Word: contra
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Selling weapons to Iran was bad enough. Using the profits to arm the Nicaraguan contras was an outrage to many members of Congress, which had banned such aid. That transgression became the focal point of the summer-long investigation by a joint congressional committee. Once again, Reagan's statements were contradictory. On several occasions, he denied knowing how the contras obtained their illegal aid. Then he startled listeners by saying of private Nicaraguan funding "I've known what's going on there. As a matter of fact, for quite a long time now, a matter of years...
Among the other runners-up for Man of the Year would have to be the figure at the center of the Iran-contra scandal, though there was some uncertainty about who that might be. Rear Admiral John Poindexter, who had been forced to resign as the President's National Security Adviser, testified that he was in ^ charge of the operation and that he had decided, for Reagan's protection, not to tell the President all the details. But there were many in Congress who doubted that the cautious and rules-bound admiral would undertake such a risky venture...
January 1987. The Reagan Administration is in the throes of the Iran-contra scandal. National attention is focused on former National Security Council Aide Oliver North as a central figure in the political melodrama. But North isn't talking. The White House is on edge; no one knows what secrets North holds or whom he may implicate in the scandal. In this atmosphere of high anxiety, North's attorney, Brendan Sullivan, meets with Reagan's special counselor on Iranscam, David Abshire. Sullivan's objective: a presidential pardon for his client...
...IRAN-CONTRA HEARINGS For one summer week, TV viewers were transfixed by Ollie North, an earnest, gap-toothed Marine who zealously believed in what he did. And for nightly summaries, PBS's MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour was tops...
...details certainly sounded impressive. According to contra leaders, more than 4,000 U.S.-backed rebels crept for days through dense jungle to launch a fierce surprise attack on three mining towns in northeastern Nicaragua. In the hamlet of Siuna, the invaders routed 750 defenders, blew up an airfield and seized enough Soviet-made weapons to supply 1,000 troops. Their biggest coup was the destruction of a Soviet GCI radar unit that formed the heart of Sandinista air defenses for the region. Jubilant rebel leaders called the two- day assault the most successful offensive of the six-year civil...