View source for Congressional committees investigating the Iran–Contra affair

{{Infobox organization
|name           = House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran /<br />Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition
|purpose        = To investigate the [[Iran–Contra affair]]
|location       = [[Washington, D.C.]]
|leader_title   = Chair (Senate)
|leader_name    = Sen. [[Daniel Inouye]] (D-HI)
|leader_title2  = Chair (House)
|leader_name2   = Rep. [[Lee H. Hamilton]] (D-Ind)
|parent_organization = [[United States House of Representatives]] / [[United States Senate]]
}}
The [[United States House of Representatives]] and the [[United States Senate]] formed committees in January 1987 to investigate the [[Iran–Contra affair]]. The committees held [[Joint Committee of the United States Congress|joint hearings]] and issued a joint report. The hearings ran from 5 May 1987 to 6 August 1987, and the report was published in November, with a dissenting Minority Report  signed by six Republican Congressmen and two Republican Senators.<ref name=minority>Brown University, [http://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/h-thereport.php "The Minority Report"]</ref>
==Process==
The Committees were constituted in January 1987, and agreed on a deadline for the investigation of August 7, when Congress was due to adjourn, with several more months to prepare the final report.<ref name=Hersh>[[Seymour Hersh]], [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/29/magazine/the-iran-contra-committees-did-they-protect-reagan.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm The Iran-Contra Committees: Did They Protect Reagan?"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 29 April 1990.</ref> According to a participant in the meetings, the Senate committee decided early on not to pursue the President, not only because he was too old and lacked the mental ability to fully understand what happened, and had too little time left in office, but because the Senators "honestly thought that the country didn't need another [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]]. They were urgently hoping to avoid a crisis."<ref name=Hersh />
The hearings ran from 5 May 1987 to 6 August 1987.<ref>Brown University, [http://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/timeline-hearings.php Hearings Timeline ]</ref> During the hearings Rep. [[Henry Hyde]] defended [[Oliver North]] and [[John Poindexter]] lying to Congress.<ref name=Hyde>{{Cite news|work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-dec-04-mn-50567-story.html|title=Hyde View on Lying Is Back Haunting Him|author=David G. Savage|date=1998-12-04}}</ref>
Two protesters entered the proceedings protesting alleged US involvement in funding drug running in Nicaragua. These two were expelled before being handed harsh punishments of a year or more.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-07-10-mn-1966-story.html|title=Archives|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=10 July 1987 }}</ref>
During Congress' initial hearings in late 1986, before the committees were constituted, North assisted in preparation of a misleading chronology of the Iran-Contra affair.  Another member of the NSC presented the chronology to Congress.  A jury convicted North of aiding and abetting obstruction of Congress.  The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that he could be convicted for obstructing an investigation that had not formally begun, but reversed his conviction because his testimony before the committees had been used against him in violation of [[Witness immunity|use immunity]].<ref name="dc">{{cite court|litigants=U.S. v. North|vol=910|reporter=F.2d|opinion=843|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/910/843/463467/|court=D.C. Cir.}}</ref>
==Membership==
{| class=wikitable
!
!Majority
!Minority
|-
!Senate members
|valign="top" {{party shading/Democratic}}|
*[[Daniel Inouye]], Hawaii, ''Chair''
*[[George J. Mitchell|George Mitchell]], Maine
*[[Sam Nunn]], Georgia
*[[Paul Sarbanes]], Maryland
*[[Howell Heflin]], Alabama
*[[David Boren]], Oklahoma
|valign="top" {{party shading/Republican}}|
*[[Warren Rudman]], New Hampshire, ''Vice Chair''
*[[James A. McClure|Jim McClure]], Idaho
*[[Orrin Hatch]], Utah
*[[William Cohen|Bill Cohen]], Maine
*[[Paul Trible]] Virginia
|-
!House members
|valign="top" {{party shading/Democratic}}|
*[[Lee H. Hamilton|Lee Hamilton]], Indiana, ''Chair''
*[[Dante Fascell]], Florida, ''Vice Chair''
*[[Tom Foley]], Washington
*[[Peter W. Rodino|Peter Rodino]], New Jersey
*[[Jack Brooks (American politician)|Jack Brooks]], Texas
*[[Les Aspin]], Wisconsin
*[[Edward Boland|Ed Boland]], Massachusetts
*[[Ed Jenkins (U.S. politician)|Ed Jenkins]], Georgia
*[[Louis Stokes]], Ohio
|valign="top" {{party shading/Republican}}|
*[[Dick Cheney]], Wyoming, ''Ranking Member''
*[[William Broomfield]], Michigan
*[[Henry Hyde]], Illinois
*[[Jim Courter]], New Jersey
*[[Bill McCollum]], Florida
*[[Mike DeWine]], Ohio
|}
==Findings==
===Majority Report===
The Majority Report concluded that the "NSC staff turned to private parties and third countries to do the Government's business. Funds denied by Congress were obtained by the Administration from third countries and private citizens. Activities normally conducted by the professional intelligence services—which are accountable to Congress—were turned over to <nowiki>[</nowiki>retired Gen. Richard [[Richard Secord|<nowiki>]</nowiki> Secord]] and [[Albert Hakim|[Albert] Hakim]]".<ref>Brown University, [http://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/h-themajorityreport.php The Majority Report]</ref>
===Minority Report===
The Minority Report blamed conflict between executive and legislature over foreign policy: "Congressional Democrats tried to use vaguely worded and constantly changing laws to impose policies in Central America that went well beyond the law itself. For its own part, the Administration decided to work within the letter of the law covertly, instead of forcing a public and principled confrontation that would have been healthier in the long run."<ref name=minority/> Rep. [[Henry Hyde]], one of the signatories to the Minority Report, wrote that "All of us at some time confront conflicts between rights and duties, between choices that are evil and less evil, and one hardly exhausts moral imagination by labeling every untruth and every deception an outrage."<ref name=Hyde/>
==Aftermath==
{{see also|Iran–Contra affair#Indictments}}
[[Richard Secord]] was later tried for false testimony to the Committees.
In 1989 the [[Senate Intelligence Committee]] investigated why documents appearing at the trial of [[Oliver North]] had not been submitted to the Committees.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/21/us/bush-doubts-reagan-white-house-meant-to-conceal-iran-contra-papers.html "Bush Doubts Reagan White House Meant to Conceal Iran-Contra Papers"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 21 April 1989</ref> It concluded the non-submission was not intentional.<ref>[http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/pdfs101st/10144.pdf "Were Relevant Documents Withheld from the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104071147/http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/pdfs101st/10144.pdf |date=2013-11-04}}, [[Senate Intelligence Committee]], June 1989</ref>
In 1991 [[Lawrence Walsh]]'s investigation found papers had been withheld from the Congressional committees. This led to indictments for coverup-related offenses against Defense Secretary [[Caspar Weinberger]], CIA clandestine services chief [[Clair George]], and CIA European Division Chief [[Duane Clarridge]]. George was convicted in late 1992; the trials of Weinberger and Clarridge, due in early 1993, were halted after the outgoing President [[George H.&nbsp;W. Bush]] pardoned all those involved.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/28/AR2006032800858.html |title=Bush Pardons Weinberger in Iran-Contra Affair |first=Walter |last=Pincus |date=December 25, 1992 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://archive.org/stream/reportofcongress87unit#page/n7/mode/2up Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating The Iran-Contra Affair], Washington, 1987
*[http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/view?brand=general&docId=VAA2020&chunk.id=VAA2020-10233&startDoc=1 Lee Hamilton Congressional Papers, 1965-1998]
*[[Lee H. Hamilton]], ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'', 3 December 1987, [http://www.csmonitor.com/1987/1203/eaffair.html After Iran-contra: lessons for the US]
*{{Internet Archive short film | IranContraInvestigationDay1 | Iran Contra Investigation - Day 1 }}
*[http://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/documents.php Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs: Documents], [[Brown University]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Congressional committees investigating the Iran-Contra Affair}}
[[Category:Iran–Contra affair]]