What was iran contra scandal

The same month, United States Deputy Attorney General Lawrence Walsh was appointed as Independent Counsel to launch a probe of probable criminal activities of government officials involved in the scandal. The Tower Commission report published on February 27, , found that CIA Director William Casey, a supporter of the Iran-Contra Agreement, should have handled the operation and alerted Reagan to its risks, and also informed Congress of the agreement as required by law.

However, the report states that Reagan did not know the full extent of all the programs involving Iran-Contra. Unfortunately, Reagan administration officials impeded their investigation and the investigation by the Independent Counsel by destroying and withholding large amounts of records pertaining to the Iran-Contra affair.

President George H. Bush, who served as Vice President under Ronald Reagan, later pardoned all other officials indicted or convicted as part of Iran-Contra in , shortly before the Independent Counsel issued its final report. Reagan had always been admired for his honesty.

The arms-for-hostages proposal divided the administration. With the backing of the president, the plan progressed. By the time the sales were discovered, more than 1, missiles had been shipped to Iran. Three hostages had been released, only to be replaced with three more, in what Secretary of State George Shultz called "a hostage bazaar.

He retracted the statement a week later, insisting that the sale of weapons had not been an arms-for-hostages deal.

Despite the fact that Reagan defended the actions by virtue of their good intentions, his honesty was doubted. Polls showed that only 14 percent of Americans believed the president when he said he had not traded arms for hostages. Then-unknown Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council explained the discrepancy: he had been diverting funds from the arms sales to the Contras, with the full knowledge of National Security Adviser Admiral John Poindexter and with the unspoken blessing, he assumed, of President Reagan.

Poindexter resigned, and North was fired, but Iran-Contra was far from over. In addition, four CIA officers and five government contractors were also prosecuted; although all were found guilty of charges ranging from conspiracy to perjury to fraud, only one—private contractor Thomas Clines—ultimately served time in prison.

Despite the fact that Reagan had promised voters he would never negotiate with terrorists—which he or his underlings did while brokering the weapons sales with Iran—the two-term occupant of the White House left office as a popular president. However, his legacy, at least among his supporters, remains intact—and the Iran-Contra Affair has been relegated to an often-overlooked chapter in U.

The Iran-Contra Affair— The Washington Post. The Iran-Contra Affairs. Brown University. The Iran-Contra Affair. Iran Hostage Crisis. The Iran-contra scandal 25 years later. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Fueled by territorial, religious and political disputes between the two nations, the conflict ended in an effective stalemate and a cease-fire nearly eight years The United States and Iran have never formally been at war, but tensions between the two countries have persisted for decades.

Below is an overview of the long-running conflict between Iran and the United States—and measures taken economic and otherwise in the wake of flare On November 4, , a group of Iranian students stormed the U. The secret dealings of the Reagan administration in Central America and the Middle East became public knowledge in late when a plane carrying weapons to the Contras crashed in Nicaragua and a surviving crew member, Eugene Hasenfus, made statements about U.

Shortly afterward, a Lebanese newspaper carried a report about the sales of U. After the disclosure of this shocking news, Reagan fired North, even while lauding him as an American hero, and accepted the resignation of John Poindexter, who had succeeded MacFarlane as national security advisor. Several investigations followed. In a report released in February , the commission blamed the NSC staff and other presidential aides for the scandal. On March 4, , he delivered a televised address in which he accepted responsibility for the scandal and recanted his previous assertion that his administration had not traded arms for hostages.

Reagan also accepted the resignation of his chief of staff, Donald Regan, and named former Senator Howard Baker to that position. Baker tried to allay public concerns when he announced after his first day on the job that he was certain Reagan was completely engaged and fully in command of his presidency. Select congressional committees also held televised hearings, and North was the star witness. He appeared in uniform with his service medals and insisted he was no loose cannon but a dedicated public servant who had full authorization from superiors for his actions.

North blamed Congress for intruding into policy decisions on support for the Contras that properly belonged to the president. Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh required almost seven years to complete his investigation.

He secured a dozen indictments and eight convictions or guilty pleas on a variety of charges, including obstruction of justice, perjury, and withholding of evidence.

The convictions of North and Poindexter, however, were overturned on appeal. In December , President George H. Bush pardoned six figures in the scandal, including McFarlane and Weinberger. However, his actions during Iran-Contra added to public mistrust of the presidency that had begun during the Vietnam War and deepened during the Watergate scandal.