Iran Contra Affair



Iran Contra Affair

Historical Background

The Cold War, after World War II formed two military and political powers. On the one hand, the Soviet Union and its satellite states such as Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, etc. (the so-called Eastern Bloc), on the other side of the West stood with the United States as a political core. Both superpowers had enormous arms and human potential, and tried their sphere of influence extended as far as possible.

The Iran-Contra Affair refers to a 1987 political and constitutional scandal involving the illegal sale of military arms to Iran by members of President Reagan's administration in order to finance military aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.

The Iran-Contra Affair, falling between the Watergate "crisis" of 1974-75 and the Clinton impeachment of 1998, provides a fascinating example of postmodern constitutional politics. Despite a lengthy congressional inquiry and Herculean efforts by a special prosecutor, Iran-Contra seems destined to fade, as a distinct event with consequences of its own, from both popular memory and constitutional history. Any attempt to narrate definitively Iran-Contra or to assess its constitutional significance initially founders on the shadowy nature of the events and the contested meanings that can be attributed to them (Chapman, 2010).

In Persia, the last Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, who was in his Western-oriented policy reigned from 1963. The more and more into opposition, led by the clergy located in Paris, the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini, who was by this policy was not supported by all the Persians, got more and more support at home. The Shah had to flee under the pressure of the opposition in the United States. In 1979, Khomeini returned from exile in France, returned to Persia and ousted former dictator. In this context, the American Embassy in Tehran (capital of Persia), besieged by Khomeini's supporters for two years.

U.S. government under President Carter made weapons deals to Teheran to the embassy in Tehran to get free. The Republicans accused Carter as he released hostages when election was near. There were rumors that the Republicans tried to turn, let the hostages until after the elections in captivity, so that Reagan would be president.

At about the same time in Nicaragua, the Sandinistas came to power after they overthrew the Somoza regime in the course of a previous civil war. The Sandinistas tried to supplement the economically poor situation in Nicaragua and were initially supported by the United States, but when the U.S. government realized that they were dealing with a very left-wing organization, they broke off their economic ties in 1981 and began the anti- Sandinista guerrillas, known to support the Contras. In 1982, they joined the Sandinistas with an aid pact with the former Soviet Union, which alarmed the Americans.

In 1986, the NPC (National Security Council) and the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) sells US arms to Iran just as the Iran-Iraq war took place. This instance is termed as Iran Contra Affair. The proceeds ($ 30 million) left them to the coming Contra ...