 So card number one, the Iran Contra hearings. I remember in the previous stream we talked about who this person was supposed to be. I think it was his lawyer, all these lawyer, let's read. The Joint Senate House Iran Contra hearings. Card number one, in the summer of 1987, select committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives held joint public hearings into the Iran Contra affair. In what could fairly be called a damage control operation? The committees focused their investigation on whether President Reagan knew that funds generated by the sale of missiles to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan Contra rebels at a time when Congress had forbidden government support for them and the question of where the profits from these sales actually went. The important question regarding the US waging a dirty and illegal war against Nicaragua, the CIA's conclusion with collusion with known drug traffickers and the involvement of Vice President George Bush and his staff were largely ignored. Scores of witnesses ranging from spies to cabinet officials gave rousing pro-contra speeches while committee members lobbed softball questions and occasionally gave pro-contra acolytes of their own. The star of the hearings was Oliver North, a charismatic Marine Lieutenant Colinell who wore an expression like a wounded hound and spoke in a voice trembling with patriotism. In spite of the inadequacies of the hearings, the American public got a glimpse of a secret government, a group made up of mostly retired CIA and military personnel who carried out foreign policy for the White House with no accountability to Congress or the public. It is this secret team and its connections to the White House that is the central focus of these cards. Iran Contra Scandal Trading Cards, Text Copyright 1988, Paul Brent Cato Art Copyright 1988, Salim Yookup, Eclipse Enterprises, P.O. Box 1099 Forestville, California 95436