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that is the best job I have ever hadbefore I became vice president.
So here it was, as I said probably the most extraordinary CIA comrade I had
known, who was going down to help in a country that I knew that the vice
president was interested in....
The vice president was interested in the progress of the Contras.
There were two occasions on which he asked me, how are they doing and I, on
one occasion went to a CIA officer who was knowledgeable and got a run-down
on how they were doing from that and sent it to the vice president and he
sent it back with no comment.
On another occasion, he asked me again, how are they doing, and I went -- I
drew a memo up, I think on the basis of a conversation with North. Again,
he returned that with no comment. So he was interested in the Contras as an
instrument of putting pressure on the Sandinistas....
"Sen. Simon:" Let me read another section from Senator Cranston's
statement. I believe the record suggests the following happened: After
Boland II was signed in October 1984 [outlawing all U.S. aid to the
Contras], you and certain others in the White House were encouraged to
secure military aid for the Contras through unorthodox channels.
Your career training in establishing secrecy and deniability for covert
operations, your decades-old friendship for Felix Rodriguez, apparently led
you to believe you could serve the national interest by sponsoring a
freelance covert operation out of the vice president's office.
What is your response to that statement?
"Gregg:" Well, I think it is a rather full-blown conspiracy theory. That
was not what I was doing.... I was involved in helping the vice president's
task force on antiterrorist measures write their report. But normally I had
no operational responsibilities....
"Sen. Simon:" When did you first find out the law was being violated?
"Gregg:" By the law, do you mean the Boland amendment?
"Sen. Simon:" That is correct.
"Gregg:" I guess my knowledge of that sort of came at me piecemeal after
Hasenfus had been shot down....
"Sen. Simon:" So what you are telling us, you found out about the law being
violated the same time the rest of us found out the law was being violated?
"Gregg:" Yes, sir....
"Sen. Cranston:" From February 1985 to August 1986, you have acknowledged
that you spoke to Rodriguez many, many times on the telephone. Let me quote
from your sworn deposition to the Iran-Contra Committee: "Felix called me
quite often and frequently it was what I would call sort of combat
catharsis. He used to do the same thing in Vietnam...."
Now, is it still your testimony that Rodriguez never mentioned his deep
involvement in Contra supply activities during any of these phone
conversations?
"Gregg:" That is my testimony.
"Sen. Cranston:" Is it still your testimony that prior to Aug. 8th, 1986,
Rodriguez never mentioned the status of his Contra resupply efforts during
his numerous face-to-face meetings with you in Washington?
"Gregg:" Never.
"Sen. Cranston:" Is it still your testimony that Rodriguez did not mention
the status of his Contra resupply efforts in the very meetings that were
convened according to two memos bearing your name, for Rodriguez to "brief
the vice president on the status of the war in El Salvador and efforts to
resupply the Contras"?
"Gregg:" There was no intention to discuss resupply of the Contras and
everyone at that meeting, including former Senator Nick Brady have [sic]
testified that it was not discussed.
"Sen. Cranston:" As you know, it is difficult to reconcile those statements
about what happened in the meeting with the statement and memos from you
that the agenda was ... two things, one of them being efforts to resupply
the Contras....
"Gregg:" Those memos first surfaced to my attention in December of 1986,
when we undertook our first document search of the vice president's office.
They hit me rather hard because by that time I had put the pieces together
of what had been going on and I realized the implications of that agenda
item.
I did not shred the documents. I did not hide it.... [T]his is the worst thi
ng I have found and here it is, and I cannot really explain it.... I have a
speculative explanation which I would like to put forward if you would be
interested.
"Sen. Cranston:" Fine.
"Gregg:" Again, turning to Felix [Rodriguez]'s book ... Felix makes the
following quote.... This is the quote, sir: "... I had no qualms about
calling [Sam Watson] or Don [Gregg] when I thought they could help run
interference with the Pentagon to speed up deliveries of spare chopper
parts." That means helicopters.
"I must have made many such calls during the spring of 1986. Without
operating Hughes 500 helicopters it was impossible to carry out my strategy
against the [El Salvadoran] insurgents...." [There are] then documented
steps that Colonel Watson had taken with the Pentagon to try to get spare
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