July 14, 1987
Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is a retired United States Marine Corps officer best known for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal. Currently, he is a political commentator, host of War Stories with Oliver North on Fox News Channel, and a New York Times best-selling author.
North was at the center of national attention during the Iran-Contra affair, a political scandal of the late 1980s. North was a National Security Council member involved in the clandestine sale of weapons to Iran, which served to encourage the release of U.S. hostages from Lebanon. North formulated the second part of the plan: diverting proceeds from the arms sales to support the Contra rebel group in Nicaragua. North was charged with several felonies and convicted of three, but the convictions were later vacated, and the underlying charges dismissed due to the limited immunity agreement granted for his pre-trial public Congressional testimony about the affair.
North came into the public spotlight as a result of his participation in the Iran-Contra affair, a political scandal of the late 1980s, in which he claimed partial responsibility for the sale of weapons via intermediaries to Iran, with the profits being channeled to the Contras in Nicaragua. He was reportedly responsible for the establishment of a covert network used for the purposes of aiding the Contras. U.S. funding of the Contras by appropriated funds spent by intelligence agencies had been prohibited by the Boland Amendment. Funding was facilitated through Palmer National Bank of Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1983* by Harvey McLean, Jr., a businessman from Shreveport, Louisiana. It was initially funded with $2.8 million dollars to McLean from Herman K. Beebe. North supposedly used this bank during the Iran-Contra scandal by funneling money from his shell organization, the "National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty", through Palmer National Bank to the Contras.
According to the National Security Archive, in an August 23, 1986 e-mail to John Poindexter, Oliver North described a meeting with a representative of Panamanian President Manuel Noriega: "You will recall that over the years Manuel Noriega in Panama and I have developed a fairly good relationship", North writes before explaining Noriega's proposal. If U.S. officials can "help clean up his image" and lift the ban on arms sales to the Panamanian Defense Force, Noriega will "'take care of' the Sandinista leadership for us."
North tells Poindexter that Noriega can assist with sabotage against the Sandinistas, and supposedly suggests paying Noriega a million dollars cash; from "Project Democracy" funds raised from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran—for the Panamanian leader's help in destroying Nicaraguan economic installations.
In November 1986, as the sale of weapons was made public, North was fired by President Ronald Reagan, and in July 1987 he was summoned to testify before televised hearings of a joint Congressional committee formed to investigate Iran-Contra. The image of North taking the oath became iconic, and similar photographs made the cover of Time and Newsweek, and helped define him in the eyes of the public. During the hearings, North admitted that he had lied to Congress, for which he was later charged among other things. He defended his actions by stating that he believed in the goal of aiding the Contras, whom he saw as freedom fighters, and said that he viewed the Iran-Contra scheme as a "neat idea."
North was tried in 1988 in relation to his activities while at the National Security Council. He was indicted on sixteen felony counts and on May 4, 1989, he was initially convicted of three: accepting an illegal gratuity, aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and destruction of documents (by his secretary, Fawn Hall, on his instructions). He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell on July 5, 1989, to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines, and 1,200 hours community service.
However, on July 20, 1990, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), North's convictions were vacated, after the appeals court found that witnesses in his trial might have been impermissibly affected by his immunized congressional testimony.
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Iran-Contra Hearings Day 24: Oliver North Testimony Part 11 (1987)by thefilmarchive9,806 views
Amen!!!!!! weedislegal4me2 It angers me how he is not reconized for warning us of the attacks that came upon our nation!!!! He is a TRUE HERO!!!
blackglitter10 1 month ago
This man is a true American hero! These hearings and the conduct of these politicians is simply comical, and terrifying. Olly took this with dignity and honor, and he did this out of duty to us, not for them! God blees you sir, we sure could use you now! Thanks for taking one for the team.
weedislegal4me2 1 month ago
What he did was simply right. Oliver North. The whole Iran-contra. That was just right, and the jurisdiction didn't see that at the time.
klade77 2 months ago
And Now Hes On Fox Neeews
garrettminer9 3 months ago
It's stupid that his attoryney's petulant attacks led to north's "popularity"
Hell. this whole discussion was halfway a coverup than an expose; designed to narrow the range of the Iran-Contra scandals
SUpersaiyajinjerkbag 3 months ago
Oliver North is a shitbag and should have been killed a long time ago.
undeadpresident 4 months ago
@TheGiftOfLife we can't, he brings too much money to the state in pork barrels. He's been serving since statehood, and 80% of the people in Hawaii are Democrots. The only way he's getting out of office is passing away. Then, since Hawaii is such a DEPENDANT state on money from the government, Hawaii will turn into a third world country.
ryantwiggsmith909 7 months ago
Those committe members were assholes!
JohnBoy918 9 months ago
Inouey will be 90 in 2016 and is running for RE-election. Please Hawaii get rid of this guy!
TheGiftOfLife 10 months ago
This Hawaiian Senator, comparing this to the Nuremberg Tials is OFFENSIVE and IM glad Mr Sullivan gave it to him. I remember this like it was yesterday!
TheGiftOfLife 10 months ago