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the u s 15 in the spring of 1983 the u s launched operation staunch a wide ranging diplomatic effort to persuade other nations all over the world not to sell arms or spare parts for weapons to iran 15 this was at least part of the reason the iran contra affair proved so humiliating for the u s when the story first broke in november 1986 that the u s itself was selling arms to iran at the same time that the u s government was considering its options on selling arms to iran contra militants based in honduras were waging a guerrilla war to topple the fsln revolutionary government of nicaragua almost from the time he took office in 1981 a major goal of the reagan administration was the overthrow of the left wing sandinista government in nicaragua and to support the contra rebels 16 the reagan administration s policy toward nicaragua produced a major clash between the executive and legislative branches as congress sought to limit if not curb altogether the ability of the white house to support the contras 16 direct u s funding of the contras insurgency was made illegal through the boland amendment the name given to three u s legislative amendments between 1982 and 1984 aimed at limiting u s government assistance to contra militants by 1984 funding for the contras had run out and in october of that year a total ban came into effect the second boland amendment in effect from 3 october 1984 to 3 december 1985 stated during the fiscal year 1985 no funds available to the central intelligence agency the department of defense or any other agency or entity of the united states involved in intelligence activities may be obligated or expended for the purpose of or which may have the effect of supporting directly or indirectly military or paramilitary operations in nicaragua by any nation organization group movement or individual 16 in violation of the boland amendment senior officials of the reagan administration continued to secretly arm and train the contras and provide arms to iran an operation they called the enterprise 17 18 given the contras heavy dependence on u s military and financial support the second boland amendment threatened to break the contra movement and led to president reagan ordering in 1984 that the national security council nsc keep the contras together body and soul no matter what congress voted for 16 a major legal debate at the center of the iran contra affair concerned the question of whether the nsc was part of the any other agency or entity of the united states involved in intelligence activities covered by the boland amendment the reagan administration argued it was not and many in congress argued that it was 16 the majority of constitutional scholars have asserted the nsc did indeed fall within the purview of the second boland amendment though the amendment did not mention the nsc by name 19 the broader constitutional question at stake was the power of congress versus the power of the presidency the reagan administration argued that because the constitution assigned the right to conduct foreign policy to the executive its efforts to overthrow the government of nicaragua were a presidential prerogative that congress had no right to try to halt via the boland amendments 20 by contrast congressional leaders argued that the constitution had assigned congress control of the budget and congress had every right to use that power not to fund projects they disapproved of such as attempting to overthrow the government of nicaragua 20 as part of the effort to circumvent the boland amendment the nsc established the enterprise an arms smuggling network headed by a retired u s air force officer turned arms dealer richard secord that supplied arms to the contras it was ostensibly a private sector operation but in fact was controlled by the nsc 19 to fund the enterprise the reagan administration was constantly on the look out for funds that came from outside the u s government thus not technically violating the exact phrasing of the amendment regardless of the money s ultimate purpose 21 ironically military aid to the contras was reinstated with congressional consent in october 1986 a month before the scandal broke 22 23 in his 1995 memoir my american journey general colin powell the u s deputy national security advisor wrote that the weapons sales to iran were used for purposes prohibited by the elected representatives of the american people in a way that avoided accountability to the president and congress it was wrong 24 in 1985 panamanian dictator manuel noriega offered to help the u s by allowing panama as a staging ground for operations against the fsln and offering to train contras in panama but this would later be overshadowed by the iran contra affair itself 25 at around the same time the soviet bloc also engaged in arms deals with ideologically opponent buyers 26 possibly involving some of the same players as the iran contra affair 27 in 1986 a complex operation involving east germany s stasi and the danish registered ship pia vesta ultimately aimed to sell soviet arms and military vehicles to south africa s armscor using various intermediaries to distance themselves from the deal noriega was apparently one of these intermediaries but backed out on the deal as the ship and weapons were seized at a panamanian port 28 29 27 the pia vesta led to a small controversy as the panamanian and peruvian governments in 1986 accused the u s and each other of being involved in the east germany originated shipment 30 27 arms sales to iran edit see also brokers of death arms case and israel in the iran iraq war as reported in the new york times in 1991 continuing allegations that reagan campaign officials made a deal with the iranian government of ayatollah ruhollah khomeini in the fall of 1980 led to limited investigations however limited those investigations established that soon after taking office in 1981 the reagan administration secretly and abruptly changed united states policy secret israeli arms sales and shipments to iran began in that year even as in public the reagan administration presented a different face and aggressively promoted a public campaign to stop worldwide transfers of military goods to iran the new york times explains iran at that time was in dire need of arms and spare parts for its american made arsenal to defend itself against iraq which had attacked it in september 1980 while israel a us ally was interested in keeping the war between iran and iraq going to ensure that these two potential enemies remained preoccupied with each other major general avraham tamir a high ranking israeli defense ministry official in 1981 said there was an oral agreement to allow the sale of spare parts to iran this was based on an understanding with secretary of state alexander haig which a haig adviser denied this account was confirmed by a former senior us diplomat with a few modifications the diplomat claimed that ariel sharon violated it and haig backed away a former high level central intelligence agency cia official who saw reports of arms sales to iran by israel in the early 1980s estimated that the total was about 2 billion a year but also said the degree to which it was sanctioned i don t know 31 two of the key middlemen in the arms sales were saudi billionaire adnan khashoggi and former savak agent manucher ghorbanifar 32 on or about 11 june 1985 a draft national security decision directive was written at the behest of national security adviser robert mcfarlane which called for the us to begin a rapprochement with the islamic republic of iran 15 the paper read dynamic political evolution is taking place inside iran instability caused by the pressures of the iraq iran war economic deterioration and regime in fighting create the potential for major changes inside iran the soviet union is better positioned than the u s to exploit and benefit from any power struggle that results in changes from the iranian regime the u s should encourage western allies and friends to help iran meet its import requirements so as to reduce the attractiveness of soviet assistance this includes provision of selected military equipment 33 defense secretary caspar weinberger was highly negative writing on his copy of mcfarlane s paper this is almost too absurd to comment on like asking qaddafi to washington for a cozy chat 34 secretary of state george shultz was also opposed asking that having designated iran a state sponsor of terrorism in january 1984 how could the us possibly sell arms to iran 34 only the director of the cia william j casey supported mcfarlane s plan to start selling arms to iran 34 in early july 1985 the historian michael ledeen a consultant of national security adviser robert mcfarlane requested assistance from israeli prime minister shimon peres for help in the sale of arms to iran 35 having talked to an israeli diplomat david kimche and ledeen mcfarlane learned that the iranians were prepared to have hezbollah release us hostages in lebanon in exchange for israelis shipping iran us weapons 34 having been designated a state sponsor of terrorism since january 1984 36 iran was in the midst of the iran iraq war and could find few western nations willing to supply it with weapons citation needed the idea behind the plan was for israel to ship weapons through an intermediary identified as manucher ghorbanifar to the islamic republic as a way of aiding a supposedly moderate politically influential faction within the regime of ayatollah khomeini who was believed to be seeking a rapprochement with the us after the transaction the us would reimburse israel with the same weapons while receiving monetary benefits 37 mcfarlane in a memo to shultz and weinberger wrote the short term dimension concerns the seven hostages the long term dimension involves the establishment of a private dialogue with iranian officials on the broader relations they sought specifically the delivery from israel of 100 tow missiles 34 the plan was discussed with president reagan on 18 july 1985 and then again on 6 august 1985 34 shultz at the latter meeting warned reagan that we were just falling into the arms for hostages business and we shouldn t do it 34 the americans believed that there was a moderate faction within the islamic republic headed by akbar hashemi rafsanjani the powerful speaker of the majlis who was seen as a leading potential successor to khomeini and who was alleged to want a rapprochement with the us 38 the americans believed that rafsanjani had the power to order hezbollah to free the us hostages and establishing a relationship with him by selling iran arms would ultimately place iran back within the us sphere of influence 38 it remains unclear if rafsanjani really wanted a rapprochement with the us or was just deceiving reagan administration officials who were willing to believe that he was a moderate who would effect a rapprochement 38 rafsanjani whose nickname was the shark was described by the uk journalist patrick brogan as a man of great charm and formidable intelligence known for his subtlety and ruthlessness whose motives in the iran contra affair remain completely mysterious 38 the israeli government required that the sale of arms meet high level approval from the us government and when mcfarlane convinced them that the us government approved the sale israel obliged by agreeing to sell the arms 35 in 1985 president reagan entered walter reed national military medical center for colon cancer surgery reagan s recovery was nothing short of miserable as the 74 year old president admitted having little sleep for days in addition to his immense physical discomfort while doctors seemed to be confident that the surgery was successful the discovery of his localized cancer was a daunting realization for reagan from seeing the recovery process of other patients as well as medical experts on television predicting his death to be soon reagan s typical optimistic outlook was dampened these factors were bound to contribute to psychological distress in the midst of an already distressing situation 39 additionally reagan s invocation of the 25th amendment prior to the surgery was a risky and unprecedented decision that smoothly flew under the radar for the duration of the complex situation while it only lasted slightly longer than the length of the procedure approximately seven hours and 54 minutes this temporary transfer of power was never formally recognized by the white house it was later revealed that this decision was made on the grounds that mr reagan and his advisors did not want his actions to establish a definition of incapacitation that would bind future presidents reagan expressed this transfer of power in two identical letters that were sent to the speaker of the house of representatives representative tip o neill and the president pro tempore of the senate senator strom thurmond 40 while the president was recovering in the hospital mcfarlane met with him and told him that representatives from israel had contacted the national security agency to pass on confidential information from what reagan later described as the moderate iranian faction headed by rafsanjani opposed to the ayatollah s hardline anti us policies 37 the visit from mcfarlane in reagan s hospital room was the first visit from an administration official outside of donald regan since the surgery the meeting took place five days after the surgery and only three days after doctors gave the news that his polyp had been malignant the three participants of this meeting had very different recollections of what was discussed during its 23 minute duration months later reagan even stated that he had no recollection of a meeting in the hospital in july with mcfarlane and that he had no notes which would show such a meeting this does not come as a surprise considering the possible short and long term effects of anesthesia on patients above the age of 60 in addition to his already weakened physical and mental state opinion 39 according to reagan these iranians sought to establish a quiet relationship with the us before establishing formal relationships upon the death of the aging ayatollah 37 in reagan s account mcfarlane told reagan that the iranians to demonstrate their seriousness offered to persuade the hezbollah militants to release the seven us hostages 41 mcfarlane met with the israeli intermediaries 42 reagan claimed that he allowed this because he believed that establishing relations with a strategically located country and preventing the soviet union from doing the same was a beneficial move 37 although reagan claims that the arms sales were to a moderate faction of iranians the walsh iran contra report states that the arms sales were to iran itself 43 which was under the control of the ayatollah following the israeli us meeting israel requested permission from the us to sell a small number of bgm 71 tow antitank missiles to iran claiming that this woul...
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