Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0100/01005.txt

Text File | 1993-07-27 | 6KB | 128 lines

$Unique_ID{bob01005}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Iran-Contra Affair: The Report
Preface: Origins of this Report}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Various}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{committees
report
arms
iran
affair
government
administration
congress
investigation
iran-contra}
$Date{1987}
$Log{}
Title:       Iran-Contra Affair: The Report
Author:      Various
Date:        1987

Preface: Origins of this Report

Overview of The Iran-Contra Affair:  The Report

     The complete report of the Congressional Committees investigating the
Iran-Contra Affair consists of three parts: The Report; The Minority Report;
and Supplemental and Additional Views.  The Report includes the findings,
conclusions and recommendations that came out of these investigations.

     On November 3, 1986, Al-Shiraa, a Lebanese weekly, reported that the
United States had secretly sold arms to Iran.  Subsequent reports claimed that
the purpose of the sales was to win the release of American hostages in
Lebanon.  These reports seemed unbelievable:  Few principles of U.S. policy
were stated more forcefully by the Reagan Administration than refusing to
traffic with terrorists or sell arms to the Government of the Ayatollah
Khomeini of Iran.

     Although the Administration initially denied the reports, by mid-November
it was clear that the accounts were true.  The United States had sold arms to
Iran and had hoped thereby to gain the release of American hostages in
Lebanon.  However, even though the Iranians received the arms, just as many
Americans remained hostage as before.  Three had been freed, but three more
had been taken during the period of the sales.

     There was still another revelation to come: on November 25 the Attorney
General announced that proceeds from the Iran arms sales had been "diverted"
to the Nicaraguan resistance at a time when U.S. military aid to the Contras
was prohibited.

     Iran and Nicaragua - twin thorns of U.S. foreign policy in the 1980's -
were thus linked in a credibility crisis that raised serious questions about
the adherence of the Administration to the Constitutional processes of
Government.

     The public and Members of Congress expressed deep concern over the
propriety and legality of actions by the staff of the National Security
Council (NSC) and other officers of the Government regarding both the arms
sales and the secret assistance to the Contras.

     The issue of U.S. support for the Contras was not new.  The President and
Congress had engaged in vigorous debate over the proper course of U.S. policy,
and Congress had barred U.S. support of Contra military operations for almost
2 years.  Subsequently, senior Administration officials had assured Committees
of Congress repeatedly that the Administration was abiding by the law.

     The Iran-Contra Affair, as it came to be known, carried such serious
implications for U.S. foreign policy, and for the rule of law in a democracy,
that the 100th Congress determined to undertake its own investigation of the
Affair.

     The inquiry formally began on January 6, 1987, when the Senate, by 5.
Res. 23, established the Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to
Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition.  The next day, the House, by H. Res. 12,
established the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with
I ran.  The two Chambers charged their respective Committees with
investigating four major areas: arms sales to Iran, the possible diversion of
funds to aid the Contras, violations of Federal law, and the involvement of
the NSC staff in the conduct of foreign policy.

     The two Committees took the unprecedented step of merging their
investigations and hearings and sharing all the information they obtained. The
staffs of the two Committees worked together in reviewing more than 300,000
documents and interviewing or examining more than 500 witnesses.  The
Committees held 40 days of joint public hearings and several executive
sessions.  The two Committees then decided to combine their findings in a
joint Report.

     The conclusions in this Report are based on a record marred by
inconsistent testimony and failure on the part of several witnesses to recall
key matters and events.  Moreover, a key witness - Director of Central
Intelligence William J. Casey - died, and members of the NSC staff shredded
relevant contemporaneous documents in the fall of 1986.  Consequently,
objective evidence that could have resolved the inconsistencies and overcome
the failures of memory was denied to the Committees - and to history.

     Under the American system, Government is accountable to the people.  A
public bipartisan investigation such as this one helps to ensure that the
principle of accountability is enforced for all officials and policies.  It
strengthens the national commitment to the democratic values that have guided
the United States for two centuries.

     The President cooperated with the investigation.  He did not assert
executive privilege; he instructed all relevant agencies to produce their
documents and witnesses; and he made extracts available from his personal
diaries, although he rejected the Committees' request to refer to those
entries in this Report on the ground that he did not wish to establish a
precedent for future Presidents.

     The Committees also received unprecedented cooperation from a sovereign
nation, the State of Israel.  Although not willing to allow its officials to
be examined, the Government of Israel assembled and furnished the Committees
with extensive materials and information, including information affecting its
national security.

     The Committees' investigation of the Iran-Contra Affair is not the first,
following as it does the findings of the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence and the President's Special Review Board (known as the Tower
Board); nor will it be the last, for the investigation of the Independent
Counsel assigned to this matter continues.

     But the Committees hope this Report will make a contribution by helping
to explain what happened in the Iran-Contra Affair, and by helping to restore
the public's confidence in this Nation's Constitutional system of Government.