INSIDERS CITE REAGAN'S DESIRE TO FREE HOSTAGES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201560003-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: November 17, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201560003-8
Insiders cite
Reagan's desire
to free hostages
By Tom Diaz
anc Mary Belcher
THE 'WWASH,NGTON ThMES
The National Security Council-run opera-
tion to ship U.S. arms to Iran was so secretive
- a secret operation within a secret opera-
tion - that even council staff members were
told not to ask questions, say sources famil-
iar with the effort.
Although it isn't unusual for NSC oper-
ations to be closely held even within the
council, sources say the project went out of
control due to a lack of internal checks and
balances. They say President Reagan's
"deep concern" for the American hostages
in Beirut was a factor overriding caution.
John Poindexter, the president's national
security adviser, was nominally in charge,
but Lt. Col. Oliver North was said to be the
project officer with "hands-on" responsibil-
ity.
"Ollie Northl wrapped himself in his Sil-
ver Stars (military decorations I when this
thing blew up, and now he is smelling like a
rose," said a source. "But he is responsible
because he simply wouldn't admit to himself
that the Iranians were playing us for the fool.
"They I the Iranians I pulled the bait a little
further each day, and North followed the
bait,' the source said. "It reached the point
where he even misled the president:"
The source said Mr. North led the
president to believe "if we just de-
liver this one more time, we'll get
them all back."
"He J Mr. North) really believed
that," the source said. "He couldn't
accept that he was being used."
Mr. North. the council's deputy di-
rector for political-military affairs,
could not be reached for comment
yesterday.
Although senior administration
officials have denied that the U.S.-
Iranian dealings were an "NSC
cowboy-run" operation, they have
said a very small number of people
were familiar with the details of the
arms shipments.
Secretary of State George Shultz
said on CBS television yesterday that
his knowledge of the operation was
"fragmentary at best;' and Mr. Poin-
dexter acknowledged in an NBC in-
terview that the Joint Chiefs of Staff
were not informed of the arms ship-
ments.
WASHINGTON TIMES
17 November 1986
Mr. Poindexter said, "This was not
a military operation, so it's not un-
usual that the chairman" of the
chiefs, Adm. William J. Crowe Jr.,
,.would not be aware"
Even some senior members of the
46-person NSC staff were told not to
ask questions about the operation
and others were "cut out of the loop,"
according to sources.
A source said the president autho-
rized the shipment of U.S. arms to
Iran in January because of his deep
concern for the hostages held by
pro-Iranian terrorists in Beirut.
Three of those hostages have been
released, but at least five others re-
main.
"Ronald Reagan has a soft spot in
his heart for Americans in peril else-
where, and once it got to him about
these hostages being held, there was
no holding him back," a source said.
Mr. Reagan disclosed last week
that he had authorized the shipment
of arms to Iran to foster ties with
moderates who could be helpful in
winning the release of hostages, de-
spite a 7-year-old embargo on such
arms shipments.
Although the president publicly
admitted his secret dealings with
Iran, members of Congress have
accused him of breaking laws re-
quiring that they be notified of intel-
ligence activities.
Rep. Jim Wright. who is expected
to become House speaker in Jan-
uary, said yesterday he does not be-
lieve executive privilege exempted
the president from notifying Con-
gress about the arms shipments.
He said he did not want to repeat
"that very, very sad episode in Amer-
ican history surrounding Watergate
and Mr. Nixon's claim of executive
privilege."
"We don't want that kind of thing,"
Mr. Wright said on CBS. "We want
the creation of an atmosphere in
which members of Congress and the
president can sit down in mutual
trust and mutual respect and talk
these things out, as the law
anticipates that we shall."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, Vermont
Democrat and a member of the ln~
telligence Committee. yesterday
called the shipment of arms to Iran
a "devastating" setback in the war
against terrorism, signaling "terror-
ists anywhere if you want to get
American arms, seize an American
hostage."
"But more importantly, it's a case
where they were running the State
Department, the CIA and the De-
fense Department out of the base-
ment of the White House, without
any kind of congressional oversight,
ending up with a disaster," he said on
ABC
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201560003-8