Ollie North, Osama Bin Laden, Al Gore, Mohammed Atta

Its that time again folks. It's time to play "reality" with the conservatives.

Commentary follows story.

I know that this isn't "new" news and has been out there before; nevertheless, it goes unremarked by the media. Nice to have both of these pieces of information together. Pass it along to anyone who may have never heard or forgotten about it.

It was 1987. At a lecture the other day they were playing an old news video of Lt.Col. Oliver North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings (ed: where we traded weapons to Iran for hostages) during the Reagan Administration. There was Ollie in front of God and country getting the third degree, but what he said was stunning! He was being drilled by a senator; "Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?"

Ollie replied, "Yes, I did, Sir."
The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience, "Isn't that just a little excessive?"
"No, sir," continued Ollie.

"No? And why not?" the senator asked.
"Because the lives of my family and I were threatened, sir."
"Threatened? By whom?" the senator questioned.
"By a terrorist, sir" Ollie answered.
"Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?"
"His name is Osama bin Laden, sir" Ollie replied.

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?" the senator asked.
"Because, sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of," Ollie answered.
"And what do you recommend we do about him?" asked the senator.
"Well, sir, if it was up to me, I would recommend that 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 that was shown of the clip.
By the way, that senator was Al Gore!

Also:
Terrorist pilot Mohammad Atta blew up a bus in Israel in 1986. The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him. As part of the Oslo agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, Israel had to agree to release so-called "political prisoners."

However, the Israelis would not release any with blood on their hands, The American President at the time, Bill Clinton, and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, "insisted" that all prisoners be released. Thus Mohammad Atta was freed and eventually thanked the US by flying an airplane into Tower One of the World Trade Center. This was reported by many of the American TV networks at the time that the terrorists were first identified. It was censored in the US from all later reports.

Now, let's pretend that there aren't any factual errors in this story, and it is exactly true as printed.

Ollie North said Osama was the most evil man alive.
If this is true, do you think, possibly, we should not have been selling him (and his Mujahadeen brethren) US weapons to fight the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan?

But wait, there is more! Hold on, didn't we also, in the same period when we (the United States, also under President Reagan) sold Osama weapons (Including those lovely stinger missles they have so frequently used against US personnel in Afghanistan) ... didn't we also send Donald Rumsfeld to meet with Saddam Hussein and arrange weapon sales, INCLUDING the chemical weapons he used on the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan ... the very crime for which we are now holding him on trial?

This could be an interesting tangent, and one which seems rife with inconsistancies, and inaccuracies. However, unfortunately, as Snopes points out, this whole story is indeed false.

Ollie North actually wrote a memo regarding this. Let's look at what Ollie himself has to say, shall we?

FROM THE DESK OF LTCOL OLIVER L. NORTH (USMC) RET.
NOVEMBER 28, 2001

OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS, I HAVE RECEIVED SEVERAL THOUSAND E-MAILS FROM EVERY STATE IN THE U.S. AND 13 FOREIGN COUNTRIES IN WHICH THE ORIGINATOR PURPORTS TO HAVE RECENTLY VIEWED A VIDEOTAPE OF MY SWORN TESTIMONY BEFORE A CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE IN 1987.

A COPY OF ONE OF THOSE E-MAILS IS ATTACHED BELOW. AS YOU WILL NOTE, THE ORIGINATOR ATTRIBUTES TO ME CERTAIN STATEMENTS REGARDING USAMA BIN LADEN AND OTHER MATTERS THAT ARE SIMPLY INACCURATE. THOUGH I WOULD LIKE TO CLAIM THE GIFT OF PROPHESY, I DON'T HAVE IT.

I DON'T KNOW WHO SAW WHAT VIDEO "AT UNC." (OR ANYWHERE ELSE) BUT, FOR THE RECORD, HERE'S WHAT I DO KNOW:

1. IT WAS THE COMMITTEE COUNSEL, JOHN NIELDS, NOT A SENATOR WHO WAS DOING THE QUESTIONING.

2. THE SECURITY SYSTEM, INSTALLED AT MY HOME, JUST BEFORE I MADE A VERY SECRET TRIP TO TEHRAN, COST, ACCORDING TO THE COMMITTEE, $16K, NOT $60K.

3. THE TERRORIST WHO THREATENED TO KILL ME IN 1986, JUST BEFORE THAT SECRET TRIP TO TEHRAN, WAS NOT USAMA BIN LADEN, IT WAS ABU NIDAL (WHO WORKS FOR THE LIBYANS — NOT THE TALIBAN AND NOT IN AFGHANISTAN).

4. I NEVER SAID I WAS AFRAID OF ANYBODY. I DID SAY THAT I WOULD BE GLAD TO MEET ABU NIDAL ON EQUAL TERMS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD BUT THAT I WAS UNWILLING TO HAVE HIM OR HIS OPERATIVES MEET MY WIFE AND CHILDREN ON HIS TERMS.

5. I DID SAY THAT THE TERRORISTS INTERCEPTED BY THE FBI ON THE WAY TO MY HOUSE IN FEB. 87 TO KILL MY WIFE, CHILDREN AND ME WERE LIBYANS, DISPATCHED FROM THE PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE FOR LIBYAN STUDENTS IN MCLEAN, VIRGINIA.

6. AND I DID SAY THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAD MOVED MY FAMILY OUT OF OUR HOME TO A MILITARY BASE (CAMP LEJEUNE, NC) UNTIL THEY COULD DISPATCH MORE THAN 30 AGENTS TO PROTECT MY FAMILY FROM THOSE TERRORISTS (BECAUSE A LIBERAL FEDERAL JUDGE HAD ALLOWED THE LYBIAN ASSASSINS TO POST BOND AND THEY FLED).

7. AND, FYI: THOSE FEDERAL AGENTS REMAINED AT OUR HOME UNTIL I RETIRED FROM THE MARINES AND WAS NO LONGER A "GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL." BY THEN, THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT HAD SPENT MORE THAN $2M PROTECTING THE NORTH FAMILY. THE TERRORISTS SENT TO KILL US WERE NEVER RE-APPREHENDED.

SEMPER FIDELIS,
OLIVER L. NORTH

Let's move on to the Atta story.

*YAWN* Actually, let's not, its patently false, and not very much fun. Put very simply, Two men, one named Mahmoud Atta, 14 years the elder, and one named Mohammed Atta. Maumoud blew up a bus in Israel and was extradited under Reagan. Mohammed is the infamous terrorist who piloted the plane into the WTC.

Rumors also mention this story originally implicated Reagan in the release of Atta, however it eventually morphed into ... the arch-rival of neo-conservativism Bill Clinton. Interesting how that happened, eh? Kudos to someone who knew the name of a secretary of state of the Clinton administration tho. That type of fact makes one scratch their heads and say "Well if they knew Clinton's Secretary of State, it must be true."

Obviously the people who wrote this aren't able to distinguish between two different men with the same name. If they have similar names, they must be the same a-rab, right? Because white people never have the same name. For instance the "terrorist" John Adams is obviously the same John Adams who made midnight appointments to the federal courts and rode out of Washington at midnight before TJ's inauguration. Of course, one of the fellows on the list I was on when I received this hooey is the one and only Jeff Smith. You all know Jeff, right?

One last note. When I pointed out the folly of this argument to the sender of this message and asked politely for a retraction, he refused. When I threaded to send a retraction myself (as republicans don't frequently understand BCC unless they are lobbyists) he became adjusted and didn't understand what my problem was. My problem? Its simple. The last line in the email read "If you believe Americans need to know this information and are tired of the Liberal Media censorship, then send this message to everyone you know"

Once again, the "conservatives" are using the term "liberal" to mean synonymous with "truth" which is a use with which I have to admit, I'm not entirely comfortable.