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Truth or new Urban legend?

N

nlieber

Senior member
Just got this in a email! Think it's true or just Urban internet legend?

What a difference 14 Years Makes Anyone remember this?? It was 1987!
At a lecture the other day they played an old news video of Lt. Col. Oliver
North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings 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 some 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.

(If anyone is interested, the senator was none other than Al Gore.)
 
Urban Legend

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.

 
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