Iran-Contra Scandal

Iran-Contra Scandal

The Iran-Contra and Its Causes

Reagan‘s administration had devised the perfect two step plan. The first was to help Iran out in their fight against the evil Iraq, in hopes that they would talk to Lebanon who was holding American citizens hostage. The second was to aid Contra rebels who were in Nicaragua. Theses contra rebels were rebelling against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. This was known as the Iran-Contra Scandal.
Many believed that the U.S. was on its way to regaining its power in foreign policy and stopping communism. Many believed that the Soviet Union was behind all of the communist going-ons. This was known as the Reagan Doctrine. The U.S. wanted to get rid of communist supporters in the Latin American countries. They believed that the Sandinista government of Nicaragua was supplying weapons and help to El Salvador. Reagan allowed the CIA to go into Nicaragua and help the Contra rebels, because this could be done in secret and would not cause war or any kind of action against the U.S. It sounds simple enough, but was it really?
One way they were able to accomplish this was through profits made via weapons sales to Iran. Despite Reagan’s consistent denouncing of negotiating with terrorists, we used weapons sales to encourage Iran to have American hostages, being held by a group of Lebanese sympathetic to Iran, released. Upon making profit from such weapons sales, the National Security Council, the key agency of the Reagan administration involved in the Iran-Contra scandal, realized that such profits could be diverted to aid the Contra Rebels.
Things seemed to be going according to plan until a Lebanese magazine released details about the deal that included arms for hostages. This caused Congress and the press to attack the president and others who did not inform them of the full extent of the arms agreement. Later, when people found out where the funds had gone, people began to get very upset. The scandal was out of the...

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