Commission (Encyclopedia Britannica, Britannica.com, 2000). This committee collected more than 300,000 documents, conducted 500 investigations and depositions, and listened to 28 witnesses in 40 days of public hearings. In November 1987 the Towner Commission reported that President Reagan took the ultimate responsibility for the administrations actions but they found no evidence that he knew of the diversions of funds to the contras. An independent prosecutor, Lawrence Walsh, published a report on the investigation of the Iran Contra Affair. Walsh's findings showed that there was absolutely no evidence that President Reagan had broke the law in any way, but he did conclude that Reagan may have participated in or knew about a cover up operation that took place. Involvement in the Middle East During Presidents Reagan's time in office, he dealt with a lot of problems in the Middle East. Several of these times Reagan had to send troops to the aid of the people. In the early 1980's a conflict broke out between a Muslim group and the Christian government. In 1982 Reagan sent U.S. marines to the Middle East in hopes to help improve the strength of the Christian government. In late 1983 a bomb exploded at the Beirut headquarters that killed around 250 marines and other American servicemen (Lou Cannon, 1991, 389-93). After this incident President Reagan withdrew American troops from Lebanon, which left their government in a bad situation. The bombing that took place at the Beirut headquarters outraged the American citizens and this sparked a strong reaction against any terrorists in the U.S., especially the Middle East based groups. In 1986 several American soldiers were killed in a bombing that took place in a West German dance club. After the extensive investigation the United States concluded that Libya was responsible for the bombing and other terrorists activities that were taking place in that area during the same time. President R...
