Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993 TAG: 9309020097
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Excerpts obtained by The Associated Press from the still-unreleased report say "there was strong evidence that following the shootdown" of the plane Bush's national security aides Donald Gregg and Samuel Watson "were aware of [Oliver] North's connection to the resupply operation."
Both Bush aides "remained silent as administration representatives stated that there was no U.S. involvement in the flight," said the report by Iran-Contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh.
Gregg and Watson have said they had only vague knowledge of the operation that funneled weapons to the Contra rebels and that they didn't realize that North, then a White House aide, was running it.
The excerpts reveal that Walsh investigated Gregg and Watson "for possible false testimony" when they denied knowing that Felix Rodriguez, a longtime friend of Gregg, was working for North.
Rodriguez had "informed them [Gregg and Watson] of North's involvement" in the Contra operation and "Rodriguez called Watson to tell him the downed plane was one of North's," the report said.
Prosecutors, however, decided there was not enough evidence to seek criminal charges.
"Despite these acts of concealment . . . the evidence did not prove that Watson or Gregg committed chargeable offenses . . . beyond a reasonable doubt," the excerpts said.
Gregg's lawyer, Judah Best, declined comment on the excerpts. "When the report is finally released, I will undoubtedly have an observation," he said.
Watson's lawyer, Jacob Stein, said he wants to see "the full Walsh report" before commenting publicly.
Walsh submitted his final report on the scandal a month ago to a special three-judge federal appeals court panel in Washington, D.C.
The judges are giving people named in the report until Oct. 4 to respond in writing. Operating under strict secrecy, the judges are not distributing copies of the report to defense lawyers. They have invited Iran-Contra figures named in the report to come in and examine portions of the report pertaining to them.
The excerpts obtained by the AP are a 600-word sliver of a massive multivolume document.
The excerpts don't address the question of whether Bush knew about the secret Contra resupply network, which North set up after Congress banned U.S. military assistance to the rebels fighting the leftist government of Nicaragua.
Bush has said he did not know about it until the scandal became public.
The excerpts, however, detail the intense interest at the State Department and the CIA in the close ties the vice president's office had to Rodriguez, who knew Gregg from their days together at the CIA.
Word of Rodriguez' involvement with Bush's office, Walsh's report shows, was passed all the way up to Secretary of State George Shultz.
by CNB