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- THE WEEK, Page 21NATIONAwkward Timing
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- A grand jury charges Weinberger anew, involving George Bush
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- "George Shultz + I opposed -- Bill Casey, Ed Meese + VP
- favored -- as did Poindexter." With those words, taken from his
- personal handwritten notes of the Jan. 7, 1986, White House
- meeting about the notorious Iran arms-for-hostages deal, former
- Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger contradicted both his own
- sworn statements that he had any evidence relevant to the
- Iran-contra affair and the assertions by George Bush that he was
- not aware of the proposed swap. As a result, Weinberger was
- indicted by a Washington grand jury on one additional felony
- count of making false statements to Congress. The revelation
- also ensured that the President, at an inauspicious time in his
- effort to win re-election, will face a surge of new questions
- about his oft-repeated assertions that he was "not in the loop."
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- Weinberger's note, discovered last spring, explicitly
- describes the Oval Office discussion of the plan to sell 4,000
- TOW missiles to Iran in exchange for five American hostages, as
- well as his and Secretary of State Shultz's declared opposition.
- Bush has repeatedly denied that he, then Vice President, was
- aware that Shultz and Weinberger were opposed.
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- The new evidence, revealed for the first time on Friday by
- the office of Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh, adds one more
- count to the five issued in June. Weinberger's trial is
- scheduled for January. Bush's trial is on Tuesday.
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