No More to Say on Iran-Contra, Bush Declares

Vice President George Bush declared Friday that “all questions have been answered” about his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair as former White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan stepped forward with a broader description of Bush’s actions than the vice president himself has offered.

Regan’s comments came as a welcome reinforcement to Bush, who has been dogged by the Iran-Contra issue for more than a week since the Washington Post wrote that he had been more informed about the foreign policy debacle than he has admitted.

Bush has told reporters in recent days that he expressed reservations about the project, specifically concerning the role of Israel as a conduit for arms shipments to Iran, and about difficu1819568485uncovered.

Says Objections Came Early

But Regan, in comments relayed through a spokesman, characterized Bush’s concerns as “broader than just that” and said they came earlier than the celebrated objections of Secretary of State George P. Shultz and former Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger.

Regan spokesman Thomas C. Dawson told the Associated Press that Regan said the vice president asked in early morning meetings also attended by Regan and the President:

“Are we really controlling (the arms deal) and do we understand who we are dealing with? Do we fully understand what we’re doing here?”

Regan, through Dawson, said Bush expressed those concerns as early as July or August of 1985, early in the life of the ill-fated plan.

Bush has not said whether he questioned the plan on such wide-ranging grounds, nor has he placed his objections in a specific time frame. Bush aides had no immediate comment on the Regan statement.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Friday: “The President won’t comment on their private discussions in those meetings but . . . the President has continually said that the vice president expressed reservations but supported the initiative.”

Bush has sought to portray himself as both loyal to the President and bearing enough good sense and experience to have questioned the arms sales initiative. Bush’s constant campaign-swing defenses of Reagan accomplish the former, and Regan’s pronouncement could assist with the latter.

Activities a Mystery

But strong objections by Bush at such an early stage--as attested to by Regan--could raise questions about Bush’s claim that he was left “out of the loop” on decisions related to the Iran-Contra affair. The vice president’s role in the affair was a mystery even after the Tower Commission and congressional investigations of the matter, largely because many principals could not testify to Bush’s activities.

As his campaign for the presidency has heated up, so too have questions about his actions, particularly since Bush makes much on the stump about his foreign policy and diplomatic experience.

Bush has grown contentious as the swirl of controversy over his role obscured the objectives of his campaign. On Friday, he briefly refused to take any more questions on the matter.

“As far as I’m concerned . . . all questions have been answered,” Bush said tersely in front of a group of wood shop students at Woodsville’s high school. “That’s the last I’ll take on that subject.”

Later, he relented but expressed frustration at the attention given the Iran-Contra affair.

“We have a good message, and I would like to get it out (instead of) answering the same old questions over and over again on something I don’t think the American people are caring about--that’s this Iran matter,” Bush told reporters after a Rotary Club luncheon in Wells River, Vt.

Bush and his five Republican counterparts will meet today in Hanover, N. H., for what is expected to be the only all-candidate debate before the state’s showcase primary on Feb. 16.