Win One, Lose One

HE WAS THE FIRST TOP CIA OFFICER CONVICTED OF acts committed in the performance of duty. That alone makes Clair George a big catch for the Iran- contra prosecutors. But after six years and $33 million worth of frustration, his also was a rare conviction that might stick. A jury convicted the former chief of the CIA's spy network on two charges of lying to Congress (he was acquitted on five perjury counts). He could be sent to jail for 10 years, though it is unlikely he will ever go behind bars. Still, independent counsel Lawrence Walsh called his conviction "an important deterrent ((against)) cover-ups."

Simultaneously, though, the Supreme Court refused to review a lower-court ruling that overturned the 1990 conviction of former National Security Adviser John Poindexter. He and Oliver North, whose conviction was also reversed, were the main architects of the secret sales of weapons to Iran and diversion of profits to the Nicaraguan contras. Ironically, that leaves former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who angrily opposed the deal, as the biggest-name defendant remaining. A federal judge Friday threw out a charge against him of lying to Congress, but he still faces a January trial on four counts of perjury and making false statements.