Greg, I understand and respect the solidarity you feel with the man. I realize you share a profound bond with him which outsiders have trouble understanding.
If you can set that aside for a moment, and consider the acts undertaken in the mid-1980s without regard to uniform: Paying terrorists with arms to gain the release of hostages. Secretly funding a covert war with some of the proceeds of that transaction, in order to subvert an act of Congress. And then the cover up, which involved destroying evidence, lying to investigators and the Congress.
In regard to the chain of command...how solid is it when the Commander-in-Chief has to go on TV and say this to the American people:
"A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not. As the Tower board reported, what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages. This runs counter to my own beliefs, to administration policy, and to the original strategy we had in mind." --Ronald Reagan
Ollie North went off the reservation. Way off. He was the primary architect of the changes that took this plan from "questionable" to "downright illegal." I know the overlap of politics, intelligence and military matters is a gray area where it's easy to blur the distinctions of right and wrong. And North has done a masterful job of fighting a personal public relations war to rebuild his image and gain popularity with conservatives in our society. But, again, I stress the point: You better be really careful what type of behavior you forgive from members of your own "team," if you want to hold the other "team" accountable, too.
