The Oliver North Jurors did their best, considering that they had to stay within the parameters of Judge Gerhard Gesell’s lengthy and biased instructions. They wrestled conscientiously with the moral and legal questions presented to them.
Lawyers know that they can win any case for which they can pose the question. That’s what was wrong with the trial of Oliver North: it posed the wrong questions, and that’s why the jurors had such a hard time answering them.
The trial was a blatant attempt to convict North as a surrogate for Ronald Reagan, since our ex-President was out of reach not only of the special prosecutor but even of a subpoena to be a witness. The trial was an attempt to criminalize foreign policy decisions that turned out badly, and then send somebody, anybody, to prison in order to simulate a public execution.
I never thought America would sink to the level of staging a political trial, but that is exactly what the Oliver North trial was. Likewise for the upcoming trials of John Poindexter and Richard Secord.
Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh spent $12,360,998 of our tax dollars as of December 31, 1988, according to his own budget statement. That doesn’t include many other expenses such as the $645,000 spent by the Internal Revenue Service to loan him one administrative supervisor and nine agents, nor the six agents detailed from the U.S. Customs Service, nor the 35 agents loaned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation at a cost of $4,662,498.
An investigative report published in Legal Times shows that the total costs are far higher and still rising. Legal Times concluded that the Independent Counsel has so far spent $24.4 million, the White House $12 million, the Justice Department $10 million, the Defense Department $1.5 million, the Internal Revenue Service $645,000, the Tower Commission $242,000, and Congress (for the Iran-Contra committee) $5.7 million, making a total of $42.487 million.
Congressman Henry Hyde, who was a member of the Iran-Contra investigating committee, said in a recent speech, “There’s something grotesque about spending all that money, with 26 Wall Street lawyers and the IRS and the FBI and all that staff, to try to convict Oliver North, who has to pass a tin cup to defend himself.”
By virtue of being detailed to the National Security Council, Oliver North became the nexus between three circumstances that were vita to American security. The first was Lebanon, where our hostages were held under obscene conditions. We are told that President Reagan and the late CIA Director William Casey wept when they saw videocassettes of the cruel tortures to which CIA station chief Willian Buckley was subjected.
The second was Iran, one of the most important pieces of real estate in the world because of its border with the Soviet Union and the fact that it is potentially the world’s second largest producer of oil. It is predictable that there will be a fierce struggle for power when the 88-year-old Ayatollah dies, and it is in U.S. interests to have some contacts with more moderate (or less crazy) elements there.
Many people believe that CIA Director Casey devised the plan to use some weapons as a double-edged sword to (a) develop an opening with the moderate factions in Iran, and (b)get them to use their influence with the kidnappers to release our hostages. The arms would not go to the Ayatollah or to the kidnappers, but to those elements who could influence the kidnappers and be key contacts for a future Iran.
There is no hard evidence of this theory, but it is consistent with Casey’s risk-taking career. Casey needed an operative who would accept this secret and dangerous double mission and, during his lunch hour, keep the Contras alive in Nicaragua despite the vacillation and obstinacy of Congress.
Oliver North was the man selected for these improbably missions. His combat record in Vietnam already proved that he was an authentic hero, utterly fearless, willing to risk his life in the best Marine tradition. Unfortunately, Oliver North’s jury did not hear the record of his courage in Vietnam.
If the plan had worked, it would have been one of history’s greatest coups. With 20/20 hindsight, we can say it was a mistake, but it was not criminal, and it should be remembered that Oliver North was not tried for doing those things precisely because they were not criminal.
He was tried and convicted of such things as accepting a security system to protect his family from the death threats he received from terrorists. That conviction is a national embarrassment.
General Richard Secord described what happened to North like this: “Our government treated Oliver North like the army treats a mule. You load him down, you load him down, you load him down, and finally when his back breaks, you eat him.”
Ronald Reagan tarnished the lustre of his Presidency when he failed to pardon the men who were being prosecuted for carrying out the Reagan foreign policy. We hope George Bush will remedy this mistake, because the American people expect our President to be kinder and gentler to Oliver North than was the jury.
