INTERESTING!!! <U1></U1> </O> Remember this?<U2></U2><U1></U1><U1></U1></O> <U1></U1><U2></U2><U1></U1> </O> <U1></U1><U2></U2><U1></U1><U2></U2><U1></U1><U2></U2><U1></U1> Thought you might be interested in this forgotten bit of information..........</O><U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1><U2></U2><U1></U1> 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 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?" </O><U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> "His name is Osama bin Laden, sir" Ollie replied. </O><U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> 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. </O> <U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> </O> <U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> "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.</O><U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> </O> <U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> By the way, that senator was Al Gore! </O><U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> </O> <U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> Also: Terrorist pilot Mohammad Atta blew up a bus in <U3:COUNTRY-REGION u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><U3LACE u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><U5:COUNTRY-REGION u6:st="on"><U5LACE u6:st="on">Israel</U5LACE></U5:COUNTRY-REGION></U3LACE> in 1986. The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him. As part of the <U3:CITY u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><ST1:CITY u7:st="on">Oslo</ST1:CITY></U3:CITY> agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, <U3:COUNTRY-REGION u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><U3LACE u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u8:st="on"><ST1LACE u8:st="on">Israel</ST1LACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION></U3LACE></U3:COUNTRY-REGION> 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.</U3:COUNTRY-REGION> Thus Mohammad Atta was freed and eventually thanked the <U3:COUNTRY-REGION u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u5:st="on">US</ST1:COUNTRY-REGION></U3:COUNTRY-REGION> by flying an airplane into Tower One of the <U3LACE u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><U3LACENAME u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><ST1LACE u6:st="on"><ST1LACENAME u6:st="on">World</ST1LACENAME></ST1LACE> <U3LACENAME u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><ST1LACENAME u7:st="on">Trade</ST1LACENAME></U3LACENAME> <U3LACETYPE u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><ST1LACETYPE u8:st="on">Center</ST1LACETYPE></U3LACETYPE>. This was reported by many of the American TV networks at the time that the terrorists were first identified. </U3LACENAME></U3LACE><u>It was censored in the <U3:COUNTRY-REGION u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><U3LACE u4:endinsdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:endinsauthor="Unknown" u4:insdate="2006-03-15T16:19:00Z" u4:insauthor="Unknown"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u9:st="on"><ST1LACE u9:st="on">US</ST1LACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION></U3LACE></U3:COUNTRY-REGION> from all later reports.</u> </O> <U1></U1> <U2></U2><U1></U1> If you agree that the American public should be made aware of this fact, pass this on.
Snopes says it's false. http://www.snopes.com/rumors/north.asp ... 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 <NOBR>Abu Nidal,</NOBR> telling a congressional committee: I want you to know that I'd be more than <NOBR>willing ...</NOBR> 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 <NOBR>El Al</NOBR> 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 <NOBR>Mohmmar Qadaffi:</NOBR> 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." Eventually, <NOBR>Col. North</NOBR> drafted his own response to this piece of misinformation: <CENTER>FROM THE DESK OF LTCOL OLIVER L. NORTH (USMC) RET. NOVEMBER 28, 2001 </CENTER> OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS, I HAVE RECEIVED SEVERAL THOUSAND <NOBR>E-MAILS</NOBR> FROM EVERY STATE IN THE U.S. AND <NOBR>13 FOREIGN</NOBR> 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 <NOBR>E-MAILS</NOBR> 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 <NOBR>LIBYANS — NOT</NOBR> 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 <NOBR>FEB. 87</NOBR> 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 <NOBR>30 AGENTS</NOBR> 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 <NOBR>RE-APPREHENDED.</NOBR> SEMPER FIDELIS, OLIVER L. NORTH