Long Trials, Long Trail

John Poindexter testified before an Iran-contra grand jury last week, a palpable reminder that special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh is still at work. After the arduous trials of Oliver North and Poindexter, Walsh’s focus is on officials at other agencies who assisted the illegal contra supply operation or may have misled Congress. A prime target is Donald Gregg, an adviser to Vice President Bush who is now ambassador to South Korea. In 1985 and 1986 Gregg’s friend Felix Rodriguez played a central role in running the contra arms flights from El Salvador. Gregg has testified that he knew nothing about Rodriguez’s contra involvement until August 1986. However, both Gregg’s secretary and Rodriguez have said the Bush staff knew about Rodriguez’s role by May 1986, when Gregg arranged a meeting between Bush and Rodriguez. The day before the meeting, the Vice President received a memo from Gregg stating that Rodriguez wanted to talk about “resupply of the contras.” Also being scrutinized is former Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, an ardent proponent of the contra cause. Prosecutor Walsh will decide by fall whether or not to bring additional indictments. If he does, that could lead to new questions about how much Bush knew of the illegal operation and when he knew it. Bush has denied under oath that he was aware of the operation.