Essay about iran contra scandal

After World War II, only two world superpowers remained: the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The contradictory political regimes of the democratic United States and the communist Soviet Union were believed to be mutually exclusive which increased bitterness between them. Inevitably, the apparent tension between the two superpowers led to the Cold War which lasted about 45 years. It was war without bloodshed or battle, instead it was a metaphorical war where the U.S and the Soviet Union increased their weapons and fought for political influence, one always wanting to excel or maintain within the range of the other. The United States’ desperate need to contain the communist political ideology from spreading any further and meet the Soviet Union’s increased development of nuclear weapons led to the their involvement in the Cold War. The impact the Cold War had on life during the 1950’s and 1960’s can be measured through the creation of the House Un-American

DBQ Outline Intro Paragraph · Background/Context: The Cold War was a state of political tension after World War II between the Eastern bloc countries and Western bloc countries. Cold War took a significant place in between 1947 to 1991 which the two most powerful countries, United States of America and Soviet Union, were competing with each other over spreading the rule and showing off their arms without killing people. After the World War II, people in different countries started to think about who bears more responsibility for starting the Cold War, United States or USSR. · Three-point thesis: The United States of America bears more responsibility for starting the Cold War because it built up military powers and prepared for

The tension between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War allowed for both nations to exhibit questionable actions around the globe. The Iran-Contra Affair was one event that occurred under Reagan’s Administration that exemplified the trans-national impacts the Cold War was having around the world. The Affair is a combination of the United States’ actions within the countries of Nicaragua and Iran. However, the United States’ involvements were both ethically questionable as well as the motives of the Cold War. Although the actions in Nicaragua and Iran were separate actions, they showed how the government was involved in questionable activity around the globe while in the full-swing of the Cold War. The Iran Contra

To fully understand Iran-Contra, you must know the history behind it. Draper explains to us that the Iranian Revolution of 1978-1979 brought the

The forty-five years from the dropping of the atom bombs to the end of the Soviet Union, can be seen as the era of the new conflict between two major states: United States of America (USA) and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). According to Hobsbawm, ‘cold war’ was the constant confrontation of the two super powers which emerged from the Second World War. At that time the entire generation was under constant fear of global nuclear battles. It was widely believed that it could break out at any moment. (Hobsbawm, 1994) The consequences of the ‘power vacuum’ in central Europe, created by the defeat of Germany, gave rise to these two super powers (Dunbabin, 1994). The world was divided into

The Iran-contra scandal of the 1980’s, first brought to light in November 1986, is a complicated mess of scandal, arms dealings, hostage deals, and illegal acts (“Iran-Contra Affair” Infoplease.com). The original purpose of the arms sales was to improve United States-Iran relations (Sanders SNU.edu). However, when American hostages were taken throughout the 1980’s, members of President Reagan’s staff negotiated implicit deals with Iranian groups, which resulted in the U.S. selling arms in return for the release of hostages (Wolf PBS.org). Later, the deal was modified so that the U.S. sold arms directly to Iran at a high markup, with no guarantee of hostages being released, and the markup funding the contras in Nicaragua (“The

Upon taking office in 1980, Reagan issued a massive build up of the American military, and generally adapted a more confrontational policy towards the Soviet Union (which he referred to as an "evil Empire" in a 1983 speech) than had been adapted by his predecessors in the White House. This policy is ultimately credited with helping speed the economic collapse and opening of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, which ultimately led to the breakup of the former USSR under the first President Bush. However, Reagan's policy included provisions for providing covert support for anti-Communist resistance activities around the world, including giving weapons and arms to Mujaheddin guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan, some of whom led Afghan and Taliban resistance to the US invasion of Afghanistan a two decades later in the 2000s. Perhaps the biggest scandal of Reagan's presidency also resulted from this policy, as the CIA violated American law by selling guns and weapons to Iran to fund the "Contra" rebels in Nicaragua, an episode that became known as the Iran-Contra scandal.

Where he was later accused of condoning a radical leader identified as Rios Montt and death units affiliated with the Salvadoran military that was subsidized by the U.S. government. But with those accusations, Reagan put a lot of energy into overthrowing the government in Nicaragua that almost ended Reagan's presidency. Thus resulting in the U.S. Senate cutting Reagan's ties to his surrogate army in Central America. Which this ended with The White House running the war from the basement of The White House and funded the operation by paying for some of it with prohibited arms sales to Iran that triggered the Iran-Contra Affair. These complications ended in Reagan evading prosecution by his affiliates saying he had no knowledge of the affair.

So we have a proverbial arm wrestling match between the west and communism. Everything reaches its tipping point in two unsuspecting places. Fueled by a relentless group of U.S. Officials and what some have labeled as an “obsessed” Ronald Reagan, the Iran Contra became a pivotal point in U.S. history and wrote the book on covert foreign policy.

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.

Also, Oliver North was ordered to teach the Contras military tactics and raised money for them. As Reagan and his private officials went about on doing this secretly, publicity had a way to find what was going on. Congress was lied to as a cover up by Reagan so they would not intervene. After his reelection, Reagan supported another covert program: an attempt to release hostages in Lebanon. This would soon turn into the Iran-Contra Affair. In 1984 a Shiite Islamic group that was loyal to Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini had captured and held seven Americans hostage in Lebanon. The President was very much concerned for the Americans’ well being. An Israeli foreign minister, David Kimche, insisted that since Iran and Iraq were at war with each other, Iran would need more weapons, and because Israel would also gain monetary benefits, they could help with persuasion to release the officials. All the U.S. needed to do was to approve a small shipment of armaments to Iran. Reagan then agreed to this deal, to sell arms to Iran through Israel, which would induce the kidnappers in releasing the hostages. Even though Reagan stated before that “America will never make concessions to terrorists,” the transferring of arms violated that statement and the Arms Export Control Act since congress was not informed and didn’t give consent. The secret request, hidden from congress would not only help free the hostages, but also

The Iran-contra affair was a secret arrangement to provide funds to the Nicaraguan contra rebels from profits generated from selling weapons to Iran. It was meant to have a twofold effect, the main one was to aid the contras who were conducting a guerrilla war against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. The second was to placate "moderates" within the Iranian government in order to secure the release of American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon and to influence Iranian foreign policy in a pro-Western direction.

President Reagan was leading the Nation when it all happened. The scandal left many talking, not only the American people, but also other Nations worldwide. People were disappointed, other relieved, and well the sadistic ones thrilled. It might have been years ago, but the scandal is still fresh in some other people’s mind, especially the human activists in the USA who do not forget, but hold onto government scandal waiting for the right time to strike. Iran-Contra affair was one of the biggest American political scandals the country has ever experienced.

The “Cold War” was a unique time period were paranoia ran high and the world was at a stalemate as it watch the competition between the two world superpowers,(U.S. and the U.S.S.R.).

The Cold War was the most important historic event in the 20th century after the Second World War, from 1945 till 1991 between two most powerful countries in that period – Soviet Union and USA. The Cold War invested a lot in world politics. What is the Cold War? This was a war for dominance in the world. In 1945 the USA was the only one country in the world that had the nuclear weapons. But in the 1949 USSR started to learn their nuclear weapons. In further developments forced the USSR was soon created by nuclear, and then thermonuclear weapons. (Isaacs J, 2008) Fight has become very dangerous for all.