The Nation - News from Dec. 6, 1988

The Reagan Administration denied that it had had a secret counterterrorism pact with Israel during the Iran-Contra scandal in 1985 and 1986. State Department spokesman Charles Redman said a study of agency documents showed that “no such agreement exists or existed.” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said: “The bottom line is that we don’t believe there is one . . . . It’s so nebulous.” Israeli official Amiram Nir “did propose such a more formal agreement,” but it was rejected by the U.S. government, said Redman, who did not say when that proposal was made. The Washington Post reported Sunday that Nir, the former Israeli government counterterrorism adviser killed in an airplane crash last week in Mexico, had used such an accord to supervise covert activities with Oliver L. North, the White House aide fired and indicted in the Iran-Contra affair.