No Pardon

As the legal maneuvering intensified over when and whether Oliver North will go on trial for his role in the Iran-contra fiasco, nonlawyers had reason to wonder about the motives of some of the players. On the one hand, the former Marine lieutenant colonel, who oozed patriotism from misty eyes during the congressional hearings, threatened to reveal some of the nation's most sensitive secrets if the trial proceeds. President Reagan, who has declared North innocent, said last week that he will not pardon his ex-NSC aide in advance of a trial but neither will he allow many of the classified documents to be aired in court. If that means some charges against North have to be dropped, the President implied, so be it.

Asked in effect whether the White House was in collusion with North, Reagan insisted, "The things we're blocking are the things that duty requires we block." He would not pardon North before a trial, he said, because anyone accepting a pardon would live "under a shadow of guilt." Since Federal Judge Gerhard Gesell hopes to start the trial in late January, any pardon after a possible conviction would have to come from the new President, George Bush.

Lawyers call threats by defense attorneys to disclose classified information "graymail." To laymen, it looks suspiciously close to blackmail since it forces the prosecution to make a choice: let the secrets be revealed or drop the relevant charges. North has insisted that more than 3,500 classified documents are vital to his defense. Special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh wants to use about 400 secret papers, from which a special interagency group made numerous deletions to protect national security. North's lawyers have objected to nearly all these exclusions. If the judge decides the deleted information is necessary for North's defense, the conspiracy charge, which is the most far-ranging of 14 remaining counts against North, might have to be dropped.

Coincidentally, another familiar Iran-contra figure, Israeli arms agent and counterterrorism expert Amiram Nir, died last week in the crash of a small Cessna plane in Mexico. The pilot also died, and two passengers were injured. Nir, a former aide to Shimon Peres and to Yitzhak Shamir, worked closely with North in the sale of U.S. arms to Iran, traveled with him to Tehran in the attempted arms-for-hostage exchanges and briefed Vice President Bush on the ill-fated scheme.