It remains unclear whether any laws were broken,
although clearly legal restraints were ignored and statutes were breached.
The Tower Commission has released a flow chart taken from Lt. Col. Oliver North’s safe, listing 23 organizations that have participated in Contra funding. Computer files obtained by the commission indicate that North ran a secret international effort known as Project Democracy, which attempted to foster freedom throughout the world by, among other things, procuring arms for the Nicaraguan Contras from Chile, Guatemala and South Africa. (The operation was kept secret from the CIA, which has therefore denied the report.) The hope was that the leaders of these countries would become more democratic through contact with the Contras.
The Commission reported that Reagan probably did not know of these details because of his laid-back, non-intrusive management style, but said that he was not incompetent. The report also stated that the President did not lie, although he had been less than forthcoming, had not been totally candid and had perhaps occasionally dissembled. It remains unclear whether any laws were broken, although clearly legal restraints were ignored and statutes were breached. The President was criticized for allowing his intense compassion for the hostages to get away with him. Mr. Reagan accepted full responsibility and promised to be less compassionate in the future.
Following the report’s release, the President accelerated into neutral, accepting the resignation of Chief of Staff Donald Regan, who was replaced by Senator Howard Baker, a man who commands respect from members of both parties and is given a good chance to put the administration back together so that no future scandals will disturb the public.
After waiting some months for the sharks to stop circling in the water, Mr. Reagan held a press conference on the Iran thing, telling reporters he had not discussed diverting Iranian arms money to the Contras but rather had gotten into a conversation about it. He added that he would not tell falsehoods to the American people, preferring to leave that to his aides.
Mr. Reagan noted that “the people do not seem to be unhappy about what we’ve been doing here”—an allegation which, while difficult to prove, certainly would place the President legally above the law.