Iran-Contra

 Reagan administration- wanted to eradicate the world of Communism  Reagan Doctrine- CIA trained and assisted anti-Communist insurgencies worldwide

Who were the Contras?  “freedom fighters” who were working to overthrow the democratically elected Sandinista government of Nicaragua

 Reagan felt the Contras were “the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers”

 Reagan wanted to help them- told National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane “I want you to do whatever you have to do to help these people keep body and soul together.”

 Democratic sweep of Congress  passed the Boland Amendment

Boland Amendment  Restricted CIA and Department of Defense operations in Nicaragua specifically

1985  Iran and Iraq were at war  Iran- secret request to buy weapons from U.S.  McFarlane needed Reagan’s approval  Embargo against selling arms to Iran

 Reagan- upset there were 7 American hostages being held in Lebanon by Iranian terrorists  Reagan felt “he had a duty to bring those Americans home.”

 Shipping arms would violate embargo to Iran  Dealing with terrorists would violate Reagan’s campaign promise  Arms-for-hostages proposal divided the administration

 Secretary of State George Schultz and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger objected to the plan but (MacFarlane testified) Reagan agree to it

 July U.S. would send 508 American made TOW anti-tank missiles from Israel to Iran for the safe exchange of a hostage- Reverend Benjamin Weir

 After that successful transfer- Israelis offered to ship 500 HAWK surface to air missiles to Iran in Nov 1985, in exchange for the release of all remaining American hostages being held in Lebanon

 February TOW missiles were shipped to Iran. From May to Nov there were more shipments of various weapons and parts

 Hezbollah terrorists who had kidnapped the original hostages planned to kidnap more hostages following the release of the previous ones- which made any further dealings with Iran meaningless

Lebanese newspaper ”Al-Shiraa”  November 1986  Confirmed reports the United States secretly sold arms to Iran

 Reagan went on TV and denied any operation had occurred  Went on TV a week later and said sale of weapons had not been an arms-for-hostages deal

 14% of Americans believed Reagan when he said he had not traded arms for hostages

 Found that $12 million of $30 million Iranians had paid had reached our government  Where was the rest of the money? Funding the Contras

 This directly violated the Boland Amendment

 Oliver (Ollie) North (U.S. Marine Lt. Col) proposed the plan to funnel arms money to the Contras  National Security Council

 Secretary Fawn Hall- helped funnel shredded documents out for North  Testified after given immunity about role in scandal

 November 18, Congress issued a report on the affair that stated the president bore “ultimate responsibility.”

 Hearings about the scandal were televised from May to August 1987  Found that National Security Advisor Poindexter had personally authorized the diversion of money to the Contra rebels

 Poindexter was withholding information from President Reagan  CIA’s William J. Casey played a part in conspiracy, but he died during hearings

 North had been a military aide to the National Security Council- he had been the main negotiator  During his hearings he repeatedly explained he was “under orders from his superiors”

 In the end- President was not charged with any offense  North was convicted on 3 of 12 criminal counts, but convictions were set aside on appeal

 Convicted of obstructing Congress, unlawfully destroying government documents  Conviction was expunged on grounds he had acted strictly out of patriotism

 Poindexter convicted in April 1990 on five counts of deceiving Congress and sentenced to six months in prison  Weinberger convicted of five counts of deceiving Congress  Convictions overturned

 All were pardoned by George H. W. Bush- Christmas Eve 1992

 When Reagan left office- had highest approval rating of any president since Franklin Roosevelt