Tower Commission

The Commission report described its purpose in the following way: Because of its limited mandate, the Commission had no powers to subpoena documents, compel testimony, or grant immunity from prosecution. Over the course of several weeks, the Commission took testimony from 86 witnesses, and was able to retrieve backup copies from an NSC mainframe of some files which NSC staff had sought to delete. There was some debate about whether to publish the Commission's detailed chronology of events, but with the removal of some details of sourcing, methods and names of contacts, it was ultimately published as an annex to the Commission's report. ==Report==

(center) receives the Tower Commission Report regarding the Iran-Contra affair in the Cabinet Room with John Tower (left) and Edmund Muskie (right) Issued on February 26, 1987, the commission's report "held Reagan accountable for a lax managerial style and aloofness from policy detail." Oliver North, John Poindexter, Caspar Weinberger, and others were also implicated. Summarised, the main findings showed that "Using the Contras as a front, and against international law, and US law, weapons were sold, using Israel as intermediaries, to Iran, during the brutal Iran–Iraq War. The US was also supplying weapons to Iraq, including ingredients for nerve gas, mustard gas and other chemical weapons." Appendix B of the report opens with the line attributed to Juvenal, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" ("Who watches the watchmen?"). ==Responses==

President Ronald Reagan issued a primetime address on March 4, 1987, addressing the report's conclusions. Some individuals named in the report complained about how they were portrayed. ==References==