Washington Report, December 1986, Page 14

Words to Remember

On Negotiations with Iran

President Ronald Reagan:

"We will never pay off terrorists because that only encourages more of it." (Quoted on Cable News Network, Nov.6, 1986)

White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan:

"I'll assure you we're not breaking any laws, we're not doing anything illegal or immoral. And I think that when we can tell the story, the American public will appreciate the efforts of this President to get American hostages released." ("John McLaughlin: One on One," NBC, Nov. 9, 1986)

White House Spokesman Peter Roussel:

"As long as Iran advocates the use of terrorism, the U.S. arms embargo will continue." (The Washington Times, Nov. 7, 1986)

Former Hostage David Jacobsen:

"Those guys are in hell. We've got to get them home." (Nov. 3, 1986)

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger:

"Improving relations with Iran as a general strategic move is desirable ... That part of it, I think, was well conceived and was a good idea. When it degenerated or when it developed into an arms trade for hostages, I have the gravest doubts, with all of my understanding for the anguish it must have caused the President. Nevertheless, to negotiate for hostages makes it more likely that other hostages are going to be taken. To trade arms in a war in which a victory for Iran is against our national interest is unwise. Above all, I'm deeply concerned about announcing one policy in public, pressuring other countries to follow it, and then in private carrying out another policy. That must affect our friends in Europe and it must affect those countries in the Middle East that have relied on us like Saudi Arabia and others." ("This Week with David Brinkley," ABC, Nov. 9, 1986)

Journalist Robert Novak:

"This is the most disgraceful moment of the Reagan Administration. It has outdone the Carter Administration at its worst, going around the country calling for an embargo on arms to Iran, calling for a hard line on terrorists and following Israeli foreign policy to butter up this terrorist regime ... I think too that Shultz, who is not my favorite, is just enraged by this and I'm just sorry that he doesn't speak his mind to say that this a foul policy for the United States of America." ("The McLaughlin Group," NBC, Nov. 9, 1986)

Journalist Strobe Talbott:

"It's going to be a political and diplomatic disaster for the administration ... It's going to upset and anger all of the Gulf moderates, Saudi Arabia and the West Europeans ... If President Jimmy Carter had pulled off this operation with Ham Jordan running around with cakes and Bibles, there would be calls for impeachment if not for hanging the President in Lafayette Square." ("Agronsky and Company," CBS, Nov. 9, 1986)

Former CIA Director William Colby:

"A success by Iran will have repercussions from Indonesia to Morocco." ("Crossfire," CNN, Nov. 6, 1986)

Journalist Charles Krauthammer:

"Nothing would be more destructive to American interests in the Persian Gulf than an Iranian victory over Iraq. And nothing prevents that outcome more than Iran's technological inferiority. The high tech weapons bought by the Shah are on the shelf for lack of spare parts. Restoring the flow could be a crucial factor in helping Iran win the war." (The Washington Post, Nov. 7, 1986)

Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger:

"We certainly have no interest whatever ... in helping Iran win that war. It would be very destabilizing for the whole region." (Statement to reporters Nov. 6, 1986)

Journalist Carl Rowan:

"There's a lot more involved in this Iranian deal than getting some hostages out ... Who is in on deciding these things? Caspar Weinberger's on public record stating the U.S. has no interest in having Iran win this war." ("Agronsky and Company," CBS, Nov. 9, 1986)

Senate Minority Leader Robert Byrd:

"Secret covenants, secretly arrived at, may for a while keep the Congress and the American people in the dark, but it's bad policy. "("Meet the Press," NBC, Nov. 9, 1986)

Secretary of State George Shultz:

"I don't want to get down into this business, but I will say that I think the policy of not negotiating for hostages is the right policy." (The Washington Post, Nov.8, 1986)

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar:

"Essentially Secretary of State Shultz does not have a great deal to say about the events, does not know a great deal about the events ... I think the Secretary of State ought to be heavily involved." ("This Week with David Brinkley," ABC, Nov. 9, 1986)

Senator Sam Nunn of the Armed Services Committee:

"it seems to me that Congress is going to be asking a lot of questions. I think the newspaper reports ... indicate that the Reagan Administration is not standing tall on this one." ("This Week with David Brinkley," ABC, Nov. 9, 1986)

Journalist James Kilpatrick:

"If this was an arms deal we engaged in, it is exactly what ... we've been criticizing the French for ... My fear is that this will be perceived as a hostage and arms deal. And if that doesn't invite the taking of more hostages, I can't imagine what will." ("Agronsky and Company," CBS, Nov. 9, 1986)

Journalist Jack Germond:

"Giving arms to the Iranians in contravention of American law, in contravention of all the high blown rhetoric. If ... Jimmy Carter had tried this he would have been impeached, tarred and feathered, and run out of town." ("The McLaughlin Group," NBC, Nov. 9, 1986)

Chairman Dante B. Faseell of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Chairman Lee H. Hamilton of the House Intelligence Panel:

"The total denial of information or explanation is simply unacceptable." (The Washington Post,, Nov. 8, 1986)

Former President Jimmy Carter:

"If terrorists come to believe that they can get an airplane load of very scarce and much-needed military supplies every time they trade in a hostage, that would not be a good precedent to set." (United Press International, Nov. 8, 1986)

Former White House National Security Assistant Jeffrey Kemp:

"It seems to me that everything that George Shultz and Caspar Weinberger have said and done over the past two years has been completely contradictory to what is coming out now... Once the arms started to be transshipped through God knows what channels, and landed physically in Iran, there's no way that can be kept secret. People are going to know about it because planes are going to start flying again." ('This Week with David Brinkley," ABC, Nov. 9, 1986)

Journalist Martin Agronsky:

"If you are saying in effect, 'if you've got a hostage, Iran, we'll sure give you arms,' you're giving them a weapon that they didn't have before. It's a piece of idiocy." ("Agronsky and Company," CBS, Nov. 9, 1986)

Journalist Elizabeth Drew:

"It's preposterous. It's counter-productive and in the long run it's going to cause us far more grief ... Look at what we're doing. We're saying 'get a hostage, we'll get you some arms.'" ("Agronsky and Company," CBS, Nov. 9, 1986)

Former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane:

"I am in the awkward position of not being able to comment on the fanciful, largely fictitious issues that I would be pleased to comment on when the time is appropriate. I hope it will be clear when that time comes that you will happily know that adherence to that (Iran arms embargo) policy has been kept." (The Washington Times, Nov. 7, 1986)

Former Hostage Benjamin Weir, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA):

"I would certainly want to see those men that I know released. But I would not want to see an escalation of the war between Iran and Iraq as part of that price." ("Nightline," ABC, Nov. 7, 1986)

Journalist Stephen Engleberg:

"President Reagan approved a broad plan 18 months ago for secret contacts with Iran, Administration officials said today ... The plan did not mention supplying arms and spare parts to Iran, Administration officials said. But shortly afterward, the White House accepted an Israeli offer to use its contacts in Iran to deliver American-made arms, the officials said ... Several sources here and in Israel who are familiar with the contacts with Iran said the efforts to gain the release of the hostages quickly eclipsed the broader diplomatic aspects of the policy ... One knowledgable Israeli source said the idea for the parts shipments to Iran was initially broached with the United States by Israel, which had been covertly supplying Iran since the fall of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi in 1979 . . . 'The deal was done at our initiative,' the Israeli source said. 'We had the contacts and we approached the Americans.' We said, 'Look, we have these contacts; why don't you take advantage of them?'" " (New York Times, Nov. 8, 1986)

Former National Security Adviser Richard Allen:

"The bait ... ought not to be weapons that might assist in tilting the outcome of the crucial war, the Iran-Iraq war in the Middle East, against long-range U.S. national interests ... In the future we could be putting at risk American citizens who could be potential hostages any place, hostages to any terrorist movement or power who could simply snatch them and then know that the United States would enter into negotiations." ("Nightline," ABC, Nov, 7, 1986)

Former State Department Spokesman Hodding Carter, Jr.:

"in giving spare parts and armaments to Iran we're endangering the lives of literally thousands of people in the Iraq-Iran war, helping to prolong the conflict, because we are providing what Iran desperately needs for a faltering war machine." ("Nightline," ABC, Nov. 7, 1986)

Former Iranian President Beni Sadr:

"Americans are delivering spare parts to the Iranian Government." ("This Week with David Brinkley," ABC, Nov. 9, 1986)

Journalist Morton Kondracke:

"I would frankly like to know how much military supplies we gave them. If we gave them a lot then it's doubly despicable because we would be tilting the balance in the war between Iran and Iraq. That's dangerous for our allies all over the region." ("The McLaughlin Group," NBC, Nov. 9, 1986)

The Washington Post:

"Sources said the covert White House program began in early 1985 after it became apparent that U.S. hostages held by the pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad would not respond to pressure for their release unless it came from Tehran. At that point ... Israeli officials who had kept contacts in Iran proposed opening up a channel of communications for the Americans. As discussion progressed, the Iranian officials made it clear they wanted military spare parts and equipment if anything was to be done on the hostage issue." (Nov. 7, 1986)

Journalist John McLaughlin:

"If Iran wins this war over Iraq the following things will happen: Syria will go along because Syria's an ally anyway. Iraq, of course, will fall. Lebanon will fall. Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and maybe Egypt. The whole ball of wax, including Israel." (The McLaughlin Group," NBC, Nov. 9, 1986)

Journalist Walter Pincus:

"At a White House meeting last January, Reagan listened to arguments against the covert program ... from Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger, sources said. Shultz and Weinberger said the program contradicted the administration's well-publicized policy of not negotiating with terrorists and of isolating Iran as a supporter of terrorism ... Support for the program came from CIA Director William J. Casey, Robert C. McFarlane, who had retired the previous month as the President's national security adviser, and Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, McFarlane's replacement ... Reagan sided with Shultz and Weinberger and temporarily "closed down" the operation ... In succeeding months, however ... Reagan approved resumption of the program ... He ordered, however, that information about it be kept from top State Department officials and sharply limited it in the Pentagon ... Shultz and Weinberger knew of the resumption, the sources added, but few of their senior deputies were in on the secret." (The Washington Post, Nov. 8, 1986)

Journalist William Drozdiak:

"The first casualty of the U.S.-Iranian connection appears to be U.S. leadership in the drive to isolate nations accused of backing terrorism. European allies have been quick to underscore the hypocrisy of advocating an arms embargo against Iran and sanctions against Libya while the United States was engaging in sporadic arms shipments to Tehran to secure the release of the hostages." (The Washington Post, Nov. 9, 1986)

The Washington Times

"The Danish Sailors Union suggested that shipments of U.S. arms to Iran via Israel occurred Sept. 14, 1985—the day Mr. Weir was released—and last July, around the same time Father Jenco was freed. 'There now seems to be a pattern in these strange shipments,' said Henrik G. Berlau, deputy chairman of the Danish Sailors Union. (Nov. 7, 1986)

Journalist Jack Smith:

"The safety of the hostages aside, the story is highly embarrassing. The U.S. seems to be violating the arms embargo it still publicly supports and has urged on its allies."; ("This Week with David Brinkley," ABC, Nov. 9, 1986)

Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:

"I think what you have is a situation in the White House where ... they have gotten pretty excited about running their own CIA, State Department, Defense Department out of the White House, without anybody looking over their shoulder." ("Face the Nation," CBS, November 9, 1986).

Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole:

" . . . talk to anyone but not negotiate with terrorists or not make some arrangement where we'll trade spare parts or whatever it might be in exchange for their help in getting the release of hostages." ("ABC News," ABC, Nov. 9, 1986)

The Washington Post:

"it remains to be demonstrated ... that the Iranians were not simply taking Mr. Reagan for a ride, arresting a new hostage for each one released and accepting arms without modifying revolutionary goals. The political murk in Iran, not to speak of the American record in operating there, does not impart confidence that there is a reliable moderate faction among the Mullahs or that the United States can play effectively to it if there is." (Editorial, Nov. 9, 1986)

Chairman Richard Gephardt of the House Democratic Caucus:

"The (National) Security Council is really trying to operate American foreign policy. In the case of Iran they now have been operating a policy out of the White House that hadn't been either through the CIA or, probably, the State Department." ("Meet the Press," NBC, November 9, 1986)

Former Presidential Adviser Jody Powell:

"That has been a cornerstone of American foreign policy ever since the war broke out: That we did not want an Iranian victory in that part of the world. It could be disastrous. The other aspect of it is our desire to keep Iran out from under the domination of the Soviet Union. That may play into this thing but it sounds, frankly, like a bunch of smoke here, this talk about the Russians, to cover up a pretty pitiful trade. It doesn't matter whether you're a $25 whore or a $50 whore. It's the same principle." ("The McLaughlin Group," NBC, Nov. 9, 1986)