Awkward Timing

"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."

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.

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.