Iran-Contra Scandal

ON OCTOBER 5, 1986, a U.S. cargo plane was shot down over Nicaragua. Surviving crew member, Eugene Hasenfus, was captured by the Sandinistas, the pro-socialist government forces. Hasenfus's capture began the cover-up that would culminate in one of the most important scandals in American history. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),[Page 446] working with Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council (NSC), had setup a network of arms dealers, former military officers, foreign businessmen, retired CIA and Defense Department personnel, mercenaries, terrorists, and foreign saboteurs to sell missiles to Iran. These sales were designed to win release of U.S. hostages being held in Lebanon and divert the profits of the arms sales to Nicaraguan Contras, the anti-government forces supported by the Ronald Reagan administration. The ...