Word: toweringly
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Since the Tower commission could not answer the question of what happened to the funds diverted to the contras, Reagan hardly discussed the matter, simply expressing confidence that the "truth will come out." He did not address a central finding of the report, that NSC officials secretly managed the contra war effort at a time when U.S. law prohibited U.S. military assistance to the rebels. As he has done previously, Reagan assured his audience that "I didn't know about any diversion of funds to the contras," adding, however, that "as President, I cannot escape responsibility...
Reagan defended the "management style" that the Tower board cited as a key reason for the White House crisis, saying it was a mode of leadership that served him well as California Governor and for most of his presidency. While he conceded that his style "didn't match its previous track record" in the Iran-contra affair, he made no serious promise to reform his ways...
While the President showed that he can still do wonders with a carefully wrought address, the aftershocks from the Tower report are likely to continue. He might be forced to confront two remaining aides who have been criticized for their behavior in the Iran initiative. Secretary of State George Shultz and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger objected last week to the Tower report's critique of their performance in Iranscam. According to the document, the two officials "simply distanced themselves from the program. They protected the record as to their own positions on this issue. They were not energetic in attempting...
...protect myself. I do not operate that way." In Boston, Weinberger complained that the "commission statements just don't have any evidence or any support behind them at all." He added pointedly, "It's a little odd to be criticized for being opposed to a program that the Tower commission also opposed...
Certainly the exquisite timing of Gorbachev's proposal is suspect. Coming just two days after the release of the Tower commission's scathing review of the Reagan Administration's bungled arms-for-hostages policy, the offer was sure to appear attractive to an embattled President. Moreover, the announcement seemed timed to exploit disagreements within the NATO alliance over Washington's broad interpretation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty...