Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 25, 1994 TAG: 9410260022
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ARLINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Former Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, who has been critical of North in the past and backed North's opponent for the Republican Senate nomination, said Robb's charges are ``false and malicious.''
Abrams, who pleaded guilty in 1991 to misleading Congress about the illegal arms-for-hostages deal, said alleged drug links were heavily investigated by Iran-Contra special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh and others, ``and they found nothing.''
Abrams said North routinely told the CIA or the State Department of rumors about drug dealing, and most of the rumors were judged false.
``Those of us who ran that program, including Oliver North, were completely committed to keeping it absolutely clean,'' Abrams said at a news conference arranged by North's campaign.
Abrams and former Attorney General Edwin Meese said Robb, a Democrat seeking a second term, is trying to make partisan hay out of old, discredited allegations.
``I'm not here because I'm supporting Oliver North. I'm here because this is a damned lie,'' Abrams said.
Both Abrams and Meese had supported fellow Reagan administration official Jim Miller's Senate bid but said they now endorse North.
Then-President Bush pardoned Abrams and other Iran-Contra figures in 1992.
In a New Yorker magazine article last December, Abrams questioned North's candidacy.
``Having been unjustly prosecuted, as I believe North was, is not a qualification to be in the U.S. Senate,'' Abrams said then.
North was convicted of felonies for destroying documents about the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages deal, accepting an illegal gratuity and aiding in the obstruction of Congress. The convictions were overturned on appeal because his trial could have been tainted by congressional testimony he gave under a grant of immunity.
Several Reagan-era associates, including former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, have questioned North's truthfulness. Abrams said Monday that in the approximately 18 months he worked with North, ``he never made a false statement to me.''
Meese resigned in 1989 after an independent prosecutor's 14-month probe into Meese's official conduct ended without indictment.
``The contemptible accusations that Reagan administration officials tolerated the trafficking of illegal drugs is utter nonsense,'' Meese said at Monday's news conference. ``Neither Oliver North nor any other Reagan administration officials would have ever looked the other way at such activity.''
Two newspapers reported over the weekend that North noted in a 1985 diary entry that he had a tip about drug running on a plane also used to supply the Nicaraguan Contra rebels with arms. Although North testified that he passed the tip along to the Drug Enforcement Administration, The Washington Post and The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star of Norfolk reported that there is no evidence North did so.
Campaigning in Richmond, Robb said the media and voters ought to look more closely at whether North not only knew about drug trafficking but also sought lenient treatment for Jose Bueso Rosa, a key Contra supporter who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in 1986.
``He clearly knew about the drug activity and believed, in effect, that his lawbreaking was more important than their lawbreaking,'' Robb said at a Richmond news conference.
Jack A. Blum, an attorney who conducted the Senate investigation of North's activities, said Monday that he remains convinced North knew about drug trafficking at the fringes of the Contra resupply effort.
``North had to know about it,'' he said.
Campaigning in Roanoke, North said the drug allegations show Robb's desperation two weeks before the Nov. 8 election. Polls show the two candidates in a statistical dead heat, with independent candidate Marshall Coleman trailing.
``This is an attempt on the part of a politician, a professional politician, whose campaign is foundering,'' North said.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB