Friday August 11 1:25 AM ET Cheney, North Relationship Probed By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - As a member of Congress in 1986, Dick Cheney was present for one of the defining moments in the Iran-Contra scandal - a White House meeting where Oliver North misled members of the House Intelligence Committee. The episode, however, didn't keep Cheney from defending North at the Iran-Contra hearings a year later or from stumping for him in 1994 when North ran for the U.S. Senate. With his record scrutinized anew as George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s running mate, Cheney is declining to discuss his role as a top Republican on the House committee that investigated the Iran-Contra scandal in the mid-1980s. ``This race is about the future and what Governor Bush and Secretary Cheney will do for the country, not on a resolved situation from the past,'' Cheney spokesman Dirk Vande Beek explained. Thirteen years ago, Congress held nationally televised hearings into whether the Reagan administration improperly arranged for military assistance to the Contra rebels battling communism in Nicaragua at a time when U.S. aid to the rebels had been banned by Congress. Cheney helped lead the Republican defense of the Reagan administration and North, trying to counter Democratic accusations of lying and cover-up by highlighting North's tireless efforts on behalf of the communist-fighting guerrillas. Cheney even gave away some of his own time for asking questions at the 1987 hearings so North, dressed in crisp military uniform, could give a tutorial on Soviet-financed military might in Central America and the dire straits of the Contra fighting force. ``Colonel North has been, I think, the most effective and impressive witness certainly this committee has heard, and I know I speak for a great many Americans when I thank him for his years of devoted service to the nation, both in the United States Marine Corps and as a member of the NSC (National Security Council) staff,'' Cheney said in July 1987, concluding his questioning of North. Cheney's intersection with the scandal actually began earlier. When news stories in mid-1986 suggested that North was overseeing a secret arms network to the Contras at a time when such assistance was banned, then-House Intelligence Committee chairman Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., pressed for a meeting. In the White House Situation Room on Aug. 6, 1986, North told Cheney, Hamilton and nine other lawmakers on the intelligence committee that his ``principle mission'' was to coordinate contacts between U.S. officials and the Contras. North told the lawmakers he gave the Contras advice on human rights and stressed the need for an improved civic image. As the Aug. 6 discussion ended, Hamilton ``expressed his appreciation ... and indicated his satisfaction in the responses received.'' But minutes after the congressmen departed, North returned to his work coordinating military supplies to the Contras. A year later, after being granted immunity from prosecution at the Iran-Contra hearings, North admitted he'd made false statements and ``misled the Congress'' in the Aug. 6 meeting. ``I tried to avoid telling outright lies. But I certainly wasn't telling the truth,'' North explained in his 1991 book. North did not return phone messages and a written request for comment sent to his office this week. Of the eight Republicans who signed the minority report on the Iran-Contra affair, Cheney was the only one who had been lied to face-to-face by North at the 1986 meeting. Still, he remained supportive of the Reagan White House and North. In an interview, Hamilton credited Cheney and the Republicans with doing an effective job of protecting President Reagan. ``My impression of the position of the House Republicans generally, of which he (Cheney) was one, was that they really took the attitude that the end justifies the means,'' Hamilton said. ``In other words, the support of the Contras was so important that if you fudged the law a little bit and fudged the truth it was justified because we were fighting communism,'' Hamilton added. Former Democratic Rep. Bob Kastenmeier, another member of the committee, was less complimentary. ``Cheney was a member of the minority serving the White House and not the committee, and he was the only member on the other side I would say that about,'' Kastenmeier said. Washington attorney Dick Leon, who worked as a lawyer for Republicans at the Iran-Contra hearings, defended Cheney. ``It was made very clear to us by Mr. Cheney personally that we were there to get to the bottom of the facts wherever they would lead us,'' Leon said. He also noted Cheney and other congressional Republicans signed a final report that was ``quite critical of some of the most senior members of the administration, from the secretaries of defense, state and the White House chief of staff on down to North and his immediate superiors.'' Cheney and seven House and Senate Republicans characterized the White House's deception as ``a fundamental mistake'' but suggested the deception was not designed to hide any illegalities. Cheney and his GOP colleagues, however, refused to join Republican Sens. Warren Rudman and William Cohen and Democrats in concluding that Reagan failed in his constitutional duty to ``take care that the laws be faithfully executed.'' Seven years later, Cheney campaigned for the former Marine colonel in his unsuccessful bid for a U.S. Senate seat from Virginia. Cheney praised North for embracing the same conservative principles as Ronald Reagan. --------------------------------------------------------------------<e|- <FONT COLOR="#000099">2 minutes could save you $300 on your auto insurance. Click Here. </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/8195/6/_/475667/_/966000757/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> --------------------------------------------------------------------|e>-
