CONGRESS GETS FIRST BRIEFINGS ON IRAN SALES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560028-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: November 22, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560028-6
ARTICLE AP DHL 11IUKt )U14
ON PACE 22 November 1986
Congress gets
first briefings
on Iran sales
Casey, Poindexter
fail to quell anger
on Capitol Hill
yy Nancy J. Schwerzler
.Vashtngton Bureau of The Sun
WASHINGTON - Congress
opened inquiries yesterday Into the
U.S. role in arms shipments to Iran.
but administration officials failed to
put out a growing firestorm of legis-
lative opposition to the operation.
which one House leader said in-
volved several countries in addition
to the United States and Israel.
Members of the House and Sen-
te intelligence committees received
riefin s on Ca itol Hill frnm W11.
am Case director of the Central
to ence enc and at the
t e House ro V
M. Poindexter, the president's na-
tional security adviser. Those ses-
sions were the first full-scale private
briefings of the committees, whose
members remain angry that they
were kept in the dark for at least 18
months on the operation.
Even after the lengthy meetings,
"there are more questions than there
re answers." according to Patrick
shy. D-Vt., vice-chairman of the
rate intelligence panel.
Wright. D-Texas, said afterward that
Iran paid at least S 12 million for
shipments of anti-tank and anti-air-
craft missile components shipped
under U.S. auspices.
Contrary to some Published re-
ports that Israel alone had arranged
shipments of 2.008 anti-tank mis-
siles, Mr. Wright said yesterday that
other countries were involved in
some of those shipments.
He declined to identify them, but
some reports have linked France
and Portugal to arms deliveries to
Iran.
it seems clear that those other
countries that were engaged in ship-
ments to Iran felt, some of them at
least - Israel particularly - felt
they were doing the wishes of the
United States," Mr. Wright said. In
addition, "there are some other
countries that shipped arms to Iran
that may not really have questioned
whether the United States approved
Mr. Wright said that nearly half
the anti-tank missile components
were shipped from San Antonio,
Texas. earlier this year but he did
not elaborate on how, or by whom,
the weapons were transported to
Iran. He did say that the weapons
ere paid for by Iran through a
ss bank account.
Sen. David Durenberger. R-
inn., chairman of the Senate Intel-
ligence panel, said yesterday that.
the entire Iran operation had actual-
I n under way since early in the
Reagan administration.
He said the planning and execu-
tion of the arms shipments involving
administration officials went on for
"a minimum of 18 months" but relat-
ed actions by "other parties" showed
that the operation is as old as this
administration."
Much of the discussion during
the closed-door meetings yesterday
centered on the administration's re-
fusal to tell congressional panels
charged with oversight of covert op-
erations about the Iran dealings un-
UI they were reported in the press.
"Hell hath no fury like a congres-
sional committee scorned.' com-
mented Representative Robert
McEwen. R-Ohio. a member of the
House intelligence panel.
Mr. Leahy said that the adminis-
tration "gave notice Ito Congressl on-
ly after their new friends in Tehran
leaked it to the press."
"They [administration officialsl
were willing to trust the lives of
American hostages to fanatics and
at least radicals in Iran and were not
willing to trust the American people
and Congress," Mr. Durenberger
said.
In a letter sent to President
Reagan after yesterday's briefings,
Mr. Durenberger and Mr. Leahy said
that there were still unanswered
questions about the operation - In-
cluding "how the arms transactions
in 1985 came about [and[ what they
contained" - and that "Mr. Casey
and Mr. Poindexter are themselves
still engaged in piecing together the
full record of this operation."
'It's like pulling teeth to get an-
swers," Mr. Leahy told reporters. 1
think we're about to become jodr-
neymen dentists.'
Both the House and Senate pan-
els plan to continue their inquiries
and are expected to call other wit-
nesses.
Despite friction between Mr. Cas-
ey and Congress in the past, mem-
bers did not blame him p!rsonally
for the ai ure to inform ngress
since that decision a n ma e
by Mr. R .
"We d d not ask [Mr. Caseyl to
come in wearing sackcloth and ash-
es and our ring," Mr. Wright
sai
w!nt d. "I don't know that there Is any
pRgrring Casey w en
the em es h tr up."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560028-6
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560028-6
wiuiam Casey, CIA director, leaves the Capitol after briefing intelligence panels.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/01 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303560028-6