Iran arms probe counsellor given free hand

Press, 29 December 1986, Page 9

Iran arms probe counsellor given free hand

NZPA-AP Brussels David Abshire, the United States envoy to N.A.T.0., said yesterday that President Ronald Reagan had given him a free hand to co-ordinate White House responses to probes into the Irancontra scandal. He also indicated that he planned to be special counsellor to Mr Reagan for several months. Mr Abshire, who was appointed on Friday, said that before accepting the job he had “a couple of conversations with (the White House Chief-of-Staff) Donald Regan, and I told Don that I wanted a charter ... to spell out my mandate.” Asked if this guaranteed him freedom of action, Mr Abshire replied: “Totally ... I report to the President and I’ve got all the freedom of action I need.” Mr Abshire, aged 60, said he told both Mr Regan and the President that he opposed a special White House investigation into the-sale of arms to Iran and the alleged

diversion of income from these sales to the contra rebels fighting the Government in Nicaragua. “There was no rationale ... to start a whole new investigation on a separate track,” he said. The N.A.T.O. allies had “rallied around the United States” in its time of political turmoil, said Mr Abshire. However, “I think the concern is that the Iranian issue might well become a distraction interfering with effective decision-making.” For that reason, Mr Abshire said, he welcomed Mr Reagan’s decision to seek a special counsellor from outside the White House. He said his mandate as special counsellor with Cabinet rank included “the co-ordination, the pulling together, the analysis, the effective communication” of White House responses to Congressional and other investigations of the Irancontra affair. Mr Abshire starts his new job on January 5.