Ever since the fiasco first popped into the headlines in 1986, millions of Americans have awaited a full exposition of the Iran-contra affair. They whetted their palates with appetizers from the Tower commission and sat with rapt attention through 13 weeks of televised congressional hearings, confident they were experiencing only a first course of the full meal that would follow when special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh brought Lieut. Colonel Oliver North and three alleged co-conspirators to trial.
Last week the public learned that its appetite for a complete explanation of the affair -- and a judgment of who was at fault --...