note indicated that Oliver North had received a call from retired Air Force General Richard Secord, a fact that North noted on July 12, 1985. The conversation involved the discussion of a Honduran arms warehouse from which the Contras planned to purchase weapons. Money for the weapons came from U.S.-based funds through Saudi Arabia. Within the framework of his testimony, North admitted involvement with an Iranian middleman named Manucher Ghorbanifar, stating, "Mr. Ghorbanifar took me into the bathroom, and Mr. Ghorbanifar suggested several incentives to make that February transaction work. And the attractive incentive, for me, was the one he made that residuals could flow to support the Nicaraguan resistance." When asked why he took painstaking efforts to keep those facts from Congress, North responded, "We wanted to be able to deny a covert operation." Other information came to light, including the revealing of other principal figures in the scandal. North testified to a direct question by Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) regarding who the order came from, to which North responded that he collaborated with CIA director William Casey, national security advisor Robert McFarlane, and General Secord. The legacy of the Iran-Contra affair almost defeated the Reagan administration (much in the same way Watergate ruined Nixon) despite attempted cover-ups. Representative Jack Brooks (D) of Texas said, They systematically destroyed all of the documentation. Hours of shredding." Still, Oliver North was convicted on multiple felony counts. William Casey soon was out as director of the CIA, imploding both politically and physically as his health began to fail him. Bob Gates replaced him but only lasted five months. Gates later stated, "The clandestine service is the heart and soul of the agency. It is also the part that can land you in jail." 1988 In March 1988, Both the Sandinistas and the Contras signed a cease fire agreement due to the exhaustion of the conflict and the encouragement of the United States. On July 28, 1988, two DEA agents testified before the House Subcommittee on the crime regarding a sting operation that was conducted against the Medellin Cartel. The two agents stated that in 1985 Oliver North wanted to take $1.5 million in cartel bribe money to give to the Contras, but the DEA disregarded the idea. Some important terms of the cease-fire (which was set to last until May) included the release of 3,300 anti-Sandinista prisoners of war, the guarantee of