However, the memo, dated Sept. 10, 1980, flatly contradicted the previous accounts from Allen, Silberman and McFarlane. It described a meeting arranged by Mike Butler, another Tower aide, with McFarlane only joining in later as the pair told Allen about a meeting they had had with a Mr. A.A. Mohammed, a Malaysian who operated out of Singapore.
� ���"This afternoon, by mutual agreement, I met with Messrs. Mohammed, Butler and McFarlane. I also took Larry Silberman along to the meeting,� �� � Allen wrote in the memo.
According to the memo, Mohammed presented a scheme for returning the Shah of Iran's son to the country as � ���"a figurehead monarch� �� � which would be accompanied by a release of the U.S. hostages. Though skeptical of the plan, � ���"both Larry and I indicated that we would be pleased to hear whatever additional news Mr. Mohammed might be able to turn up, and I suggested that that information be communicated via a secure channel,� �� � the memo read.
Nearly every important detail was different both in how the meeting was arranged and its contents. Gone was the proposal to release the hostages to candidate Reagan, gone was the abrupt cutoff, gone was the Iranian or Egyptian � ��" some guy from the � ���"Mediterranean littoral� �� � � ��" replaced by a Malaysian businessman whose comments were welcomed along with future contacts � ���"via a secure channel.� �� � The memo didn't even mention the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, nor was McFarlane the organizer.
A reasonable conclusion might be that Allen's memo was about an entirely different meeting, which would suggest that Republican contacts with Iranian emissaries were more numerous than previously admitted and that Silberman was more of a regular player.
Also, Silberman, McFarlane and Butler � ��" when questioned by the House Task Force investigating the issue in 1992 � ��" disputed Allen's new version of the L'Enfant Plaza tale. They claimed no recollection of the A.A. Mohammed discussion.
Nevertheless, the House Task Force, in its determination to turn the page on the complex October Surprise issue, accepted Allen's memo as the final answer to the L'Enfant Plaza question and pressed ahead with a broader rejection of any wrongdoing by Republicans � ��" even though that required concealing a host of incriminating documents. [See Secrecy & Privilege.]
Tantalizing Clue
The House Task Force also turned a blind eye to another tantalizing clue related to the L'Enfant Plaza mystery. Lavi's lawyer, former CIA counsel Mitchell Rogovin, provided me a page of his notes from that time period.
Rogovin, who was an adviser to the John Anderson campaign, wrote on his calendar entry for Sept. 29, 1980, a summary of Lavi's plan to trade weapons for the hostages. After that, Rogovin recorded a telephone contact with senior CIA official John McMahon to discuss Lavi's plan and to schedule a face-to-face meeting with a CIA representative on Oct. 2.
The next entry, however, was stunning. It read, � ���"Larry Silberman � ��" still very nervous/will recommend " against us this P.M. I said $250,000 � ��" he said why even bother.� �� �
When I called Rogovin about this notation, he said it related to a loan that the Anderson campaign was seeking from Crocker National Bank where Silberman served as legal counsel. The note meant that Silberman was planning to advise the bank officers against the loan, Rogovin said.
I asked Rogovin if he might have mentioned Lavi's hostage plan to Silberman, who was in the curious position of being a senior Reagan adviser and weighing in on a loan to an independent campaign that was viewed as siphoning off votes from Carter. (Crocker did extend a line of credit to Anderson.)
� ���"There was no discussion of the Lavi proposal,� �� � Rogovin insisted. But Rogovin acknowledged that Silberman was a friend from the Ford administration where both men had worked on intelligence issues, Rogovin from the CIA and Silberman at the Justice Department. Later, Rogovin and Silberman became next-door neighbors and bought a boat together.
In a normal investigation, such coincidences would strain credulity, especially given Lavi's claim that he took part in a meeting with Republicans at the L'Enfant Plaza on Oct. 2, the same day that he talked with a CIA representative. Lavi also claimed that Silberman had arranged the meeting, which would make sense given Rogovin's personal ties to Silberman.
However, as on a host of other compelling leads, the House Task Force chose to look the other way.
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