"|40px|Get-back-world-respect]]]]  

 == Wording == 

 ""...the Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the leftist, Soviet aligned, and democratically-elected Sandinista government of Nicaragua."" 

 versus 

 ""...the Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the leftist and democratically-elected Sandinista government of Nicaragua."" 

 The Sandinistas were not orthodox Marxist-Leninists, and should not be referred to as communists in the Cold War context. However, to merely refer to them as a leftist democratically elected government would be putting them on the same level as France under Mitterrand, which would make us think that the Reagan administration planned on invading France next. The Sadinista government received large sums of Soviet and Cuban aid, and this alignment should be made clear. The Contras and Reagan administration's desire to undermine and overthrow the Sandinista government needs to be put into context. There is a world of difference between the ""leftist"" middle class, election oriented Parti Socialiste under François Mitterrand and the ""leftist"" armed peasant revolutionary Sandinista movement under Daniel Oretega - a difference that should be noted, because even though the Sandinista government was democratically legitimate, they acted like typical Soviet-client guerillas.  

 If you feel US backed dictatorships or democracies should be noted as such, please be bold and add them.    

 :First, in our own article on the Sandinistas, there is no support for your assertion they received ""large sums of Soviet and Cuban aid"". Second,  do you really think it would be widely accepted if we were to start referring to countries like Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia as ""US clients"" or ""US satellites""?    

 :I agree with the first statement.  They were Soviet Aligned.  Moscow was supporting them even if they weren't strict marxists.  

 :::The label ""Soviet aligned"" is inherently not neutral. What makes a country ""aligned""? Why should such a label be used, and in which circumstances would it be helpful to characterize current or former governments as ""aligned"" to others? Is Israel US-aligned? Was Pinochet's Chile? The government that followed the Sandinistas? We certainly cannot want such debates about dozens of articles. If there is an issue it should be specified like ""received large amounts of foreign or military aid"" or so.   

 - 
 I changed ""freaking United States"" to ""United States.""   

 == 2 cents == 

 Don't mean to but in on this argument. I just thought I would give an independent frame of reference. I admittedly don't know as much about this topic as it seems most of the people writing here do (hence my reading the article in the first place), but I felt that the argument was very informative and didn't feel that it was particularly skewed towards the left or right. I feel much more editing may be splitting hairs. This being said, I'm glad that there is a forum like this for the discussion and improvement of articles. Take this all as you will. 

 == Documentation == 

 I am having trouble finding a copy of Ollie North's testimony before Congress (as depicted in the magazine cover on the page) online. Who wants to hunt with it along with other documentation of the congressional investigation? 
 

 == Cocaine == 

 Should there be any mention of the Dark Alliances/Gary Webb contra cocaine connection? 

 -G 

 Yes there should.... I'm amazed that it wasn't even brought up in passing.  I understand that in the US it is still controversial and considered a ""conspiracy theory,"" but it is (or should be) very much a part of the discussion everywhere else in the world. 
 -AC 

 Why is it not even mentioned? -km 

 :no it should not be mentioned. while it is relevant to the Contras, it is not relevant to Iran-Contra (and the latter took place in the late '80s, the cocaine scandal only came out in the mid-'90s.) btw, good job with the identical sig styles.   

 ==Removing irrelevant information== 
 I removed the paragraph about the Nicaraguan economy, which belongs in articles such as History of Nicaragua and Sandinista National Liberation Front but is not directly related to the Iran-Contra Affair. Similarly, the ICJ ruling came out of opposition to the U.S. funding the Contras ''at