Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409120078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
McFarlane was North's direct supervisor from October 1983 to December 1985. He denies in a forthcoming autobiography that he gave North permission to circumvent a congressional ban on aid to the so-called Contra rebels.
He says North lied under oath at televised Iran-Contra hearings in 1987 when he testified that he was acting under orders to provide illegal aid to Nicaraguan rebels.
McFarlane is scheduled to appear on "60 Minutes" Sunday in an interview timed to promote his book, "Special Trust."
North rejected the charges, calling them a "pitiful and mean-spirited attempt to glue his broken reputation back together again."
And at a Friday night fund-raising dinner in Norfolk that netted $100,000 for North's campaign, retired Marine Lt. Col. Edward Bronars said McFarlane's comments are ``beyond comprehension.''
Bronars, once North's commanding officer, ordered North to go to work for the National Security Council in 1982. While the normal tenure for a Marine officer at the NSC is two years, North stayed on for almost five years at McFarlane's insistence, Bronars said.
``We tried to get Ollie back,'' said Bronars, who has been a key paid adviser to North in recent years. ``Robert McFarlane fought to keep Ollie North because Ollie North was carrying out his orders and directions and doing so in an exceptional manner. He [McFarlane] did not want to lose his thoroughbred.
``It seems to me that Bud McFarlane's remarks are disingenuous at best,'' Bronars added. ``I am forced to conclude that they are politically motivated.''
Also rushing to North's defense at the fund-raiser was John Poindexter, who succeeded McFarlane as national security adviser and supervised North in 1985 and 1986.
``I have no idea what prompted Bud to say these things,'' said Poindexter, who was found guilty of five felonies stemming from Iran-Contra. Those convictions were later overturned on a technicality.
The North campaign also released a transcript from North's trial on criminal charges stemming from the Iran-Contra affair in which U.S. District Judge Gerhard Gesell questioned McFarlane's credibility.
"This man [McFarlane] has told so many stories since he has been on direct testimony that there isn't any way to know what he believes or what he knows," Gesell said.
McFarlane pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges related to Iran-Contra. He was placed on two years' probation, fined $20,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.
North was convicted of three felonies related to Iran-Contra. But the convictions were overturned on appeal because his trial was tainted by congressional testimony North gave under immunity.
North also noted that the book's co-author, Zofia Smardz, is married to the campaign manager of independent Senate candidate Marshall Coleman.
Smardz replied that her collaboration with McFarlane began several months before her husband, Anson Franklin, joined Coleman's campaign.
"Mr. Coleman's campaign wasn't even a gleam in John Warner's eye," she said, referring to the state's senior senator who encouraged Coleman to run as a Republican alternative to North.
In his book, McFarlane said he passed along orders from President Reagan to keep the Contras alive "body and soul" after Congress shut off aid in 1984. But McFarlane said he issued clear orders to North and other staffers to stay within the letter and spirit of the law.
Later, after press reports linked North to the Contras, McFarlane said he confronted his gung-ho aide.
``He looked me right in the eye and told me a boldfaced lie. `Bud,' he said. `I never did anything illegal.'''
In his book, McFarlane credits North for the hard work and dedication that he brought to the White House staff. But McFarlane said he eventually realized that North could not be trusted with the truth.
"I believe Ollie North served his country well for a time," McFarlane wrote. "But somewhere along the way, through a combination of hubris, lack of character and pride, he lost his moral compass. He violated the special trust.
"It's astounding that today, having relegated Iran-Contra to the shelf of `ancient history,' he could have the audacity to ask to have that special trust reposed in him again."
Keywords:
POLITICS
Memo: ***CORRECTION***