Reagan’s aides lied—Byrd

Press, 23 February 1987, Page 10

Reagan’s aides lied—Byrd

NZPA-Reuter Washington Amid fresh disclosures in the Iran arms scandal, a top opposition Democrat has accused President Ronald Reagan’s aides of deceit and said allies and adversaries recognised the disarray in the White House. The accusation came as a commission appointed by Mr Reagan to probe the scandal concluded that a top aide ordered that a misleading chronology of the affair be compiled to permit the President to deny his involvement, according to a televised report. The Senate Majority Leader, Robert Byrd, said on Saturday he was worried that Mr Reagan’s ability to govern had been harmed, and he accused top White House aides, whom he did not name, of lying to cover up the President’s role. "I think there’s been a great deal of lying and cover-up — not by the President himself, I’m not saying that — but it’s obvious that those around him have engaged in a

great deal of cover-up and deceit in an effort to protect the presidency,” Mr Byrd told the “Los Angeles Times.” Later, in a televised interview he was asked if he worried about Mr Reagan’s ability to govern. Mr Byrd replied: “Yes, I do.”

“The credbility of the United States has been severely impaired; our foreign policy is in shambles; our friends, our adversaries see the disarray

in the White House,” he said. The remarks were some of the harshest criticism heard yet from Democrats in the scandal over secret American arms sales to Iran and the diversion of profits to contra rebels.

Mr Byrd said he thought the scandal had given a propaganda edge to the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, who was able to “take advantage of this sad and sorry set of circumstances.”

He continued to urge Mr Reagan to admit that the Iran arms sales were a mistake.

Mr Byrd’s charges of lying concerned published reports that, on the advice of aides, Mr Reagan gave conflicting statements to the Tower panel about when he approved arms sales to Iran. A former National Security Adviser, Robert McFarlane, a key player in the affair, has said Mr Reagan gave his approval before the first arms shipments, which were made through Israel. But the White House Chief-of-

Staff, Donald Regan, has said the President’s approval came after the fact

A White House spokesman, Dan Howard, asked about Mr Byrd’s harsh statements, replied: "We are simply not going to comment any further until the Tower report comes out”

He was referring to the three-man commission appointed by Mr Reagan to investigate the scandal. The panel will issue its report on Thursday. On Saturday, the commission conducted its second interview within a week of Mr McFarlane at his hospital bedside. Mr McFarlane, who requested the meeting, has been in the hospital since February 6 after a drug overdose that the police have called a suicide attempt. “A.B.C. News” reported that the Tower commission has concluded that Mr Donald Regan ordered the compilation of a misleading chronology of the Iran affair, intended to permit the President to deny his involvement