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The Battalion
Voi. 82 No. 169 CJSPS 045360 6 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday, June 26, 1987
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fficial tells
f deception
In Iran affair
jBvASHINGTON — An assistant
Itcrney general testified Thursday
tha senior administration officials
prepared false testimony to deceive
■ Congress as the Iran-Contra affair
was unraveling in November but
that President Reagan expressed
I mplete surprise” on learning de-
i of the affair.
it a meeting of top-level Reagan
dais, Charles Cooper told the
ate and House Iran-Contra com-
Itees that Lt. Col. Oliver L. North
Isonally rewrote CIA Director
liam Casey’s already incorrect
o
:: “So the point of it till is we
iTad a group of people . . .
p! who were deliberately de
riving . . . about the in
volvement of the United
ffoites in the shipment of
■ese missiles in Novern-
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s 'Sis
ft> r»D.
i h\
»r of 1985, isn’t that a
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fact?”
; h- Rep. Bill McCollum, R-
Fla., questioning Charles
Wpoper, assistant attorney
general
iroposed congressional testimony,
leightening the deception.
Kooper said then-National Secu
rity Adviser John Poindexter and
Key himself raised no objection to
the change.
6\t one point, the hearing pro-
(Kced this riveting exchange be
tween Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla.,
and the Justice Department official.
McCollum: “So the point of it all is
we had a group of people, at least
three of them, and possibly four in
Col North, Adm. Poindexter, Mr.
(Robert) McFarlane and probably
Hector Casey, who were deliber
ately deceiving and lying to the at
torney general of the United States
about the involvement of the United
States in the shipment of these mis
siles in November of 1985, isn’t that
a fact?
1 1 think it is,” Cooper replied,
ooper, 35, indicated he was con-
d at first, then shocked to the
it of considering resignation as
lug deeper into the Iran-Contra
irat the behest of Attorney Gen-
Edwin Meese III.
lis testimony about men who
ed at the highest levels of gov-
nent was stated quietly, but it was
xplosive as any heard in nearly,
n weeks of the nationally tele-
d Iran-Contra hearings.
—./hen Casey delivered his testi-
^tnony to the Senate Intelligence
FEommiuee, the day after the meet
ing Cooper described, it did not in
clude the disputed part — a sentence
that claimed no one in the U.S. gov
ernment knew that arms had been
sent to Iran in the fall of 1985.
However, that single sentence, a
blatant attempt at a cover-up, caused
a chain reaction of consternation,
with State Department legal adviser
Abraham Sofaer threatening to re
sign if Casey gave it as written and
with Secretary of State George
Shultz' confronting Reagan about it
that night at the White House.
On the following morning, Fri
day, Nov. 21, the president ordered
Meese to begin an immediate investi
gation of administration involve
ment in the Iran-Contra affair and
to report back on Monday.
At the very start of the probe, on
Saturday, a Meese aide found in
North’s files a memo that revealed
that profits from the arms sales had
been diverted to the Nicaraguan re
bels. It was the first solid evidence of
that activity.
The president’s reaction to the
news, as described by Meese who
told him on Monday, was “one of. . .
complete surprise,” Cooper said.
That account is in line with Rea
gan’s oft-repeated contention that
he knew nothing of any such diver
sion before being told by Meese.
Cooper said North was questioned
about the diversion in Meese’s office
that November weekend and was
asked if Reagan knew about it.
“He said he didn’t know, he didn’t
think so, he didn’t think the presi
dent had ever read the memo or any
memo like it or that the president
had been briefed on this,” Cooper
testified.
North, Poindexter, former Na
tional Security Adviser McFarlane
and other officials were questioned
during the weekend, but Cooper
said Meese did not order White
House records sealed until after
Reagan announced what was going
on in a televised appearance Mon
day.
Other witnesses’ testimony has
shown that North, his secretary
Fawn Hall and possibly others al
tered, destroyed and removed piles
of records during that weekend, and
Meese has been criticized for not
sealing things off and beginning a
formal Justice Department investi
gation much sooner.
Hefty, Hefty, Hefty
Michael Gerick, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering from
Victoria, strains to pull some weights toward him in a pull-to-chest
Photo by Sarah Cowan
exercise. Gerick is in the Texas A&M Weightlifting Club and lifts
weights with friends in the mornings after class.
Presidential hopeful Biden to LULAC:
U.S. needs less materialistic society
CORPUS CHRISTI (AP) — Presi
dential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden,
in a campaign appeal to a primarily
Hispanic audience Thursday, pro
moted a new commitment to social
programs and called for a less
materialistic society.
“For too long in this country, it is
my view than we have celebrated in
dividualism over community,” Biden
said at the national convention of the
League of United Latin American
Citizens.
The 44-year-old senator irom
Delaware is one of nine presidential
candidates addressing the conven
tion this week.
“In this America, the standard has
been wealth, economic success and
personal gain — the so-called bot
tom line — but this standard cannot
evaluate the true condition of our
society,” he said.
He admitted to the group that he
does not speak Spanish, but said a
movement to make English the offi
cial U.S. language “will never make
it through my (Senate Judiciary)
committee, I can promise you.”
The U.S. economy is dependent
on the health of markets in the de
veloping world, he said.
“If we had leadership in this coun
try that could get our European al
lies and the Japanese to do their part
and us to do our part in improving
the economy of Mexico, we would
do more to impact upon our ability
to make this country function than
anything else,” Biden said.
U.S. banks, he added, should
write off interest and renegotiate the
debt owed them by Third World
countries. “It is not a U.S. economy,”
he said. “It is a world economy.”
About 3,500 people are expected
through Sunday to attend the con
vention. Biden said the Hispanic
vote will be an important factor in
the 1988 election, and if nominated
he would consider a Hispanic vice
presidential running mate.
Democrats call protection of Kuwaiti ships ‘unnecessary’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress’ Demo
cratic leaders drafted a resolution Thursday
that called President Reagan’s plan to protect
11 Kuwaiti oil tankers in the Persian Gulf un
necessary but stopped short of asking Reagan
to abandon the policy.
Meantime, Republicans blocked a vote in
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on
three measures offered in an attempt to find
a consensus on the issue. Kuwaiti tankers are
a key means of transporting oil to the West
andJapan.
One would reverse Reagan’s decision to
place the Kuwaiti ships under the American
flag and protect them with U.S. naval power.
Another would trigger the 1973 War Powers
Act that limits a president’s ability to commit
forces to situations of imminent danger. A
third would extend U.S. protection only to
American-owned ships in the gulf.
The Democratic resolution was drafted at a
closed meeting of Democratic leaders from
the House and Senate and later considered by
the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The resolution says Reagan’s “planned re
flagging of 11 Kuwaiti tankers is unnecessary
for the protection of United States interests in
the Persian Gulf’ but also concludes that “nei
ther proceeding with reflagging nor with
drawing the proposal advances United States
interests.”
That measure couldn’t be voted on by the
Foreign Affairs Committee because Rep.
Dante Fascell, D-Fla., the chairman, told his
colleagues that more work was needed to
write a measure that all could support.
Many in Congress fear that Reagan’s pro
gram would draw the United States into the
GVa-year-old I ran-Iraq war because Kuwait
has provided aid and facilities to Iraq.
House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, said
the Democrats were seeking a broad-based
measure that Republicans could support. He
said congressional leaders would ask to meet
with the president next week to discuss the is
sue.
upreme Court bars ex-soldier
from suing federal government
Suit alleges LSD tests given without soldier's knowledge
1 WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Supreme Court, in a case that dis
senting justices said evokes mem
ories of Nazi atrocities, on Thurs
day barred a former soldier given
LSI) without his knowledge from
Suing the federal government
■ and its agents.
By a 5-4 vote, the court said the
broad immunity from lawsuits
enjoyed by the military leaves the
soldier — who said his life nearly
I'as ruined by the secret chemical
arfare tests — without legal re
course.
About 1,000 members of the
rmed forces took part unwit-
Ifiagly in the tests during the
1950s.
In the LSD case, Justice Anto-
in Scalia said for the court that
permitting the lawsuit “would dis-
upt the military regime.”
He was joined by Chief Justice
William H. Rehnquist and Jus-
ices Harry A. Blackmun, Lewis
F. Powell and Byron R. White.
In a bitter dissent, Justice Wil
iam J. Brennan said the govern-
ent’s conduct reminded him of
iazi doctors who treated humans
like laboratory animals in con
ducting medical experiments.
Brennan was joined by Justices
Thurgood Marshall and John
Paul Stevens. Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor dissented in a separate
opinion.
The case involved former Mas
ter Sgt. James B. Stanley, 53, who
volunteered in February 1958 to
take part in a program at the
Army’s Aberdeen Proving
Grounds in Maryland.
Informed of Thursday’s rul
ing, Stanley said, “Needless to
say, I’m stunned.” He warned
young people to stay out of the
Army unless they are properly in
formed about what may happen
to them.
Stanley was told in 1958 that
the purpose of the Army tests was
to examine the use of gas masks
and other protective clothing
against chemical warfare.
But the real intent was to ob
serve his unwitting reaction to
LSD, the powerful hallucinogenic
drug that gained popularity in
the 1970s. The government was
interested, for example, in find
ing whether the drugs could be
used to force captured soldiers to
talk freely.
Stanley was given LSD on four
occasions. He said the experience
nearly destroyed him.
He returned to active duty at
Fort Knox, Ky., after the experi-
mentss and continued to have
hallucinations. He said on one oc
casion he awoke from sleep late at
night and violently beat his wife
and children and later was unable
to recall the incident.
Stanley first learned about the
LSD experiments in December
1975, when Army officers told
him they wanted to do a followup
study of those given the drug
nearly 18 years earlier.
In other decisions as it neared
the end of its 1986-87 session, the
court:
Gave military officials broad
new power to prosecute members
of the armed forces for crimes
unrelated to military duty. The 6-
3 ruling cleared the way for the
court-martial of a Coast
Guardsman charged with sex
ually assaulting two young girls in
A 1 ci c k ca
Ruled, 5-4, that the U.S.
Olympic Committee has the legal
authority to bar a homosexual
rights group in San Francisco
from sponsoring an athletic com
petition called the Gay Olympics.
Gave federal law enforce
ment officers new protection
from lawsuits when they conduct
searches of homes without a court
warrant. The 6-3 ruling in a Min
nesota case said FBI and other
federal agents may not be sued
for conducting unlawful searches
if they believed they were not vio
lating anyone’s rights.
Provided a victory for
women seeking financial support
from men they say fathered their
children, ruling that proof of fa
therhood need not be “clear and
convincing.” The 8-1 decision, in
a case from Pennsylvania, upheld
a liberal evidence standard used
by most states.
Upheld the way eligibility
for benefits has been calculated
since 1984 under the federal Aid
to Families with Dependent Chil
dren program.
Bid to begin inquiry
on impeachment sent
to House committee
AUSTIN (AP) — A bid to launch
an impeachment inquiry of Gov. Bill
Clements went to a House commit
tee Thursday, and a citizens’ group
urged Clements to tell all about the
Southern Methodist University foot
ball scandal.
“The people of Texas deserve to
know the truth about the involve
ment of our highest elected official
in this matter,” said John Hildreth,
executive director of Common
Cause of Texas. “If he fails to do so,
I think he betrayed the public trust.”
Clements refused to respond.
When an SMU question arose dur
ing an impromptu news conference,
he walked into his office without an
swering.
Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, a Democrat,
sought to downplay the impeach
ment talk that started after a Meth
odist bishops’ report indicated Clem
ents, as chairman of SMU’s board of
governors, tried to cover up the pay-
for-players scheme that led to se
verest sanctions ever against a colle
giate football team.
Hobby, who would become gover
nor if Clements, a Republican, were
ousted, said Thursday he sees no
reason to consider such a move.
“His administration has been un
fortunate for the state, as there have
been other unfortunate administra
tions, but I see no grounds for im
peachment,” he said.
Hildreth said the bishops’ report
implicating Clements and other
school officials raises legitimate ques
tions.
“The report contains shocking
revelations about the callous disre
gard of the most elementary con
cepts of ethical conduct,” Hildreth
said.
In the House, the State Affairs
Committee received the resolution
by Reps. Paul Moreno, D-El Paso,
and A1 Edwards, D-Houston, that
calls for an investigation into the
possibility of impeachment.
Chairman Pete Laney, D-Hale
Center, said he wasn’t sure what
would happen.
Other committee members said a
hearing on the resolution should be
held.
“I think it’s our obligation and
duty to do a thorough investigation
of all the facts, both pro- an anti-im
peachment, and then vote based on
the evidence,” said Rep. Debra Dan-
burg, D-Houston.