Disinformation fuels a feud
If true, the story was a shocker. Last July the leftist but respected Beirut newspaper As Safir printed what it claimed was a transcript of a conversation between U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Saudi Defense Minister Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz in Paris on May 12, 1983. Weinberger was quoted as saying that he had not informed President Reagan about a Saudi request for 20 F-15 fighters because "it would be leaked to Congress and the press," thus jeopardizing the deal. According to the transcript, Weinberger generously offered his...