Former President Ronald Reagan, in testimony made public Thursday, said he had no recollection of ever being told that profits from Iran weapons sales were diverted to the Nicaraguan contras, and that he ``never had any inkling`` White House aide Oliver North was secretly helping the guerrillas.
Reagan, who was subpoenaed by the defense in the upcoming trial of his onetime national security adviser, John Poindexter, neither clearly exonerated Poindexter nor critically undermined his defense. Nor did his videotaped testimony do much to answer questions about who authorized the diversion at a time when such aid to the contras was illegal.
But his deposition did reveal startling gaps in the memory of the 79-year-old former president. In all, Reagan said ``I don`t recall`` or ``I can`t remember`` 88 times in the eight hours of testimony taken Feb. 16-17 in Los Angeles.
At one point, Reagan said he could not identify Gen. John Vessey, who served for more than three years as his chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At other times, he said he could not identify a picture of contra leader Adolfo Calero, could not recall a shipment of Hawk missiles to Iran in November 1985, had no memory of signing one presidential finding relating to the shipment of weapons to Iran and had only the slightest recollection of signing a second such finding.
Chicago Tribune
88 or 124 what difference does it make?
