GEORGE WAS THERE

September 25, 2007

ALTHOUGH THE TAUNT "WHERE WAS George?" became something of a joke during the 1988 presidential campaign, President-elect Bush was not, as he claimed, "out of the loop" in the Iran-contra affair. Indeed, Bush was fully briefed on the Administration's arms sales to Iran, and, long before Oliver North became a household word, an unauthorized contra resupply opera- tion was operating out of the Vice President's office under the direction of his national security adviser Donald Gregg, formerly a high-ranking CIA officer. Gregg was reportedly a lead player in a successful effort in early 1983, by staffers of the Vice President's office and the National Security Council, to "wrest con- trol" of Central America policy from the State Depart- ment.' Bush himself, according to one recent report, as- sented to a 1982 request from CIA director Casey to let his office be used as a cover for the secret resupply of the contras." Gregg put his CIA colleague from Vietnam days, Felix Rodriguez, in charge of coordinating contra airlifts at Ilopango Air Base in El Salvador, where, according to several sources, Rodriguez represented himself as an em- issary of the Vice President. Both Richard Brenneke and former Panama official Jos6 Bland6n identified Rodriguez as the Harari network's U.S. contact in Central America. Logs from the Vice President's office show that Rod- riguez met 17 times with members of Bush's staff, three times with the Vice President in attendance. Although Bush has protested that "the only discussions I have ever had with Felix relate to El Salvador," a memo from Gregg, released by the Iran-contra committee and dated April 16, 1986, refers to a May 1 meeting at which Rodriguez was to brief Bush on "resupply of the contras." Intelligence operative Richard Brenneke says that when he asked if the Harari network's arms dealing was authorized by the Administration, it was Gregg's name and number that the Mossad station chief in Guatemala gave him. On November 3, 1983, Brenneke insists, Gregg assured him that he should "by all means cooperate." 5 John Mattes, a Federal public defender in Miami dur- ing the secret contra support operations, maintains that Bush's son Jeb "was the man to see if you wanted to aid the contras." While he was chairman of the Dade County Republican Party Jeb Bush reportedly raised private funds for the contras. 6 There have been no firm answers to the many ques- tions raised during the 1988 campaign about the Presi- dent-elect's knowledge of Gen. Manuel Noriega's links to drug trafficking. But Col. Roberto Diaz Herrera, former second-in-command of the Panama Defense Forces, has said that during a December 1983 meeting Bush told Noriega he was aware of his activities and asked him to support the contra effort.' Noriega claims to have pictures and tape recordings linking Bush to the training of contras in Panama, Diaz asserts." After Noriega's activities be- came a big story in the United States, he engaged Wash- Out of the loop? SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1988 m Cn a) -4 -I as a) ington lobbyist Stuart Spencer to advise him "on matters that included federal investigations of Panamanian in- volvement in the drug trade."' Spencer went on to work for the Bush-Quayle campaign. LTHOUGH THE PRESIDENT-ELECT AC- quired the reputation of a complaisant front man as he trudged through each station on his distinguished r6sum6, Bush's service as CIA director was hardly in- nocuous. Appointed in 1975, when the Ford Administra- tion needed a new face to calm Congressional fury over revelations about the Agency's practices, Bush allowed his covert operatives to keep him "out of the loop." Conse- quently, he had little to tell Congress. He not only kept information on ex-agent Edwin Wilson (later convicted for selling arms to Libya) from Congress, he also impeded criminal investigations of Wilson, of the assassination of former Chilean Ambassa- dor Orlando Letelier, and of former CIA Director Richard Helms (for lying to Congress about Agency involvement in the 1973 coup in Chile)."' If George Bush's presence was wraithlike as he went on his way and no fingerprints were left, that is a testa- ment to his aides and associates-who have earned them- selves a place in the Bush Administration. George Was There 1. Steven Emerson, Secret Warrt iors, (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1988), pp. 125-126. 2. Howard Kohn and Vicki Monks, "The Dirty Secrets of George Bush." Rolling Stone, Nov. 3, 1988. 3. Emerson, Secret Warriors, p. 128. 4. Quote from New York Times, Oct. 22, 1986; Gregg memo reproduced in People's Daily World, April 2, 1988. 5. Jim Redden, "Burning Bush," Willamette Week (Portland), July 14-20, 1988; UPI, May 15, 1988. 6. Kohn and Monks, "The Dirty Secrets." 7. "More on Bush-Noriega," Newsweek, Oct. 31, 1988. 8. Thames Television This Week, cited by AP, "British TV takes on Bush," Sacramento Bee, Sept. 22, 1988. 9. New Republic, Sept. 26, 1988, quoted by Guardian (New York), Oct. 19, 1988. 10. Scott Armstrong and Jeff Nason, "Company Man," Mother Jones, Oct. 1988.

Tags: Bush, Iran-Contra, CIA, information


Like this article? Support our work. Donate now.