the iran-contra affair
...any further US financial or military assistance to the Contras in legislation titled the Boland amendment. (“Iran-Contra Affair”) This is where the deception started. The Reagan administration knew that if their aid to the Contras stopped, it would mean the end of the Contras. Reagan called together a small planning staff to “keep the Contras together, body and soul” regardless of the legislation. Detailed to the NSC from the marines, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was given the responsibility to establish a secret network to arm the Contras. Dozens of former CIA and retired military personnel were recruited to train the Contras and fly weapons into Central America. At first, American capitalists supplied much of the financing, but as the operation became more complex, money came from American allies who saw this as a “gesture to build goodwill in Washington” (Walsh 47). This aid provided a steadily growing death toll in Nicaragua. It is estimated that 20,000 Nicaraguan men, women and children were killed in these attacks. (“1986…”) These attacks’ purposes were to terrorize the people and destroy the country’s economics. I believe the Reagan administration was wrong in doing this, even though they had good intention to stop communism. They only brought unnecessary blood shed. Arms for Hostages The Iranian end of the affair started with a series of clashes between the Islamic regime and the US, which lead to the capture of the American Embassy and hostages in Teheran. After “a long and bloody stalemate”(Walsh 311), the Reagan administration backed by National Security Advisor McFarlene decided to trade arms for hostages. But, the catch in the plan was that the same NSC operatives – McFarlene, PoinDexter, and Lt. Col. Oliver North – had the responsibilities of both the Iran dealings and the ongoing shipment to the Contras. They decided to overcharge the Iranians in order to provide funds to the Contras. 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”) The lies in Iran-Contra kept getting deeper and deeper, and Reagan and his administration refused to give up their fight. But, they would never be able to keep such an intricate web of lies from being exposed. They had already been in direct violation of the Boland amendment, which prohibited aid to Nicaraguan rightists. As word leaked out about North’s role in the operation, North and others lied under oath, adding perjury and obstruction of justice to their other crimes. Exposure In Firewall, Walsh explains to us the exposure of Iran-Contra that came in the fall of 1986. In early October, Sandinista air defense troops shoot down the C-130 used in supplying the Contras. Former CIA operative Eugene Hasenfus, a cargo handler on-board, was captured and paraded before television cameras. Three weeks later, a Lebanese newspaper reported the visit of North and McFarlene to Teheran. This was not only exposure to Iran-Contra, but it also showed the Reagan Administration breaking the policy of never negotiating with terrorists and kidnappers. The Reagan administration decided to cover-up Iran-Contra. Attorney General Edwin Meese went on television to announce that he uncovered the diversion of the funds from the arms sales. Oliver North was fired, and Poindexter was forced to resign. “The focus of the diversion of funds was an exercise in misdirection: a ‘diversion’ in more than one sense.” (Walsh 369) The emphasis of Oliver North’s transfer of a few million dollars from one secret operation diverted the attention from the far more important side of Iran-Contra: the use of the funds to arm Contra forces that created a bloodbath in Nicaragua. Not only was this a diversion from the important side of Iran-Contra, but it also placed the blame on North and Poindexter instead of the whole group of those were involved. An Ending to Iran-Contra Investigations were launched focusing on the diversion of funds. Reagan and his administration clamed they knew n...