The Iran Contra Affair
The Iran Contra Affair
The Iran Contra Affair
Michelle Ewens
November 1, 2010
Covert wars operated by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States have
enabled much of the expansion of American government throughout the world in the twentieth
century. These wars have impacted the lives of Americans in a number of ways. The effects of
terrorism are felt by Americans today as US civil liberties are being taken away to counter
terrorism. This paper will focus on how terrorism became the new method to enable US
expansion across the globe and how the American people are affected by it.
The CIA’s employments of rebel armies are portrayed as Freedom Fighters in the US, but
the tactics that they used to dismantle foreign governments are the same terrorist tactics which
many Americans condemn as criminal behavior. The Iran Contra scandal which took place in
1986 received much media attention (McGraw-Hill, 2006). This even sheds some light on how
covert war operations have been employed in such places as Nicaragua, Iran, Afghanistan, and
El Salvador. Examining the Iran Contra event will also reveal how some of the covert wars were
The term "Contra" comes from the Spanish la contra, short for la contrarrevolución. It
1981, the Contra Alliance received much financial assistance from the Pentagon. In 1982,
Reagan signed the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17) which
allocated 19 million dollars to recruit the Contras in Nicaragua (Cockburn, 1988). The contras
were recruited to fight the Sandinistas. The Sandinistas ruled Nicaragua from 1979-1990. The
party is named after Augusto César Sandino who led the Nicaraguan resistance against the
United States occupation of Nicaragua in the 1930s. Considered as extreme leftists by the US
government, the Sandinistas devoted resources to improving the quality of life of the Nicaraguan
citizen. They also increased funds to healthcare industry and promoted gender equality. Many
Nicaraguan women fought for the Sandinista rebel armies which quickly transformed the
traditional gender roles of women. The Reagan administration claimed that the Sandinista
women were not free or liberated. In the spirit of freedom, the US waged a war against the
The Contras were employed to remove the Sandinistas from government. The United
States also used other covert psychological operations in destabilizing Nicaragua and waging an
informational war against the government. “These tactics involved paying off journalists,
planting disinformation and propaganda, and influencing international coverage of the country.
As one U.S. official admitted, the media war in Nicaragua sought to “demonize the Sandinista
government” in order to “turn it into a real enemy and threat” (Robinson, p. 77, 1992).
Salvador and Iran. El Salvador was in the middle of a civil war which the CIA was funding to
rebel armies in Honduras. The CIA distributed to the Nicaraguan citizens “The Freedom
Fighter’s Manual” as propaganda to create animosity toward the Sandinistas. This manual gave
directions on how to make bombs from household materials, and encouraged people to vandalize
government property. The Reagan administration claimed that the manual aimed to persuade the
terrorism on civilians. One section spoke of hiring professional criminals for some activities.
Another discussed the creation of "martyrs" by arranging the death of the contras' own men.
Other sections dealt with the selective use of violence, as in assassinating Sandinista officials to
intimidate village populations. Other sections dealt with the selective use of violence, as in
Reagan allowed the CIA to support the Contras in hopes that they would
overthrow the Sandinistas. The Sandinistas condemned the Contras as terrorists, and human
rights organizations expressed serious concerns about the nature and frequency of Contra attacks
on civilians. Americas Watch, a human-rights group, accused the Contras in 1985 of crimes
against unarmed women and children. “In March 1985, the International Human Rights Law
Group submitted a report based on 145 sworn statements from Nicaraguans showing the Contras
guilty of a pattern of brutality against largely unarmed civilians, including rape, torture,
kidnappings, mutilation and other abuses” (Bovard, 2004). Concerned that the war could be
depicted as another Vietnam, Reagan claimed that the freedom fighters were battling in the spirit
of the American Founding Fathers. (McGraw-Hill, p.953, 2006). The war ended in 1990 when
the Contras overthrew the Sandinistas. The change in government resulted in the drastic
reduction or suspension of all Nicaraguan social programs, which brought back the burdens
In 1982, Congress passed the Boland Agreement which forbade the CIA from funding the
Contras either directly or indirectly (Mcgraw-Hill, p 953, 2006). The Reagan administration
defied Congress and continued to back the Contras by raising money from foreign allies and
covertly selling arms to Iran. This event will later be known as the Iran Contra Scandal. In
1979, the Shah of Iran was believed to be a US puppet who served American interests. The U.S.
supplied weapons, training, and technical knowledge that aided the Shah in modernizing his
country. However, the Shah ruled as a dictator and used his secret police, to terrorize those who
opposed him. The Iranians rebelled against him to overthrow the government. The US offered
the Shah safe haven in America. Iranians demanded that he be returned to Iran to face trial for
treason amongst other crimes against humanity. When the US denied them their request, Iranian
students took 66 Americans hostage and demanded that the Shah be returned. The hostages were
released almost two years later, spawning a criminal investigation into the Reagan administration
Oliver North came into the public spotlight as a result of his participation in the Iran-
Contra affair. He was reportedly responsible for the establishment of a covert network used for
the purposes of assisting the Contras. According to the National Security Archive, he sent an e-
President Manuel Noriega: "You will recall that over the years Manuel Noriega in Panama and I
have developed a fairly good relationship", North writes before explaining Noriega's proposal. If
U.S. officials can "help clean up his image" and lift the ban on arms sales to the Panamanian
Defense Force, Noriega will "'take care of' the Sandinista leadership for us" (Bryne, 1999).
North was fired by President Ronald Reagan, and in July 1987 he was summoned to
testify before televised hearings of a joint Congressional committee formed to investigate Iran-
Contra. During the hearings, North admitted that he had lied to Congress, for which he was later
charged among other things. He defended his actions by stating that he believed in the goal of
aiding the Contras, whom he saw as freedom fighters, and said that he viewed the Iran-Contra
scheme as a good idea. Oliver North, who later became referred to as “Ollie”, was caught on
tape laughing about the scheme as he spoke to an Iranian arms dealer on the telephone. National
Security Advisor Robert McFarlane also assisted North with this plan to get around the Boland
Amendment. McFarlane told Saudi Arabia about their need to continue to aid the Contras
covertly and received $30 million in Swiss bank accounts from them as well (Mcgraw-Hill, p.
954, 2006). North was tried in 1988 in relation to his activities while at the National Security
Council. He was indicted on sixteen felony counts and on May 4, 1989, he was initially
convicted of three: accepting an illegal gratuity, aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a
three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines, and 1,200 hours
community service. North was later acquitted on all charges in 1991 (Isenberg, 1999).
Reagan’s silence throughout the scandal caused the American public to become
suspicious and distrustful of government. When the President finally broke his silence about
why he had defied the Boland Amendment he said, “I let my personal concern for the hostages
spill over into the geo- political strategy of reaching out to Iran. I asked so many questions about
the hostages' welfare that I didn't ask enough about the specifics of the total Iran plan”
(Reagan, 1987). The hostages were released during the month that Reagan took office as
President in 1980. The scandal was diffused after his speech in 1987 and the matter was closed.
During the same year that the CIA released the freedom fighting manuals, Soviet forces
in Afghanistan were on the verge of winning their war in Afghanistan. The Reagan
administration had been aiding the rebel armies in Afghanistan and funneled more than $2 billion
in guns and money to the Mujahidin. “It was the largest covert action program since World War
II. Former CIA director Robert Gates said that the U.S. provoked the December 1979 Soviet
The CIA’s Afghan war was very similar to its covert war against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
Both sets of contras used terror tactics to attack literacy programs, schools, health clinics, co-ops
and other social and economic programs of the government. Both contras were also heavily
involved in the drug trade. The anti-Sandinista contras financed much of their terror by moving
cocaine into the U.S., while the Afghan contras grew opium for heroine production and trade.
The Reagan administration encountered little opposition to its policy of aiding the
Afghan rebels. Congress tripled Reagan's original request for funding to the Afghan rebels by
approving more than $250 million a year, over 80 percent of the CIA's annual covert war
operations. In the war in Afghanistan there was a clear enemy so the public overwhelmingly
approved of it. “The CIA not only tolerated but assisted the growth of drug-financed anti-
Communist assets, to offset the danger of Communist Chinese penetration into Southeast Asia”
(Scott, 2010). The Islamic "jihad" was supported by the United States and
Saudi Arabia with a significant part of the funding generated from the Golden Crescent drug
trade. In March 1985, President Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 166 which
authorized covert military aid to the mujahedeen in order to defeat Soviet troops in Afghanistan.
The new covert U.S. assistance began with a dramatic increase in arms supplies. There the CIA
specialists met with Pakistani intelligence officers to help plan operations for the Afghan rebels.
The Pakistan-Afghanistan borders became the world's top heroin producer, supplying
most of the US demands. “The Taliban's share of the Afghan opium economy is variously
estimated from $90 to $400 million. But the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
estimates that the total Afghan annual earnings from opium and heroin are in the order of from
$2.8 to $3.4 billion” (Scott, 2010). CIA assets again controlled this drug trade. As the
Mujahideen guerrillas seized territory inside Afghanistan, they ordered peasants to plant opium
as a revolutionary tax. While the CIA was heavily involved in drug trafficking in other parts of
the globe, a war on drugs in the US had just been declared by the Reagan administration. Much
of the history of US covert war is shrouded in mystery and contradictions. The Iran Contra affair
brought attention to what was happening in the world by interrupting the American television
shows with footage of Oliver North in court. This seemed to be the extent to which most
Americans were affected by this event at the time. However, the dominoes had been pushed and
to this day Americans see the effect of how terrorism can infiltrate their daily lives. Perhaps this
is just another psychological weapon against citizens to encourage them to support the wars
abroad while reducing the likelihood that American citizens will stand up one day and speak out
against imperialism. So far it appears as if the media outlets are controlling what Americans
Psychological warfare was carried out in Afghanistan in the same way that the Contras
were trained in guerrilla warfare. The CIA financed and trained the Taliban to assist them in
overthrowing the Soviets. Most Americans are not aware of the secret imperialistic wars that the
US wages in the name of freedom and liberty. The absurd reality is harder to believe than what
is accepted as truth by most Americans. Terrorism against citizens can be delivered as lies to the
people to keep them uninformed from making decisions which could change the politics of the
world.
References
Bovard, James. 2004. The future of freedom foundation. Terrorism debacles in the
http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0406c.pdf
Bryne, Malcome. 1999. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 21.
Twenty years after the hostages: declassified documents on Iran and the United States.
Retrieved on October 30, 2010 from
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB21/index.html
COVERT WARS 11
References
Isenberg, David. 1999. Policy Analysis. The pitfalls of US covert operations. Cato policy
analysis number 118. Retrieved on October 31, 2010 from
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/PA118.HTM
McGraw-Hill. 2006. Nation of Nations. 4th edition. Davidson, J, Delay, B, Heyrman, C, Lytle,
Reagan, Ronald. 1987. Public speech. Retrieved on October 29, 2010 from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/filmmore/reference/primary/irancontra.html
Scott, Peter Dale. 2010. History News Network. Opium, the CIA and the Karzai