Word: nicaragua
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...other matters that Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese went on to disclose. America's secret sale of arms to Iran, distressing enough to begin with, had turned into an outright scandal: much of the money Iran paid for the weapons had been diverted to the contras in Nicaragua. There was every indication that laws had been broken. Heads were starting to roll: Reagan had accepted the resignation of National Security Adviser John Poindexter, the fourth departure from that critical post ( in six years, and fired Marine Lieut. Colonel Oliver North, Poindexter's subordinate in the National Security Council. Perhaps...
...Watergate era. That little secret everyone shared about the President -- that he is oblivious to the nuances of his policies, out of touch with the daily operation of Government and blithely detached from distracting bits of fact -- has begun to seem, in the wake of Iceland and Iran and Nicaragua, to be far more dangerous than bemusing...
...Pentagon. But anywhere from $10 million to $30 million went into numbered accounts that Meese said were "under the control of representatives" of the contras. Presumably, the money was used to purchase weapons that the rebels need to wage their guerrilla war against the Marxist Sandinista government of Nicaragua. North was, according to Meese, the "only person in the United States Government" who knew precisely of the money transfer. Poindexter knew vaguely about the transactions, and McFarlane learned something about them while pursuing diplomatic contacts with Iran as a special presidential emissary after he had resigned from...
...potential casualty of the revelations last week is the goal that the bizarre scheme was intended to further: keeping alive the contra struggle, which after five years of stop-and-go funding has yet to seriously threaten the existence of the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. The President's fervent support for the contra cause is the most visible manifestation of what has been called the Reagan Doctrine, America's attempt to counter the spread of Communism by fostering insurgencies to undermine Moscow-backed regimes. After a long struggle, Reagan squeezed out a narrow victory this May by persuading Congress...
...again as a kind of punishment to North and those in the Administration who failed to monitor his activities. Says Minnesota Senator David Durenberger, a Republican and reluctant contra supporter: "It's going to be a cold day in Washington before any more money goes to Nicaragua. Ollie may have killed off his Nicaraguan program." Such a reaction has little logic. There are valid arguments for and against helping the anti-Sandinista guerrillas, but the issue should be debated on its merits rather than being made a kind of extralegal, and ineffective, penalty against...