(for those who think this report is funny).
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Iran–Contra affair
North came into the public spotlight as a result of his participation in the Iran–Contra affair, a political scandal during the Reagan Administration, 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, which funneled those funds to the Contras. Congress passed the Boland Amendment (to the House Appropriations Bill of 1982 and subsequent years) which prohibited the appropriation of U.S. funds by intelligence agencies for the support of the Contras. The money was passed through a shell organization, the "National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty," to the Palmer National Bank of Washington, D.C. and then to the Contras.
In an August 23, 1986 e-mail to National Security Advisor 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."(11)(12)
North told Poindexter that President Noriega could assist with sabotage against the ruling party of Nicaragua, the Sandinista National Liberation Front. North supposedly suggested that Noriega be paid one million dollars in 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.(13)
In November 1986, as the sale of weapons was made public, North was dismissed by President Ronald Reagan and, in July 1987, was summoned to testify before televised hearings of a joint Congressional committee that was formed to investigate Iran–Contra. The image of North taking the oath in full Marine unifrom became iconic, and helped to define him in the eyes of the public.[citation needed] During the hearings, North admitted that he had lied to Congress previously, for which among other things, he was later charged. He defended his actions by stating that he believed in the goal of aiding the Contras, whom he saw as freedom fighters, against the Sandinistas and said that he viewed the Iran–Contra scheme as a "neat idea".(14) North admitted shredding government documents related to his Contra and Iranian activities, at William Casey's suggestion, when the Iran–Contra scandal became public. He also testified that Robert McFarlane had asked him to alter official records to delete references to direct assistance to the Contras and that he had helped.(15)
North was tried in 1988. 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 ordering the destruction of documents via his secretary, Fawn Hall. 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. Oliver North performed some of his community service within Potomac Gardens, a public housing project in Southeast Washington, DC.(16)
However, on July 20, 1990, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),(17) 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.(18)
Because North had been granted limited immunity for his Congressional testimony, the law prohibited a prosecutor from using that testimony as part of a criminal case against him. To prepare for the expected defense challenge that North's testimony had been used, the prosecution team had—before North's congressional testimony had been given—listed and isolated all of its evidence.[citation needed] Further, the individual members of the prosecution team had isolated themselves from news reports and discussion of North's testimony. While the defense could show no specific instance in which North's congressional testimony was used in his trial, the Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge had made an insufficient examination of the issue. Consequently, North's convictions were reversed. After further hearings on the immunity issue, Judge Gesell dismissed all charges against North on September 16, 1991.
Allegations of involvement with drug traffickers
Allegations were made, most notably by the Kerry Subcommittee, that North and other senior officials created a privatized Contra network that attracted drug traffickers looking for cover for their operations, then turned a blind eye to repeated reports of drug smuggling related to the Contras, and actively worked with known drug smugglers such as Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to assist the Contras.(19) Most Contra associates found guilty of trafficking by the Kerry Committee were involved in the supply chain (ostensibly for "humanitarian goods," though the supply chain was later found to have serviced the transport of arms), which had been set up by North. Organizations and individuals involved in the supply chain under investigation for trafficking included the company SETCO (operated by large-scale trafficker Juan Matta-Ballesteros), the fruit company Frigorificos de Puntarenas, rancher John Hull, and several Cuban Exiles; North and other US government officials were criticized by the Kerry Report for their practice of "ticket punching" for these parties, whereby people under active investigation for drug trafficking were given cover and pay by joining in the Contra supply chain. In addition to the Kerry Committee's investigation, the Costa Rican government of Óscar Arias conducted an investigation of Contra-related drug trafficking, and as a result of this investigation, North and several other US Government officials were permanently banned from entering Costa Rica.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North
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This is only one of numerous U.S. covert operations in Latin America, over the last half century, in alliance with the worst fascist bastards that Latin America has ever produced--from the fascist dictators in Chile, Brazil, Argentina and other countries, who were torturing and murdering thousands of leftists, to the 'contras' in Nicaragua who were assassinating teachers, mayors, community activists and others who supported the Sandinista government, to the genocidists in Guatemala, who, with Reagan's full support, were slaughtering TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND Mayan villagers, to the U.S.-supported coupsters in Venezuela in 2002, who, if the people of Venezuela had not intervened, would still be torturing and murdering leftists to this day, to the U.S.-supported fascist bastards in Colombia, where thousands of labor leaders, teachers, community activists, peasant leaders and other advocates of the poor have been assassinated, to the coupsters in Honduras TODAY, where the same is happening.
All with direct and/or covert support of the U.S. government and its "military-industrial complex."
I watched all of the Iran-Contra hearings on TV and was appalled at the complicity of our Democratic Party leaders in granting immunity to North (which I guessed would be used to reverse his convictions) and in NOT impeaching Reagan. That was effectively the end of the Democratic Party as a democratic organization and the "big tent" representative of the majority of Americans. North was "immune." So was Reagan--an appalling trend that continues to this day, with Obama sweeping all Bush Junta crimes under the Oval Office carpet.
It is NO LAUGHING MATTER when someone with Rangels' credentials makes an accusation like this. He may or may not have the goods on the "opposition" coupsters but, in view of the discovery of several groups of armed fascist paramilitaries in Venezuela, from Colombia, an investigation is certainly warranted. That is what he has called for.
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