Shultz’s Staff Wrote Rebuttal to Reagan View

Hours after President Reagan’s first news conference defending arms sales to Iran last November, Secretary of State George P. Shultz’s legal staff wrote a devastating point-by-point rebuttal that portrayed the scheme as a political and strategic debacle, newly released documents show.

But the memo, written as a briefing paper to help Shultz change the President’s mind on the issue, was intercepted by the secretary of state’s legal adviser, Abraham D. Sofaer, who ordered it rewritten and toned down.

The seven-page critique, made public by the House and Senate panels investigating the Iran- contra affair, ridiculed each defense of the arms sales mounted by Reagan in his meeting with reporters, including his central claim that the deals were not swaps of arms for hostages.

Not Attack on Reagan

If Reagan did not see it that way, the State Department experts wrote, “it is very clear to the Iranians that we were exchanging arms for hostages.”

In ordering the critique toned down, Sofaer told its authors that Shultz sought not to attack Reagan’s stance but “to prevent further damage to his credibility.”

“This is a formidable challenge,” he added, “since some of his closest former and present advisers may have an interest in avoiding a full and truthful exposure of their activities.”

The four Sofaer aides who wrote the draft disputed Reagan’s defense of the Iran arms sales by citing key presidential quotations and countering them with facts and assertions.

Dealing With Iranians

While Reagan told reporters that the White House had found “some individuals (in Iran) that it might be possible to deal with,” the four State Department legal specialists called Iranian negotiators “unscrupulous and untrustworthy.”

Citing CIA assessments that would not become public for weeks, they noted that key Iranian intermediary Manucher Ghorbanifar had flunked several polygraph tests and was judged a “habitual fabricator.”

Other rebuttals were equally stark:

--Reagan said in his Nov. 20 press conference that he did “not condone the shipment of arms (to Iran) from other countries.” The memo noted that former CIA Director “Bill Casey’s testimon20321665111985, the CIA helped Israel transfer Hawk missiles to Iran at the NSC staff’s request.”

NSC Staff’s Denial

“Shockingly, the NSC staff denies having made this request,” the memo stated.

--Reagan stated that Iran “does not own or have authority over the Hezbollah,” the Lebanese faction holding most U.S. hostages. Replied the memo: “Without any qualification, Hezbollah is a creature of the government of Iran, and Iran is its main banker, patron, arms supplier and adviser.”

--Reagan stated that the arms sales aimed “to bring a negotiated end to the Iran-Iraq war.” The memorandum rejected that: “Everyone with experience in Iran . . . believes we have lengthened the war because of the psychological and political boost we have given” to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s backers.

--Reagan stated that “key Cabinet members were consulted throughout” the affair. Replied the memo’s authors: “This is not true.”

Reply Not Declassified

The memo also apparently assailed Reagan’s frequent assertions that the U.S. arms sales to Iran “did not in any way alter the military balance” of the Iran-Iraq war. But the officials’ lengthy reply to that statement was not declassified by censors.