DOCUMENT LINKS BUSH TO SECRET WEAPONS DEALS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 25, 1993                   TAG: 9301250075
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
DOCUMENT LINKS BUSH TO SECRET WEAPONS DEALS
A document in the hands of Iran-Contra prosecutors indicates George Bush asked President Jose Azcona Hoyo of Honduras in 1986 to help secretly move weapons to the Nicaraguan Contras, and assured him "it can be done with deniability."
It has been known that then-President Reagan made his vice president an emissary to Honduras in 1985 and 1986. But what hasn't been known is that Bush's mission in 1986 was specifically to get Azcona to "assure a supplied front" that allowed military equipment and other materiel to reach the U.S.-backed Contras in their battle with the leftist Nicaraguan government.
That message was inscribed on a note card entitled "Special Talking Points-Azcona" that summarized the instructions Reagan administration officials gave Bush.
The memo shows that Bush, who has publicly maintained he was "out of the loop" for all of the Iran-Contra scandal, was deeply involved in the Reagan administration's effort to find secret ways to help the Contras militarily after Congress banned such help.
Iran-Contra prosecutors have had the document for years and questioned Bush about it extensively when they took his sworn deposition on Jan. 11, 1988. But its existence was not known publicly until Bush released a transcript of the deposition five days before he left office.
At the time of Bush's meeting with Azcona, Congress had banned U.S. military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels. But it was later learned that White House aide Oliver North had been operating a clandestine arms pipeline to the Contras through Honduras - a key element of the Iran-Contra scandal.
Bush has denied knowing about North's resupply operation until it was exposed.
Bush told Iran-Contra prosecutors and an FBI agent that he didn't recall the card with the talking points, although "I can't deny I received" it.
He said he had several conversations with Azcona during the Jan. 26-27, 1986, trip to Honduras, and acknowledged that he may have discussed resupplying the Contras.
"I don't think that I should be prohibited from telling a guy that I'd like to see him help somebody else," Bush told investigators.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB