Iran Contra Scandal

The birth of the Iran Contra Scandal took place in 1980, when the Reagan-Bush campaign made a dubious pact with a group of politically influential Iranians, to delay release of the American embassy hostages until after the November 1980 election. This deal was made in return for future covert arms sales and as means to ensure that President Jimmy Carter's administration take blame for the delay and lose the forthcoming elections as a fallout. On 20th January, 1981 Reagan took over as the President of United States of America and the embassy hostages were released the same day.

The Deal
During Reagan's tenure, the Democratic-controlled Congress enacted a series of legislative amendments between 1982 to 1984, which came to known as the Boland Amendments, prohibiting the Defense Department, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or any other government agency from providing military aid to the right wing contra guerrillas in Nicaragua. The Contras were armed opponents of Nicaragua's then leftist ruling party Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction. The Reagan administration was a supporter of the Contra cause and used the National Security Council (NSC) to covertly provide military aid and funds to the contras. NSC staffers Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, Robert McFarlane and John Poindexter played crucial roles in raising private and foreign funds for the contras.

From 1982, Americans were being systematically kidnapped and taken hostage by the Lebanese Shia Islamist group, Hezbollah, who were terrorists, loyal to Iran's leader Ayatollah Khomeini. An Israeli official suggested to the Reagan administration that a transfer of arms as a means to secure the release of the hostages could be looked into. It was believed that Reagan secretly gave presidential authorization, for an arms-for-hostages deal with Iran which was locked in a war with Iraq.

The plan was simple, Israel would sell the weapons to Iran and get reimbursed by the United States, as the US was the major weapon supplier for Israel. The millions of dollars earned from these weapons sales were routed to the Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua by the Reagan administration. From July 1985, the United States started transferring arms from Israel to Iran for the safe exchange of hostages. Emboldened by these transfers, Hezbollah kidnapped more hostages and received a steady supply of arms for their safe exchange.

The Exposé
In November 1986, Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa exposed this deal over a series of articles. An investigation was ordered by the American assembly under Attorney General Edwin Meese and an independent special prosecutor Lawrence E. Walsh. They verified these allegations and President Ronald Reagan had no choice but to authorize a review board, under former Republican Senator John Tower, on 25th November, 1986. This board came to be known as the Tower Commission.

The Tower Commission had to weave itself through a web of deception and mismanagement. Despite allegations from Lt. Col. Oliver North and John Poindexter implicating President Reagan, Vice President Bush and former director of the CIA William J. Casey, no evidence was found to link them to any illegalities. However, the Congress was not convinced and issued its own report on 18th November, 1987, stating that the President bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides, and his administration exhibited "secrecy, deception and disdain for the law." It also questioned the role played by the President in the Iran-contra affair, in light of the destruction of documents by Poindexter, North and others.

The hearings were televised publicly from May to August 1987. Almost all those implicated were convicted, including North, McFarlane (who died on 6th May, 1987, before the deal was exposed), Poindexter, defense secretary Caspar Weinberger and many former State Department and CIA officials. However, their convictions were all overturned by President George H. W. Bush, who was the Vice-president at the time of the Iran Contra scandal.

The Aftermath
On 4th March, 1987, President Reagan addressed the American public in a nationally televised program from the White House (Oval Office) expressing regret and took full responsibility for the Iran Contra arms-for-hostage deal. Internationally the exposure of this deal undermined any credibility the U.S. had in its dealing with other countries.

The thirteen week Congressional hearings proved inadequate, leaving some questions unanswered till date. The Iran Contra deal was not an accident nor the result of negligence on the part of the Reagan administration, but sheer disregard to a nation's policy and ethos.