WASHINGTON--The Tower commission will report that the United States sold arms to Iran to win the release of American hostages, despite contrary statements by President Reagan, but the panel could not determine how profits from the deal were diverted to Nicaraguan rebels, a source said yesterday.
Concluding a three-month investigation, the three-member board headed by former Sen. John Tower (R-Tex.), will deliver its findings to the president at 10 a.m. EST today and discuss its report at a news conference an hour later.
On the eve of the report's release, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Reagan had sent the board a letter last Friday, as it was completing its work, because "he simply felt there were other recollections and clarifications he wanted to provide the board."
In two meetings with the board, Reagan made conflicting statements about when he authorized the first shipment of U.S. weapons to Iran, according to published reports. Current and former White House aides have disputed each other on when Reagan approved the transaction.
An administration source said Reagan's letter offered yet a third version--that he simply had no recollection of when he approved the shipment and that he may have allowed himself to be influenced by the recollection of others.
Meanwhile, a source at the Tower commission said the panel concluded that an arms-for-hostages swap was at the center of U.S. contacts with Iran.
While the idea of trying to establish ties with a strategically important nation "may have been in the president's thoughts," the source said, "we didn't accept the notion of it being the driving force. That does not appear in fact to be what drove the program."
Neither of the sources would comment except on condition they not be named.
Reagan has insisted that a trade was not involved. "Let me say it was not my intent to do business with [Iran revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini to trade weapons for hostages, nor to undercut our policy of antiterrorism," the president said in a radio address Dec. 6.
Underscoring that argument, Fitzwater said, "The primary purpose was to try to make contacts with certain elements in Iran that would be favorable or friendly to the United States in a post-Khomeini government...not arms for hostages."
The Tower board, which interviewed nearly 60 witnesses-- including arms dealers Adnan Khashoggi and
Manucher Ghorbanifar--was not able to determine
how profits from the arms sales were diverted to
Contra rebels in Nicaragua, according to the
source.
"Our evidence [of the funneling of arms sales
proceeds to the Contras] is primarily
circumstantial," the source said, adding that the
investigation of that point was frustrated by the
refusal of former White House aides John M.
Poindexter and Lt. Col. Oliver L. North to
testify.
North was fired and Poindexter quit as Reagan's
national security adviser last November in
connection with the disclosure that profits from
the arms sales were siphoned for the Nicaraguan
rebels.
While predicting that the Tower board report
will be tough, Fitzwater said, "The president has
acted entirely appropriately throughout the whole
thing...The question is whether he did anything
wrong. I say no."
Scrapping plans for a weekend at Camp David,
Md., the president will remain in Washington,
reading the report and studying its
recommendations "with an eye to what he wants to
say next week," Fitzwater said.
Mitchell E. Daniels, Reagan's top political
adviser, suggested in an interview that the
president would be looking to pick a few fights
with Congress soon to counter the "unquestionable
damage" caused by the Iran-Contra affair as well
as the image of a man weakened by January's
prostate surgery.
"Having a bare-knuckles fight on a gut issue or
going out to a partisan event as soon as we are
able will be of value in reinvigorating the
president's base," Daniels said.
Democrats, who in the past have been wary of
criticizing the politically popular Reagan, went
after him yesterday for his inability to recall
whether he authorized the August 1985 shipment of
arms to Iran.
"The president can't seen to get--keep his tale
straight. He doesn't remember what he said and
when he said it," Senate Democratic Leader Robert
C. Byrd of West Virginia said, leaving the White
House after a meeting with Reagan on trade issues.
At a meeting Tuesday, Reagan challenged
listeners to recall what they were doing on Aug.
8, 1985--the date of a key meeting on the arms
sales--and concluded that "it's possible to
forget."
Rejecting that argument, Sen. Ernest Hollings
(D-S.C.), said it was not a case of remembering a
particular event on a particular day "but rather
forgetting that he violated his own policy against
terrorism. You can't forget that. ...I don't see
how he could forget it."
Read more in News
E-Tickets: Alternative For Airline Travel?Recommended Articles
-
Reagan Press Secretary Addresses Study Group on Politics, ElectionsMarlin Fitzwater, former press secretary to presidents Ronald W. Reagan and George H.W. Bush, discussed his opinions on campaigning, dealing
-
Senator: Reagan Approved Arms to IranWASHINGTON --The former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said yesterday he believes President Reagan gave advance approval to an
-
Adviser: Dialogue to Continue With IranWASHINGTON -- Hours after President Reagan confirmed months of secret dealings with Iran, his national security adviser said yesterday the
-
Experts: Reagan Speech Unconvincing, DeceptiveHarvard experts yesterday criticized President Reagan's Thursday night speech in which he justified arms transfers to Iran, calling him unconvincing
-
Report Finds Reagan Did Not Know of DiversionWASHINGTON--Congress' report on the Iran-Contra affair concludes there was no evidence President Reagan knew of the diversion of Iran arms
-
Mrs. Reagan Treated for Breast CancerWASHINGTON--Doctors told President and Nancy Reagan yesterday that the final tests from her breast cancer surgery show there has been