Shultz Attacks Bush’s Iran-Contra Story

Former President George Bush misrepresented his role in the arms-for-hostage deals with Iran while he was vice president, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz says in memoir excerpts published Sunday.

In the excerpts, which appear in Time magazine, Shultz says he was “astonished” to read a 1987 interview in the Washington Post in which Bush said no one strongly opposed the arms deals during 1985 and 1986 White House meetings.

Shultz remembers those meetings differently. He said that on Nov. 9, 1986, he had a heated talk with Bush.

“I put my views to him: I didn’t know much about what had actually transpired, but I knew that an exchange of arms for hostages had been tried on at least one occasion.

“Bush admonished me, asking emphatically whether I realized that there were major strategic objectives being pursued with Iran.

“I reminded him that he had been present at a meeting where arms for Iran and hostage releases had been proposed and that he had made no objection, despite the objection of both (ex-Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger) and me.”

Shultz recalls being surprised after reading the Aug. 6, 1987, Post article, in which Bush said: “If I had sat there and heard George Shultz and (Weinberger) express it strongly, maybe I would have a stronger view. But when you don’t know something, it’s hard to react. We were not in the loop.”