Ronald Reagan Wasn’t the Good Guy President Anti-Trump Republicans Want You to Believe In

Iran Contra was the tail end of the support for the Contras. It started at the very beginning of the administration. Iran Contra began when the Boland Amendment prohibited intelligence funds going to the Contras, so control switched from the CIA to the NSC in 1984 and donations were saught from Saudi Arabia, Sun Myung Moon, etc

As the same time this ad-hoc operation was going on the government was also selling arms to Iran, and Ollie North thought it would be a "neat idea" if some of those profits were diverted to the Contras. Of the over 50 million dollars he made in selling and transporting arms General Richard Secord donated a little over 1 million, when he was asked about this in his Congressional testimony he replied that he was not running a charity.

Iran Contra kinda overshadows the fact the whole thing had been going on for years, it was just a new irregular source of funding.

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