Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 3, 1993 TAG: 9310030149
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Although the report is still secret, it is said to be highly critical of many officials in the Reagan administration, including former attorney general Edwin Meese , defense secretary Caspar Weinberger and former presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, the sources said.
Complicating the situation is the secrecy surrounding not only the report but also the gag order that has been placed over those directly involved in the matter by the special panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals controlling Walsh's office of the independent counsel.
Some lawyers with clients in the nearly 7-year-old investigation see the behind-the-scenes maneuvering as the final attempt to humiliate the 81-year-old Walsh, who they claim has misused his office to harass Reagan administration officials.
"He has written down allegations he can't prove," said one source familiar with the report, "and put the worst patina on everything."
Said another: "Walsh is using this [the final report] to have the last word on Iran-Contra."
Walsh himself remains on the federal payroll on a daily allowance basis as independent counsel as long as the controversy over the report continues. His secretary in Oklahoma City answers the office telephone saying, "Office of the independent counsel," though Walsh declines to describe his activities now in that role because of the court's gag order. In his Washington office, administrative staff members are preparing records to be sent to the National Archives.
One Washington attorney, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was aware of several attorneys with clients mentioned in Walsh's report who want corrections or deletions made.
"I don't know what procedure we may use," one of those attorneys said.
Another attorney with a client cited in the report said he just wants to have a response printed in the Walsh document.
Walsh's final report was prepared under a provision of the independent counsel law that required him, before terminating his office, to set forth "fully and completely a description of the work of the independent counsel, including the disposition of all cases brought and the reasons for not prosecuting any matter" that fell within his jurisdiction.
The report was given to the special three-judge appellate court panel that includes Judge David B. Sentelle of the D.C. Circuit, Judge John D. Butsner of the 4th U.S. Circuit in Richmond and Judge Joseph T. Sneed of the 9th U.S. Circuit in San Francisco. The judges have the authority to release to the public "such portions of the report" as they consider "appropriate," according to the independent counsel law.
In determining that, the panel is permitted to make available to those named in the report the portions that refer to them and receive "any comments or factual information that such individual may submit."
by CNB