bush say
he doesn't know what Mr. G is going,
to communicate when Mr. G has
made it crystal clear what he
believes? On Apri122, 1983, the 113th
anniversary of Lenin's birth, Mr. G
attacked "American militarists" and

FTON
m
To Vice President Bush fro
UNLEASHED
By John Lofton
"the imperial ambitions of the
United States," declaring that "the
Leninist principles of socialist for-
eign policy determine all interna-'
tional activities of the Soviet
Communist Party and the Soviet
? j ? state." -
And on May 13 .of this year, at a
celebration of the 40th anniversary
of the end of World War II, Mr. G
said: "The Cold War Was started by
the belligerent circles of the West.
... American imperialism is at the
cutting edge of the war menace to
. humankind. The policy of the U.S.A.
is growing more bellicose in charac-
ter and has become a constant neg-
ative factor. The aggressive
intent of the ruling elite of that coun-
try I us I is seen in the attempts to
" undermine the military-strategic
balance. ...? Barbarous doctrines
and concepts for using nuclear
weapons are being developed. ... A
policy of state terrorism is being fol-
lowed against Nicaragua.....
This is a jury that is still out, Mr.
Vice President?
This is not the first time Mr. Bush
has said things about the Soviets that
raise serious questions about . the
consistency of his skull concerning
this issue. Following his attendance
at the funeral of Leonid Brezhnev,
Mr. Bush said of his replacement,
Yuri. Andropoy, the former head of
the. KGB, that -some people" had
made his old job as head of the Soviet
. secret police sound "horrendous."
But. said Mr. Bush of Mr.
Andropov: -Maybe I sneak defen-
sively as a former head of the CIA.
But leave out the operational side of
the KGB ? the naughty things they
. allegedly (?!) do. Here's a man who
has had access to a tremendous
amount of intelligence over the
years. In mv iudgment. he wouraTte
much less apt to misread the inten-
tions of the United States."
Commenting on-the tact that Mr.
. Andropov was "very much in
charge," Mr. Bush said that on this
basis there was (are you seated?)
"every reason to be hopeful," that
"you've got to be hopeful."
STATINTL
. Hopeful? Among the "naughty
things" Mr. Andropov was involved
in during his infamous career Were
the following: Ile played a key role in
the crushing of freedom fighters in
Hungary and Czechoslovakia (he
reportedly had '1 lungarian patriots
Imre Nagy- and Pal Maleter mur-
dered after leading them to believe
he would negotiate with them); he
directed the Soviet genocide against.
the people of Afghanistan; he
smashed the dissident movement in
the Soviet Union; and there is com-
pelling evidence that his KGB was
behind the plot to murder the pope:
In an interview subsequent to his
attending the funeral of Mr.
Brezhnev, Mr. Bush, when asked if
Mr. Andropov could be trusted to
keep an agreement, said (for this one
you should be lying down): "It's hard
to say. I have no reason to believe
that, as a person, hel would break
his word. I don't have any reason to
believe the other way."
Yuri Andropov, a man of his word?
A most bizarre assertion.
In his part-Of the book "The God
That Failed," ex-communist Arthur
Koestler wrote: "There is always a
supply of new labels on the Conlin-
forin's black market in ideals. They
deal in slogans as bootleggers deal .
in faked spirits; and the more inno-
cent the customer, the more easily
he becomes a victim of the ideologi-
cal hooch sold under the trademark
of Peace, Democracy, Progress, or
what you will."
And this is what bothers me
greatly about George Bush: When it
comes to the Soviet's ideological
hooch, he is a very innocent cus-
tomer. lie seems to swallow it whole
wit 114 nit so in itch as twitting an eye.
And this scares the hell out of me.
.ioho 1.011on is o oho/mist lor.
Woshifixtoo
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ARTI',:121 "raltC)
ON PA-03 29 March 1985
Rowland Evans and Robert Novak
Dick Waiters' Resignati
When. Gen. Vernon A. Walters handed Sec-
retary_ of State George Shultz a letter Monday
"resigning" as President .Reagan's choice for
U.N. ambassador because of limitations the
secretary had imposed on him, a startled Shultz
waved it off with the remark: "I'm not empow-
? ered to act on that." -
If Shultz had accepted the letter, he would
have nur afoul of the president, who very much..
wanted Walters to succeed Jeane Kirkpatrick at
; the United Nations. If he had refused it, he would
' have run the risk of Walters' getting the right to
attend National Security Council meetings.
As it turns out, Walters will succeed Kirk?
-
patrick with the status of the job (including at;
, tendance at NSC meetings) undiminished, as
he had been promised when first offered it. But
in most areas, Shultz and his allies in the For-
eign Service bureaucracy have been winning'
their struggle. forrn a traditional foreign policy
controlled by the career service. ? `
That battle has added new tension to the
relationship 'between secretary of state and
i? U.N. ambassador, strained since Dwight EiSen-
howei elevated the status .of Henry 'Cabot:
Lodge in 1953. The difficulty of treating a sub-
ordinate as a Cabinet and NSC colleague was
enlarged when Kirkpatrick evolved as the con-
servative movement's militantly anti-commu-
nist answer to State Department caution.
Relief at State over Kirkpatrick's departure
has been mitigated by the identity of her succes-
sor. Dick Walters, who began hii--diploiiiatiCca-
reer as Richard Nixon's interpreter'. and has
flourished as Ronald Reagan's troubleshooter,
has all the potential of becoming a darling of the
tight, equally as troublesome to the elite corps of
foreign policy officers as 'Kirkpatrick. Conse-
quently, word was leaked months ago that Kirk:
patrick's successor would sit on neither the Cabi-1..-
net nor the National Security Council.
Efforts to reduce 'Walters from Cabinet '
status failed quickly, but ambiguities arose
about his participation in NSC deliberations.,
. (where the president makes Major 'national se;:,
curity decisions).- On March -22, Walters went.'
to the' White House to see NSC Director Rob-
ert D.' McFarlane in hopes of clearing away .
those amibiguities. ?
10001-8
While waiting in the 'lobby, Walters was in-
formed that "the president is ready to talk to
you" on the telephone. Amazed, he picked up the
! phone and for the first time was officially asked
by the president himself to take the U.N.-job..
Minutes later, McFarlane received Walters
and informed him of the decision, privately
reached by Shultz and the White House exclud- ?
ing Walters from. regular NSC attendance.
Having just told Reagan himself that he ac-
cepted the job, Walters wondered how he could
now refuse. He forced the issue three days
. later by handing his. "resignation" to Shultz.
Walters really did want out when he handpd
_Snuaz that letter. Indeed, had it not been for pri-
vate counsel from no less than Richard Nixon,
tieorge -Bust and William Casey, he might have ?
yielded to despondency and really walked away.
Instead, he followed Nixon's. advice to "hang
tough." From Vice President Bush and Casey,
: rormer and present directors of the CIA
(where Walters served Nixon as deputy 'direc-1
tor), came quiet encouragement. When Shultz ?
lobbied the . president to keep Walters out of
the Cabinet as the first step toward blocking
him from the .NSC, Bush "wouldn't buy it," one
high-level presidential adviser told us.'
At mid-morning Tuesday, the day after Wal-
ters 'handed his, letter to Shultz; he was tele-
,' phoned by McFarlane. Walters would have ex-
actly the same status as Kirkpatick, McFarlane
I. told him. That was not full membership (there
are only four statutory NSC members) but would
mean fairly regular attendance at meetings.
. Since that is all Walters ever asked, the battle
over status and turf that almost unhinged one of.
Reagan's better appointments has ended its first
...phase. The cause of that struggle lies not only in
the peculiarity of a single, unique ambassador
with policy-making powers but also in the secre-
lary!s determination to conduct an orderly for-'
eign policy with the help of the career service.
. Walters' sitting regularly at the NSC table
continues to threaten Shultz's objective. That ex-
plains why the tense backstage events of the last
week are likely to be repeated in the future..
@U5, New Amertca Fiyndtcare
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AF.TI:IE 01:SEED .JD Marcn 1965
" FAGrA121----
U.S. 23iii lift one week, but the decision to go
ahead was made when no one could
guarantee that any more Falashas
could be located in Sudan.
Then, Thursday night, they were
quietly moved from Tawawa under
Quiet for the cover of darkness and carried in
Q
? , "souk lorries," trucks locally hired
uick, Q
for the job, to the airstrip, about six
- ? - ? miles away. The Falashas were sep-
)1 Search Turned Up
arated into groups and spent the
night camped by the rough runway.
Six propeller-driven Air Force
Fewer Refugees
Of Falashas
By Charles T. Powers
Los Angeles Times
KHARTOUM, Sudan?The U.S,
operation that airlifted about 500
Ethiopian Jews from Sudan Friday
is now believed to have removed
? virtually all members of the refugee
?group from Sudan, according to re--
liable sources.
In the days before the airlift took
place in a precise, three-hour op-
eration on a dusty airstrip near the
town of Gedaref, a quiet but diligent
_search was made of all the refugee
camps in eastern Sudan, where the
Ethiopian Jews, known as Falashas,
were likely to be found.
- Five Falashas were located at a
camp called Urn Rakoba, about 40
miles inside the Sudanese border, a
. refugee camp where almost 1,200
Falashas died last summer after
_they had trekked out of their home-
lands in Gondar Province in Ethi-
opia, fleeing famine. -
The five Falashas were moved
quickly to Tawawa refugee camp
- outside- Gedaref, where refugee
_ experts had assumed that about
- 900 Falashas were living. -
In November, December and Jan-
? uary, about 7,800 Falashas were
moved from Tawawa and sent to
Israel in secret flights from Khar-
toum. That airlift, called "Operation
Moses," ended two days after news
of the airlift leaked in Israel. '
When "Operation Moses" was
halted?at the insistence of the Su-
danese?it was believed that about
? 900 Falashas Were left behind, but
when they were counted in prep-
aration for the operation last
Fri-
'day, only about 500 were found.
- Consideration reportedly was
given to delaying the operation for
C130 Hercules transport planes,
painted in desert camouflage colors,
flew from Frankfurt, West Ger-
many, to carry the Falashas out. It
was reported last week that the
refugees were flown to Israel.
The planes, it was learned, land-
ed on the strip one at a time begin-
ning at 5:55 a.m. and, with their
engines still running, loaded the
- Falashas in groups of about 80, and
were airborne again within 20
minutes.
The operation proceeded without
a hitch, although high winds in the
hours before dawn threatened to
cancel the airlift. But by then, the
sources said, the planes were al-
ready, under way, and, as first light
broke over the flat, sunscorched
landscape, the winds abated, and
the first plane touched down. The
last of the six planes had loaded and'
taken off by about 9 a.m.
The Central Intelligence Agency
planned and ran the operation after
discussions March 7 between Su-
danese President Jaafar Nimeri and
Vice President Bush, sources said.
In the aftermath of "Operation
Moses," Nimeri had said he had no
objection to refugees leaving Sudan,
provided they did not go to Israel.
Sudan, a member of the Arab
League, has no relations with the
Jewish state. Unlike "Operation
Moses," an extended effort involv-
ing 36 flights spread over seven
.weeks, the guideline for the final
evacuation was "quick and quiet."
While most of the world. might
applaud Sudanese generosity in
housing ?refugees, the Sudanese
government is concerned over re-
action to the airlift from more rad-
ical Arab states. Sudan, a close ally
of the United States and. Egypt,
finds the situation extremely del-
icate.
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