Memorable Moments: Strong Words, Salty Phrases

The three months of hearings by the congressional Iran- contra investigating committees produced not only some extraordinary information but also some memorable lines. Here are some of the best:

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, who organized the private airlift to supply arms to Nicaragua’s contras and participated in the arms sales to Iran. Testified May 5-8.

On circumventing the prohibition against government aid to the contras:

“I, for one, am not ashamed for having tried. If we were unconventional in some of our methods, it was only because conventional wisdom had been exhausted.”

On former National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane’s judgment of Iranian middleman Manucher Ghorbanifar:

McFarlane “said that this was one of the most despicable characters he had ever met. I found that kind of an interesting comment, because he was far from the most despicable character I have ever met.”

In response to questions about whether he profited from his deals:

“I did not come here voluntarily to be badgered by these questions that I have answered already repeatedly. . . . Let’s get off the subject.”

Robert C. McFarlane, President Reagan’s national security adviser through December, 1985. May 11-14.

“The President repeatedly made clear in public and in private that he did not intend to break faith with the contras. He directed that we make continued efforts to bring the movement into the good graces of Congress and the American people, and that we assure the contras of continuing Administration support, to help them hold body and soul together until the time when Congress would again agree to support them.”

“In the six months since the Iran-contra controversy erupted, many people have come to believe there is something wrong with the way this country makes foreign policy. They probably don’t know how wrong.”

“President Reagan’s motives and direction to his subordinates throughout this enterprise (have) always been in keeping with the law and national values. I don’t think he is at fault here, and if anybody is, I am.”

Robert C. Dutton, the retired Air Force colonel who worked with Secord. May 27.

On what former White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver L. North told him about the contra airlift:

“Bob, you’re never going to get a medal for this, but someday the President will shake your hand and thank you for it.”

Former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez, a participant in the contra airlift. May 27-28.

On North’s comment to him as they watched a televised congressional debate on aid to the contras:

Congress “cannot touch me, because the old man loves my ass.”

Lewis A. Tambs, former U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica. May 28.

“The field officers who went forward are not being backed up by the superiors who gave them orders. What I find to be disconcerting, to put it mildly, is to see officers who were carrying out what they believe to be orders from their legitimate superiors now, in effect, seeing their careers sacrificed.”

Assistant Secretary of State Elliot Abrams. June 2-3.

“I was careful not to ask Col. North questions that I did not need to know the answers to.”

Albert A. Hakim, Secord’s business partner who organized the finances of the contra airlift and the Iran arms sales. June 3-5.

“I had become emotionally very attached to Ollie, still am, and I really love this man.”

“What bothered me was that we didn’t have the competence within the government to do what I could do.”

Sen. Paul S. Trible Jr. (R-Va.) told Hakim:

“This all smacks of a soap opera. It’s a saga of venality and greed and a flare for the dramatic. It’s part James Bond and part Jimmy Durante.”

Fawn Hall, North’s secretary. June 8-9.

“I can type.”

On why she shredded documents:

“Sometimes you have to go above the written law, I believe.”

Asked by Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.) about the shredding:

“I just felt there would be a lot of damage done if a lot of top secret, sensitive, classified material was exposed in public so that the Soviets (and) everyone else could read it.”

Rudman replied: “Well, it wasn’t the KGB that was coming, Miss Hall. It was the FBI.”

Lt. Col. Oliver L. North. July 7-14.

On whether Reagan approved the diversion:

“I never raised it with (Reagan), and he never raised it with me during my entire tenure at the National Security Council staff. I assumed that the President was aware of what I was doing and had, through my superiors, approved it.”

“I came here to tell you the truth--the good, the bad and the ugly.”

“Lying does not come easy to me. . . . But I think we all had to weigh in the balance the difference between lives and lies.”

“I sense that somehow or another we’ve tried to create the impression that Oliver North picked up his hat and wandered around Washington and foreign capitals begging for money. I didn’t do that. I didn’t have to do it because others were more willing to put up the money than the Congress.”

On using Iran arms sales profits to support the contras:

“The only thing we did was divert money out of Mr. Ghorbanifar’s pocket and put it to better use.”

“I realize there’s a lot of folks that think (I was) a loose cannon on the gun deck of state at the NSC. That wasn’t what I heard while I worked there. I’ve only heard it since I left. People used to walk up and tell me what a good job I was doing.”

“I’ll tell you right now, I’d have offered the Iranians a free trip to Disneyland if we could have gotten Americans home for it.”

“I didn’t make a lot of the decisions I’m accused of making. I didn’t consider myself to be the lone wolf out here.”

“I must confess that I thought using the ayatollah’s money to support the Nicaraguan freedom fighters was a good idea. . . . I think it was a neat idea.”

“I was supposed to be dropped like a hot rock when it all came down, and I was willing to serve in that capacity.” But “I was not willing to become the victim of a criminal prosecution.”

“I am glad to meet Abu Nidal on equal terms anywhere in the world. There’s an even deal for him. But I am not willing to have my wife and my four children meet Abu Nidal or his organization on his terms.”

“People snicker that Ollie North might have been doing a little hanky-panky with his secretary. Ollie North has been loyal to his wife since the day he married her. And the fact is I went to my best friend and I asked her, ‘Did I ever go to Parklane Hosiery?’ And you know what she told me? ‘Of course you did, you old buffoon, you went there to buy leotards for our two little girls.’ ”

On how he shredded documents under the noses of Justice Department investigators looking through his records:

“They were working on their projects. I was working on mine.”

“The (CIA) director (William J. Casey) was interested in the ability to (create) an existing . . . off-the-shelf, self-sustaining, stand-alone entity that could perform certain activities on behalf of the United States.”

North’s attorney, Brendan V. Sullivan Jr. said:

“I’m not a potted plant. I’m here as the lawyer. That’s my job.”

Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) told North:

“Of all the qualities the American people find compelling about you, none is more impressive than your obvious deep devotion to your country. Please remember that others share that devotion, and recognize that it is possible for an American to disagree with you on aid to the contras and still love this country just as much as you do.”

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) told North:

“I don’t want you prosecuted. I don’t. I don’t think many people in America do. And I think there’s going to be one lot of hell raised if you are.”

Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter, Reagan’s national security adviser from December, 1985, to November, 1986. July 15-21.

“Although I was convinced that we could properly do it and that the President would approve it, if asked, I made a very deliberate decision not to ask the President so that I could insulate him from the decision and provide some future deniability for the President if it ever leaked out.”

“I thought it (the diversion) was a very good idea. I personally approved it. . . . The buck stops here with me.”

On tearing up the November, 1985, presidential finding that authorized arms sales to Iran:

“I thought it was a significant political embarrassment to the President.”

On not providing information to Congress:

“Our objective here all along was to withhold information. There’s no question about that.”

On Reagan denying he would have approved the diversion if he had been asked:

“I would have expected him to say that. That’s the whole idea of deniability.”

“I don’t have any regrets for anything I did.”

“I leave this hearing with my head held high that I have done my very best to promote the long-term national security interests of the United States.”

House committee Chairman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.) told Poindexter:

“You locked the President himself out of the process. . . . The President apparently did not know you were making some of the most important decisions of his presidency.”

Senate committee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) said of Poindexter:

“He withheld information from the President . . . and, therefore, there is this gnawing question that all of us have: ‘Is he withholding any information from us at this moment?’ ”

Secretary of State George P. Shultz. July 23.

“When you get down into the dirt of the operational details, it always comes out arms for hostages.”

On Reagan’s reaction to learning that Hakim, in negotiations with the Iranians, had agreed to press Kuwait to release anti-American terrorists:

“He reacted like he’d been kicked in the belly.”

Former White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan. July 30-31.

On his reaction when a shipment of missiles to Iran elicited the release of no American hostages:

“We’d been snookered again. And how many times, you know, do we put up with this rug-merchant type of stuff?”

“I don’t mind spears in the breast. It’s knives in the back that concern me.”

On Reagan’s reluctance to let Poindexter resign:

“He’s not the type that likes to go around firing people--ironic statement coming from me.”

On asking Poindexter to resign:

Poindexter “was sitting at the end of his conference table having breakfast on a tray. . . . John is a deliberate man. He adjusted his glasses, he dabbed at his mouth with his napkin, put it down. He said, ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I guess I should have looked into it more but I didn’t.’ He said, ‘I knew Ollie was up to something.’ ”

On whether Reagan knew of the diversion:

“This guy, I know, was an actor, and he was nominated at one time for an Academy Award. But I’d give him an Academy Award if he knew anything about this. . . . He expressed complete surprise at this news. . . . He couldn’t have known.”