Armitage v Abrams clarification

[suegeo]

Earlier today, on a thread that is now locked due to its size, I said that Armitage had lied while under oath while testifying before Congress re: Iran-Contra. Here is the thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1271150

I went back and checked my notes and found that I had confused Mr. Dick Armitage with Mr Elliott Abrams. So in the earlier post, I was incorrect, and wanted to clarify this, in case somebody trying to educate themselves had stumbled on my bad info.

Here is the information about Abrams that I recalled, and falsely tied to Armitage:


ELLIOTT ABRAMS
A former assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, Abrams was hired by Bush last year as special White House assistant for democracy and human rights. Abrams pleaded guilty to withholding Iran-Contra information from Congress and was among six Iran-Contra figures pardoned on Dec. 24, 1992 by the first President Bush.
From Iran Contra Alumni in Bush Gov’t by the Associated Press, Wed. March 13, 02


Here’s just one exchange Abrams had with the Senate Select Committee that investigated Iran-Contra:

…in the aftermath of Attorney General Edwin Meese's press conference on November 25, 1986, prompted by the unraveling of the Iran arms- for-hostages initiative, did Congress actively scrutinize the testimony of u.s. officials regarding the Contras.

Elliott Abrams provided the first opportunity. As Meese was revealing the diversion to the American public, Assistant Secretary of State Abrams was testifying before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about the State Department's knowledge of Contra funding sources. He was asked by Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey whether he had ever discussed Contra fund-raising problems with members of the NSC staff.

'We're not-you know, we're not in the fundraising business," Abrams replied, even though he personally had solicited funds from Brunei. 'We don't engage-I mean the State Department's function in this has not been to raise money, other than to try to raise it from Congress.""

After the Los Angeles Times story revealed his Brunei contacts, Abrams returned to the Senate intelligence committee on December 8, still insisting, under oath, that "I have never lied to this committee." An irate Senator Thomas Eagleton reminded Abrams of his earlier testimony:
EAGLETON:'We're not, you know, we're not in the fundraising business." No one intimidated that out of you. That was your answer. You're not in the fundraising business. Today I asked were you at any time in the fundraising business.
ABRAMS: We made one solicitation to a foreign government.
EAGLETON: Were you then in the fundraising business?
ABRAMS: I would say we were in the fundraising business. I take your point.
EAGLETON: Take my point? Under oath, my friend, that's perjury. Had you been under oath, that's perjury.
ABRAMS: Well, I don't agree with that, Senator.
EAGLET0N:That's slammer time.

Abrams objected. "You've heard my testimony," he told Senator Eagleton.

"I've heard it," Eagleton: replied, "and I want to puke."

The Iran Contra Scandal: The Declassified History, Peter Kornbluh and Malcolm Byrne eds, copyright 1993, the National Security Archive, ISBN 1-56584-047-X, pgs. 190-191