Oliver North

Oliver L. North
Nickname(s)	Ollie
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1968 - 1990
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Unit	3rd Battalion 3rd Marines 2nd Marine Division
Commands	Marine Corps Northern Training Area, Okinawa
Battles/wars	Vietnam War
Awards	Silver Star Medal Bronze Star Medal Purple Heart(2)
Other work	correspondent with the Fox News Channel

Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943 in San Antonio, Texas) is most well known for his involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair. Currently, he is an American conservative political commentator, host of "War Stories with Oliver North" on Fox News Channel. He is a 1968 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and was a career officer in the Marine Corps, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel after twenty years of service. During combat service in Vietnam, he was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and two Purple Heart medals.

North was at the center of national attention during the Iran-Contra Affair, during which he was a key Reagan administration official involved in the clandestine sale of weapons to Iran. The sale of these weapons served both to encourage the release of US hostages and to generate proceeds to support the Contra rebel group. Vice Admiral John M. Poindexter and his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North secretly diverted to the Nicaraguan Contras millions of dollars in funds received from a secret deal - the sales of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Iran - in spite of Reagan's public pledge not to deal with the nation.

North is married to the former Betsy Stuart, whom he met while attending the United States Naval Academy. They married on November 13, 1968 (after North was commissioned and finished the Basic School at Quantico, Virginia) and have four children, Tait, Stuart, Sarah, and Dornin.

Early life and career

North grew up in Philmont, New York, and graduated from Ockawamick High School in 1961. He attended State University of New York at Brockport in Brockport, New York for two years. While there, he spent a summer at the Marine Corps Platoon Leader's Course in Quantico, Virginia and decided to enroll at the United States Naval Academy in 1963. He received his commission as Second Lieutenant in 1968 (he missed a year due to injuries from an auto accident).

After receiving his commission, North served a year in Vietnam, then served as an instructor at the Marine Corps Officer Basic School in Quantico. In 1970, North returned to Vietnam to testify at the trial of Corporal Randy Herrod, a former Marine of his who had been charged with a mass killing of Vietnamese civilians. North was promoted to Captain in 1971 and served as commanding officer of the Marine Corps Northern Training Area in Okinawa, Japan.

After Okinawa, North was reassigned stateside to Marine Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia for four years, was promoted to Major, then served two years as operations officer of Second Marine Division in Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. He then attended the Command and Staff Course at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island and graduated in 1981.

After Newport, North began his now-famous assignment to the National Security Council in Washington, D.C., where he served until his firing in 1986. While there, he received his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, which would be his last. During his trial, and for his last two years in the Corps, North was reassigned to Marine Headquarters.

Iran-Contra affair

North came into the public spotlight due to his participation in the Iran-Contra Affair, in which he was the chief coordinator of the sale of weapons via intermediaries to Iran, with the profits being channeled to the Contras in Nicaragua. He was 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. Oliver North 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.

North's mugshot, after his arrest

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 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 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 ACLU (see [1]), 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.

The Supreme Court declined to review the case, and Judge Gesell dismissed all charges against North on September 16 1991, after hearings on the immunity issue, on the motion of the independent counsel. Essentially, North's convictions were overturned because he had been granted limited immunity for his Congressional testimony, and this testimony was deemed to have influenced witnesses at his trial.

Later life and career

Oliver North signing one of his books

In 1994, North unsuccessfully ran for the Senate as the Republican candidate in Virginia. Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia endorsed Marshall Coleman, a Republican who ran as an independent, instead of North. On the eve of the election, former first lady Nancy Reagan told a reporter that North had lied to her husband when discussing Iran-Contra with the former president. North lost to incumbent Democrat Charles Robb, a son-in-law of Lyndon B. Johnson. North's candidacy was documented in the 1996 film A Perfect Candidate.

Oliver North pictured with Clinton Township, Franklin County, Ohio Assistant Fire Chief John Harris and Lieutenant Douglas Brown at a public speaking event.

North has written several best-selling books including Under Fire, One More Mission, War Stories — Operation Iraqi Freedom, Mission Compromised, The Jericho Sanction, and The Assassins. He is also a syndicated columnist, and is the host of the television show War Stories with Oliver North, and a regular commentator on Hannity and Colmes, both on the Fox News Channel. North appeared as himself on many television shows including the sitcom Wings and three episodes of the TV military drama JAG in 1995, 1996 and 2002. In addition, he regularly speaks at both public and private events.

In 1990 North founded the Freedom Alliance, a 501(c)(3) foundation "...to advance the American heritage of freedom by honoring and encouraging military service, defending the sovereignty of the United States and promoting a strong national defense."

Pictures of North in the NSA buildings with former British Intelligence Officer John P. Lawrence were flashed around the world, when the two former colleagues were asked to help the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Oliver North has been married to the former Betsy Stuart since 1968, and they have four children (daughters Tait, Dornin, and Sarah North, and son, Stuart North). Although reared a Roman Catholic, he has long attended Protestant evangelical services with his family.

Direct Mail

In his failed bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Chuck Robb in November, North raised $20.3 million in a single year through direct mail solicitations, major donors, telemarketing, and fundraising events. About $16 million of that amount was from direct mail alone, making North the top political direct mail fundraiser in the country in 1994 and the biggest direct mail haul for a statewide campaign to that date.

Political and historical legacy

North is considered a figure of great controversy, with supporters enjoying his impassioned defense of his actions, and opponents disapproving of his breaking of the law.

Despite, and because of, North's history, he remains a largely popular figure among conservatives. Many conservatives sympathize with the basis of North's activities within the Reagan administration, due to the fact they believe the "Boland Amendment" — a Congressional act specifically barring the U.S. government from providing material support to the Contras in Nicaragua — infringed on the constitutional power of the executive branch to conduct foreign policy. Some believe that North was used as a scapegoat for the Iran-Contra affair, and that other top government officials in the Reagan administration disproportionately laid the blame on him.

North's critics argue that in a democracy and a nation of laws, one man cannot act above the law regardless of how righteous he believes his goals to be. Some point out that his activities substantially contributed to an attempted overthrow of a sovereign, democratically elected government and to terrorism in Nicaragua, and that they aided Iran, a nation that has been militarily hostile to the United States since 1979. They mention that along with other Reagan administration players, North has been banned from Central America's leading democracy, Costa Rica, for drug running.

In October 2006, North revisited Nicaragua in the run up to the nation's presidential elections. Claiming he was invited in a private capacity to Nicaragua by friends, he warned against his old foe, Sandinista leader, Daniel Ortega's possible return to power. Despite this, Ortega did win Nicaragua's presidency without the need of a runoff. During his visit, he expressed support for the PLC candidate, Jose Rizo, rather than the United States government's preferred candidate, Eduardo Montealegre, a dissident PLC candidate. Oliver's support of Rizo quite possibly helped to further splinter the PLC vote allowing Daniel Ortega to win the first round with 38% of the vote.

In Popular Culture

• Jay-Z's 2007 single, Blue Magic, also references North and the Iran-Contra affair. "Blame Reagan for makin' me into a monster/ Blame Oliver North for Iran Contra"
• Rapper Shyne also makes reference to north in the song "What U gonna Do" This S**t is bigger than me though ask oliver North, kill you and use your corpes to transport horse"
• North took up boxing at the Naval Academy, eventually winning the brigade championship by defeating Jim Webb, the future author and Virginia senator.
• The Mekons' "Empire Of The Senseless" from the album The Mekons' Rock'n'roll refers to Oliver North and Iran-Contra with the line "boring Ollie North down in the subway dealing drugs and guns."
• Exodus "A.W.O.L." from Impact is Imminent was about Oliver North. Noting that he was a traitor to the cause and sold out for personal gain
• It was rumored that on a trip to Iran during the Iran-Contra affair, North and Robert McFarlane took a chocolate cake (shaped like a key to symbolize the opening of improved relations) and a Bible as gifts to Ruhollah Khomeini. This rumor was refuted by North in his autobiography Under Fire
• In the Michael Moore satire Canadian Bacon, Oliver North becomes President of the United States in the film's epilogue.
• During the early 1990s, North's mother, Ann Clancy North, called his radio show to tell him that she was out of the hospital, and that her operation had gone well.
• North was referenced in The Simpsons episode Bart Gets Famous where a biography of Bart was "mostly about Ross Perot, and the last two chapters are excerpts from the Oliver North trial." Then Homer says "Ah, Oliver North. He was just poured into that uniform."
• In two episodes of the television show Sliders it was mentioned that alternate versions of Oliver North were the president of the United States on the parallel worlds featured in the respective episodes.
• The film Lord of War has a high-ranking U.S. Marine officer who aids in keeping the main character out of custody; his name is Oliver Southern, a parody of Oliver North.
• In the episode Exit Strategy of Arrested Development, the narrator explains that the D.A. got their evidence against North by using a scrapbooking sting operation.
• Two songs by the band R.E.M. reference North: 1992's "Drive" contains the lyric, "Ollie, Ollie, Ollie Ollie Ollie, Ollie Ollie in come free," referencing the appellate reversal of North's convictions. Also, the c.1994 b-side "Revolution" contains the lyric "Oliver North is running for Senate". In both contexts, the band appears to view him negatively.
• The song Vietnow by Rage Against the Machine contains the lyrics "Undressed and blessed by tha Lord, Tha same devil that ran around Managua wit a sword, Check out tha new style that Ollie found...." in reference to North's involvement with the Iran-Contra Scandal and him now being a right wing radio talkshow host.
• According to "Editor and Publisher," Marine Maj. Megan McClung, a public affairs officer who became the highest-ranking woman killed in Iraq, had been escorting Oliver North and a FOX News crew through Ramadi on the same day a roadside bomb took her life. She was with Newsweek journalists when she was killed.
• In one episode of Malcolm in the Middle, the director of the Marlin Military Academy, Comandant Spangler, regards Oliver North as his hero, and is expecting a visit from him. However, he gets drunk out of nervousness, and never gets to see him. Oliver North is never actually seen by the audience either.
• Currently on the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association.
• The traitorous Colonel West in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is in part, modeled after North (West/North).
• Oliver North is referenced in the song "The Greatest Man in America" (a mock tribute to Rush Limbaugh) by Moxy Früvous.
• Oliver North made a special appearance in 1995 in the U.S. TV series JAG in an episode named "Desert Son" as character "Ollie" who assisted the Judge Advocate General by obtaining space-borne communications surveillance for the investigation team. He is also referred to as "Colonel" several times. In reality he retired as a Lt Colonel, which other military officers would address as Colonel.
• "A Colder War", a novella by Charles Stross, has North and Fawn Hall as main characters in an alternate universe incorporating both the Cthulhu Mythos and the Cold War.
• Basque band Negu Gorriak wrote a song called "Oliver Iparra" (Iparra being north in basque). It depicts North as torturer and drug smuggler, apart from supporting the "Contra"-s.
• The song "Full Metal Jackoff" by Jello Biafra & D.O.A. from the 1990 album Last Scream Of The Missing Neighbors references Oliver North with the lines "Ollie North -'patriotic' hero. The leader for tomorrow is yours today. Finally gotcha psyched for a police state!" The song fades with the repeating line, "Ollie for President, you'll get things done!" accompanied by the sound of goose-stepping soldiers.
• The television adaptation of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America features true life character Roy Cohn using his inside knowledge of Oliver North to blackmail officials into providing him with his own supply of the antiretroviral drug AZT. Cohn threatens to 'ring up CBS and sing Mike Wallace a song, you know, the ballad of adorable Ollie North and his secret Contra slush fund?'
• Some military schools and college level ROTC programs teach the concept of an "Ollieism" whereby someone does something immoral or illegal under the justification of the greater good. Cadets are taught this is not acceptable.
• In the Brett Easton Ellis novel American Psycho, protagonist Patrick Bateman mentions having a poster of Oliver North in his apartment.

External links

• Oliver North's political donations
• Freedom Alliance
• "The Oliver North File". The National Security Archive / George Washington University.