Nation's Lawmakers Demand More Facts

WASHINGTON--President Reagan vowed yesterday not to let the Iran arms crisis cripple his administration, as the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee angrily accused Reagan's former national security aides of "deserting the country" by refusing to testify about the affair.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan, went on the offensive in a variety of forums, strongly urging the former White House aides to divulge all they know so the Reagan administration won't be paralyzed for months to come.

The White House confirmed, meanwhile, that Reagan met privately last week with two prominent elder statesmen that former aide Michael K. Deaver is said to have recruited in a campaign for the ouster of White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan '40.

Presidential spokesman Larry Speakes said Deaver arranged the meeting in the White House family quarters Dec. 4 between Reagan and his wife, Nancy, and former Democratic National Committee chairman Robert S. Strauss and former Secretary of State William P. Rogers, to discuss the widening crisis.

Reagan reiterated yesterday that "no doubt mistakes were made" in carrying out his decision to secretly sell arms to Iran, and said he would not be satisfied "until all the facts are before the American people."

But, discussing his forthcoming domestic initiatives with a group of newly elected state legislators at the White House, Reagan declared: "We cannot, and we will not, let this stop us from getting on with the business of governing."

It was the refusal to testify by a third White House national security aide, Marine Lt. Col. Robert Earl, that prompted Sen. David Durenberger, R-Minn., Intelligence Committee chairman, to charge that the three military men, praised as "national heroes" by their supporters, weren't heroes in his book.

"If they're such heroes, then why are they deserting the country when put to the true test?" Durenberger asked.

"Somebody is going to have to define what a national hero is," he added. "A national hero doesn't come in here and stiff the whole country."

Before Earl, former national security adviser, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, and Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, had cited their Fifth Amendment rights in refusing to testify. Poindexter resigned on Nov. 25, and North, a NSC staff deputy, was fired the same day.

Durenberger made clear that he did not think their refusal to testify was any reflection on Reagan's pledge to cooperate fully in any investigations. "I think this is a personal decision on the part of an admiral and two Marine officers," he said.

Durenberger said Earl claimed that his one-week notice to testify was insufficient, but "I don't buy it. ... We've had plenty of witnesses who've had less than a full week to prepare."

The Senate panel also was unsuccessful in efforts to question another witness, Howard Teicher, senior director of the National Security Council for political-military affairs, who claimed he needed more time to find a private attorney. Teicher's testimony was delayed until Tuesday.

In other developments:

.The two key Middle East middlemen in the arms deal, Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi and Iranian representative Manucher Ghorbanifar, said on ABC-TV's "20-20" program that North apparently controlled Swiss bank accounts through which up to $35 million was deposited in the secret Iran weapons transactions that he coordinated.

.At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, Secretary of State George Shultz said Reagan's approach to the Iran crisis was "basically, let's get all the facts out as rapidly as possible." Shultz said he did not believe the refusal of Poindexter and North to testify would hinder congressional investigations of the Iran arms deal and diversion of profits to Nicaraguan insurgents.

"I think that as things move along, it won't place too much of a blockage in the getting out of information," said Shultz, who said he himself wanted to "see the facts of the matter out on the table."