Boy Oh Boy this whole mess with the NRA could not get much worse, even if they did get one of the most disgraced members of our military in the past 40 years to take over an organization that invited and collaborated with a hostile foreign power to corrupt and undermine our federal employees and it’s elections. As well as enabling the election of the worst U.S. President this country has ever known, this organization continues to block any rational attempt at controlling the mindless spread of, handguns and unregistered military grade firearms all across this nation. I realize it’s been awhile since “Iran-Contra” took place but even on a day to day basis we seem to have an endless parade of fools who have convinced themselves that as long as they are “doing what needs to be done to save the nation” than breaking both national and international laws and every conceivable ethical or moral standard of conduct is completely fine. Why would anyone think there was anything wrong with that ? Oliver North is about as far from the noble and honorable individual that some on the far right still insist he has to be. After all, they are quick to point out he was only carrying out the orders of their saint, the divine Ronald Reagan. Another fine group of Republicans who violated our laws, broke international law, sold weapons to our enemies, which I might add were no doubt in turn used against U.S. military personnel, and directly led to the mass importation of cocaine and heroin to communities all across this nation. Oliver North was directly responsible for all of that and far worse, and now he is the person the NRA picks to improve their public face. What that actually does show you, is that by the very way they are currently operating we can now clearly see just how corrupt and diseased this so called public service organization really is. www.dailykos.com/...
The NRA, the GOP, and the far right in this country are heartless, delusional, and suffering from a kind of mental illness that won’t allow them to recognize any sense of responsibility for the welfare or safety of their nation. They make really bad decisions based on what’s best for them personally or for some imaginary advantage they can gain for the power brokers in the party, and when it blows up and they get caught they make even worse decisions to try and deflect blame and responsibility onto the very individuals who are working like crazy to protect this nation from their reckless and dangerous behavior. Now North seems to think it’s OK to threaten those who don’t like his program or his power grab. I feel really bad for the NRA……………………………...No actually I don’t !
Iran–Contra affair
North's mugshot, taken on the day of his arrest
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 through intermediaries to Iran, with the profits being channeled to the Contras in Nicaragua. It was alleged that he was responsible for the establishment of a covert network which subsequently funneled those funds to the Contras. Congress passed the Boland Amendment (to the House Appropriations Bill of 1982 and following years),[19] which prohibited the appropriation of U.S. funds by intelligence agencies for the support of the Contras.
North solicited $10 million from the Sultan of Brunei to skirt U.S. prohibitions on funding the Contras. However, he gave the wrong number of the Swiss bank account intended to launder the money, and it went instead to a Swiss businessman. A Senate committee investigating the transaction tracked it down so it could be returned to Brunei.[20]
In an August 23, 1986 e-mail to National Security Advisor John Poindexter, North described a meeting with a representative of Panamanian General 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."[21][22]
North told Poindexter that General Noriega could assist with sabotage against the ruling party of Nicaragua, the Sandinista National Liberation Front. North supposedly suggested that Noriega be paid $1 million 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.[23]
In November 1986, as the sale of weapons was made public, North was dismissed by President Ronald Reagan. In an interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine, North said that on February 11, 1987, the FBI detected an attack on North's family[24] from the Peoples Committee for Libyan Students, a sleeper cell for the Islamic Jihad, with an order to kill North. His family was moved to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and lived with federal agents until North retired from the Marine Corps the following year.[25][26]
In July 1987, North was summoned to testify before televised hearings of a joint congressional committee that was formed to investigate the Iran-Contra scandal. During the hearings, North admitted that he had misled Congress[27], for which, along with other actions, 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."[28] North admitted shredding government documents related to these 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.[29]
North was tried in 1988. He was indicted on 16 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 through his secretary, Fawn Hall. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard Gesell on July 5, 1989, to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines, and 1,200 hours of community service. North performed some of his community service within Potomac Gardens, a public housing project in southeast Washington, DC.[30] However, on July 20, 1990, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),[31] 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.[32]
The individual members of the prosecution team had isolated themselves from news reports and discussion of North's testimony, and 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.[33]
This is just a small portion of the corrupt and illegal acts committed by Oliver North, under what is commonly held to have been one of the best Republican administrations. This is also a graphic lesson on how people who at the behest of this nations most powerful individuals break dozens of our federal laws and cause serious harm directly by their actions, and then are allowed to get off with little or no penalty………………………….so that those who directed them will not be prosecuted or even blamed for these self inflicted disasters.