The Iran Contra Scandal

“So I guess in a way they are counter revolutionary, and God bless them for being that way and I guess that makes them contras, and so it makes me a contra too.” In 1979, a bitter war broke out in Nicaragua between the Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction, the Nicaraguan government, and the Contras, a vicious rebel group. The goal of this war was simple, overthrow the Nicaraguan government and restore freedom for all Nicaraguan citizens. It was this that caught the eye of the American government and it was not too long before the U.S began to fund the Contras. Although the United States government funded the contras, they viewed them with skepticism being that they were extremely controversial.

The U.S president during this time, Ronald Reagan, fell in love with the contras belief system and fought to keep them funded. Later on the United States support became limited, which left the president in search of a new way to keep the Contras money flow regular. Soon after, former president Ronald Reagan and his administrators contrived a way to continue to fund the contras without the Congress approval. They concluded that selling arms and weapons to a harmless ally named Iran was the only way to go. They would sell the weapons to Iran in exchange for money, which would then be put into a secret bank account and sent to the Nicaraguan Contras. This idea was brilliant but illegal as well, it was high treason. These series of events will forever be known as the Iran-Contra scandal.

The Iran-Contra scandal was a lapse in judgment that will affect the United States for centuries to come. The public is well aware and live with the ramifications of the Iran-Contra scandal, although most are unaware that it steams from the Iran-Contr...

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... founders and soon became a shadowy network of arms dealers, fraudulent companies, and secret bank accounts. It was a government on its own, some joked that it even had own navy.

Works Cited

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Times 26 Nov.1986: A13. ProQuest Historical Newspapers:

The New York Times (1851-2009). Web.4 Mar.2014

“Iran-Contra Affair.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia

Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopedia

Britannica, Web.04 Mar.2014

Moyers, Bill The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis:

With Excerpts from “An Essay on Watergate” Cabin John, MD:

Seven Locks, 1988.Print.

Walsh, Lawrence E. Iran-Contra: The Final Report. New York:

Times, 1994. Print

Wilentz, Sean. The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008. New

York: Harper, 2008.Print.