The United States has had a long-standing policy of never negotiating or paying ransom to have American hostages freed. However, in 1985, President Ronald Reagan appeared to have gone contrary to the long-standing policy of not paying ransom or not negotiating with hostage takers (Bose, 2015). In the case provided in the article titled ‘The Iran-Contra Affair’, there were two specific cases of corruption and questionable moral conduct (The American Experience, 2013). First, the American President seemed to have gone against the provision of not negotiating with hostage takers. Apparently, questions were raised regarding the way President Reagan accepted his administration to sell weapons to Iran so that the Iranian authorities could release the American hostages it had held for quite a prolonged duration of time. Secondly, an inquiry commission set up to investigate the dealings found out that only $12 million of the $30 million that Iran paid to buy the agreed weapons reached government accounts.
The corruption scandal was revealed first by a Lebanese newspaper, Al-Sharia, which alleged that the American authorities had engaged in negotiation and payments that could pass for ransom to free American hostages. Further, a commission set up to investigate the dealings revealed more worrying details regarding the dubious transaction that the Reagan administration had transacted with the Iranian authorities. The effect of the revelations was a public outcry that demonstrated a lack of confidence in the Reagan administration from the public. In fact, a poll conducted at the time showed that only 14% of the entire American nation believed that Reagan did not pay ransom to Iranian authorities to have American hostages released.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The Iranian-Contra case reveals that the Reagan administration failed in the checks and balances aimed at enhancing transparency. The finding that several millions of dollars could not be accounted for raised many questions regarding the levels of corruption in the American government. Additionally, the notion that America paid ransom to have its citizens freed raises questions concerning the safety of Americans and the motivation for criminal groups to take more Americans hostage with the expectation of ransom from American authorities. The Media is supposed to enhance the checks and balances and the transparency in all governmental and public dealings. As such, the media played a significant role in revealing the failures in the transactions.
The case has long-lasting implications for the foreign relations of the United States. The United States needs to do more to ensure that never again should the American public raise issues regarding the government paying ransom to foreign or local hostage takers (Dolnik & Fitzgerald, 2011). The American government needs to enforce a strict version of the policy of never negotiating with hostage takers and enhance the security of all Americans.
References
Bose, M. (2015). Iran-Contra: Reagan's Scandal and the Unchecked Abuse of Presidential Power. J. Am. Hist. , 102 (2), 629-630. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jav430
Dolnik, A. & Fitzgerald, K. (2011). Negotiating Hostage Crises with the New Terrorists. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism , 34 (4), 267-294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1057610x.2011.551718
The American Experience,(2013). WGBH American Experience. Reagan | PBS . American Experience . Retrieved 29 August 2016, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/reagan-iran/
