North’s Image, Motives Tarnished by Hearings : He’ll Be Confronted With Mountain of Evidence That He Exceeded Authority When He Testifies

Last November, when Lt. Col. Oliver L. North emerged as a key figure in the Iran- contra affair, not even his toughest critics dared to suggest that he was motivated by anything but pure patriotism.

In the eyes of President Reagan and his many other admirers, the former White House aide was a valiant Vietnam veteran, a loyal Reaganite and a true “American hero.”

But as the Iran-contra story has unfolded over the last seven months, North’s image has been tarnished and his motives impugned. Even some of his original defenders are beginning to wonder whether they were misled by the bravado of the gung-ho Marine colonel.

‘An Evolution of Image’

“We’ve seen an evolution of the image of Col. North from that of pure patriot to someone who engaged in some rather petty activities,” said Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Me.).

On Tuesday, when North appears before congressional investigating committees for his first public testimony on the scandal, he will be confronted with a mountain of evidence that he exceeded his authority as a White House aide, violated the will of Congress, altered and destroyed government documents to escape prosecution and--most surprising of all--may have lined his pockets with cash collected for Nicaragua’s rebels.

North’s transformation occurred not just in the public perception but also in his own life, according to Cohen. Originally motivated by patriotism, North eventually came under the “corrupting influence” of the secretive operation he had established to ship arms to Iran and to coordinate private support for the Nicaraguan resistance when Congress cut off U.S. government aid, the senator said.

So gradual and yet so dramatic was the metamorphosis that Cohen likened it to the story in Oscar Wilde’s famous novel, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”--or, as Cohen put it, “almost a picture of Dorian North.”

Testimony so far has painted North, 43, as a larger-than-life character--an earnest, handsome Marine of such enormous warmth and charm that those who knew him only casually were moved to offer expensive gifts and those who knew him best talked about their relationship in terms of “love” and “being like a member of the family.”

He was, by all accounts, out of place on the White House National Security Council staff, where he served from August, 1981, until last November. An action-oriented serviceman who aspired to military command, he was instead confined to a desk job. One of his former bosses, presidential National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane, described him as “probably the most mission-oriented, can-do professional on the staff.”

Spent Little Time at Home

North impressed everyone with his strong devotion to family--even though he spent virtually no time at home with his wife and four children. Robert W. Owen, used by North as courier for his secret contra-supply operation, recalled a cold, rainy night in 1985 when North stayed in his office during his daughter’s birthday party despite three plaintive telephone calls from her. When North finally returned home, she was asleep.

Difficult tasks naturally fell to North. After Congress cut off funds to the contras in 1984, the White House turned to him to find alternative funding. His role in combatting terrorism drew him into the Iran arms sales.

Over time, North transformed his desk job into the operational role that he longed for. And even if his superiors were unaware of some of the details of his work, there is ample evidence that White House officials admired North’s style and ability.

“They wanted someone who would take charge, cut through bureaucracy and get things done, and that’s what they got in Col. North,” Cohen said.

The central question that members of the investigating committees will ask North is whether he was acting with the expressed authority of the President. In particular, they will want to know whether Reagan approved the diversion to the contras of profits from the Iran arms sales.

Previous witnesses testified unanimously that a disciplined soldier such as North would never have done anything without authorization. His former secretary, Fawn Hall, insisted that he was not “a rogue elephant.” North himself often boasted to others of a special kinship with Reagan--once saying that “the old man loves my ass.”

But testimony has also revealed another side of North’s personality--that of a freewheeling international cowboy with a peculiar passion for secret code names and an unusual willingness to undertake death-defying missions. According to Albert A. Hakim, the Iran-contra financial manager, North could think of no greater personal satisfaction in life than to “get killed for his country.”

It was this aspect of North that caused Secretary of State George P. Shultz to view him as a “loose cannon” whose actions needed to be monitored by the State Department.

North told William O’Boyle, a contra contributor from New York City, that he was personally involved in the arrest of a major drug dealer, that the Soviet KGB was plotting to discredit him and that Texas billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt had given him $1 million--all apparently false stories intended to aggrandize the teller.

“Hyperbole and Oliver North were not strangers,” remarked Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.).

North’s flair for the dramatic was clearly reflected in the secret contra-supply program he created in 1984, when Congress cut off U.S. government military aid. One of his first actions was to develop a list of secret code names, including “Steelhammer” and “Mr. Goode” for himself.

Although Congress had strictly forbidden the Administration from supplying military assistance to the contras, it came as no surprise to McFarlane that his favorite staff member was secretly passing military intelligence and unsolicited advice to contra leader Adolfo Calero. To McFarlane, it was just part of North’s irrepressible desire for a military command.

Not all of North’s military advice to the contras was sound, however. According to Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, North once proposed that the contras take a military position on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua and from there fight the government “Alamo-style” to demonstrate to the Congress their commitment to freedom.

Pentagon Rejected Plan

Abrams said the Defense Department nixed the plan as “the craziest idea we ever heard.”

Nor did North always live up to his can-do image. There were times when the Iran-contra initiative seemed to be run by the Marx brothers.

Perhaps North’s biggest blunder occurred in 1986 when he gave Abrams the number of a secret Swiss bank account where the Sultan of Brunei could deposit $10 million intended for the contras. In writing down the bank account number, he transposed two digits--diverting the money to the account of an unsuspecting Swiss businessman.

North’s role with the contras was described by Owen as that of a “quartermaster.” He masterminded the fund raising, made lists of their military needs, arranged for the weapons to be supplied and even doled out cash to individual contra leaders from a safe in his office inside the White House complex.

‘The Old One-Two Punch’

In private fund raising, North was part of what Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.) called “the old one-two punch.” North told potential givers how democracy in Central America depended on the contras, and private fund-raiser Carl R. (Spitz) Channell followed up with a direct pitch for money. This way North himself did not directly solicit money in violation of the law.

In early 1985, North took the supply network out of the contras’ control and turned it over to retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, who had been selling arms to the contras since mid-1984. Secord said North was motivated by allegations of fraud in the contras’ ranks.

“Ollie had finally realized that it was crazy to put all the money in Calero’s hands with no real control,” Secord said.

Secord was not the type normally sought out by the White House for important special assignments. In 1983, he had been denied a government security clearance because of his long friendship with Edwin P. Wilson, the ex-CIA operative convicted of illegally selling munitions to Libya.

Using money donated to the contras by third counties and private U.S. citizens, Secord and his business partner, Hakim, along with several other ex-Wilson associates, eventually built an operation valued at $4 million that included two large transport planes, two medium-size cargo planes, one single-engine plane, a cargo ship and a 6,000-foot airstrip in Costa Rica.

Same Cast of Characters

When Reagan decided to ship U.S. weapons to Iran, North turned to the same cast of characters to carry out the mission--ignoring warnings from CIA general counsel Stanley Sporkin that the White House should not deal with the likes of Secord. As Sporkin told North’s new boss, then-Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter: “If you lie down with dogs, you come up with fleas.”

It was Secord and Hakim who put North in the position of gaining personally from the Iran-contra affair. Hakim, an Iranian-American familiar with the practice of bribing government officials in his native land, established a $200,000 education fund for North’s children. North also stood to get $2 million from a will written by Hakim and Secord.

Although there is no evidence that North knew about the $2 million, he may have been aware of a trip that his wife, Betsy, made to Philadelphia to discuss with Hakim’s lawyer how she could collect on the $200,000 fund. North never actually received the money.

But when a $16,000 security system and gate were installed at his home at the expense of the Iran-contra operation, North apparently knew it was improper for him to accept it because he went to the trouble of writing two fake letters designed to conceal the gift. Federal law prohibits government employees from accepting anything of value outside of their salary.

Cashed Traveler’s Checks

In addition, North himself cashed at least $2,400 of the contras’ traveler’s checks, spending the money for food, tires and a hosiery shop purchase.

Cohen contends that North was corrupted by the ethos of the international arms business, in which he was dabbling.

“The temptations become irresistible,” he said. “You take a little for tires, a little for food, a $16,000 gate. The standards of the private sector start to tarnish the silver on the public institution. The morals of the marketplace are not those of the (public) trustees.”

Although Secord testified that North always intended to use the profits from the Iran arms sales, which commenced in 1985, to help the contras, it was not until early the next April that North wrote a memo to Poindexter outlining the diversion of funds. To this day, investigators have not found a cover letter that would indicate whether the President ever received this now-notorious memo.

There is also no record that North ever met privately with Reagan to discuss his operation, even though he often invoked the President’s name with outsiders. Secord said North once remarked--jokingly--”that in some conversations with the President he had mentioned that it was ironic that some of the ayatollah’s money was being used to support the contras.”

Operation Began to Crumble

North was still joking when Assistant Atty. Gen. William Bradford Reynolds showed up in his office on Nov. 22, and the operation he had created began to crumble around him. Faced with a Justice Department inquiry, North joked that he needed a good lawyer.

The Justice Department investigation did not come as a complete surprise to North. Apparently tipped by Poindexter, North and his secretary had spent the previous afternoon altering and shredding documents pertaining to the Iran-contra affair. With North’s consent, Hall also smuggled documents out of the White House complex in her clothing.

Their cover-up effort was not only amateurish but unsuccessful. Reynolds quickly found a copy of the diversion memo on Hall’s computer disc, and Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III confronted North with it during a meeting on the following day.

North asked: “Did you find a cover memo?”

Meese said: “Should we have found one?”

North replied: “No, I just wondered.”

Defenders Shocked

North’s defenders on the Iran-contra committees were shocked by his involvement in a cover-up and his acceptance of the $16,000 security system. “Right now,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), “there are a lot of things that have to be explained away.”

Hyde, who lavishly praised North at the outset of the hearings, acknowledged last week that the evidence has “diminished the aura of rectitude and righteousness that once surrounded him.”

Nevertheless, Hyde strongly disagreed with the Democrats on the committee who have suggested that the panel cannot trust North to testify truthfully.

“Ollie North has every incentive to tell the truth because he is dangling on the eve of indictment,” Hyde said, “and a charge of perjury is a distinct possibility.”