Walsh Soldiers On

FOLLOWING THE SERIES OF SURPRISE PARDONS BY George Bush on Christmas Eve, Iran-contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh has found himself largely reduced to shouting -- loudly. In his latest report to Congress, Walsh continued to beat the drums. He directly accused the former President of committing a "grave disservice" to the country by shielding former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger from prosecution, and he suggested that Bush may have done so to avoid answering, as a defense witness, "searching questions" about his own role in the scandal.

Walsh disclosed that both former White House chief of staff Donald Regan and former Secretary of State George Shultz would have testified at the trial that President Reagan knew about a possibly illegal arms-for-hostage shipment of Hawk missiles to Iran in November 1985. Walsh's report, peppered with newly released notes, insisted that Weinberger helped cover up the truth. Not so, said Weinberger's lawyer, who labeled the report "a work of fiction."