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We Haven't Heard the Last of Oliver North
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12074 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1987 |
3,596 Words |
| Author
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Neil C. Livingstone
Neil C. Livingstone is an author, lecturer, and frequent
media commentator. He runs a crisis-management firm in
Washington, D.C., and has authored eight books on terrorism,
including Inside the PLO (Morrow). |
Oliver North will be back. Despite the fact that the star witness of the Iran-Contra hearings has dropped out of sight to contend with legal problems arising from the ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, it is extremely shortsighted by some in Congress and the media to write him off as a flash in the pan. The "North for President" T-shirts have disappeared and the hoopla has subsided, but that is just as well. Such things only trivialized him and are hardly measures of his true durability as a public figure. The same personal magnetism, oratorical flair, and compelling convictions that catapulted him into the national spotlight in July will still be there when he is ready to resurface. North has charisma. Moreover, he has important things to say.
For example, at a dinner in 1984 for a prominent British parliamentarian known for his efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Northern Ireland question, it was North who gave the most eloquent toast, the one that best spoke to the issues and the mutual hopes for Ireland's future. All those present were impressed by his earnestness and insight, and nearly everyone asked about him afterward. Who was he? What was his role in government?
Today, of course, no one would have to ask. North has, in the words of one congressman, "passed over the great divide into fame." Yet he remains something of an enigma. Now that the dust from the Iran-Contra hearings has cleared, perhaps it is time to reexamine North, the man, and to try to understand who he is and what motivates him.
The man from
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