Memos Suggest Bush Contra Arms Role, Stir Questions on His Candor

Vice President George Bush, who has denied ever playing an active role on behalf of the Nicaraguan Contras, approved increases in U.S. arms shipments to the rebels in 1983 while such aid was legal, newly released documents suggest.

Two White House memos distributed by the Senate Iran-Contra Committee last week indicate that Bush and President Reagan repeatedly lifted the Administration’s own ceiling on the number of weapons it would supply to the Nicaraguan rebels.

These arms deliveries were made by the CIA a year before Congress banned official U.S. military aid to the Contras.

But the documents raised questions about Bush’s candor in denying that he was aware of a later, possibly illegal White House-run operation to aid the Contras beginning in 1984.

Denies Playing Role

Bush spokeswoman Kristin Taylor said Friday that the vice president had “never played any role at all” with the Contras.

One November, 1983, memo, a request for more arms that was co-authored by White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, said Bush had “been asked to concur on these (weapons) increases in each previous case.”

Then-National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane’s subsequent request for 3,000 more weapons was to be copied and forwarded to Bush, a document shows.

‘Supportive of Policies’

Taylor declined to discuss the memos but said: “The veep has never had any operational role, active involvement or any role at all. His role was to be supportive of policies that support the Contras.”

Rep. Barbara Boxer (D-Greenbrae) said the memos show Bush “is just not being honest with the American people.”

“If Bush was in the loop to that extent in 1983 what got him out of the loop all of a sudden (a year later)?” said Michael Barnes, a former Maryland Democratic congressman.