Subscribers can listen to the audio of this post here.
President Reagan was shot in 1981 and it kind of fucked him up. So, asking the question “Was he aware?” regarding the Iran-Contra scandal that began four years later isn’t really fair when I’m not sure he was even aware that he was president at the time. I jest. Maybe.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: November 6, 1986--
What the fuck was Iran-Contra? I’m not sure most people who lived through it can describe the convoluted shenanigans, so let’s break it down.
It began in the summer of 1985. Despite the Reagan government having a “we don’t negotiate with terrorists” policy, they totally negotiated with terrorists. There was an arms embargo against Iran, because militant theocracy, which was currently bogged down in a brutal war with Iraq. Iran is mostly Shia Muslim, and at this time there were seven American hostages being held in Lebanon by the Shia group Hezbollah. What happened was the Americans sold weapons to Iran, in violation of the embargo, and then Iran agreed to use its influence to get the Hezbollah in Lebanon to release their hostages.
But wait, there’s more!
At the time, there was a socialist government in Nicaragua, and if you’re a Republican the word “socialism” gives you twisted knickers. As was really fucking common, the Americans decided to give money to some far-right fucksticks to overthrow the government. Said terrorist fucksticks were called the “Contras,” which was short for la contrarrevolución. As the name implies, it was a “Fuck your revolution” revolution. Well, technically a rebellion, because they failed. It’s only a “revolution” when you win.
Anyway, the U.S. had been sending money to the Contras for a while, but then there was this thing called the Boland Amendment that said they couldn’t do that anymore. And so, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North comes in and takes some of the money gained by selling arms (illegally) to Iran and gives it (illegally) to the Contras. They took the money made from negotiating with terrorists to give it to some other terrorists.
Early November in 1986 a Lebanese magazine revealed the dirty details of how the U.S. was selling arms to Iran in violation of the embargo. Three days later, on November 6, 1986, the U.S. intelligence services owned up, saying yeah, we did that shit. And then it was all over the news.
Reagan denied knowing anything. A whole bunch of people were indicted in the ensuing scandal, but when Reagan’s VP George H.W. Bush became president he went on a pardon-o-rama. Oliver North was convicted but this was overturned on appeal.
Later, there were accusations the CIA was directly involved in dealing cocaine as part of financing such shenanigans, but that’s probably not true. More likely is that they knew the Contras were dealing drugs to help finance the conflict, but the CIA conveniently ignored such illegal activity by their allies.
Subscribe for access to cool shit:
VOLUME II ON SALE NOW! Get Volumes I and II of ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY SH!T WENT DOWN
I remember watching the hearings with my mom. Ol' Ollie was lauded a "hero" by some for testifying and I remember seeing bumper stickers that said "Oliver North for President".
🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 What a fucking joke! 🙄🤭
Republican leadership has been corrupt AF for a long, long time. Nixon never had to really pay for Watergate. Reagan got a pass on this. WBush's regime committed literal war crimes. Are we really surprised that Republicans are kissing Trump's ass?
And, yes, to be fair: Clinton was a slime, and the fact that neither the Democratic leadership nor most progressives generally held him to account is part of the reason we're in the mess we're in now.