Reagan’s Sale of Arms to the Middle East
Labeled the Intra-Contra Affair, this mistake began with Reagan’s over-zealous desire to rid the world of Communism. With an extremely strong support for the Cuban Sandinistas and their allies, the Contras, he fought against Communism by directly providing arms to insurgents. It’s not difficult to understand what makes this a mistake–it’s almost never a good idea to put weapons into the hands of those who will most likely misuse them.
The biggest issue occurred when Iran requested to receive arms, too. Much of this was done in secret, as an embargo was in place to prevent the sale of arms to any Iranian. In a misguided effort to bring home American hostages being held in Iran, he handed over weapons which were eventually used against them. The sales were later publicized and Reagan’s covert sales were exposed, forever changing public opinion of him.
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