What is Iran-Contra?
There’s a good article here about it, but in a nutshell: In the Iran-Contra Affair, Ronald Reagan’s administration secretly sold arms to Iran, which was at war with Iraq from 1980 to 1988, and spent the profits to support Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the democratically-elected Sandinista government of Nicaragua. This was a violation of an Act of Congress which prohibited the sale of weapons to Iran, as well as in violation of UN sanctions. Bush Sr. was Vice President at the time. Then the Israeli government began acting as an intermediary by shipping missiles to Iran in exchange for the release of some hostages. Israelis sold their missiles, and we secretly replaced what they sent to Iran. The BCCI bank was used for money laundering, and the CIA helped the Contras traffic drugs, including smuggling cocaine into the US. Reagan claimed he had not been informed of the operation despite a January 1, 1986 entry in Reagan’s personal diary that stated “I agreed to sell TOWs to Iran.” T
