North Diaries Hint of Bush Aid to Contras

Oliver L. North met with then-Vice President George Bush a few hours after lying to the House Intelligence Committee about assisting the Nicaraguan Contras, an entry in North’s White House diaries suggests.

Portions of the diaries, released Tuesday, renew questions about whether Bush was more deeply involved in assisting the Contras than he has acknowledged.

The 1,400 pages of notebook entries were obtained by a private group, the National Security Archive, as the result of a lawsuit filed against the government. U.S. intelligence agencies still are reviewing the remaining 1,200 pages of North’s diaries.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said: “The vice president’s role in the Iran-Contra affair was completely examined in the congressional inquiry, and we have nothing to add.”

Among disclosures in the newly released material:

--On Dec. 20, 1985, North laid out a “3rd Country Solicitation Plan” in support of the Contras that included trips by Bush to Honduras for an inauguration there. The plan also called for then-President Ronald Reagan to meet with Ecuador’s president.

Bush went to Honduras in January, 1986, for the inauguration of President Jose Azcona Hoyo and Reagan met in Washington that month with Ecuadoran President Leon Febres Cordero.

There was an elaborate plan in the Reagan Administration to induce third countries to support the Contras, according to evidence introduced at North’s trial last year. Bush has denied being involved in any quid pro quo arrangements providing additional economic and military aid to Honduras in exchange for allowing the Contras to use base camps there.

--North’s notes refer to a noon “meeting w/ V.P.” on Aug. 6, 1986. That would have been 3 1/2 hours after North lied to the committee by denying he was supplying military advice to the Contras. North admitted he had lied when he took the witness stand at his own trial last year.