Inquiry Clears Reagan Aides of Hostage Charges : Probe: House panel finds no evidence that officials, including Bush, conspired with Iran to block ‘October surprise.’ It says key witnesses lied.

A bipartisan House task force said Wednesday that it could find no credible evidence to support charges that Ronald Reagan’s top campaign aides, along with then-vice presidential candidate George Bush, agreed in 1980 to supply arms to Iran in exchange for a delay in the release of American hostages until after the election.

The findings clear Bush and the late William J. Casey, former CIA director and Reagan’s 1980 campaign manager, of allegations that they were involved in a secret deal with Iran to prevent an “October surprise”--a hostage release late in the 1980 presidential campaign that would boost the prospects of then-President Jimmy Carter.

“There is no credible evidence to suggest there were quid pro quo arms deals by the Reagan Administration,” Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), chairman of the panel, said Wednesday in summing up the panel’s report. The conclusions parallel those of a Senate committee, which undertook a less-exhaustive inquiry.

The 52 American hostages, who had been held in Iran for more than 400 days, were released within hours of the moment that Reagan took office in January, 1981, after intensive negotiations by Carter Administration officials in the weeks before the transfer of power.

In conducting its 10-month-long inquiry--the most exhaustive to date--the House task force relied on tens of thousands of classified intelligence documents and FBI wiretaps. Panel officials interviewed more than 230 people in the United States and 10 foreign countries.

In addition to debunking the October surprise conspiracy theories, the panel also concluded that several key witnesses who claimed to have knowledge of the conspiracy had fabricated their stories and it recommended that the Justice Department review their testimony for possible perjury prosecutions. The identity of those individuals was not disclosed.

The results met with praise from Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), who said: “It should be no surprise that once again Ronald Reagan and George Bush have been vindicated. . . . It’s regrettable that it took more than 1 million tax dollars and more than a decade to discredit this utterly wacky conspiracy theory.”

Despite the unanimity of the task force, however, dissenting voices were raised at a news conference announcing the conclusions.

Barbara Honneger, author of the book “October Surprise,” said in a statement that the task force findings continued a “blatant cover-up.” She said she would discuss the issue in an independent campaign for the seat of Rep. Leon E. Panetta (D-Carmel Valley), who is expected to resign after his Senate confirmation as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Hamilton said that the House investigation cost $1.35 million, while Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), ranking GOP member of the panel, said that total costs, including salaries and expenses of government employees who aided the inquiry, amounted to $4.56 million.