In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Middle East faced frequent hostage-taking incidents by militant organizations. In 1979, Iranian students took hostage 63 employees of the United States embassy in Iran. On January 20, 1981, the same day Ronald Reagan became President, the hostages were freed when several demands were met. Hostage taking in the Middle East did not end there, however. An Affair to Remember: The Extent of Reagan's Knowledge in the Iran-Contra Affair by Megan Tuck, retrieved May 14, 2006.
In 1983, members of Al-Dawa ("The Call"), an exiled Iraq political party turned militant organization, were imprisoned for their part in a series of truck bombs in Kuwait. In response to the imprisonment, an ally of Al-Dawa, Hezbollah took 30 hostages, The Tragedy of Iran by Gary Hucul, April 25, 2006, retrieved May 14, 2006. six of whom were American. Hezbollah demanded the release of the prisoners for these hostages. Members of the Reagan Administration believed that by selling arms to Iran, Iran would influence the Hezbollah kidnappers in Lebanon to release their hostages. At the time, Iran was in the midst of the Iran-Iraq War and could find few nations willing to supply it with weapons. Military History of the Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988 It would also, according to National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, improve strained relations with Iran. For that reason, President Reagan authorized the transfer of weapons to Iran.
In summer 1985, Iran-Contra Affair by Steve Avery, U-S-History.com, retrieved May 15, 2006.Michael Ledeen, a consultant of Robert McFarlane, asked Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres for help in the sale of arms to Iran. The Israel government required that the sale of arms meet the approval of the United States government, and when it was convinced that the U.S. government approved the sale by Robert McFarlane, Israel obliged by agreeing to sell the arms. The Iran-Contra Affair by Jewish Virtual Library, The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, retrieved May 19, 2006. In July 1985, Israel sent American-made BGM-71 TOW (Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided) anti-tank missiles to Iran for the release of Reverend Benjamin Weir; Weir was released. Despite the fact that arms were being sold to Iran, only Weir was released. This resulted in the failure of Ledeen's plan with only three shipments through Israel.
Robert McFarlane resigned in December 1985United States v. Robert C. McFarlane. He was replaced by Admiral John Poindexter. On the day of McFarlane's resignation, Oliver North, a military aide to the United States National Security Council (NSC), proposed a new plan for selling arms to Iran. This time, there were two new ideas. Instead of selling arms through Israel, the sale was to be direct. Second, the proceeds from the sale would go to the Contras at a markup. Oliver North wanted a $15 million markup, and Manucher Ghorbanifar added a 41% markup of his own. Vol. I: Investigations and Prosecutions by Lawrence Walsh, Final Report Of The Independent Counsel For Iran/Contra Matters, August 4, 1993, retrieved May 18, 2006. Other members of the NSC were in favor of North's plan, though none of them decided to let the President know of the plan. John Poindexter authorized the plan, and it went into effect.
At first, the Iranians refused to buy the arms at the inflated price because of the excessive markup imposed by Oliver North and Manucher Ghorbanifar, but the arms were eventually sold in February with the shipment of 1000 TOW missiles to Iran. From May to November 1986, there were additional shipments of miscellaneous weapons and parts. The total of all arms sales was less than a planeload.
The plan went ahead, and proceeds from the arms sales went to the Contras, a group engaged in an insurgency against the left-wing Sandinista government of Nicaragua that came to power in a revolution against the dictator Somoza, and later democratically elected to power. The diversion was coordinated by Oliver North of the National Security Council. The sale of arms to the Iranians resulted in large amounts of cash for this purpose. Supporting the Contras financially was an effort to assist them in their fight against the Nicaraguan government.
Both the sale of weapons to Iran and the funding of the Contras violated stated Administration policy and legislation passed by the Congress, known as the "Boland Amendment," enacted by Congress over concerns of widespread human rights abuses by the Contras.The Iran-Contra Affair by Julie Wolf, PBS, retrieved May 14, 2006.
A more consistent source of funding for the Contras came from cocaine trafficking, some of which was coming into the United States. Some have speculated that the U.S. military was actually helping the smugglers, but such allegations are unproven. The commission limited its criticism of Vice President George Bush. Subsequently, the head of the commission, John Tower, was nominated to the position of Secretary of Defense by Bush when he became President. He was not confirmed by the Senate. Brent Scowcroft was named National Security Advisor. Unwise Men by Asher Price, The New Republic Online, June 28, 2002, retrieved May 14, 2006.
Oliver North and John Poindexter were indicted on multiple charges on March 16, 1988. North, indicted on 12 counts, was found guilty by a jury of three minor counts. The convictions were vacated on appeal on the grounds that North's Fifth Amendment rights may have been violated by the indirect use of his testimony to Congress which had been given under a grant of immunity. In 1990, Poindexter was convicted on several felony counts of lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and altering and destroying documents pertinent to the investigation. His convictions were also overturned on appeal on similar grounds. The Independent Counsel, Lawrence E. Walsh, chose not to re-try North or Poindexter. Weinberger was indicted for allegedly lying to the Independent Counsel but was later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush.
Faced with undeniable evidence of his involvement in the scandal, Reagan expressed regret regarding the situation at a nationally televised White House press conference on March 4, 1987. Responding to questions, Reagan stated that his previous assertions that the U.S. did not trade arms for hostages were incorrect. He also stated that the Vice President knew of the plan.
Reagan survived the scandal, and his approval ratings returned to previous levels; as the scandal broke in 1986, "Reagan's approval rating plummeted to 46%", but he later "finished strong with a December 1988 Gallup poll recording a 63% approval rating".
The Iran-Contra Affair is significant because it brought several questions into public view that continue to resonate today: *Does the President have unconditional authority to conduct foreign policy over the objection of Congress and the laws it passes? *Can the President approve selling arms to a foreign nation without congressional approval? *What information does the President have to provide to Congress and when should that information be supplied? *What information does the President have to provide the American people? *Can the President present factually incorrect information to the American people about key foreign policy initiatives if he believes his motives are just? *What authority does Congress have to oversee functions of the executive branch? *Does funding for foreign policy initiatives have to be approved by Congress? *Who defines the entire spending budget and who regulates it? *Is the provision of the 1978 Ethics in Government Act creating the position of independent counsel answering to the Attorney General constitutional? *What role does the Supreme Court have in deciding conflicts between the legislative branch and executive branch? *How much support is America entitled to provide to armed opposition forces seeking to replace governments with ones more sympathetic to the United States?
Most, if not all, of the constitutional and ethical questions are still unresolved. On one view, it appears that if the legislative and executive branches do not wish to work together, there are no legal remedies.
These unresolved issues were again in the public eye during the Presidency of George W. Bush, who selected some individuals implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal for high-level posts. These include: *Elliott Abrams: under Bush, the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director on the National Security Council for Near East and North African Affairs; in Iran Contra, pleaded guilty on two counts of unlawfully withholding information, pardoned. *Otto Reich: head of the Office of Public Diplomacy under Reagan. *John Negroponte: under Bush, the National Intelligence Director. *Admiral John Poindexter: under Bush, Director of the Information Awareness Office; in Iran Contra found guilty of multiple felony counts for conspiracy, obstruction of justice, lying to Congress, defrauding the government, and the alteration and destruction of evidence, convictions reversed.
From the mid 1980s onwards, a number of allegations had been made that Contras were being funded from the proceeds of cocaine.
One of the earliest of these allegations to reach the public was a lawsuitThe 'Christic Institute' lawsuit - Avirgan and Honey versus Hull et al (pdf) filed in 1986 by two journalists, represented by the Christic Institute, alleging that the CIA and a number of other parties were engaged in a number of criminal acts, including financing the sale of arms with the proceeds of cocaine sales. This lawsuit was dismissed, and several of the named participants later sued the Christic Institute for libel, and won.
Senator John Kerry's 1988 U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report on Contra-drug links concluded that "senior U.S. policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems." [1] Kerry was suspicious of North's connection with Manuel Noriega, Panama's drug-baron. According to the National Security Archive, Oliver North had been in contact with Noriega who had previously worked for the CIA from 1950 to 1986, and had met him personally.
The allegations resurfaced in 1996 when journalist Gary Webb published reports in the San Jose Mercury NewsWebb's 'Dark Alliance' articles in the San Jose Mercury News, and later in his book Dark Alliance Webb, Gary (1998). Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press. ISBN 1888363681 (hardcover, 1998), ISBN 1888363932 (paperback, 1999), detailing how contras had distributed crack cocaine into Los Angeles to fund weapons purchases. These reports were initially attacked by various other newspapers that attempted to debunk the link, and cited official reports that apparently cleared the CIA of links with drug trafficking.
In 1998, CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz published a two-volume report[https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/cocaine/report/index.html| CIA Inspector General Report into Allegations of Connections Between CIA and The Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States Volume 1][https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/cocaine/index.html| CIA Inspector General Report, Volume 2] that substantiated many of Webb's claims, and described how 50 contras and drug traffickers had been protected from law enforcement activity by the Reagan-Bush administration, and documented a cover-up of evidence relating to these activities. The report also showed that Oliver North and the NSC were aware of these activities. A report the same year by the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich also came to similar conclusions.
