The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0103/01033.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 20KB | 379 lines

$Unique_ID{bob01033}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Iran-Contra Affair: The Report
Chapter 7D   The Hasenfus Downing}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Various}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{abrams
north
government
hasenfus
flight
testified
denials
involved
told
categorical}
$Date{1987}
$Log{}
Title:       Iran-Contra Affair: The Report
Author:      Various
Date:        1987

Chapter 7D   The Hasenfus Downing

     On the morning of October 5, 1986, one of the air craft belonging to the
Enterprise left its operational base with 10,000 pounds of ammunition and gear
for FDN forces inside northern Nicaragua.  William Cooper was in command,
Wallace "Buzz" Sawyer was the co-pilot, and a 17-year-old FDN fighter was
handling radio communication with the troops on the ground.  Also on board, as
the "kicker" who would actually drop the supplies to forces waiting below, was
Eugene Hasenfus.

     Within a few hours, the aircraft was reported missing.  Officials later
learned that the plane had been hit by a Sandinista SAM-7 missile over
Nicaraguan territory.  Three crew members were killed.  Hasenfus survived and
was captured by the Sandinistas.

     The Sandinistas found in the wreckage, and showed reporters, an
identification card issued to Hasenfus by the air force in the operational
base's host country identifying him as an "adviser" in the "Grupo U.S.A."
group at the base, and a business card belonging to an official at the NHAO
office in Washington.  They also found and displayed an ID card issued to
Cooper by Southern Air Transport.

The U.S. Government Connection

     The Hasenfus flight was part of the resupply operation coordinated by
North with the support and approval of the President's National Security
Adviser.  North acknowledged in testimony about the flight:  "I was the U.S.
Government connection."  James Steele, a U.S. Military Group Commander in
Central America; Lewis Tambs, the U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica; and Tomas
Castillo, a CIA Station Chief in Central America, all provided assistance to
the secret operation to support the Contras.  Yet, virtually every newspaper
article on the incident in the days after the downing would quote senior
Government officials, including the President himself, denying any U.S.
Government connection with the flight.  And within a week, high Government
officials would offer the same categorical denials before Congressional
Committees.

The Initial Response

     When the Sandinistas shot down the Hasenfus plane, North was in West
Germany negotiating with the Second Channel.  He returned to Washington within
48 hours of the downing to help deflect inquiries about the flight, leaving
Albert Hakim behind to complete his negotiations.

     Castillo, however, recognized immediately that the Hasenfus crash could
lead to disclosure of the operation.  Before the downing was even confirmed,
he wrote to Robert Dutton via KL-43:

Situation requires we do necessary damage control.  Did this A/C [aircraft]
have tail number?  If so, is it the same one which refueled several times at
. . .  Please advise ASAP.  If so, we will have to try to cover quickly as
record of tail number could lead to very serious implication.

Two days later, plans were made at a Restricted Interagency Group (RIG)
meeting in which Abrams and CIA Central American Task Force Chief (C/CATF)
participated to ensure that the U.S. Government would not be implicated by the
flight.  A PROF from NSC staff member Vincent Cannistraro to Adm. Poindexter
described decisions made at the meeting.  Among them, Cannistraro wrote, "UNO
to be asked to assume responsibility for flights and to assist families of
Americans involved."  Also, the group decided that press guidance would be
prepared "which states no U.S.G. involvement or connection, but that we are
generally aware of such support contracted by the Contras."

     A few days later The New York Times reported:  "Nicaraguan rebels took
full responsibility today for the flight of a military cargo plane that was
downed over Nicaragua last week."  A "senior Administration official" was
quoted in the story as saying that the U.S. Government had asked the rebels to
take responsibility.  While denying that any such request was made, Bosco
Matamoros, UNO's Washington-based spokesman, told the reporter, "There was no
United States government connection."  Similar denials by Administration
officials would soon follow.  North was not at the RIG meeting, but he
testified that the guidance stating no U.S. Government connection was "not
inconsistent with what we had prepared as the press line if such, if such an
eventuality occurred."

The Denials

The President

     There is no evidence the President knew of U.S. involvement in the
Hasenfus flight.  But the National Security Adviser and officials on the NSC
staff did know.  Also, the day of the downing, Felix Rodriguez called Col. Sam
Watson in Vice President Bush's office, suggesting to him that North was
involved with the flight.  Donald Gregg, Assistant to Vice President Bush,
earlier had been alerted to the possibility that North was linked to the
resupply operation.

     Nevertheless, the President was permitted to deny any U.S. Government
connection with the flight.  In an exchange with reporters on October 8, the
President praised the efforts to keep the Contras armed, comparing resupply
efforts to those of the "Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War."
But when asked whether the Hasenfus plane had any connection with the American
Government, the President replied, "Absolutely none."  He told reporters:

There is no government connection with that at all . . .  We've been aware
that there are private groups and private citizens that have been trying to
help the Contras - to that extent - but we did not know the exact particulars
of what they're doing.

The Secretary of State

     On October 7, Secretary Shultz told reporters that the Hasenfus aircraft
was "hired by private people" who "had no connection with the U.S. Government
at all."  He was quoted on two national network news programs that evening as
saying, "The people involved were not from our military, not from any U.S.
Government agency, CIA included."  On October 10, Shultz reiterated this
denial while at the Reykjavik Summit with the President.  Asked during a Today
Show interview about Hasenfus' statements that he worked with CIA employees on
the resupply operation, Shultz said:

[D]on't forget that this man is under arrest and is saying things under those
conditions.  I have said, on the basis of checking with both the Defense
Department and the CIA, that I am informed by both those agencies that he is
not an employee of theirs and they are not connected with this operation.

     Secretary Shultz testified that the U.S. Government involvement with the
Hasenfus flight was a "surprise" to him, and the record shows that two
National Security Advisers frequently failed to confide in him or give him
accurate information.  Shultz said he based his denials on a "general
understanding" that "there was no problem" with North's activities, because
Congressional inquiries into North's activities came up empty.  Moreover,
Abrams testified that he gave categorical assurances to Shultz that there was
no U.S. Government involvement in the Hasenfus flight, and that neither North
nor anybody else on the NSC staff was involved in the provision of
lethal assistance to the Contras.

     North claimed in testimony that Shultz "knew what I was doing" to support
the Contras, citing a single instance where the Secretary at a reception "put
his arm around my shoulder, and told me what a remarkable job I had done
keeping the Nicaraguan Resistance alive."  Shultz testified, however, that
he merely told North that he appreciated North's work "to keep up the morale
of these [the Contra] leaders.

     But that was the sum and substance of it.  To build on that remark this
superstructure of implication is entirely unwarranted."

Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American