CASPAR WEINBERGER (5) - Profile
The final public witness in the Iran-Contra hearings was Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, whose views on Iran policy did not win out despite his protests, he testified. He claimed that he was opposed to the administration’s Iran policy and that reaching out to Iran “was just contrary to everything” he knew. Still, Weinberger’s advice had been trumped by those of Adm. John Poindexter of the National Security Council and the late CIA head William Casey, he said. The secretary of defense testified that he knew of no Iranian official who were moderate or “not virulently anti-American.” Despite his objection, the arms-for-hostages deal went forward. The secretary of defense blamed “people with their own agenda” for preventing the president from hearing the best strategy to deal with Iran. Weinberger testified that he did not recall the president stating that Iran was losing the war, but he would have stepped in to correct Reagan in such a case. “One is not shy about presenting views that seem to me would be in opposition to what I thought was something that was clearly wrong,” he said.
