WHITE HOUSE AIDES AND SENATORS CRITICIZE SHULTZ ON THE IRAN AFFAIR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630005-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 16, 2010
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: November 24, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630005-1
ARTICLE APPEA ED
ON PAGE
NEW YORK TIMES
24 November 1986
White House Aides and Senators
Criticize Shultz on the Iran Affair
By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
Speciel io The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 - Pressure
mounted today for President Reagan
to disclose more details of his Adminis-
tration's dealings with Iran, and new
criticism began to focus on Secretary
of State George P. Shultz.
In recent days, according to senior
White House officials, Mr. Reagan has
resisted strong appeals from aides to
end the furor by acknowledging pub-
licly that Washington's dealings with
Teheran were a mistake.
Effort to Repair Damage
In addition, a confidant of the Presi-
dent said today that some of Mr. Rea-
gan's longtime political supporters had
discussed how to engineer high-level
staff changes at the White House and in
the Cabinet in the hope of repairing
political damage to the President.
The confidant said the discussions in-
volved a small group of associates who
-iave been involved for many years in
Mr. Reagan's political career.
The group is believed to include Wil-
liam P. Clark, the former national se-
curity adviser, and William French
Smith, the former Attorney General, as
well as Holmes Tuttle, a California
businessman and an early financial pa-
tron of Mr. Reagan.
Nancy Reagan was reported dis-
tressed by the effect of the controversy j
on her husband, and a friend of hers
said, "Obviously she feels he is being
(hung out to dry." (Page A14.)
Unhappiness With Shultz
The sudden criticism of Mr. Shultz
today by Administration officials and
senators reflected unhappiness that he
had tried to distance himself from the
White House over Iran by indicating
that he opposed arms sales to Iran an'
that he was given only "fragmentary"
details of the operation.
An official close to Donald T. Regan,
the White House chief of staff, raised
the possibility that the President might
he losing patience with Mr. Shultz over
his attitude on the Iran matter.
The criticism of Mr. Shultz began
after Robert C. McFarlane, the former
national security adviser, in a speech
knowledge of the Iran operation. Mr.
McFarlane has said he briefed Mr.
Shultz "fully and completely" on all
aspects of the operation. But aides to
Mr. Shultz, rallying to his defense to-
day, said the Secretary was in the dark
on many key points.
No objection to Contacts
Mr. Shultz has acknowledged his in-
volvement in high-level policy discus-
sions on Dec. 6, 1985, and last Jan. 7, in
which he reportedly argued against
continuing to provide arms to Iran. He
has also said he had no objection to the
general policy of trying to open secret
diplomatic exchanges wIlk Iran.
But the aides said he had never been
informed by Vice Adm. John M. Poin-
dexter, thenational security adviser, of
the Presidential . directive of Jan 17
that authorized the. Iran operation, in-
cluding limited arms sales, at port of
an effort to gain, the release of Amer-
ican hostages In 'Lebanon.
They also said,'Mr. Shultz had not
been informed ot.'Mr. Mcp'arlane's.trip
to Teheran,.in which he met with some
Iranian officials and took American
arms to Iran at the end of May. Mr.
McFarlane was accompanied on that
trip by Lieut. Col. Oliver L North of the
National Security Council staff and
George Cave, a retired Central Intelli-
gence Agency expert on Iran who
served as interpreter, officials said.
Aides to Mr. Shultz said today that he
was pressing within the Administra-
tion for a candid and total disclosure of
every aspect of the !ran operation, in-
cluding Its inception, the role of Israel
and the connection between the artp-s ;
sales and the release of hostages.
Mr. Shultz's position has been criti-
cized by. White House rides who con-
tend that he has not been supportive
enough, a view shared by Senator Bob.
Dole of Kansas, the Republican lead rA
Calls for fuller explanations we
ade today by Senator Dole; Senator
Sam Nunn, Democrat of Georgia, who
will be the new Armed Services Com-
mittee chairman, and , Senator Dale
Bumpers, Democrat of Arkansas.
Mr. Dole said he and other leaders
had been briefed by Admiral Poindex-
ter for two hours about the operation
and believed then that "we were told
everything." But because of subse-
quent reports, he said, he believed they
had not been told everything.
"I would say we don't know all the
facts," Mr. Dole said on the CBS News
program "Face the Nation." An aide
said later that Mr. Dole wanted "a
much fuller explanation."
Mr. Dole also said it was difficult for
him as a Senate leader to be "out there
supporting the President" when Mr.
Shultz "is not doing anything."
He said he could not be expected to
defend the policy when "those in the
Administration's Cabinet are sort of
j hiding fi om the issue."
last week, challenged Mr. Shultz's pub- 1
lic statements that he had only limited
Asked if he believed Mr. Shultz
should resign, Mr. Dole said: "I don't
want to get into all that. But it seems to
me that if we're going to gave a united
front, then we've got to have the Cabi-
net stand up."
'Somebody's Got to Go'
Senator Bumpers, appearing on the
same program, said, "Somebody's got
to go, obviously, in this, and maybe
more than one."
He asserted that Admiral Poindexter
was the one "most likely to go," but
added, "I must say that Secretary
Shultz was disappointing."
Mr. Bumpers said it was a "prob-
lem" to accept Mr. Shultz's statement
that he had only limited information
when "Bud McFarlane was saying that
he was briefed time and again, kept up
to speed on it."
Senator Nunn repeated his call. for
"wise men" to be called in to advise
Mr. Reagan. on how to maintain his
credibility. He said that the e r
tells etc had not been forth-
1a. that senators
coming on ro
.4
a some rea ems witn the ex-
p ana toes so ar.
es to r. Shultz insisted that
while he had known of the origins of the
Iran operation in 1985 and had taken
part in policy discussions before the
key Presidential directive of Jan. 17, he
had been cut out of the now of informa-
tion. They said he had only late and.in-
complete details that his aides had
been able to piece together.
Shultz Aide at Hearings
The aides said that Mr. Shultz still
did not know all the Jetails and at
chae H. Armacost. the No. 3 official at
the State artment sat in on the
close earns or the on ressional
intelli ence committees on av.-pot
1 t e r
also to "in out as KU as Dosible
from Wil iam J. Case the Director of
Centra gem,
O aide said Mr. Case had su -
t d e o t in a nearin s at
all key offigials w of the Presid ent s
directive o Jan. 17. But the aide said
Mr. Armacost a intervened to assert
that Mr. Shultz or the State Depart-
ment had not known about it until it be-'
came public knowledge two weeks ago.
Congressional leaders were told that
the arms sales to Iran were valued at'
812 million, which is less than the
amount at which notification of Con-
gress would have been required. Sena-
tor Dole and others said the amount
was probably much higher, thereby
raising questions as to the legality of
the move. Senator Bumpers said the
total was probably more than $100 mil-
lion, including American arms pro-
vided to Iran by Israel
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404630005-1