“Under Fire; An American Story” (1991) by Oliver L. North with William Novak — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00for anyone who may not know lieutenant
2. 0:02colonel oliver north u.s marine corps
3. 0:05was one of the most controversial
4. 0:06figures of the late cold war
5. 0:08and continues to be a deeply polarizing
6. 0:10figure for some a traitor for others a
7. 0:13hero
8. 0:14colonel north was instrumental in the
9. 0:16iran-contra affair
10. 0:17where an illegal covert action that
11. 0:20occurred in the 1980s
12. 0:21and run outside of the purview of the
13. 0:24standard government procedures
14. 0:25sold weapons to iran and funneled the
15. 0:28proceeds to the anti-communist rebels in
16. 0:30nicaragua
17. 0:32the operation was a direct violation of
18. 0:34american law
19. 0:35and when it came to light caused a
20. 0:36political scandal for the reagan
21. 0:38administration
22. 0:39north testified before congress about
23. 0:42the affair and was convicted for his
24. 0:44part in 1989
25. 0:45though this was subsequently overturned
26. 0:47a year later
27. 0:49i will be the first to admit that i came
28. 0:50to this book with a lot of preconceived
29. 0:52notions
30. 0:52and was recommended it by a friend who
31. 0:55actually knows north personally
32. 0:57much of my attitude was in line with
33. 0:59what i believe is the public consensus
34. 1:01opinion on north
35. 1:02a rogue officer operating outside of the
36. 1:04chain of command
37. 1:06basically the plot of a host of
38. 1:07hollywood movies
39. 1:09but i found myself pleasantly surprised
40. 1:12north and novak do a good job of
41. 1:14detailing the nature of north's job
42. 1:17at the national security council the
43. 1:19politics and background of how iran
44. 1:21contra happened
45. 1:22and on the personal emotions of norse
46. 1:25being fired in the subsequent
47. 1:27congressional hearing into his conduct
48. 1:30now it must be remembered that north was
49. 1:32assisted in the writing of this book by
50. 1:33an extremely competent ghostwriter
51. 1:36as a result much is made of his personal
52. 1:38life and military career
53. 1:40so as to make the reader identify with
54. 1:42him and the best possible spin is placed
55. 1:44on north and he's part of the affair
56. 1:47this is literally north's public defense
57. 1:49he's totally going to throw himself
58. 1:51under the proverbial bus
59. 1:53but bearing that in mind what this book
60. 1:55does for historians is give a personal
61. 1:57account of the machinations of
62. 1:58government
63. 1:59in the late 20th century and of covert
64. 2:02operations
65. 2:03less machiavellian more walter mitty
66. 2:06it also somewhat understandably shows
67. 2:08the media industry
68. 2:09in a less than favorable light the
69. 2:12book's real contribution is in detail in
70. 2:14the intricacies of the iran contra
71. 2:16affair itself
72. 2:17from the players themselves to how the
73. 2:19whole operation was conducted
74. 2:21this in itself is deeply interesting
75. 2:24north's consistent argument also rings
76. 2:26true
77. 2:26he was as he points out frequently a
78. 2:29mid-ranking officer in the marine corps
79. 2:31seconded to the national security
80. 2:33council
81. 2:34for him to organize fund and run a
82. 2:37covert operation on this scale without
83. 2:39any authority from higher officials
84. 2:41is as he says ridiculous
85. 2:45under fire is as pointed out nor's final
86. 2:48defense of his actions but for those
87. 2:50interested in the cold war
88. 2:52intelligence or american politics it's a
89. 2:54good read for picking out
90. 2:55a better understanding of those issues
91. 2:58at the time of writing under fire is
92. 3:00available on amazon for 13.70
93. 3:05well folks that wraps up this video
94. 3:07hopefully you found it interesting
95. 3:09and if so please drop a like and also
96. 3:11i'd love to hear your opinions
97. 3:13in the comments on the subject some of
98. 3:15my other videos have had some really
99. 3:16good discussions and i hope that these
100. 3:18videos provide an avenue for debate
101. 3:21and if you want to support the channel
102. 3:23please consider buying my book desert
103. 3:24sniper
104. 3:25which is about my time fighting isis in
105. 3:27syria links are in the description
106. 3:29thanks for watching and hope to see you
107. 3:31again