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| “Like, they literally don’t believe a story that crazy could be true. In real life. Under Reagan.” |
(Today, The Washington Post)
…It was 1987.
Ronald Reagan was president and Oliver North, a staffer on the National Security Council, was taking the stand in a congressional inquiry into the Iran-contra affair, a multifaceted covert scheme in which profits from weapons sales to Iran were funnel under the table to right-wing rebels in Nicaragua who were fighting the country’s socialist government. One of the biggest political scandals of its day — and one that cast a negative pall over the Reagan administration — the scheme represented sharp violations of American law and policy.
. . .
North, a staunch conservative who has found a rebirth as a commentator on Fox News, is perhaps best known for his central role in the illicit arms deals. North was fired from his post as an aide on the National Security Council by Reagan shortly after the scandal spilled into public view in the news media in 1986 and began to widen. An amendment passed in Congress earlier in the decade had prohibited most government funds or military support from being given to the contra rebels.
North, who had helped carry out the schemes, was the most anticipated witness called to the Hill for a hearing hosted by a congressional inquiry into the affair.
. . .
He admitted that he had shredded key documents about the initiatives, but said he was doing what his superiors wanted, and disclosed that CIA Director William Casey had been aware of some of his activities. And he “openly admitted that he had lied to ‘unwitting’ Reagan administration officials, misled Congress and the public, falsified and destroyed official documents as part of a preconceived coverup plan designed to protect his superiors, and specifically the president. But he also implicated higher-ups with his repeated assertions that all of his actions had been approved by higher authority,” the Post reported.
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“When I teach the Iran Contra Affair and Oliver North to intro IR students, they stare at me in total disbelief,” Colby College political scientist Laura Seay wrote on Twitter. “Like, they literally don’t believe a story that crazy could be true. In real life. Under Reagan.”
(LA Times, September 21, 1996 - MICHAEL GRANBERRY)
After two standing ovations, numerous autographs, dozens of flashbulbs popping in his face and countless displays of spontaneous applause Friday, former Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North was ready to field his first question.
The young man approached the microphone in the brightly lit Saddleback College gym and wanted to know about a recent newspaper series. Was what he had read in the San Jose Mercury News really true, the man asked:
Did a connection exist between the Nicaraguan Contras whom North once supported and drug dealers in South-Central Los Angeles, who allegedly helped fund the Contras with proceeds from the sale of crack cocaine?
For the first time all day, North appeared momentarily flustered. Coy and cool from the moment he set foot on campus and embraced by virtually every adoring fan who extended a hand or hug, he suddenly sounded irked.
Calling it "a frivolous, crazy question," North, 52, told the man: "I want to be very specific. I do not know, nor have I ever known, anyone who would tolerate drugs coming into this country. . . .
"Where were these accusers in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 . . . when Congress conducted one of its longest inquisitions in history" into allegations that North masterminded a plan to finance the Contra rebels in Nicaragua by selling weapons to the Iranian government.
"Where were they then?" he demanded. "Can you tell me that?"
North's response was punctuated with more thunderous applause from the highly partisan crowd that packed one entire side of the Saddleback Gauchos basketball arena and included a who's who of Orange County's Republicans.
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North was convicted of aiding in the obstruction of Congress, accepting illegal gratuities and destroying documents. The courts overturned his convictions on appeal in 1990.
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Before his speech, North met briefly with the press, which wanted to know his reaction to the newspaper series that only last month dredged up the Iran-Contra scandal, although this time with a radically different twist.
North said he had welcomed onto his radio show—"The fastest-growing talk show in the United States!"—Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), only to tell her she owed him an apology for "making ridiculous allegations" on the floor of the U.S. House.
"I think the whole story is absolute garbage," North said of the allegations. "It's an effort to distract the American people from the Clinton administration's appalling record of dealing with drugs. It is typical of the most liberal elements of our political spectrum to find somebody else to blame for everything."
An ex-Marine who rose to fame as a key player in the Iran-Contra arms deal, North was invited to Saddleback College by Assemblyman Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside), who introduced North and the subject of his speech, "Is the U.S. Constitution Still Relevant?"
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After being serenaded by a drill team that wore glittery American flags as tight-fitting vests, and getting to meet the great-great-grandson of Francis Scott Key, North took aim at the street curfews imposed on teenagers by some cities. Hitler, he said, was a big fan of such curfews….
