Rough Draft
Alec Powers
February 24, 2013
Mrs. Sims English 9 Rough Draft
On November 13, 1986, America saw the one of the most disappointing allegations since the Watergate scandal was released. Two secret government operations, which broke U.S. law, were revealed to the public. These two operations were being run by the NSC (National Security Council). In one of the operations, the NSC broke the policy of not trading arms with Iran. The NSC sold arms to Iran for U.S. hostages in return. Iran had purchased several TOW missiles and HAWK antiaircraft missiles (Hoff, 676). The U.S. made Iran pay an overcharge of thirty million dollars. This angered the Iranians and almost ruined the deal between them. U.S. Marine lieutenant colonel Oliver North was the man who initially proposed to sell weapons to Iran. North also suggested using the profits for funding the contras. Taking control of the operation, North setup an entire organization that congress had no idea about. The investigations of the operations began after a cargo plane had crashed on its way to the Contras. A Lebanese newspaper, Al-Shiraa, broke the story. President Reagan Denied the allegations for many days but finally admitted that they were true. During the time President Reagan was denying the allegations he continued to say they were “utterly false” (Hoff, 678). Reagan was convincing America that “Our government has a firm policy not to capitulate to terrorist demands” but eventually knew he could hide it no longer. Obstruction of congressional investigations, making false statements to a congressional committee and attorney general, shredding of official documents, and acceptance of illegal gratuity was all the crimes North was charged with. His conviction was appealed and people began to forget about the entire incident. Luckily, President Reagan’s campaign in 1988 was barely affected by the scandal. The Iran Contra Scandal goes down as one of the most serious scandals in recent U.S. history but the
February 24, 2013
Mrs. Sims English 9 Rough Draft
On November 13, 1986, America saw the one of the most disappointing allegations since the Watergate scandal was released. Two secret government operations, which broke U.S. law, were revealed to the public. These two operations were being run by the NSC (National Security Council). In one of the operations, the NSC broke the policy of not trading arms with Iran. The NSC sold arms to Iran for U.S. hostages in return. Iran had purchased several TOW missiles and HAWK antiaircraft missiles (Hoff, 676). The U.S. made Iran pay an overcharge of thirty million dollars. This angered the Iranians and almost ruined the deal between them. U.S. Marine lieutenant colonel Oliver North was the man who initially proposed to sell weapons to Iran. North also suggested using the profits for funding the contras. Taking control of the operation, North setup an entire organization that congress had no idea about. The investigations of the operations began after a cargo plane had crashed on its way to the Contras. A Lebanese newspaper, Al-Shiraa, broke the story. President Reagan Denied the allegations for many days but finally admitted that they were true. During the time President Reagan was denying the allegations he continued to say they were “utterly false” (Hoff, 678). Reagan was convincing America that “Our government has a firm policy not to capitulate to terrorist demands” but eventually knew he could hide it no longer. Obstruction of congressional investigations, making false statements to a congressional committee and attorney general, shredding of official documents, and acceptance of illegal gratuity was all the crimes North was charged with. His conviction was appealed and people began to forget about the entire incident. Luckily, President Reagan’s campaign in 1988 was barely affected by the scandal. The Iran Contra Scandal goes down as one of the most serious scandals in recent U.S. history but the