Release Facts at Once, Gov. Babbitt Urges

President Reagan could and should get the Iranian arms scandal behind him “immediately” by finding out the facts personally and making them public, Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, a likely 1988 Democratic presidential contender, said Thursday.

During a breakfast session at The Times’ Washington Bureau, Babbitt said the Reagan Adminstration is suffering from a public perception that it is “stonewalling” on the Iranian affair. He added that “the imperative for the President right now” is to “root out the facts and present them to the public in 48 hours.”

“It’s inconceivable that the head of government in the Executive Branch can’t simply root out all of the facts, throw them on the table and say: ‘Here it is,’ ” Babbitt declared. “He (Reagan) would have it behind him immediately.”

Although the President said this week that he would seek appointment of an independent counsel to investigate whether there was criminal activity in the operation, in which U.S. arms were sold to Iran and some of the proceeds were channeled to Nicaraguan rebels, Babbitt said the public viewed this action as “hiding behind process.”

Advises Reagan to Act

Babbitt acknowledged that, in refusing to testify before a Senate committee on Fifth Amendment grounds, Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, the fired National Security Council staff member said to have directed the secret operation, and Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, Reagan’s national security adviser who resigned last week, might be trying to protect themselves.

But he said: “I think a leader with the sense to get this behind him would call North and Poindexter in, and say: ‘Lay it all out. Bear in mind that I have the power of clemency, (although) I’m not telling you how or whether I’m going to use it.’ ”

Babbitt, who has been governor of Arizona for eight years, said the current arms sales controversy reminded him of an experience of his own with a scandal involving his state’s health care program in 1983. “There was a grand jury investigation, a lot of chaos,” he said. “We stonewalled for about two days, and I finally called my press secretary and all my aides in, and I said: ‘Empty the file cabinets in public and talk. We’re going to get this thing laid out and get it behind us.’ ”

He said the public reaction, in effect, was: “Big deal, you made a mistake, you’re human. Let’s march on.’ ”

Babbitt said he expects that one result of the Iran-arms scandal will be that Congress will try to increase its control over foreign affairs. “I think there is going to be a move on in the Congress to say: ‘They made a mistake and we will now attempt to assert even more jurisdiction over the conduct of foreign affairs,’ ” he said.

But Babbitt said he believes it would be “a grave mistake” for Congress to “somehow assert jurisdiction over the National Security Council, or move to restrict the freedom of the Executive any further to conduct foreign policy.”