Presidents and the Law: Ronald Reagan and Oliver North
The Iran–Contra affair was an incident that occurred during the second term of President Ronald Reagan in which senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, a nation that was the subject of an arms embargo. These officials hoped that the arms sales would secure the release of several hostages and that U.S. intelligence agencies could use the sale proceeds to fund the Nicaraguan Contras. By an Act of Congress known as the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited.
The operation intended to free seven American hostages who were being held in Lebanon by a group with Iranian ties connected to the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. The plan was for Israel to ship weapons to Iran, and then the United States would resupply Israel and receive the Israeli payment. The Iranian recipients promised in return to use their influence to bring about the release of the U.S. hostages. Modifications to the plan were devised by a National Security Council officer named Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North in late 1985, in which a portion of the proceeds from the weapon sales was diverted to fund anti-Sandinista and anti-communist rebels, known as the Contras, in Nicaragua.
President Ronald Reagan was a supporter of the Contra cause, but there is no clear evidence which suggests that he authorized the diversion of the money raised by arms sales to the Contras. Handwritten notes taken by Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger on December 7, 1985, suggest that Reagan was aware of potential hostage transfers with Iran, as well as the sale of missiles to moderate elements within Iran. When the weapon sales were revealed in November 1986, Reagan appeared on national television and stated that the weapons transfers had indeed occurred, but that the United States did not trade arms for hostages.
An investigation into the affair was impeded when large volumes of documents relating to these transactions were destroyed or withheld from investigators. On March 4, 1987, Reagan returned to the airwaves in a nationally televised address, taking full responsibility for the debacle, although he still maintained that this had all transpired without his knowledge or approval. He said "what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages".
Investigations were conducted by the U.S. Congress and by the three-person, Reagan-appointed Tower Commission. Neither found any evidence that President Reagan himself knew of the scheme to trade arms for hostages. Ultimately the sale of weapons to Iran was not found to be a criminal offense but charges were brought against five individuals for their support of the Contras. Those charges, however, were later dropped because the administration refused to declassify certain documents. In the end, fourteen administration officials were indicted, including then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Eleven convictions resulted, some of which were vacated on appeal. The rest of those indicted or convicted were all pardoned in the final days of the presidency of George H. W. Bush.
In the investigations, Colonel North claimed partial responsibility for the sale of weapons through intermediaries to Iran, with the profits being channeled to the Contras in Nicaragua. It was alleged that he was responsible for the establishment of a network which funneled those funds to the Contras, contrary to the Boland Amendment, which prohibited the appropriation of U.S. funds by intelligence agencies for the support of the Contras. The money was traced as passing through a shell organization, the National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty, to the Palmer National Bank of Washington, D.C., and then to the Contras.
In an August 23, 1986, e-mail to National Security Adviser John Poindexter, North described a meeting with a representative of Panamanian president Manuel Noriega. North told Poindexter that if the U.S. could help Noriega "clean up his image” and lift the ban on arms sales to the Panamanian Defense Force, Noriega would “take care of the Sandinista leadership for us.” North allegedly proposed that Noriega be paid one million dollars in cash, from Project Democracy funds raised from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran—for the Panamanian leader’s help in destroying Nicaraguan economic installations.
In November 1986, when the sale of weapons was made public, North was fired by President Reagan. On February 11, 1987, the FBI discovered a plan to harm North’s family from the Peoples Committee for Libyan Students, a sleeper cell for the Islamic Jihad, with an order to kill North. North's family was moved to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and lived with federal agents until North retired from the Marine Corps the following year.
In July 1987, North was summoned to testify before televised hearings of a joint congressional committee that was formed to investigate Iran–Contra. During the hearings, North admitted that he had lied to Congress previously. He defended his actions by stating that he believed in the goal of aiding the Contras, whom he saw as freedom fighters, against the Sandinistas and said that he viewed the Iran–Contra scheme as morally defensible. North admitted shredding government documents related to his Contra and Iranian activities, at the suggestion of CIA Director William Casey, when the Iran–Contra scandal became public.
North was indicted on 16 felony counts, and on May 4, 1989, and he was initially convicted of three: accepting an illegal gratuity, aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and ordering the destruction of documents through his secretary, Fawn Hall. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell on July 5, 1989, to a three-year suspended sentence, two years probation, $150,000 in fines, and 1,200 hours of community service.
On July 20, 1990, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, North’s convictions were vacated, after the appeals court found that witnesses in his trial might have been adversely affected by his immunized congressional testimony. Because North had been granted limited immunity for his congressional testimony, the law prohibited a prosecutor from using that testimony as part of a criminal case against him. To prepare for North's anticipated defense, the prosecution team had isolated themselves from news reports and discussion of North’s testimony. While the defense could show no specific instance in which North’s congressional testimony was used in his trial, the Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge had made an insufficient examination of the issue. Consequently, North’s convictions were reversed. After further hearings on the immunity issue, Judge Gesell dismissed all charges against North on September 16, 1991.
In 1994, North ran unsuccessfully for a US Senate seat in Virginia. Today he is a conservative commentator and author.
The operation intended to free seven American hostages who were being held in Lebanon by a group with Iranian ties connected to the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. The plan was for Israel to ship weapons to Iran, and then the United States would resupply Israel and receive the Israeli payment. The Iranian recipients promised in return to use their influence to bring about the release of the U.S. hostages. Modifications to the plan were devised by a National Security Council officer named Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North in late 1985, in which a portion of the proceeds from the weapon sales was diverted to fund anti-Sandinista and anti-communist rebels, known as the Contras, in Nicaragua.
President Ronald Reagan was a supporter of the Contra cause, but there is no clear evidence which suggests that he authorized the diversion of the money raised by arms sales to the Contras. Handwritten notes taken by Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger on December 7, 1985, suggest that Reagan was aware of potential hostage transfers with Iran, as well as the sale of missiles to moderate elements within Iran. When the weapon sales were revealed in November 1986, Reagan appeared on national television and stated that the weapons transfers had indeed occurred, but that the United States did not trade arms for hostages.
An investigation into the affair was impeded when large volumes of documents relating to these transactions were destroyed or withheld from investigators. On March 4, 1987, Reagan returned to the airwaves in a nationally televised address, taking full responsibility for the debacle, although he still maintained that this had all transpired without his knowledge or approval. He said "what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages".
Investigations were conducted by the U.S. Congress and by the three-person, Reagan-appointed Tower Commission. Neither found any evidence that President Reagan himself knew of the scheme to trade arms for hostages. Ultimately the sale of weapons to Iran was not found to be a criminal offense but charges were brought against five individuals for their support of the Contras. Those charges, however, were later dropped because the administration refused to declassify certain documents. In the end, fourteen administration officials were indicted, including then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Eleven convictions resulted, some of which were vacated on appeal. The rest of those indicted or convicted were all pardoned in the final days of the presidency of George H. W. Bush.
In the investigations, Colonel North claimed partial responsibility for the sale of weapons through intermediaries to Iran, with the profits being channeled to the Contras in Nicaragua. It was alleged that he was responsible for the establishment of a network which funneled those funds to the Contras, contrary to the Boland Amendment, which prohibited the appropriation of U.S. funds by intelligence agencies for the support of the Contras. The money was traced as passing through a shell organization, the National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty, to the Palmer National Bank of Washington, D.C., and then to the Contras.
In an August 23, 1986, e-mail to National Security Adviser John Poindexter, North described a meeting with a representative of Panamanian president Manuel Noriega. North told Poindexter that if the U.S. could help Noriega "clean up his image” and lift the ban on arms sales to the Panamanian Defense Force, Noriega would “take care of the Sandinista leadership for us.” North allegedly proposed that Noriega be paid one million dollars in cash, from Project Democracy funds raised from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran—for the Panamanian leader’s help in destroying Nicaraguan economic installations.
In November 1986, when the sale of weapons was made public, North was fired by President Reagan. On February 11, 1987, the FBI discovered a plan to harm North’s family from the Peoples Committee for Libyan Students, a sleeper cell for the Islamic Jihad, with an order to kill North. North's family was moved to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and lived with federal agents until North retired from the Marine Corps the following year.
In July 1987, North was summoned to testify before televised hearings of a joint congressional committee that was formed to investigate Iran–Contra. During the hearings, North admitted that he had lied to Congress previously. He defended his actions by stating that he believed in the goal of aiding the Contras, whom he saw as freedom fighters, against the Sandinistas and said that he viewed the Iran–Contra scheme as morally defensible. North admitted shredding government documents related to his Contra and Iranian activities, at the suggestion of CIA Director William Casey, when the Iran–Contra scandal became public.
North was indicted on 16 felony counts, and on May 4, 1989, and he was initially convicted of three: accepting an illegal gratuity, aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and ordering the destruction of documents through his secretary, Fawn Hall. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell on July 5, 1989, to a three-year suspended sentence, two years probation, $150,000 in fines, and 1,200 hours of community service.
On July 20, 1990, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, North’s convictions were vacated, after the appeals court found that witnesses in his trial might have been adversely affected by his immunized congressional testimony. Because North had been granted limited immunity for his congressional testimony, the law prohibited a prosecutor from using that testimony as part of a criminal case against him. To prepare for North's anticipated defense, the prosecution team had isolated themselves from news reports and discussion of North’s testimony. While the defense could show no specific instance in which North’s congressional testimony was used in his trial, the Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge had made an insufficient examination of the issue. Consequently, North’s convictions were reversed. After further hearings on the immunity issue, Judge Gesell dismissed all charges against North on September 16, 1991.
In 1994, North ran unsuccessfully for a US Senate seat in Virginia. Today he is a conservative commentator and author.