Excerpts: ‘I Think My Action Was One of Heart Rather Than Head’

Following are excerpts from testimony Tuesday by retired CIA employee Glenn Robinette and former Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Noel Koch before the congressional committees investigating the Iran-contra affair:

Phony Letters

(Robinette testified that retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord paid him $16,000 , including $9,000 from a bank account used in the Iran arms sales , to install a security system at the home of Lt. Col. Oliver L. North , former White House aide. Robinette said he and North later exchanged false invoices and letters to make it appear that North would compensate him for the work.

(Robinette described a telephone call from North last December, about five months after the security system was installed and shortly after North was ousted from the National Security Council.)

It came as somewhat of a surprise considering that he was in the middle of quite a few problems at the time. But he seemed very friendly, he asked me how I was doing and I probably mentioned something about his family, which I liked very much, his children. And he said that, “By the way, you never sent me a bill,” or “You’ve never billed more for that security installation at my residence. . . .”

Question: Did it also surprise you, in view of the fact that Gen. Secord had already paid for the system?

Answer: Yes, sir. . . .

Q: The bill (sent to North) is for $8,000 for the security system. That’s not what the system cost, is it?

A: No, sir.

Q: And that amount is false, as well as the date is false, isn’t it?

A: Yes, sir.

Q: Mr. Robinette, is it fair to say that you intended this bill to look like a first notice?

A: Yes, sir. This was a date that the equipment was--when the system was finished. This date reflects that, yes, sir. . . .

Q: Well, let’s be clear about something, Mr. Robinette. When you sent these bills to Col. North you never expected him to pay you for this system, did you?

A: I had been paid. No. I didn’t expect him to pay. . . . I was trying to help Col. North. I think my action was one in which--the action was one of heart rather than head. And I think you make a mistake if you lead with your heart instead of your head.

Q: Did Col. North ask you in the telephone conversation to send him backdated bills, and have a second notice and a first notice?

A: No, sir, he did not. . . . (I did it) entirely on my own.

Q: Within a few days after sending the bills back to Col. North, you got something back from him, didn’t you?

A: Yes, sir. I would say within a week.

Q: And what you got were two letters that appeared to correspond to the two bills you had sent, correct?

A: That’s correct, sir.

Q: And so what you had done is, you had sent phony bills, and he had sent back phony letters.

A: Yes, sir.

Hostage Discussion

(In later testimony, Koch told of his role in shipping U.S. arms to Israel as part of the arms-for-hostages dealings. At the time, Koch served with North on a government counterterrorism committee . )

Q: Did there come a time in the fall of 1985 when Col. North discussed with you the President (Reagan) and the hostages?

A: That’s correct. . . . He was very tired and we just had an exchange after a meeting and he said, apropos of the hostages: “This thing is really eating him, and he’s driving me nuts about it. And, he wants them out by Christmas.” And I said: “Can we do it?” And he said: “I hope so.”

Q: So this is Col. North saying that the President indicated that the hostage issue was driving him nuts, and Col. North said that the President was driving him nuts, and that the President wanted the hostages back by Christmas?

A: That’s correct.

(Koch outlined North’s Rube Goldberg efforts to keep eavesdroppers ignorant of the arms deals.)

I was given a code name generally that--I guess it was anticipated that my role in this would be more extensive than it was, and so I had a code name, yes.

Q: And what was that, sir?

A: It was “Aaron.”

Q: And what was Col. North’s code name?

A: Damn if I know. What was it? I had to write my own down to remember it. . . . “Paul.”

Q: And did he give Mr. Ben-Joseph (an Israeli functionary) a code name?

A: Yeah, that was, he was “the bookkeeper.”

Q: And what was the code name for missiles?

A: “Dogs.”

Q: And what was the airport?

A: A “swimming pool.”

Q: And what was Iran?

A: “Apple.”

Q: And--

A: I want you to know, we didn’t use any of this nonsense. We. . . .

Q: And to complete the list for the record, Mr. Koch, what was the code name for Israel?

A: (Laughing) This was for your record. It was “banana.”

Q: And the United States?

A: “Orange.”

Q: And hostages?

A: Those were “zebras.”

Q: So I take it, from what your testimony is, there never came a time when Mr.--when Col. North said that Paul was sending Aaron and the bookkeeper to the swimming pool to get a price so that orange could send some dogs through banana to apple for some zebras. Is that correct, sir?

A: Well, in all truth . . . we--you know, you would sort of start down that road and get so self-conscious you couldn’t do it.