Iran-Contra Affair Essay

in 1985 that the U.S. might sell arms to Iran through Israel with the goal of releasing American hostages held in Lebanon by Iranian groups (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). The arms would be used to aid Iran in their ongoing war against Iraq (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). Robert McFarlane, a national security advisor who brought the suggestion to President Reagan, believed that the deal would improve U.S.-Iran relations, in addition to Lebanese relations, thus giving the U.S. needed influence in the Middle East (Wolf PBS.org). However, several advisors to Reagan questioned the legality of such an act, as both U.S. policy, prohibiting straight arms-for-hostage swaps, and the embargo on arms to Iran, the Arms Export Control Act, condemned that course of action. (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). Though his advisors Caspar Weinberger (Secretary of Defense) and George Shultz (Secretary of State) opposed the sales, President Reagan listened to McFarlane (National Security Advisor) and William Casey (CIA director) and went through with the plan, but Reagan never actually signed the plan or reported it to Congress, as required by law (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). Thus, Reagan could later claim that he had no knowledge of the arms sales, as it was never formalized. Control of this operation was given to the National Security Council, which was also conducting aid operations to the contras (“The Iran-Contra

The United States history during 1977 to 1989 went through two presidencies and whirlwind of events happened. When President Jimmy Carter became president he wanted to lower the inflation rates to make life easier for the people of the United States. While that was his goal it got completely derailed. Near the end of Jimmy Carters presidency, a group of Iranian students took over the U.S Embassy in Tehran and took people hostage. Over the course of the 444 days the hostages where held captive while the people of the United States voted for a new president to help lead them into a new direction. The people voted for Ronald Reagan. While he was president things didn’t go as he planned as well. The issues with Iran did not calm down and escalated to something bigger. After the Iran hostage crisis, the US had another issues with Iran and it was the Iran- Contra affair. During this essay I will be talking about the book called “Taken Hostage” by David Farber and the information in the book. The book is about the time frame of Jimmy Carter’s presidency and the issues with Iran and the hostage crisis. The second half of my essay is towards President Ronald Reagan’s and the issues about the Iran- Contra affair and the lasting issues between Iran and the United states.

The Iran-Contra Affair took place during the Reagan Administration. It started with The Cold War and the clash between two different belief systems and countries that refused to work together. The U.S. being a capitalism giant, attempted to intervene and prohibit the spread of Communism. This Clash started after World War II when the US disagreed during a Conference held in the Summer of 1945. This conference discussed whether the Soviet Union could take possession of Poland. Due to this disagreement, President Truman suspended the Lend-Lease Act

The investigation assesses the extent of significance of President Reagan’s role in the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980’s. Reagan’s role will be looked at while aiding the Nicaraguan Contras, releasing American hostages, both which led to the Iran-Contra affair, and during the cover up, in America and partly in Iran. An investigation account and American history are mostly used to evaluate Reagan’s role. Two of the sources used in this essay, Firewall: The Iran-Contra conspiracy and cover-up written by Lawrence E. Walsh and The Age of Reagan by Sean Wilentz will then be evaluated for their origins, purposes, values, and limitations.

During the time of the Cold War, many people lived in fear of communism and terrorism. In 1983, several Americans were taken hostage in Lebanon by a terrorist group. This terrorist group was loyal to Iran, so President Ronald Reagan stated he was against Iran. In addition, he told American allies not to sell weapons to Iran which would help them in their war with Iraq. Reagan proved to be against Iran, however, in 1986 President Reagan allowed the selling of weapons to Iran. By the selling of these arms, America would have the seven hostages in Lebanon returned. Then, members of President Reagan’s staff gave some of the money from these sales to Contras in Nicaragua. After several investigations, it was seen that there was a scandal

One of the most well known scandals and government damaging scandals surfaced in November 1986 when Ronald Reagan admitted that the United States sold weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran in efforts to get them to release 6 U.S. citizens being held hostage in Lebanon. It was also disclosed that some of the money from the arms deal with Iran had been secretly and illegally went to the aid of the right-wing Contras counter-revolutionary groups wanting to overthrow the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua it became known The Iran-Contra

The United States has involved itself in several missions shrouded in secrecy throughout the nation’s short history. Operations, like the Iran-Contra Affair, and the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) role in Afghanistan are just two examples of these types of secret government missions, which have become public knowledge. Both operations occurred under the helm of President Reagan, who outlined a clear agenda, promising to fight the spread of the Soviet social influence of communism. Moreover, other similarities are observed between the two covert missions, like providing armaments, equipment, and training to foreign rebel forces to assist in combating communist influences (National Security Archive 2006, Johnson 2011). Moreover, various government agencies were used in the operations for distinct purposes. The comparison of the Iran-Contra Affair and the CIA’s role in the Afghanistan war, aid in revealing a picture of how covert operations were used in the 1980s, in combat communism, while achieving other presidential agenda items, like securing American hostages (PBS n.d.).

The arms embargo between the United States and Iran forbid the United States from selling arms to the Iraqis. The goal of the embargo was to stop the Iran-Iraq war. Sending the shipment through Israel, Reagan sold Iran 500 antitank missiles (Gwertzman, 1986, para. 1). Lt. Col. Oliver North diverted a portion of the funds that the United States gathered from the sale to the Contra war effort, supposedly without Reagan’s knowledge and without informing the public. On 11 December 1986, 1Iranian man that Reagan used as a point of reference in Lebanon “asserted that he had personally gone to Lebanon to arrange the release of American hostages (Butterfield, 1986, para. 1).” Reagan knew about the arms embargo to Iran, but still went ahead to sell arms to further the American effort in Nicaragua. In essence he declared involvement in war with supplying a hostile nation with arms, and a party-torn country with money. The controversy is not the actions any leader did, but how the American public was left out of the decisions being made in Washington D.C. For all of time the American government has been seen as a clear pane of glass where both sides can see through. These hidden events tinted the window from the public. The Government did not inform the public and they

To start with, the Iran-Contra Affair was a major political scandal during the Reagan Administration in the late 80’s. It started out when Iran secretly asked for the U.S to sell them weapons for the war against

Carpenter, Ted Galen. ( 1986, June 24).U.S. Aid to Anti-Communist Rebels: The Reagan Doctrine and Its Pitfalls. Retrieved from www.cato.org

“The economic strain of the effort to keep up with the United States military brought the Soviets to the bargaining table and led to a de-escalation of their international military adventures” (Thomas Sowell, 2001). Reagan is the only president that may lay claim to the end of the Cold War that plagued America. However, a black mark on his record is the Iran-contra affair which involved the secret provision of funds from selling arms to Iran for Nicaraguan contra rebels (See Woodward and T. Draper, 2012). Despite the scandal of the Iran-contra affair, Reagan is praised for his foreign policies in which he spent a majority of his presidency playing the role of international peace-maker, leading to both a safer and more prosperous home and international front (George Nash,

The Iran-Contra Affair was an underground operation within the CIA that was interwoven between two foreign policy issues that were unlikely to connect had the players in the ordeal not utilized one to benefit the other.

The Iranian hostage crisis was one of the most dramatic events in a series of problems that took place during President Jimmy Carter’s term. The crisis, beginning in November of 1979, received the most coverage of any major event since World War II. It was one of many problems faced in light of the United State’s complex relationship with Iran. The effects on both the US and Iran were astronomical, especially politically as well as economically and socially. It took a heavy toll on American relations with the Middle East and changed the way we engage in foreign affairs. In light of this crisis, Iran started an international war that we are still fighting thirty-two years later.

"Iran" and "Contra" came to be spoken in the same breath was the outcome of complex covert activities, all carried out, in the name of democracy. When Iraq and Iran were at war in 1985, Iran requested to buy secret

A situation known as the Iran-Contra Affair arose, which altered his legacy and the public opinion which casted a shadow over Ronald Reagan's presidency.