Iran-Contra Scandal

The Iran Contra affair is historically defined as the “Reagan administration scandal that involved the sale of arms to Iran in exchange for its efforts to secure the release of hostages in Lebanon and the redirection of the proceeds of those sales to the Nicaraguan Contras.” As the Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries, known as the Contras, began their efforts to retaliate against the Socialist Sandinista Regime, American government forces stepped in to support the Contra cause in a hope to support the world-wide elimination of Communism. To understand the entire history of the scandal, many individuals, groups, policies, and deals must be researched and put together to tell the complete history of the Iran Contra affair.

Also, the growing presence of the Soviets and Cuba in Nicaragua escalated the cold war and in order to ‘draw the line” the Reagan administration “doubled economic aid for El Salvador to a hundred and forty four million dollars” (pg 40). According to Danner, “the priorities of American Policy in El Salvador had become unmistakable” (pg 41).Second, The American government was “opposed to dispatching American combat forces to Central America” (pg 22) and in order to prevent another Nicaragua, Congress agreed to “reform” the Salvadoran Army by financing, training and arming its troops to fight the FMLN. As Danner notes, “the Americans had stepped forward to fund the war, but were unwilling to fight it”. Third, the Monterrosa led Atlacatl led batallion through American funding descended in El Mozote with “the latest M-16’s, M-60 machines guns, 90 millimeter recoilless rifles, and 60- and 81 millimeter mortars”(pg 39) and with a list of names massacred an entire village because “communism was cancer”(pg 49). The U.S. government was clearly responsible for the Massacre at El Mozote because without the funding, supporting, and training of El Salvador troops the war would have been tilted in the guerillas favor as they had managed to hold the disorganized army in certain areas. In contrast to neighboring departments El Mozote and its inhabitants of born-again Christians did not fit in as guerilla sympathizers. In fact, the training at American hands

This made it almost inevitable that something would go wrong, and it did. The arms deal was soon found out and it was made the center of media attention. Ignoring this warning, McFarlene and North traveled to Teheran personally to deliver missiles and talk to Iranian officials. North even brought Iranians into the White House secretly at night to discuss the situation. ("Iran-Contra")

United States foreign policy, since the Cold War, has been driven by ideology: good versus evil, capitalism versus communism, and democracy versus totalitarianism. America’s foreign policy objective from 1945 to 1991 was to contain communism, prompting Cold War calculus – the enemy of your enemy is your friend. The United States, following Cold War calculus, allied with unscrupulous leaders opposed to communism, like the Somoza dynasty in Nicaragua, the Reza Shahs in Iran, the dictator Franco in Spain, and the elite in El Salvador. Reagan’s belief that the Soviet Union was the Evil Empire committed him to support the brutal military regime in El Salvador,

The highly controversial political scandal known as “Iran-Contra” that began in 1985 that involved Nicaragua, The United States, and Iran. The United States supported the Contras but why? The popular answer was to use this as a method to stop communism. However, the weapons for the Iranians were not funded by the government. Reagan could not put this affair in the spotlight of the public, step up to congress and ask for funds to support the

“25 years ago, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North did something really, really bad. He sold weapons to Iran in an effort to help fund rebels fighting Nicaragua’s Socialist government. It was a war that was already being funded by the small country’s cocaine trade, a fact that prompted Congress to halt the flow of money from the U.S. to Nicaragua.” (http://time.com/2954148/iran-contra/)

in 1985 that the U.S. might sell arms to Iran through Israel with the goal of releasing American hostages held in Lebanon by Iranian groups (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). The arms would be used to aid Iran in their ongoing war against Iraq (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). Robert McFarlane, a national security advisor who brought the suggestion to President Reagan, believed that the deal would improve U.S.-Iran relations, in addition to Lebanese relations, thus giving the U.S. needed influence in the Middle East (Wolf PBS.org). However, several advisors to Reagan questioned the legality of such an act, as both U.S. policy, prohibiting straight arms-for-hostage swaps, and the embargo on arms to Iran, the Arms Export Control Act, condemned that course of action. (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). Though his advisors Caspar Weinberger (Secretary of Defense) and George Shultz (Secretary of State) opposed the sales, President Reagan listened to McFarlane (National Security Advisor) and William Casey (CIA director) and went through with the plan, but Reagan never actually signed the plan or reported it to Congress, as required by law (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). Thus, Reagan could later claim that he had no knowledge of the arms sales, as it was never formalized. Control of this operation was given to the National Security Council, which was also conducting aid operations to the contras (“The Iran-Contra

However, in November of 1980, the voters of the United States elected President Ronald Reagan on a platform that promised the overthrow of the "Marxist Sandinistas of Nicaragua." And within a month of Reagan's taking office, counter-revolutionary forces, formed from the remnants of the Somozas' old National Guard were training in Florida in open violation of the Neutrality Act of 1789.

A brief background before the iran contra affair is set in reagan's presidency who supported a group an anti communist group in nicaragua and gave weapons to iranian terrorists but things were already brewing before this that led up to this point during reagan's presidency he was all for the people and believed in lower taxes and tried to make the economy better so that way we could get out of debt but the iran contra affair was us secret arms deal that traded missiles to free americans that were held hostage by terrorists in lebanon which was a political scandals but also had economic and social issues

According to Biography (2016), “Oliver North was the deputy director of the National Security Council appointed by President Ronald Regan.” He was involved in the Iran Contra Scandal through supplying military firearms to Iran in exchange for the United States Hostages that were being held in captivity, and the secret operations to financial fund the contras. He was indicted on the charges of illegal gratuity and destruction of documents, but he was granted immunity.

I. Foreign Policy Puzzle The Iran-Contra Affair in the 1980's not only caused a disruption in our nation, but also tarnished the name of President Ronald Reagan. The Iran-Contra Affair involved two parties, the Contras, a rebel group in Nicaragua fighting against their communist government, and Iran. The deal in Iran was a trade to help negotiate the retrieval of American hostages located in Lebanon. During this period of time, President Reagan approved the operation that involved the selling of missiles to Iran during an arms embargo (Hunter, 2012). It was also said by President Reagan that as a country we would not be rewarding terrorists by any means.

In the early 1900’s, the United States aimed to protect its interests in Central America, specifically Nicaragua. The United States sent in troops of Marines to help maintain order in Nicaragua due to civil unrest over a Presidential dispute. The United States was willing to send in the troops over a concern about Mexico gaining prestige in Nicaragua by backing Juan Bautista Sacasa, who was previously overthrown as Nicaragua’s President. Sacasa was trying to regain his status of President, though the United States supported Adolfo Diaz. Sacasa withdrew from trying to claim the presidency after he made an agreement with the U.S., though in 1932 he did finally become the President of Nicaragua through an election.

The Contra portion of the Iran-Contra affair began in Nicaragua where the United States continued to be involved in the matters of other countries. In 1979 the Sandinista socialist group was able to take power over the previous dictator Somoza Garcia. With this the US became nervous,

A solution to the Nicaraguan problem seemed more difficult to solve, Reagan wanted desperately to help the “contras” but was mandated by congress to stay out of the affair. His advisors secretly proposed a way to kill two birds with one stone, a decision that came to be referred to as Ronald Reagan’s black mark on his almost spotless record on foreign policy. The U.S would sale weapons to Iran in return for hostages taken by Muslim Jihadist in Lebanon, and with the money Iran paid those weapons with the U.S would direct that money to the contras fighting the Sandinistas. While the reasons for the trade were honorable and the president was following the American policy of communist containment at the time, it was still nonetheless illegal and badly battered Reagan’s reputation.

As the Sandinistas adjusted to their new position of power, they made decisions that put their own political agenda ahead of the welfare of Nicaraguan citizens. They controlled everything from menu prices to water to electricity. Sandinista policies angered the newly instituted Regan administration in Washington, and they were determined to overthrow them. The counter-revolution offered the perfect opportunity and the CIA agreed to secretly fund the contras (over $15 million between 1981-1982). Argentina, with its efficient and brutal military regime, was the perfect candidate. Along with Honduras, who agreed to let the contras build bases on their border and receive supplies for them, the three countries formed La Tripartita.