CROSSING THE LINE: IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR
Writing Assignment 2
Chris Benjamin 4513163
HIST102 B025 Fall 14
Marc Wenner
American Psychological Association
November 16 2014
American Military University

Introduction One of the most famous scandals of American history is the Iran-Contra Affair, which took place in 1985, during the Reagan administration. Shortly after taking office, President Reagan found himself facing difficult decisions, as many presidents have done so before and after him. Foreign policy is at the top of every presidents list during their term in office; Reagan’s foreign policy was to achieve “peace through strength”. This policy was put to the test when U.S. government officials became threatened of national security relations with two seemingly unrelated counties Iran and Nicaragua. Tension rose when radical Islamic movement overthrew U.S. backed Iran government in 1979. The U.S. tried bolstering relation with Iran by selling weapons to them, in turn the administration felt with the backing of Iran they could negotiate the release of seven American hostages being held by Iranian terrorists in Lebanon. On the other side of the world was Nicaragua which the U.S. has shown interest since the 20th century, due to the region’s close proximity to America. Relations with Nicaragua, falter after the Nicaragua government was toppled by a revolutionary government, the Sandinista Liberation Front. Tensions worsen, when Sandinistas sought relationship ties with Cuba and the Soviet Union. Reagan and his administration pushed political power to the brink by using profits from weapons sold to Iran to fund Contra militants to topple the Sandinista government. The action conducted by the Reagan administration was in direct violation of prohibited foreign policy that Congress enacted against these two countries.

The Iran-Contra Affair was a scandal that took place during the Reagan administration in 80’s. Though the actions of the administration was nothing new for American politics when dealing with foreign affairs, what made it a scandal was the deception our leaders displayed during the events that lead up to the Iran-Contra Affair. To better understand Iran-Contra Affair, first you must know the history behind it. After World War II the U.S. and the Soviet Union emerged as the world’s two main superpowers, both countries seeking capitalism and communism dominance over smaller countries such as Iran and other Middle East countries. The U.S. and Soviet Union struggled for control in the Middle East, more than any other region due to its close proximity to Europe and Russia. The U.S. successfully positioned itself as an ally to Iran who was governed at the time by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, a pro-Western. Iran’s president governed from 1953 through 1979, during his time in power, he sought to modernize the country and polish its international image. ("Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs - The Iran-Contra Affairs," n.d.) As his relationship with the U.S. strengthened, opposition within Iran grew unsatisfied with his leadership. In 1978, Iran broke out in riots and demonstration protesting Shah’s lack of religious values and his relationship with the U.S. As pressure grew for Shah to step down, he lost much of his control over the country, and support from the U.S. diminished, shortly after Shah left Iran in 1979. ("Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs - The Iran-Contra Affairs," n.d.) Iran declared itself an Islamic Republic by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who was previously exiled by Shah. Under Ayatollah, Iran who was once America’s most powerful ally, changed views, and became openly anti-American. Relationships between the two countries continued to spiral downward; the U.S.’s last draw with Iran was the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979 by a religious fundamentalist group called The Muslim Followers of the Line of the Imam. As hostages continued to be a central part of Iran’s fundamentalist groups, the U.S. had no choice but to end relations with Iran and place an embargo on the new government. The U.S. State Department enacted Operation Staunch, an embargo to stop the flow of U.S. arms to Iran. On the other side of this scandal is Nicaragua, a country the U.S. has had long interest in due to the region’s close proximity to America. Numerous polices have been emplaced in an attempt to ensure the regions protection, and the U.S. national security. As early as 1823, the Monroe Doctrine was established stating the U.S. would prevent European intervention in Latin America, Theodore Roosevelt also established the Roosevelt Corollary adding on to the Monroe Doctrine asserted the right to intervene militarily in Latin America. (Henretta, 2012, p.934) From 1912 to 1932 the U.S. intervened in Nicaragua politics, even sending marines to suppress rebellion, forcing presidents to resign, and even trained Nicaragua’s National Guard. ("Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs - The Iran-Contra Affairs," n.d.) In the 1932 during Nicaragua election, Juan Sacasa became president, but his predecessor Jose Moncada appointed one of his Liberation rebels Anastasio Somoza Garcíato as head of the National Guard, the same force which the U.S. trained, equipped and also backing Moncada choice. Later, in 1933 the Good Neighbor Policy under Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the U.S. would no longer intervene in Latin America (with certain exceptions) and would recognize governments in the region regardless of their form. ("Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs - The Iran-Contra Affairs," n.d.) This action would play a vital role as Somoza’s seized power in 1936, and began his 43 year dictatorial rule over Nicaragua only later to be succeeded by his son Anastasio Somoza Debayle. A new socialist formed in 1974 called Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSNL) staging kidnappings of Nicaragua elites. Somoza responded by declaring a state siege and crackdown on guerrillas and peasants using serious human rights violation in the process. After countless acts of human rights violation, in 1979 the U.S. along with other Latin America countries ended Somoza’s regime, and sought to moderate the new Nicaragua government. With support from Costa Rica, Venezuela, Panama and Cuba, the Sandinistas seized power of Nicaragua. After gaining control the Sandinistas quickly began to form ties with the Soviet Union and Cuba, this being the worst fear possibly the U.S. under the Carter Administration began sending aid to the new regime in hopes of forming a better allies. Regardless, the Sandinistas aligned themselves with the Soviet’s and Cuba, with their help Sandinistas began sending weapons to leftist rebels in El Salvador for reason of ideology and affinity. ("Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs - The Iran-Contra Affairs," n.d.) The actions that lead up to the Iran-Contra Affair scandal still to this day are unclear. What is known is how these two seemingly unrelated counties Iran and Nicaragua, came to center of attention during the Reagan administration. Iran found themselves in a dispute over territorial and ethnic conflicts, which landed Iran in a war with Iraq. Iran in much need of weapons turned toward the U.S. for supplies, but frustrated with Iran’s government over the hostage crisis in Tehran the State Department created Operation Staunch, which placed an embargo on the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1983. While talks of weapons were quickly coming to an end in Iran, across the ocean, various rebel groups began to form in opposition of Sandinista. Many of the rebel leaders were former exiles, two of the leader were Jose Francisco Cardenal, a former president of the Chamber of Construction, and Enrique Bermudez a former colonel in the National Guard. With these too spearheading the rebels, they would form the group Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) or commonly called Contras. Reagan had seen the Contras as “freedom fighters” and worried Sandinistas with the backing of Cuba, and Soviet Union threatened U.S. interests, so Reagan ordered the CIA to assist in funding and supplying the Contras. In 1981 CIA official met with Honduran military official, Argentine adviser and FDN leadership to discuss support operation. As word of Reagan’s support began to spread, Congress condemned the policy, arguing that it was immoral and illegal; in fact Reagan never received Congressional approval. Such power is exactly what the Constitution was design for, limiting president and executive branch powers. In 1982 and 1984 the Boland Amendment was enacted in aims to limit U.S. government assistance to the Contras for the purpose to overthrow the Nicaraguan government, but allowed assistance for other purposes, such a humanitarian aid. With Iran and Iraq in an all out war, the U.S. saw an opportunity to not only mend relations with Iran but to also secure hostages being held by Hezbollah in Lebanon. Through third-party negotiation the National Security Council (NSC) adviser Robert McFarlane began discussions with Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian business man and Adnan Khashoggi, an arm broker, with help of Israel as the third-party. A deal was stuck to sell weapons to Iran through Israel. As back channel deals were being made behind closed doors, Reagan’s stance on terrorists as stated in his address to the nation on July 1, 1985 was “The United States gives terrorists no reward. We make no concessions, we make no deals”, he words would plague him and his administration, as the scandal is exposed. ("Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs - The Iran-Contra Affairs," n.d.) It is not clear on Reagan’s knowledge on the Iran weapons deal, McFarlane stated to investigators that he had received approval from Reagan in August 1985 while Reagan was recovering in the hospital from abdominal surgery. The approval would allow the sale of 100 American made TOW antitank missiles and replacement TOW missiles from Israel. Both Reagan and McFarlane accounts of the hospital meet are very different. What is known is the sale did happen, and no hostages were released as agreed, it was said there was a mix-up about when the hostages would be released. Nevertheless, Reagan signed off on a second shipment. This time 400 TWO missiles were shipped to Iran, and only one hostage was released. McFarlane looking to figure out the logistics of the deal brought in Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North to take charge of the Iran weapons deal, shortly after McFarlane stepped down in 1985 and was replaced by Admiral Poindexter. North who also just happened to be the principal action officer for NSC’s Contra dealings, proposed a new plan that would sell directly to Iran and also using proceeds to support Nicaragua’s Contras. According to Poindexter he authorized North’s plan without approval from Reagan. ("Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs - The Iran-Contra Affairs," n.d.) Whatever the case maybe, the deal would violate the Boland Amendment without receiving Congressional approval. Over a two year period, under Poindexter and North’s oversight more than 5,000 weapons were sold to Iran. Proceeds from the sale of the weapons grossed over 30 million dollars, more than half of the proceeds being diverted to Swiss bank accounts meant for Nicaragua’s Contras. During the hearing, Poindexter the chief adviser of NSC testified that “the buck stops here”, stating Reagan knew nothing about the dispersion plan of funds being diverted to the Contras. ("Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs - The Iran-Contra Affairs," n.d.) Either Poindexter was playing the escape goat, or Reagan as president of the United States, had no clue what his administration was doing. That would be hard to believe due to the fact that Poindexter and North were both Military and in the Military, orders must be given before actions are taken. It all ended when two Lebanese newspapers broke the story of the Iran deal on November 3, 1986. Though Reagan admitted to knowing about the Iran deal, in which he explained was to secure the release of American hostages, he holds that he knew nothing of the funds being sent to the Contra. Our system of government, which was emplaced for many of these reasons, are to limit power to just one person. The left hand must always know what the right hand is doing and both agree on the matter. Though the Iran deal did not break any amendments, because the embargo was lifted prior to the weapons deal, the Boland Amendment had still been in place at the time of the incident. The things that had hurt Reagan were his speeches and stance on terrorism; also that he had no idea about the Contra affair. In the aftermath 14 people were charged during the investigation, four convicted of felony charges, seven pleaded guilty to either felonies or misdemeanors and one case was dropped due to classified information which the administration refused to declassify. The ring leaders so to speak, McFarlane who started the deal with Iran pleaded guilty to 4 misdemeanor counts, sentenced to 2 years probation, $20,000 fine and 200 hours of community service. He was later pardoned by President Bush who was Vice President at the time of the Affair. McFarlane’s replacement, Poindexter who was the so called buck stops here, and stated he gave the go head to defer funds to the Contras, was found guilty of 4 felony counts, given 6 months in prison for each count, his conviction was dismissed later during court of appeals. North, the person who planned the Iran-Contra affair was convicted of 3 charges to include accepting a gratuity, aiding in the obstruction of Congress and destroying document, he was sentenced to a suspended 3 years in prison, 2 year probation, fined $150,000 and 1,200 hours of community service, all of which was dismissed during a court of appeals. One thing about a cover-up, all the players involved, must know how to keep quiet, and the only way to keep someone quiet is to ensure they will never see the inside of a jail cell. After taking office Bush pardoned six defendants in the Iran-Contra Affair. Bush later stated that the common denominator of their motivation whether their actions were right or wrong was patriotism. Our Fore Fathers were Patriots, the same people who wrote and signed our Constitution, one would think they felt as the lead investigator did in his statement after the Iran-Contra defendants all received pardons or dismissals, “that no man is above the law”, Patriot or not.

References

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The Iran-Contra Affair . Reagan . WGBH American Experience | PBS. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/reagan-iran/
Oliver North starts feeding documents into the shredding machine — History.com This Day in History — 11/21/1986. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/oliver-north-starts-feeding-documents-into-the-shredding-machine
Ronald Reagan | The White House. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/ronaldreagan
Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs - The Iran-Contra Affairs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/iran-contra-affairs.php