ACCENT: A comedy smash VIEWPOINT: HPC needs guts

WASHINGTON President Reagan contributed to a m as­ sive deception of Congress and the public in the Iran-Contra af­ fair and bears responsibility for thw arting the law by allow­ ing zealots to seize policy con­ trol, congressional inves­ tigators concluded Wednesday. “ These committees found no direct evidence suggesting that the president was a knowing participant in the effort to deceive Congress and the Am erican public,” the Senate and House investigating panels wrote. “ But the president’s ac­ tions and statem ents contrib­ uted to the deception.” “ The ultim ate responsibility for the events in the IranContra affair m ust rest with the president,” the panels’ 690page final report concluded. “ If the president did not know what his national security ad­ visers were doing, he should have.” The report comes three months after the conclusion of summer-long hearings into the secret sales of U.S. weapons to Iran and the diversion of some profits to the N icaraguan rebels known as Contras. At the White House, Reagan spokesman M arlin Fitzw ater said, “ This new report reflects the subjective opinions and not even the unanimous judgm ent of the com m ittee.” “ We are moving on,” he said. The report, in one new dis­ closure, indicates the adm inis­ tration was deceived when, after concluding that mid­ dlem an M anucher Ghorbanifar was untrustworthy, it switched to what it saw as a more reli­ able “ second channel” for dealing with Iranian “ m oderates.”