Neogiating with terrorists...

President Ronald Reagen covertly approved of the sale of American-made BGM-71 TOW (Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided) anti-tank missiles to Iran in exchange for 9 hostages held in Lebanon. One hostage was released.

After a botched delivery of HAWK missiles, and a disastrous London meeting between Robert McFarlane and Iranian arms broker Ghorbanifar (at which Ghorbanifar threatened his American interlocutor by saying that there would be "fire back on your interests"), Arrow Air Flight 1285, a plane containing nearly 250 American servicemen, crashed in Newfoundland on December 12, 1985. On the day of the crash, responsibility was claimed by Islamic Jihad.

Robert McFarlane resigned in December 1985. He was replaced by Admiral John Poindexter (recently a member of the Bush Administration). On the day of McFarlane's resignation, Oliver North(A FOX NEWS contributor), a military aide to the United States National Security Council (NSC), proposed a new plan for selling arms to Iran. This time, there were two new ideas. Instead of selling arms through Israel, the sale was to be direct. Second, the proceeds from the sale would go to the Contras at a markup. Oliver North wanted a $15 million markup, while contracted Iranian arms broker Manucher Ghorbanifar added a 41% markup of his own. Other members of the NSC were in favor of North's plan. John Poindexter authorized the plan, and it went into effect.

At first, the Iranians refused to buy the arms at the inflated price because of the excessive markup imposed by North and Ghorbanifar. In February 1986, 1000 TOW missiles were shipped to Iran. From May to November 1986, there were additional shipments of miscellaneous weapons and parts.

In September of 1985 1 more hostage was released. Then 3 more Americans were taken to replace him.

So what happened to the money from the sale of all those missiles to Iran? The money funded insurgents in Nicaragua. A paramilitary organization that the people of the United States had forbidden the executive to help.

After the Press had done its job, and Congress begrudgingly limped along the facts came out.

Domestically, the scandal tarnished President Reagan's popularity as his approval ratings saw "the largest single drop for any U.S. president in history", from 67% to 46% in November 1986, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll Reagan survived the scandal however and by December 1988 Gallup poll "recording a 63% approval rating."

The 250 US service personal are still dead. My fifth grade friend among them. Reagans botched backroom dealing with terrorists killed them. And his sending Marines to Beriut Lebanon got 256 of them blown up by a suicide bomber in the largest terrorist attack on Americans to that date. To get the bad guys back we shelled the hills outside the city from an old WWII battleship. They made big creators but didn't do much more. To me Reagan is a sham. His legacy is a sham. The Germans knocked down the Berlin wall, not Reagan. And the Russians took down the Communists not Reagan. His is a legacy of fraud.