The Iran-Contra Affair, of 1986, quickly made the headlines in newspapers worldwide. The sale of arms to Iran that were to improve U.S. influence in Middle Eastern countries would become more than just that. The Iran-Contra Affair portrays how President Reagan and other politicians had broken their oath by giving into negotiation with terrorists and breaking other laws. There were many nations involved in this affair. The main ones were the United States, Iran, and Nicaragua (Weiss et al.1). The way that the world found out about this was that two Lebanese newspapers wrote an article about the Iran arms deal (Weiss et al.18). As a result, on November 3, 1986, it rapidly spread to the United States (18). This became a huge scandal, therefore,
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Attorney General Edwin Meese discovered that out of $30 million the Iranians reportedly paid only $12 million had made it into government reserves (2). The money that was earned from Iranian arms purchases was deposited into Swiss bank accounts to support the Contras, and Meese suspected that (Marshall, Scott and Hunter 1-2). “The Reagan administration was not the first to sell weapons systems secretly to Iran” (Koh 49). Two years after the sales, President Reagan came to the conclusion that they sold nearly $2 billion in arms to Kuwait …show more content…
21). These were the joint hearings of the House Select Committee that investigated the “Covert Arms Transactions with the Iran and the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition” (21). Oliver North’s testimony began on July 7, and lasted until July 14, 1987 (22). He was referred to as the central figure of the Iran-Contra Affair in the hearing’s Majority Report (22). On November 13, 1986, “Reagan said that the U.S. was working with the Iranian government, but on the 19th, he admitted to working with a ‘particular group’” (19). He was implying that he dealt with terrorist organizations (19). He had first denied that the White House condoned an Israeli shipment of Arms to Iran, but Donald Regan had already admitted to doing so (19). There was a sum of forty-nine witnesses that testified during the eight-week trial (“United States v. Oliver L. North” 18). The numbers for each side were seventeen for the defense and thirty-two for the government (18). The results of the Iran-Contra affairs included fourteen people that were criminally charged (Weiss et al. 21). “Of those fourteen, four were convicted of felony charges, seven pleaded guilty to either felonies or misdemeanors, one case was dismissed and two that were awaiting trial were pardoned by George H.W. Bush”
Attorney General Edwin Meese discovered that out of $30 million the Iranians reportedly paid only $12 million had made it into government reserves (2). The money that was earned from Iranian arms purchases was deposited into Swiss bank accounts to support the Contras, and Meese suspected that (Marshall, Scott and Hunter 1-2). “The Reagan administration was not the first to sell weapons systems secretly to Iran” (Koh 49). Two years after the sales, President Reagan came to the conclusion that they sold nearly $2 billion in arms to Kuwait …show more content…
21). These were the joint hearings of the House Select Committee that investigated the “Covert Arms Transactions with the Iran and the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition” (21). Oliver North’s testimony began on July 7, and lasted until July 14, 1987 (22). He was referred to as the central figure of the Iran-Contra Affair in the hearing’s Majority Report (22). On November 13, 1986, “Reagan said that the U.S. was working with the Iranian government, but on the 19th, he admitted to working with a ‘particular group’” (19). He was implying that he dealt with terrorist organizations (19). He had first denied that the White House condoned an Israeli shipment of Arms to Iran, but Donald Regan had already admitted to doing so (19). There was a sum of forty-nine witnesses that testified during the eight-week trial (“United States v. Oliver L. North” 18). The numbers for each side were seventeen for the defense and thirty-two for the government (18). The results of the Iran-Contra affairs included fourteen people that were criminally charged (Weiss et al. 21). “Of those fourteen, four were convicted of felony charges, seven pleaded guilty to either felonies or misdemeanors, one case was dismissed and two that were awaiting trial were pardoned by George H.W. Bush”