Lt. Col. Oliver North testimony at Congressional Committees Investigating Iran-Contra Affair in 1987 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03the hearing will please come to order
2. 0:08contrary to belief held by many
3. 0:10americans
4. 0:12we may not see the show
5. 0:14chairman hamilton uh thank you very much
6. 0:16uh mr chairman members will recall that
7. 0:18uh congressman cheney had uh 20 minutes
8. 0:22reserved on his time
9. 0:24so the chair recognizes congressman
10. 0:27cheney at this time for 20 minutes for
11. 0:29the purpose of asking questions
12. 0:32congressman cheney
13. 0:33thank you mr chairman
14. 0:35mr chairman i think on behalf of many of
15. 0:37us mr corter
16. 0:39and
17. 0:40senator mcclure and others who spoke to
18. 0:42this issue we feel very very strongly
19. 0:44that
20. 0:45given the line of questioning developed
21. 0:47by council for the committee
22. 0:50it's only fair that colonel north have
23. 0:51the opportunity to present
24. 0:56that information that was a part of his
25. 0:58briefing
26. 0:59with respect to the question of what
27. 1:01kind of uh
28. 1:02efforts he made in providing information
29. 1:05to american citizens who ultimately
30. 1:07cooperated in and supported
31. 1:09fundraising efforts for the congress
32. 1:12colonel north
33. 1:13in the time remaining to me
34. 1:16i would
35. 1:17like to ask you to
36. 1:20give us a
37. 1:22general description of your briefing if
38. 1:24you will i'm especially interested in
39. 1:26putting on the public record as part of
40. 1:27these hearings
41. 1:29information
42. 1:31about the nature and the extent of the
43. 1:32soviet threat in central america in
44. 1:34nicaragua
45. 1:36all right sir
46. 1:38perhaps the best way to do that is to
47. 1:40simply go through the presentation as it
48. 1:42uh
49. 1:44as it exists
50. 1:45and i will try to quickly go through the
51. 1:47slides and
52. 1:48indicate what i would have said had the
53. 1:50slides been up on the screen
54. 1:52the first slide simply demonstrates the
55. 1:55geography
56. 1:56and why this part of the world seems to
57. 1:58be of so much interest to the soviets
58. 2:01the first slide shows the effect of
59. 2:04soviet penetration in this hemisphere in
60. 2:07the form of a consolidated communist
61. 2:08regime in cuba and the threat that poses
62. 2:11to our sea lines of communication
63. 2:13both to europe and through the panama
64. 2:15canal and the threat it poses to 55
65. 2:17percent of our oil supplies coming up
66. 2:19from latin america the second slide
67. 2:23is a photograph of andre gramico then
68. 2:25the foreign minister
69. 2:27of the soviet union and a quote from
70. 2:31mr grimiko
71. 2:32to the effect that
72. 2:34he said in moscow in 1983 the region is
73. 2:37boiling like a cauldron
74. 2:38cuba and nicaragua are living examples
75. 2:41for the countries in that part of the
76. 2:43world
77. 2:44talking about their intentions
78. 2:46a second quote from marshall ogorkov
79. 2:49then the head of the soviet armed forces
80. 2:52in moscow when he was talking to maurice
81. 2:53bishop
82. 2:54then the
83. 2:55head of grenada
84. 2:57in which he said
85. 2:59a note taken by bishop and his people in
86. 3:01visiting moscow in march of 83
87. 3:04the marshall said
88. 3:07forgive me
89. 3:12the marshal said that
90. 3:14over two decades ago there was only cuba
91. 3:17in latin america the emergency aid
92. 3:19station and intensive care unit which is
93. 3:21nothing more than a field tent without
94. 3:24even
95. 3:25mosquito netting a photograph of the
96. 3:27plastic maps that they were forced to
97. 3:29draw their own battle plans and patrol
98. 3:32routes on because we couldn't even give
99. 3:33them that and then finally a photograph
100. 3:39a photograph showing the grave of a
101. 3:41resistance fighter
102. 3:43and the conclusion of the briefing is
103. 3:44gentlemen that we've got to offer them
104. 3:46something more than the chance to die
105. 3:47for their own country and the freedoms
106. 3:50that we believe in
107. 3:51thank you sir
108. 3:52thank you colonel north i yield back the
109. 3:54balance of my time mr chairman
110. 3:57i thank you very much
111. 3:59the chair is pleased to recognize the
112. 4:01gentleman from georgia senator nunn
113. 4:04thank you very much mr chairman colonel
114. 4:06north it may have been covered during
115. 4:08these proceedings and i may have missed
116. 4:10it
117. 4:11but i have never heard
118. 4:13the answer to a question that i think is
119. 4:15rather important before we get testimony
120. 4:18from admiral poindexter
121. 4:20and that is was to the best of your
122. 4:22knowledge was admiral poindexter aware
123. 4:25that director casey of the cia knew
124. 4:29about the what we've called diversion
125. 4:31what you call a residual
126. 4:33fund
127. 4:34for the contras
128. 4:37going down to a paragraph which i have
129. 4:39circled in label one quoting from the
130. 4:42article and this is a quote of reverend
131. 4:45robertson
132. 4:47quote we just happened to bump into each
133. 4:49other robertson said about his encounter
134. 4:52with north on september 13 1985
135. 4:55at a private ad terminal in washington
136. 4:59he just happened to say i'm going to
137. 5:01iran to meet some of the leadership to
138. 5:03try to negotiate the release of some of
139. 5:05our hostages end quote
140. 5:07my question colonel north did you
141. 5:11do you recall that conversation with
142. 5:13reverend roberts
143. 5:14i do not sir
144. 5:16i would also note that it goes on and it
145. 5:20said that north asked the
146. 5:22reverend robertson to pray for me i have
147. 5:23done that often and
148. 5:26i'm grateful for the prayers of many
149. 5:28i do not recall that conversation
150. 5:33i also note that if it was september 13
151. 5:351985 it is well before
152. 5:39we had
153. 5:41made those plans i don't believe that we
154. 5:43actually addressed plans to
155. 5:46go to tehran until february of 86.
156. 5:51so you wouldn't have been going to iran
157. 5:52at that time
158. 5:54sir i only went once and that was in may
159. 5:55of 86 and i my recollection is that
160. 5:58those
161. 5:59plans were laid down actually for two
162. 6:02trips
163. 6:02in february of 1986 during our first
164. 6:05meetings face-to-face with the iranian
165. 6:07government officials so really this is
166. 6:09an erroneous article and reverend
167. 6:11robertson's memory is not correct on
168. 6:12this point well i'm not even sure that
169. 6:14that's a quote from reverend roberts
170. 6:16i don't know either but i'm just judging
171. 6:17if it is an accurate quote it's an error
172. 6:20it is an error sir thank you
173. 6:24son of coin
174. 6:26chairman
175. 6:27is it the presentation or the
176. 6:29circumstances under which the
177. 6:30presentation was given at any particular
178. 6:33time that's in question
179. 6:35if it's a presentation per se then we
180. 6:37should have the slideshow alone but if
181. 6:40it's the circumstances under which the
182. 6:41presentation was given it seems to me
183. 6:43that
184. 6:44we would have to consider calling
185. 6:47the second punch as uh
186. 6:49senator rudman has talked about and that
187. 6:51would be under what circumstances
188. 6:53followed the presentation what was the
189. 6:55relationship so i'm perfectly prepared
190. 6:57to have a presentation but i think it
191. 6:59has to be placed within the context
192. 7:01under which it was given if that's to
193. 7:03present a fair picture of what took
194. 7:05place in those games would the senator
195. 7:06was the senator yield for the moment you
196. 7:08recall
197. 7:09my statement at the time this matter was
198. 7:11brought up
199. 7:12that in order to provide
200. 7:15the appropriate aura and the flavor of
201. 7:17that moment
202. 7:19we would have to call in mr channel and
203. 7:21mr miller
204. 7:23and arrangements have been made
205. 7:25to call upon mr channel and mr miller
206. 7:28and mr mrs garwood i believe it is mr
207. 7:32chairman
208. 7:33i'll just take 30 seconds that's fine
209. 7:35that is fine with me
210. 7:38i think it's time that we get this out
211. 7:40publicly and just plain
212. 7:43give the
213. 7:44lieutenant colonel a chance
214. 7:46to explain what he did that's what's
215. 7:48important i don't care what the others
216. 7:49did i'll be listening with great
217. 7:51interest
218. 7:52what they did but i want to know what he
219. 7:54did and to be honest with you i think he
220. 7:57ought to have that opportunity to tell
221. 7:59the american people and i think the
222. 8:00technological problems can be resolved
223. 8:02as mr corner says and it should be done
224. 8:04mr mr chairman i
225. 8:07give us time to cool our souls and to
226. 8:10cast our vote we'll stand in recess for
227. 8:1210 minutes
228. 8:17[Music]
229. 8:31um