In anticipation for Lt. Col. Oliver North’s visit to Carbondale Tuesday, many campus leftist have taken on an aggressive campaign of misinformation in an attempt to discredit North. I feel a duty to respond to these lies with the truth about Iran-Contra and the struggle for freedom in Nicaragua.

For starters, leftists are wrong in their claims that the Sandinista government in Nicaragua was simply interested in agrarian reforms and bringing equality to their citizens.

The facts show that the Sandinista government actually was participating in an immense military build-up during the 1980s. In fact, the Defense Intelligence Agency revealed during the Iran-Contra hearings that by 1985 the Nicaraguan military was at an all-time high of 62,000. To put this in perspective, the supposedly peaceful government of Nicaragua had more forces than the rest of Central America combined. And, this does not even include the numbers of PLO, Cuban, Soviet and North Korean advisers that had taken up residence.

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With the largest army in their region, I find it hard to believe the Sandinistas were solely interested in peaceful agrarian reform.

Secondly, campus liberals have put forth the notion that the Sandinistas were not true communists but reformers looking to improve the economy.

Again, this is a flawed contention. Sandinista officials made their intentions clearly evident. Nicaraguan Defense Minister Humberto Ortega clearly stated in 1981 that Marxism-Leninism is the scientific doctrine that guides our revolution. Our doctrine is Marxism-Leninism. Likewise, Interior Minister Thomas Borge contended in 1984, You cannot be a true revolutionary in Latin America without being a Marxist-Leninist. These are hardly the words of benign agrarian reformers.

In addition to their erroneous praise of the Sandinistas, campus liberals have sought to attack Oliver North’s credibility on a variety of points.

Contrary to what liberals would have us to believe, Oliver North never lied to Congress. These mistaken accusations are based on an off-the-record meeting on April 6, 1986, at the White House, in which Oliver North met with a few congressional leaders. Knowing a complete disclosure of the resistance movement in Nicaragua was certain to put lives of many freedom fighters in danger, North withheld certain details. As a result of this lifesaving decision, North was indicted by his political enemies on an old, never-enforced law called Obstruction of Congress. This made North the first man ever charged with a crime based on an unsworn, informal meeting with the legislative branch

Likewise, the claim that North somehow subverted the Constitution is not based on fact. The truth is that North always acted in accordance to the five Boland Amendments that were designed specifically to prevent aid to Nicaraguan freedom fighters. These amendments prohibited intelligence agencies from aiding Nicaraguan resistance. However, at no time was North a member of an intelligence agency. It is specifically stated that the White House and National Security Council are not to be classified as such. It becomes evident that critics of North are sadly misinformed of the facts when they bring the Constitution into the debate surrounding Iran-Contra.

Finally, the truth is that North was never convicted of any crime. Of the 12 indictments that faced North at his trail, nine were thrown out of court. When the jury found North guilty on three counts (one of which dealt with North’s purchase of a security fence to protect himself from assassination by Abu Nidal – the world’s deadliest terrorist), the U.S. Court of Appeals quickly overturned the rulings because North was prosecuted using immunized congressional testimony. This was a violation of North’s constitutional rights and hardly the technicality liberals claim it was. So, in actuality it was North who had his constitutional rights taken from him during the Iran-Contra affair.

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In closing, I hope this short essay will go a long way in refuting the lies aimed at Oliver North. Anyone who wants to hear more of the truth needs to be at Shryock Auditorium 7 p.m. Tuesday to see a true American hero in person.