Shultz Contrasts Iran Handling and Watergate

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said today he told U.S. allies that the Iran- contra scandal is “an absolutely total contrast” to the Watergate affair that drove Richard M. Nixon from office.

“In this case there is the desire on the President’s part to see that everything comes out, is dealt with and we go about our business,” Shultz told reporters.

Shultz said he broached the subject of the unfolding affair during his London meetings Tuesday with foreign ministers from Britain, West Germany and France.

“I brought it up,” said Shultz, who served in the Nixon Cabinet at the height of the Watergate scandal.

‘Going About Business’

“I just said, ‘I imagine you’re concerned about this and let me tell you what the President’s doing and it’s an absolutely total contrast with Watergate, where the problem was a reluctance to let facts out,’ ” Shultz said.

“I told them what we’re doing was getting the facts out and in the meantime we were going about our business,” he said. “I am, the President is and all of us are working very hard on the many opportunities and problems that we have to work on in the foreign policy area.”

As Treasury secretary in the Nixon Administration, Shultz balked at allowing the Internal Revenue Service to be used to harass Nixon’s political enemies and approved an audit of Nixon’s own tax returns.