To fully understand Iran-Contra, you must know the history behind it. Draper explains to us that the Iranian Revolution of 1978-1979 brought the fall of the tyrant Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and gave rise to Ayatollah Khomeini. Khomeini led the Shiite clerics, whose goal was to establish an Islamic state. In July 1979, the Nicaraguan Revolution overthrew the dictator Somoza and replaced the dynasty with the Sandinistas. The Sandinistas were a communist regime that sought allies with Castro and the Soviet Union. Khomeini and Sandinista had different views, both had one important thing in common; they came to power by defeating United States

Iran-Contra was a perfect example of abused power. The Reagan administration had good intentions to stop the communism in Nicaragua, but when Congress shut them down, they should have stopped. Because of their actions, many people were killed. They had no right to take this matter into their own hands. The depth of the deception in Iran-Contra is proved when not a single person involved in it was sent to prison, and aid to Contras was later approved. The integrity of our leaders has been there, but their actions do not follow. Let us hope that this does not happen again. Just as the Philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

The Iranian end of the affair started with a series of clashes between the Islamic regime and the US, which lead to the capture of the American Embassy and hostages in Teheran. After "a long and bloody stalemate"(Walsh 311), the Reagan administration backed by National Security Advisor McFarlene decided to trade arms for hostages. But, the catch in the plan was that the same NSC operatives - McFarlene, PoinDexter, and Lt. Col. Oliver North - had the responsibilities of both the Iran dealings and the ongoing shipment to the Contras. They decided to overcharge the Iranians in order to provide funds to the Contras. This made it almost inevitable that something would go wrong, and it did. The arms deal was soon found out and it was made the center of media attention. Ignoring this warning, McFarlene and North traveled to Teheran personally to deliver missiles and talk to Iranian officials. North even brought Iranians into the White House secretly at night to discuss the situation. ("Iran-Contra")

Reagan called together a small planning staff to "keep the Contras together, body and soul" regardless of the legislation. Detailed to the NSC from the marines, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was given the responsibility to establish a secret network to arm the Contras. Dozens of former CIA and retired military personnel were recruited to train the Contras and fly weapons into Central America. At first, American capitalists supplied much of the financing, but as the operation became more complex, money came from American allies who saw this as a "gesture to build goodwill in Washington" (Walsh 47). Th

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1545
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)