• UltraMagnus0001
    link
    fedilink
    5
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    Heard about him in Killer Mike’s Reagan song. Great song

    Oliver North, a retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel, played a key role in the Iran-Contra affair, a major political scandal during the Reagan administration. He was involved in the sale of weapons to Iran, with the profits being diverted to support the Contras in Nicaragua, despite a congressional ban on funding the Contras.

  • @brucethemoose@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    43 days ago

    Hear me out, theoretically this is actually cool?

    Like, theoretically, take away the Fox propaganda and shameless lack of disclosure. Picture this guy presenting himself as a CI, like a convicted hacker, former cartel, defector or something. He has real experience with Iran, missiles, the whole Contra affair. He knows what they’d do with them, how they get them, what the buyers are like because he shamelessly sold them.

    That’d be a cool perspective.

    It’s of course not reality, but still.

    • Theoretically sure. But the regime he sold it to go toppled like three times over. So it’s not the same people anymore and the context he could provide is out of date and … checks notes still based on his treasonous actions.

      • @Broken@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        43 days ago

        I’m sure as hell not defending him, but your point is valid and why him being against them having missiles isn’t necessarily a contradiction. “Them” isn’t the same them that he sold to. Again, not defending him and I haven’t listen to anything he’s said recently to know his stance (nor do I really care to), but just keeping my own logic in check.

      • @ryedaft@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        63 days ago

        No. The current constitution is what they got after the revolution in 1979. Khomeini was supreme leader until 1989. Khamenei somehow got himself appointed to successor just in time. The successor he replaced was against mass executions and stuff. Funny how it goes.

  • Giving this traitor a television platform instead of a prison cell, was one giant step in making Republicans feel untouchable, no matter how poorly they behaved. Even treason is excused, and rewarded.

  • @lol_idk@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    223 days ago

    Related to nothing but Ollie, I rode an elevator with him and some police in the US courthouse in DC during his trial

  • snooggums
    link
    fedilink
    English
    453 days ago

    “He has experience so we can trust him!”

    -Fox News viewers

  • tripartitegraph [comrade/them]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    83 days ago

    What do we think the payscale is for an occasional drop-in talking head interview? How much is ollie getting for spouting his ghoulish nonsense?

  • @DandomRude@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    23 days ago

    I’m hardly surprised - just seems like a US thing. I mean, who else would leave it up to Trump of all people to decide whether the Epstein files should be made public?

  • @BarneyPiccolo@lemmings.world
    link
    fedilink
    15
    edit-2
    3 days ago

    George HW Bush pardoned him on the advice of William Barr, giving Barr the start of a career helping presidents avoid responsibility for their illegal activities.

      • Well, it didn’t really happen like that, but yeah, the Iran-Contra Scandal contributed heavily to the onset of the crack cocaine epidemic. The fact that they couldn’t use the US military in this operation is why cocaine became involved.

        They needed to smuggle illegally purchased weapons to Central America, so they hired drug smugglers to smuggle guns in the other direction. What does a drug smuggler do after he’s dropped off his weapons, and finds himself in Central America with an empty plane, a fistful of dirty money, and CIA cover?

        That’s right, he fills it full of cocaine, flies it back to America, and quintuplets his money. And they did it over and over and over, until there was so much coke on the streets of America, that it went from being the drug of the wealthy and celebrities, and became the drug of the ghetto.

        And how do we know this? Because smuggler Eugene Hasenfus was captured, and he spilled the entire story.

        The only question was: Was the CIA aware of the drug smuggling? Some think that they used it to raise even more money for their cause, but I’ve never seen any real evidence of that, other than speculation. OTOH, I find it hard to believe that they didn’t know their pilots were smuggling cocaine back to America. If they didn’t know, they should have, they’re the CIA. Besides, it’s not exactly a big leap to realize they would do this. They didn’t hire commercial cargo pilots to do some side gigs, they hired drug smugglers specifically because they were smugglers. They aren’t going to fly an empty plane home. Of course, they’re going to smuggle Coke (or weed), back in their planes. Duh.

        • @Anomalocaris@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          63 days ago

          forgot to mention that Congress made a specific law against funding the CONTRA. And Reagan went around it by illegally smuggling weapons and drugs for them.

    • It’s a wild tale. I once told the entire thing to a friend, who listened through the whole story, then said “Did that really happen?”