2-1-89 Oliver North went on trial today. North, a highly decorated Marine colonel, is charged with a dozen crimes, including lying to Congress, defrauding the government, and selling government property. His defense is that he did so under the tacit orders (!) of former President [Ronald] Reagan. In fact, as we now know, Reagan knew little or nothing of what was going on. North and John Poindexter (his immediate superior at the National Security Council) simply assumed that their mission (selling arms to Iran and then using the proceeds to fund the Contras in Nicaragua) had the imprimatur of the president. They decided not to disclose their activities to him in any detail so that he could “plausibly deny” knowing of it. (Thus, the phrase “plausible deniability” has entered our political jargon.) At any rate, the trial of North has begun; Poindexter’s will begin in a few weeks. Many conservatives, including columnists Patrick Buchanan and James J. Kilpatrick, are angry and frustrated that Reagan did not pardon North and Poindexter before leaving office. They say that the “media firestorm” would have lasted only three days, after which the people would have forgotten it and moved on to other things. I disagree. A pardon would have been a festering sore for the new administration, and maybe, in the end, political suicide for George [Herbert Walker] Bush. North’s trial is expected to take several months, so I’ll have more to say about it as things develop.
Twenty Years Ago
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