| During Reagan's tenure, the Democratic-controlled Congress enacted a series of legislative amendments between 1982 to 1984, which came to known as the Boland Amendments, prohibiting the Defense Department, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or any other government agency from providing military aid to the right wing contra guerrillas in Nicaragua. The Contras were armed opponents of Nicaragua's then leftist ruling party Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction. The Reagan administration was a supporter of the Contra cause and used the National Security Council (NSC) to covertly provide military aid and funds to the contras. NSC staffers Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, Robert McFarlane and John Poindexter played crucial roles in raising private and foreign funds for the contras. From 1982, Americans were being systematically kidnapped and taken hostage by the Lebanese Shia Islamist group, Hezbollah, who were terrorists, loyal to Iran's leader Ayatollah Khomeini. An Israeli official suggested to the Reagan administration that a transfer of arms as a means to secure the release of the hostages could be looked into. It was believed that Reagan secretly gave presidential authorization, for an arms-for-hostages deal with Iran which was locked in a war with Iraq. The plan was simple, Israel would sell the weapons to Iran and get reimbursed by the United States, as the US was the major weapon supplier for Israel. The millions of dollars earned from these weapons sales were ... |
