Iran-Contra scandal (Gates)

 
Robert M. Gates., Duty: memoirs of a secretary at war, 2014

pp.178-179
  1980 also saw the beginning of an 8-year war between Iraq and Iran, which began in September with an attack by the Iraqis.  The U.S. approach during the Reagan administration was ruthlessly realistic ── we did not want either side to win an outright victory; at one time or another we provided modest covert support to both sides.  This effort went off the rails with the clandestine sale of antitank missiles to the Iranians, with the profit secretly being funneled to help the anti-Communist Contra movement in Nicaragua.  This was the essence of the Iran-Contra scandal, which broke publicly in November 1986, 

  (Duty: memoirs of a secretary at war / by Robert M. Gates., 1. gates, robert michael, 1943─, 2. united states. department of defense──officials and employees──biography., 3. cabinet officers──united states──biography., 4. iraq war, 2003-2011──personal narratives.,  5. afghan war, 2001──personal narratives, American., 6. war on terrorism, 2001-2009──personal narratives, American.,  7. united states──military policy──decision making., 8. civil-military reations──united states──history──21 century., 9. united states──politics and government──2001-2009., 10. united states──politics and government──2009-, E897.4P48B76  2012, 355.6092──dc23, 2014, )
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