Word: contras
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When the brown, 690-page congressional report on the Iran-contra fiasco finally thumped onto desks in Washington last week, one of the officials most keenly interested in the scandal vowed not to pick it up. Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh cannot use any testimony that witnesses gave to the House and Senate committees under grants of immunity. Walsh and his staff of 28 lawyers, 20 FBI agents and six IRS investigators must build their own criminal cases against any lawbreakers. Nonetheless, the tightly reasoned, judiciously stated majority report, signed by all of the committees' 15 Democrats as well...
Secord and Hakim benefited more from the arms sales than the contras did, according to the report. Of the $16 million in Iran arms profits, the contras received just $3.8 million. Secord, who testified that he sold weapons to the contras with a profit markup of 20%, actually took profits that averaged 38% and sometimes reached 56%. When Contra Leader Adolfo Calero discovered he could buy weapons far more cheaply through a European arms dealer, North made sure that none of the Iran arms proceeds went directly to Calero. Instead they went to Secord, who continued to sell to Calero...
During the hearings on the sordid Iranian and contra deals this summer, members of the committees were able to work together in unusual bipartisan harmony. But reaching a consensus on their final report was more difficult: all six Republican House members and two of the five Republican Senators refused to sign the majority report because they thought it too tough on Reagan and his men. They will instead issue a 150-page dissent...
...majority report deals with Reagan far more harshly than the Tower commission did last February; it blamed Reagan's lax "management style" for the scandals. The congressional report concludes that Reagan probably knew more than he has admitted about the arms sales and contra-funding efforts; if not, he is to be equally faulted. Without flatly rejecting Reagan's repeated assertions that he knew nothing of the diversion of Iranian profits to the contras, the majority report says that issue is unresolved. Thus it indirectly questions the credibility of former National Security Adviser John Poindexter, who swore that he approved...
...committees could not answer all questions about the Iran-contra affair. Testimony of different witnesses is contradictory. Documents were destroyed. Former CIA Director Casey died before he could be interrogated. Poindexter used variations of "I cannot recall" 184 times during his five days of testimony. Israeli witnesses were prohibited by their government from testifying. Nevertheless, the committees' majority report is clear on the most central point: the President's protestations of ignorance do not absolve him from responsibility for what went on at his behest and in his name...