On February 2, 1987, "The Washington Post" printed an article from Shackley in which he countered allegations that he was involved in the arms for hostages deal. After detailing his encounter with Ghorbanifar in Hamburg and the nature of his reports to the State Department and Ledeen, he wrote: "When anyone asserts that my intervention on behalf of the hostages shows that I must also have participated in the transfer of weapons to Iran and, therefore, must have helped supply the contras with funds, material or arms, I can only gape in amazement and conclude that there are those who have studied logic from a different textbook than I did. To make it plain, I have never played a role in any aspect of the transaction that led to an exchange of weapons for hostages, nor have I been a participant in any activities on behalf of the contras." Shackley concluded his statement: "I was not a participant in the Iran weapons transfer; I was not in the past, nor am I now, involved in providing aid of any kind of the contras; and I completely endorse the position that no U.S. intelligence operation that is in violation of an act of Congress should be undertaken."