1 To avoid identifying several Latin American government officials as working for the Central Intelligence Agency, the Reagan administration withheld certain documents from the trial of Lt. Col. Oliver North, The Miami Herald reported today.
2 Quoting unidentified sources close to the Iran-Contra inquiry, the newspaper says the administration feared that any discussion of the documents in court might disrupt U.S. intelligence in several countries.
3 One source said some of the withheld documents were declassified during congressional investigations of the Iran-Contra affair, but were later reclassified in an effort to limit discussion of the incidents they describe, the Herald said.
4 Special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh asked that the two major charges against North be dismissed after the Reagan administration refused to allow certain documents to be used in North's trial.
5 U.S. District Judge Gerhard Gesell is expected to act on Walsh's request this week.
6 The newspaper said some of its sources are closely tied to North's defense team while others either worked closely with North in the past or participated in the 1987 congressional investigation into the Iran-Contra affair.
7 One of the sources is a senior administration official who advises the State Department and the White House on Central American security policy, the newspaper said.
8 Countries listed in the documents, the sources said, include Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Venezuela where -- respectively -- North's resupply network aiding the Nicaraguan Contra rebels built an airstrip, controlled part of an air base and attempted to buy military aircraft.
9 North's activities in these countries were central to Walsh's legal strategy to show that the former National Security Council aide conspired to defraud the United States and steal government property by using the profits from arms sales to Iran to purchase supplies for the Contras.
10 Those are the charges Walsh says he must withdraw.
11 In each case, the sources said, Walsh has documentary evidence, including invoices, receipts and other legal papers, showing transactions involving Iran arms sales profits and Contra supplies.

Special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh asked that the two major charges against North be dismissed after the Reagan administration refused to allow certain documents to be used in North ' s trial .
Lawrence Walsh
what are his credentials?