Response to Leftist Charge #3:

REAGAN SHOULD HAVE GONE TO JAIL OVER IRAN-CONTRA
Link to response to charge #1 HERE and response #2 HERE
IRAN CONTRA: A secret arrangement in the 1980s to provide funds to the anti-Communist Nicaraguan Contra rebels partly from profits gained by selling arms to Iran in exchange for the release of hostages held in Lebanon by Iran supporters. That's it. But of course it has a little more hair than just that.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The press and academia are controlled by the Left therefore much of what we read is a Left "slant". The American Left has been supporting Communist governments since the 30s. In the early 80s they wanted a non elected Communist "Sandinista" government that invaded Nicaragua from Costa Rica and Honduras in 1979 to retain power in Nicaragua. The Democrats did everything they could to keep the Sandinistas in power including passing legislation in Congress to assure the Communists were not touched by the Reagan Administration. The Sandinistas (don't call them Communists) were originally an old line revolutionary movement formed in 1962 ostensibly to kick out a dictator named Anastasio Somoza Debayle (AKA Somoza). Somoza, like all dictators was corrupt as hell, the family had been in power since 1936, and ran things in the usual way. FDR made the famous remark: "He's an SOB but he is our SOB" referring to the first Samoza, not about Trujillo as it was originally reported. The assassination of La Prensa publisher Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal by Samoza's son in 1978 meant that no matter what the Sandanistas stood for, everyone wanted the Samosa family gone. In January a nationwide strike began and the workers demanded an end to the military dictatorship.

It was on tough guy Jimmy Carter's watch that the Sandinistas launched an offensive from Costa Rica and Honduras during 1979 that finally threw the last Somoza out. They did not hold elections and the American Left approved. Instead, they established a junta. Translation: the "Sandinistas" invaded in order to throw out the dictatorship of Somoza and established a Left Wing military dictatorship. Nicaragua is a very poor country and the Sandinistas nationalized such industries as banking and mining, "postponed" elections, and moved steadily to the left eventually espousing "Marxist-Leninist" positions (not Communist to the Democrats in Congress). Ortega and his Sandinista Party was a dictatorship loved by the American Left, especially the Hollywood Left, because the government actually owned the institutions of production instead of controlling them. (I don't get the distinction either.)

By 1984 Sandanistas had taken control of practically everything in the country – mass organizations, the army, police, labor unions, and the media. They censored all freedom of speech, suspended the right of association and crushed the freedom of trade unions. They also started a "re-education" program on the Indians who lived on the Atlantic side of the country forcibly "relocating" the Indians from their land. Then like Stalin, Pol Pot, and Mugabe they used state-created famine as a weapon against these "enemies of the people." By 1983, the number of political prisoners in the Sandinistas' Nicaragua were estimated at 20,000. Numerous human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Commission, have documented the atrocious record of Sandinista human rights abuses, which stood as the worst in Latin America. This is what the American Left supported and the Democratic Party wanted to remain in power.

For some reason that horrible Ronald Reagan was opposed to them.

For some side reading check this out.

Castro supposedly supported the "Sandinistas" with money and arms while they were in the jungles, but this isn't possible. Castro was broke. This support actually meant Russian support. The Sandinistas clear and stated goal was to spread Communism to the rest of Central America. Their government in Nicaragua was opposed by U.S.-supported guerrillas (Reagan support) known as Contras . In 1984, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega Saavedra (Always called "Ortega", Danny Glover's pal) won the Nicaraguan presidency in an actual election that was tainted by mistrust. Lots of opposition groups boycotted it. The arms for money and hostages occurred two years later.

HERE'S THE "SCANDAL"

The Democrats wanted the Sandinistas (oh no, not Communists) to retain power in Nicaragua. The Democratic controlled Congress passed legislation, known as the Boland amendments, that prohibited the Defense Dept., the CIA, or any other government agency from providing military aid to the Contras from Dec., 1983, to Sept., 1985 and then passed even stronger amendments. Reagan basically defied Congress and got around these limitations by using the National Security Council (NSC), which was not explicitly covered by the law, to supervise covert military aid to the Contras. Under Robert McFarlane (1983–85) and John Poindexter (1985–86) the NSC raised private and foreign funds for the Contras. This operation was directed by NSC staffer Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North. All this was legal.

The scandal part: McFarlane and Oliver North were also the central figures in a plan to secretly ship (sell) arms to Iran in exchange for hostages held in Lebanon by pro-Iranian groups. This despite a U.S. trade and arms embargo on Iran. The people involved in this deal wanted to placate "moderates" within the Iranian government figuring not only to secure the release of the American hostages held in Lebanon but to influence Iranian foreign policy in a pro-Western direction. The arms were sold. The money obtained was used to aid the Contras conducting their guerrilla war against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. This transfer was in violation of the Boland amendments. The sale of arms was a violation of the arms embargo. What made it even worse was that there was bookkeeping fakery that when exposed meant that the "scandal" could not be covered up when and if anyone got wise.

Somebody did get wise. A Lebanese newspaper blew the whole arms for hostage deal out of the water; we'll leave it up to the reader to decide if "moderate" Iranians leaked it or not. Reagan went on television and vehemently denied that any such operation had occurred. He retracted the statement a week later, insisting that the sale of weapons had not been an arms-for-hostages deal. Despite the fact that Reagan defended the actions by virtue of their good intentions, his honesty was doubted. Polls showed that only 14 percent of Americans believed the president when he said he had not traded arms for hostages. At any rate the Communist supporting American Left had their meat and they went after it. Lawrence E. Walsh was appointed a special prosecutor . Congress was after Reagan and everything was done to involve him. There was some testimony implicating Reagan, Vice President Bush, and William J. Casey (former director of the CIA, who died in May, 1987). But nobody figured out the extent of the involvements. Poindexter resigned before the end of the month; North was fired. Under a grant of immunity North testified before Congress in July, that he believed Reagan was largely aware of the secret arrangement.

Although laws had been broken, and Reagan's image suffered as a result of Iran-Contra, his popularity rebounded. In 1989 he left office with the highest approval rating of any president since Franklin Roosevelt. I interpret this to mean that the American public approved of the effort against another American Left supported dictator and showed it.

Later on, criminal convictions resulted, including those of McFarlane, North, and Poindexter, but North's and Poindexter's were vacated on appeal because of immunity agreements with the Senate concerning their testimony. Former State Dept. and CIA officials pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information about the contra aid from Congress, and Caspar Weinberger, defense secretary under Reagan, was charged (1992) with the same offense. In 1992 then-president Bush pardoned Weinberger and other officials who had been indicted or convicted for withholding information on or obstructing investigation of the affair. It is general consensus that Weinberger was railroaded.

Whether you think this is a big deal about nothing other than going after the Communists in Central America, criminal activity on the part of a U.S. president who belongs in jail, or a Communist suporting Democratic Left that was furious that their Communist pal was under attack, the facts remain that nobody went anywhere, except for Ortega who went out of office in 2002. Reagan's poll numbers dived more than 20 points in three weeks and it took quite a while for them to recover to new highs. People now shrug their shoulders and shake their heads over this obvious violation of the law by a President who in every other respect was one of the most ethical ever. Many think that this was when he showed "he was losing it", but we will never really know. The fact that Bush I pardoned everyone seems to speak that the Iran-Contra Affair happened and that Reagan was involved. This is the only albatross the Left can hang around Reagan's Administration and they do all they can to "keep it alive" while covering up the human rights record of one more Communist government that they did everything in their power to prop up.

As a side observation: Nobody in the Reagan Administration knew how to deal with politics in the Middle East either. Had they known they would never have tried to deal with "moderates" in Iran. Nothing means anything to anyone over there and the Iranians almost succeeded in bringing Reagan down.

Sandanista acts: What the American Left Approved and Reagan opposed after the Sandanistas took over:

A "weak" judiciary continued to hamper prosecution of human rights abusers.
Discrimination against women is a "problem".
Violence against women and children, including domestic abuse and rape, remained a "problem". (If women are victimized by communists it's OK on the American Left)
Discrimination against "indigenous people" (the Indians are being totally screwed) is a "problem".
Child labor also remained a "problem".
Trafficking for forced labor and trafficking in women and girls for the purpose of forced prostitution is a "problem".
FSLN (Sandanista)leaders continued to threaten, in speeches and public statements, the use of violence for political ends.
Judges' political sympathies or acceptance of bribes reportedly often influenced judicial actions and findings.

Bad boy Ronnie. Bad boy. Oh, and biggest Sandanista supporter in U.S. Senate? John Kerry.