> , > > > Subject: Olie North > > > > > > > > Reported by a friend in Florida: > > > > > > > > I was at a UNC lecture the other day where they played a video of > > > > Oliver North during the Iran-Contra deals during the Reagan > > > > administration. > > > > > > > > There was Olie in front of God and Country getting the third > > > > degree. But what he said stunned me. He was being drilled by some > > > senator > > > > I didn't recognize who asked him; 'Did you not recently spend close > to > > > > $60,000 for a home > > > > security system?' > > > > Oliver replied, 'Yes I did sir.' > > > > The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience, > > > > 'Isn't this just a little excessive?' 'No sir,' continued Oliver. > > > > 'No. And why not?' > > > > 'Because the life of my family and I were threatened.' > > > > 'Threatened? By who.' 'By a terrorist, sir.' > > > > 'Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?' > > > > 'His name is Osama bin Laden.' > > > > At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn't > > > > pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn't. A > > > > couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued. > > > > 'Why are you so afraid of this man?' > > > > 'Because sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of.' > > > > 'And what do you recommend we do about him?' > > > > 'If it were me I would recommend an assassin team be formed to > > > > eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth.' > > > > The senator disagreed with this approach and that was all they > > > > showed of the clip. > > > > It's scary when you think 15 years ago the government was aware of > > > > Osama bin Laden and his potential threat to the security of the > > > > world. I guess like all great tyrants they start small but if left > > > untended > > > > > > > > spread like the virus they truly are. > > > »§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«§:*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*: »§« My friends tell me that I refuse to grow up, but I know they're just jealous because they don't have pajamas with feet. Richiele 'Marie <*}}>< MSN [email protected] »§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»«§:*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»§«:*´`³¤³´`*:»§«

http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/north.htm Oliver Twisted Claim: Oliver North stated during the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings that Osama bin Laden was "the most evil person alive" and that "an assassin team [should] be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth." Status: False. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2001] I was at a UNC lecture the other day where they played a video of Oliver North during the Iran-Contra deals during the Reagan administration. I was only 14 back then but was surprised by this particular clip. There was Olie in front of God and Country getting the third degree. But what he said stunned me. He was being drilled by some senator I didn't recognize who asked him: 'Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?' Oliver replied, 'Yes I did sir.' The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience, 'Isn't this just a little excessive?' 'No sir,' continued Oliver. 'No. And why not?' 'Because the life of my family and I were threatened.' 'Threatened? By who.' 'By a terrorist, sir.' 'Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?' 'His name is Osama bin Laden.' At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn't pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn't. A couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued. 'Why are you so afraid of this man?' 'Because sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of.' 'And what do you recommend we do about him?' 'If it were me I would recommend an assassin team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth.' The senator disagreed with this approach and that was all they showed of the clip. It's scary when you think 15 years ago the government was aware of Osama bin Laden and his potential threat to the security of the world. I guess like all great tyrants they start small but if left untended spread like the virus they truly are. Origins: For most of us who watched the televised Iran-Contra hearings in 1987 -- held by Congress to determine whether the Reagan administration had secretly and illegally sold arms to Iran in order to secure the release of American hostages, then used the profits from those sales to fund the contra rebels in Nicaragua -- the enduring image we came away with was a memory of an unapologetic and resolute Lt. Col. Oliver North delivering testimony in a Marine uniform. North, who was a central figure in the plan to secretly ship arms to Iran despite a U.S. trade and arms embargo, and who as a National Security Council aide directed efforts to raise private and foreign funds for the contras despite a Congressional prohibition on U.S. government agencies' providing military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels, testified before Congress under a grant of limited immunity in July 1987, becoming "the darling of the American conservative movement with his earnest, self-justifying testimony during the televised hearings" (or, to the other side, becoming a villain "who lied to Congress to support an illegal war"). Although North had been granted limited immunity for his testimony, he was later convicted of criminal charges related to Iran-Contra activities (a conviction that was eventually overturned on the grounds that witnesses had been influenced by his immunized testimony). One of the charges against North was that he had received a $16,000 home security system paid for out of the proceeds of the Iran-Contra affair and had forged documents to cover his receipt of an illegal gratuity. North admitted that he knew the security system was a "gift" but maintained he never inquired about who had paid for it or how it was financed, and he was insistent that he needed the security system because the government had failed to provide adequate protection against international terrorists for him and his family. The terrorist North mentioned in his testimony was not Osama bin Laden, however. To the extent that bin Laden was known to the western world in 1987, it was not as a "terrorist" but as one of the U.S.-backed "freedom fighters" participating in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden's hatred of the U.S. and conversion to "terrorist" status is not believed to have come about until the Gulf War of 1990-91, when he was outspokenly critical of Saudi Arabian dependence upon the U.S. military and denounced U.S. support of a "corrupt, materialist, and irreligious" Saudi monarchy. (The Saudi Arabian government stripped bin Laden of his citizenship in 1994 for his funding of militant fundamentalist Islamic groups.) No, Oliver North did not testify about or speak the name Osama bin Laden during the Iran-Contra hearings. He claimed that threats against his life had been made by terrorist Abu Nidal, telling a congressional committee: I want you to know that I'd be more than willing . . . to meet Abu Nidal on equal terms anywhere in the world. There's an even deal for him. OK? But I am not willing to have my wife and my four children meet Abu Nidal or his organization on his terms. To emphasize his point, North showed the committee a blow-up of a newspaper article detailing the atrocities of Abu Nidal and recalled that an 11-year-old girl named Natasha Simpson, the daughter of an Associated Press news editor, had been gunned down (along with four other Americans) during an attack by an Abu Nidal group on the El Al terminal at the Rome airport in December 1985. North also later claimed that an attempt on his life had been made five months before his congressional testimony at the instigation of Libyan leader Mohmmar Qadaffi: In February 1987, Muammar Ghadaffi ordered his thugs to carry out a threat made against me in 1986. Thankfully, the FBI intercepted the well-armed perpetrators on the way to our home, and my family and I were sequestered for a time on a military base. The orders from Tripoli were delivered to a terrorist cell in Virginia -- at the offices of The People's Committee for Libyan Students. So no, Oliver North didn't warn us back in 1987 about Osama bin Laden's "potential threat to the security of the world" or suggest that bin Laden be hunted down by "an assassin team," nor was he given the brush-off by a clueless senator "who disagreed with this approach." Finger-pointers will have to look elsewhere.